Let me add to the chorus calling on Delta Air Lines to accept more responsibility for its meltdown over the last five days. Paying for out-of-pocket expenses, including tickets on other carriers, is a good start, but not enough. Today’s letter from Delta CEO Ed Bastian is insulting and tone-deaf. It’s time for Delta to take accountability for its meltdown, not brush it under the rug.
Delta Air Lines, CEO Ed Bastian, Must Take Accountability For Meltdown
Ben from One Mile At A Time called Delta’s actions a sign of hubris and I think he’s right. I’m not writing about this to incite Delta loyalists or just to regurgitate what Ben wrote, but because I’m honestly shocked at how Delta has chosen to address this debacle. More people need to call Delta out for its tone-deaf response to its latest meltdown.
Yes, Delta appears back on its feet and I am very happy for that. And yes, it was indeed an issue beyond Delta’s control that triggered the meltdown last Friday. I am also pleased to recognize Delta for finally (within the last few hours) agreeing to compensate passengers for unplanned travel expenses, including airline tickets purchased on other carriers.
However, let’s take a look at what Bastian sent out to Delta customers today:
Since the CrowdStrike outage late last week, Delta’s team of the best professionals in the business has been working around the clock to restore the reliable, on-time operation you’ve come to know and expect when you fly with us.
While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us. Delays and cancellations were down 50% Tuesday compared to Monday, and we anticipate cancellations Wednesday to be minimal. Thursday is expected to be a normal day, with the airline fully recovered and operating at a traditional level of reliability.
I know the last few days have been difficult. To our customers who were impacted, I want to thank you for your patience and apologize again for the disruption to your travel.
We understand how important travel is in your lives, and we remain committed to taking care of those whose flights may still be impacted, with meals, hotel accommodations and ground transportation offered through vouchers and reimbursements. We’re also providing impacted customers with Delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers as a further gesture of apology.
I also want to extend my thanks and gratitude to Delta’s amazing team of 100,000 aviation professionals, who have been working tirelessly to take care of our customers and ensure their safety in a challenging operating environment.
We will continue to keep you informed via delta.com and the Fly Delta app for the latest information on your itinerary.
I’ve received emails from many of you who are understandably frustrated with the pace of progress and the difficulty in getting the service you deserve. I’ve also received many notes of encouragement and support commenting on the heroic efforts of our people, who are working under trying and stressful conditions. Thank you for your feedback, as well as your patience and understanding.
.@Delta CEO Ed Bastian shared the following message Wednesday morning as the airline continues to recover from the impact of last week's CrowdStrike outage. https://t.co/vG1qoz03oT
— Delta News Hub (@DeltaNewsHub) July 24, 2024
This letter really misses the mark. First, it’s far too upbeat when it should be conciliatory. Second, Delta’s “team of 100,000 aviation professionals” may have been working “tirelessly” to take care of customers, but they did a pretty poor job of it…over 5,000 flights were canceled. Third, what does “apologize” even mean? Colloquially it may mean to express regret or remorse, but it comes from the Latin word apologia meaning to offer a defense for…and that is also its traditional English meaning (maybe I just strongly dislike how the overuse of that word). Fourth, it sounds like Delta is still trying to pass the buck when it was unique among all carriers in suffering a full-on meltdown because it failed to invest in better crew scheduling software.
Consumers are not stupid…I’ve spoken to many Delta flyers today and this letter rings hollow.
To make matters worse, Bastian has jetted off to Europe with his girlfriend for the opening of the Paris Summer Olympics (Delta is the official airline of Team USA).
I’m not as up in arms about this as View From The Wing is, but it’s not a good look…even if he has a valid reason to be there. Did he learn nothing from United Airlines’ CEO Scott Kirby escaping his airline’s meltdown in a private jet?
Delta says he only left last night when things got back on track:
Ed delayed this long-planned business trip until he was confident the airline was firmly on the path to recovery. As of Wednesday morning, Delta’s operations were returning to normal. Ed remains fully engaged with senior operations leaders.
What a shame he did not show up at Atlanta Airport to help displaced passengers rather than make a stealthy exit…
Ed Bastian needs to resign or be fired. Bastian should have shown up and delivered bags. Or drove stranded passengers to a hotel. Maybe passed out meal vouchers. Something. Instead, he went to Paris. The complete PR malpractice only highlights Delta's steep descent since 2019. https://t.co/RzVS8TsOWn
— Dennis Lennox (@dennislennox) July 24, 2024
I did not call for the resignation of Kirby and won’t do so for Bastian. But just to be blunt, the letter sounds extremely callous…it’s a bad look and Delta’s PR team should have looked over this letter before the lawyers sent it out.
