USDOT launches investigation into Delta as airline continues to cancel flights in wake of IT outage

Secretary Pete Buttigieg said USDOT has opened an investigation into the airliner

ByChris Isidore, CNN CNNWire logo

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

USDOT launches investigation into Delta as airline continues to cancel flights in wake of IT outage

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the investigation on Tuesday.

NEW YORK -- Bad news for passengers: Delta Air Lines canceled hundreds more flights early Tuesday morning, as the problems caused by last week's global tech outage continued into a fifth day. Worse news: Delta's meltdown will probably extend through the end of the week.

As of 6 a.m. ET the Atlanta-based airline had canceled 383 flights, and Endeavor Air, its regional carrier that feeds its system under the Delta Connection brand, had canceled another 18 flights. The cancellations follow more than 1,250 flight cancellations Monday, and 4,500 flights from Friday through Sunday.

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on X Tuesday morning that USDOT has opened an investigation into the airliner to "ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions."

"All airline passengers have the right to be treated fairly, and I will make sure that right is upheld," he added.

He also said that disrupted passengers should first try to resolve any issues with Delta, but added that USDOT wants to hear from those who believe the airline has not complied with USDOT-enforced passenger protection requirements.

Passengers can file a complaint or comment on the U.S. Department of Transportation website.

"We have made clear to Delta that they must take care of their passengers and honor their customer service commitments. This is not just the right thing to do, it's the law, and our department will leverage the full extent of our investigative and enforcement power to ensure the rights of Delta's passengers are upheld," Buttigieg said in a statement.

What happened?

The problems stemmed from a software update issued late Thursday night by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike that crashed Windows software. A cascade effect caused problems throughout the global airline industry last Friday.

Although most airlines were able to recover and resume normal operations by the end of the weekend, Delta has been unable to fix problems with its crew tracking system, leaving it unable to find the pilots and flight attendants it needed to fly its planes.

The problems will continue for at least a few more days, warned Rahul Samant, the company's chief information officer, in a message to Delta employees Monday.

"So we're optimistic we'll get it done," Samant said in the video message along with CEO Ed Bastian. "There will be some things as Ed said, that we will do today, tomorrow to get to a better place by the end of the week." He said the IT staff is working "feverishly" and "around the clock" to fix the problem.

Frustrated passengers and crews

The problems left tens of thousands of frustrated Delta customers stranded and unable to return home. Many of them booked other flights that were subsequently canceled as well. A lack of hotel rooms forced many to sleep in airports and wait for hours on hold trying to get through to Delta in an often-futile effort to find a flight.

Delta crew members are dealing with similar frustrations. Many have been left stranded in airports far from their bases and homes, unable to be placed on flights because Delta has been unable to locate crews and place them on planes. Some Delta crew members also are unable to get hotel rooms and are sleeping at airports. And airport employees are contending with angry, frustrated customers who don't understand why their flights are being canceled when crew members are available.

This week, Delta remained in the dark about the whereabouts of its crew members. Crew members who logged on to the company's computer system to sign up for flights received prompts and questions that included: "Please enter below what airport code you are closest to," "What is your current status?" and "Please describe your current location."

A person familiar with the airline's operations allowed CNN to see screenshots of the prompts. Delta declined to comment on the questions it was asking crews.

To help fix its staffing problems, Delta is offering crew members premium pay, as well as additional assurances they will be able to travel back to their homes at the end of their work period, according to the screen shots viewed by CNN. The premium pay and assurances would be in place through Friday, another sign the staffing problem may not be fixed for several more days. Delta also declined to comment on these offers to crew members.

Costs at $163 million - and climbing

The service meltdown will cost Delta, both in terms of its reputation and in dollar costs. The meltdown has already cost the most profitable US airline about $163 million through Monday, according to an estimate from Savanthi Syth, airline analyst for Raymond James.

That estimate comes from lost revenue and is likely to climb once additional pay for staff and reimbursements for customers are added in. Although the problems Tuesday the remainder of the week are not as bad as they had been the last four days, the additional flight cancellations will add to those losses.

Delta has prided itself on its on-time performance and customer service. Earlier this month its bragged in its earnings report that it achieved industry-best completion factor and on-time performance, and operated 39 cancellation-free, brand-perfect days. This meltdown is doing some damage to that reputation that will take time to repair.

After a similar service meltdown at Southwest Airlines during the year-end holiday travel period in 2022, the airline canceled nearly 17,000 flights, or about half of its schedule, stranding more than 2 million passengers over a 10-day period. That cost it nearly $1.2 billion between the fourth quarter of that year and the first two months of 2023. In addition to customer compensation, the airline faced additional labor costs and lost revenue that continued into February. In addition it was hit with a $140 million fine from the Department of Transportation.

Delta's service black eye could also cause it to lose some future bookings from frustrated customers. This past weekend was the busiest travel period of the summer with 90% of the seats booked. That has made it difficult for Delta to find other flights for those customers whose flights have been canceled. Even if Delta was operating all of its flights normally, it would take days to accommodate all its angry, stranded passengers.

The next issue: Luggage

Getting those passengers reunited with their checked baggage is going to take many more days beyond that. At Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, thousands of pieces of luggage were strewn about the baggage claim area, waiting to be reunited with passengers.

United Airlines was also hit hard by the computer problem, with more than 1,000 canceled flights, although it was back to near-normal operations on Monday with only 69 cancellations for its mainline operations. In a note to staff CEO Scott Kirby said that the airline's 26,000 computers affected by the problem had all been fixed and its operations had been normal for the last 24 hours. He said some passengers had yet to be reunited with their baggage, and United is using FedEx to deliver the bags to some of them.

Passenger Flight Rights

In 2022, USDOT secured enhanced customer service commitments from the 10 largest U.S. airlines, known as "flight rights," in the event there are significant delays or cancelations within the airline's control.

Those commitments include: