Delta’s flight delays and cancellations prompt Department of Transportation investigation: NPR

U.S. airlines have launched an investigation into Delta Air Lines, which is still struggling to resume operations on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, more than four days after a faulty software update caused technological chaos around the world and disrupted global air travel. Here, a Delta Air Lines plane leaves the gate at Boston’s Logan International Airport on July 12, 2021.

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Travelers should definitely be patient. There is still chaos at Delta Air Lines, as the airline has now been experiencing five consecutive days of flight cancellations and delays following the global software outage on Friday.

And while the Atlanta-based airline is still trying to get its operations back on track, the U.S. Department of Transportation has launched an investigation into the recent flight disruptions, citing “the large volume of consumer complaints” the department has received against Delta.

“We have made it clear to Delta that they must take care of their passengers and meet their customer service commitments,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Not only is this the right thing to do, it is the law and our department will use our investigative and enforcement powers to the fullest extent possible to ensure that the rights of Delta passengers are protected,” he added.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, Delta had canceled over 400 flights and delayed about 860 flights for the day by Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement to NPR, Delta Air Lines confirmed that it was aware of the Department of Transportation’s investigation and said the airline was “fully cooperating with the department.”

“We remain fully focused on restoring our operations after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update left IT systems around the world inoperable,” the airline said in its statement, adding that teams are constantly working to return operations to normal.

On Monday, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the airline was working to restore the software that tracks and schedules flight crews, but he noted that it could take several days for the airline’s operations to fully restore.

“Everyone in the company is working around the clock to get the business where it needs to be,” Bastian said in the statement.

In a public letter on Sunday, Delta offered customers on flights affected by the outage travel waivers that allowed them to change their itineraries and rebook their flights without additional fees. But in a post on X, Buttigieg said that under new federal rules, customers are not required to accept the travel credit offered for rebooking flights, but are entitled to an immediate cash refund.

“Delta must promptly refund customers who choose not to rebook, offer free rebooking to those who do rebook, and provide timely reimbursement for food and hotel accommodations to customers affected by these delays and cancellations, as well as appropriate customer service assistance,” he wrote.

Millions of Microsoft users worldwide were offline after a faulty software update from cybersecurity group CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike said the problem was not a cyberattack but a “software bug.” After identifying the issue, the company pulled the “problematic channel file” that affected customers’ systems.

Delta’s technical problems are similar to those experienced by Southwest Airlines during the 2022 holiday season. The Dallas-based airline canceled thousands of flights and left millions of travelers stranded.

Following the incident, the U.S. Department of Transportation ordered Southwest to pay a civil penalty of $140 million. This is by far the largest fine the Department of Transportation has ever imposed on consumers, the department said in a statement announcing the penalty.