Let me turn to Delta now:
Tremendous damage has been done, but it’s not too late to correct your mistake. You can start by treating your customers like they are premium. It’s time to pony up and it should be a lot more than a few SkyMiles in addition to paying for all reasonable travel expenses. Again, kudos for finally agreeing to pay for flights on other airlines, but it was a shame you had to be shamed into it…
You need to admit that your software played a key role in this. Consider the forest fire analogy. Yes, it may be a cigarette butt that sparks the first flame, but if the forest has not been cared for (with things like debris removal and brush clearance) it will burn out of control. Delta did not start the fire, but its lack of preparation for such a fire (a fire, I might add, that was quite foreseeable after the Southwest Airlines meltdown in 2022) means Delta shares in the blame.
CONCLUSION
Delta’s letter today is mind-boggling in its disrespect shown toward its flyers, some of who have been stranded for days and seen their summer travel plans ruined. It is indeed time for Delta to take more accountability for this meltdown. It should be clear by now that folks are not buying the current spin and that lack of respect will do the most long-term damage to Delta’s reputation.
On a positive note, Delta is now expanding the categories of travel expenses it will pay to include tickets on other carriers. This is a positive start toward making things right with your customers.
image: @edbastian / Instagram
This is one reason why we need Rule 240 to be reinstated.
This is another reason why Ed needs a vocabulary lesson . He uses the word “impacted” when he actually means “affected” .
“I’ve also received many notes of encouragement and support…”
yeah….bullshit
I kind of thought so too…
That comment is a flat out lie. Even the Delta FanBoys are not giving any encouragement. So he’s lying. He got one letter from his girlfriend telling him hes doing a good job and that he better have bumped a pax out so they could fly Delta One last night.
Remember Hadley v. Baxendale from law school? (wikipedia can help).
Delta is basically trying to cover consequential damages. Any time I, myself, am impacted by airline unpleasantness, of course I want all damages and impacts, no matter how remotely related to a late flight or cancellation, to be covered. But the next time I purchase a DCA-MIA r/t, I want the $128 AA fare I recently got and not a hypothetical fare which prices in everything Delta is expected to cover.
Perhaps limitations on such consequential damages should not b e permitted in contract of carriage, but I do not know that the public truly gets that such would come free.
I’m well aware of that case, but can you elaborate on what you mean in the case of Delta?
Well, the U of Chicago “law and economics” types explain that if all consequential damages (rather than those reasonably anticipated by a breach) were awarded, contracting parties would “overinvest” in performance, pricing the contract accordingly.
Consumers get super annoyed when they find out that somewhere buried in the fine print of a contract there is damage-limiting language. But such is the bitter which comes with the sweet of having access to super low airfares.
As mentioned above, I just spent $128 for a r/t to Miami. I cannot imagine AA would make such a fare available if doing so carried the risk of covering all manner of damages I might encounter were they to breach.
Ed Bastian is pompous, Ed Bastian is tone-deaf, Ed Bastain loves hobnobbing at Coachella and SXSW because he thinks he is the face of luxury travel when he is really only a little bit of a step up from Spirit. He doesn’t understand when to just apologize and is clearly obtuse. He shouldn’t resign because he represents what Delta really is. It’s a cult, with a leader who is far less intelligent, caring, or innovative than he presents himself to be. That’s Delta to a T. Delta is late Roman Empire still believing they are something special when they are not. Keep him on board. They deserve each other.
In a relationship of any sort (business or personal) this would be called a brush off. An uncaring response to bad actions will not make you trustworthy or respected. Good luck going forward Delta.
Why not ? The dems in power are completely uncaring about crime in their cities , and they continue to be re-elected by the victims of the crimes .
Vacuous troll, attempt to stay on topic.
Yes , to “vacuous” . Although irrelevant , nevertheless somewhat related to our current condition .
Where is the Delta board of directors? The CEO works for them, not us the customers. One of the directors is in cybersecurity. Publicly traded companies, as far as I know, can’t knowingly state false things or less-than-truthful things in public statements. And yet, Delta has continued to, at best, misrepresent and, at worst, lie.
You make very fair points.
However,
Delat sold tickets with a contract of carriage. That contract covers what happened and Delta’s responsibility under it. Has Delta not honored those terms throughout? They have of course so why would anyone be unhappy because we all know computer failures are a part of life and its clearly spelled out just how little Delta has promised to do. Heck AA in their contract of carriage reserves the right to decide it’s too difficult to get you where you want to go and just cancel and refund the unused portion of your ticket.
Now before anyone drops off the deep end, I’m making a point. What airlines sell us (travel on a certain route, at a certain time, in a certain aircraft, in a certain seat) and what they actually promise to deliver are two VERY different things. That needs to change. They should be required to (within reason and what’s happened here doesn’t count) deliver on what they have sold. And the power imbalance that allows an airline to declare a mistake fare a week or more after they sold the ticket and cancel it while you get little to no grace if you make a mistake and book a ticket to Portland Oregon instead of Portland Maine for example has to end. Perhaps it’s time for additional regulations around the contract of carriage to prevent airlines from using it the way they do.