Operations remain in meltdown mode at Delta Air Lines, with over 500 flights already canceled this morning after a rough weekend that included thousands of delays and cancellations impacting over 80% of flights. The carrier has been unique among its peers in being unable to recover from the global IT outage on Friday.
Operational Meltdown At Delta Air Lines Enters Day Four
On Friday, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike launched a “Falcon Sensor” software update that crippled commerce worldwide when it proved incompatible with Microsoft Windows. Rather ironically, widely-used security software meant to detect and block hacking threats became a critical security vulnerability itself.
The failed security update hit airlines particularly hard and among airlines hit Delta hardest of all:
- Friday, July 19, 2024
- Delta canceled 1,207 flights (39% of its total schedule), and delayed 1,867 flights (49% of its total schedule)
- Saturday, July 20, 2024
- Delta canceled 1,194 (36%) flights, and delayed 1,426 (43%) flights
- Sunday, July 21, 2024
- Delta canceled 1,377 (36%) flights, and delayed 1,589 (42%) flights
- Monday, July 22, 2024 (as of 6:00 am ET)
- Delta canceled 576 (15%) flights and delayed 97 (2%) flights
The day is young…
As a point of comparison, United Airlines did not have a great weekend as well, canceling 22% of flights on Friday, 15% on Saturday, and 9% yesterday (so close to meltdown status itself), but still nothing like Delta. Thus far today, United has canceled only 10 flights, registering at 0.4% of its overall schedule. Unlike Delta, United also proactively canceled flights hours or even days in advance, allowing for more proactive rebooking and crew re-assignments that minimized disruptions.
That’s not to say United had a good weekend (somehow American Airlines was able to operate far better than Delta or United), but it is absurd to lump United and Delta into the same category as some “analysts” have done: this issue hit Delta uniquely hard.
Delta Silent As To Specific Reason For Meltdown
While Delta has officially been silent beyond superfluous assurances it wants to get everyone on their way, behind the scenes it appears Delta is experiencing a crew scheduling software issue that has exacerbated and extended the meltdown, very similar to what happened to Southwest Airlines in late 2022.
JonNYC has shared many data points concerning this unfortunate situation, but perhaps nothing is as telling as this:
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 21, 2024
That’s really eye-opening…Delta is doing all it can to incentivize staff to pick up extra trips, but it appears that many flight crews cannot even schedule themselves!
Meanwhile, all Delta has done publicly is apologize:
Across the operation, Delta teams in airports, on board flights, on phones and in messaging channels were working tirelessly to care for customers as the airline worked to put flight crews and aircraft back in position following the disruption.
We’re sorry for this inconvenience – canceling a flight is always our last resort and isn’t taken lightly. Delta takes seriously the trust placed in us to deliver the reliability and experiences customers have come to know and expect from us.
That’s not very comforting to passengers experiencing 17-hour waits to reach an agent:
I live at the airport now. Thanks, @Delta! ✈️ pic.twitter.com/x8F6MLTcso
— Liz Skalka (@lizskalka) July 20, 2024
CONCLUSION
Navigate to Delta’s flight status page and you’ll see Delta refers to itself as the “on-time machine.”
Perhaps a little humble pie is in order…
Delta is no doubt a solid airline overall, but its ongoing meltdown should dispel any notion that it is in a league of its own. Delta’s dismal operations over the last four days demonstrate anything but being an “on-time machine.”
This is shocking to see given all the hubris DL creates around itself and its premium leanings. Nothing but schadenfreude for this arrogant company.
DL is the Joe Brandon of airlines .
Nothing says premium like 1028 minute hold times.
The bad news is their flights may be delayed or cancelled . The good news is Brandon is gone . Either way , it is time for a drink .
Have you noticed that Southwest was not impacted by the corrupted IT code. Just saw on YouTube that Southwest was still using Windows NT. Same thing for FedEx which also uses Windows NT.
Sometimes it pays to be late to the party ==:-)
“affected” is properly used … “impacted” is improper usage .
It’s crazy how WN avoided issues thanks to ancient software.
I’m a firm believer in “leaving well-enough alone”
Right up until there is only one person in the entire world who can reset your critical operational application.
Fortunately he answered his phone on Christmas morning.
There are enormous implications here for Delta beyond this event. The theme of airline earnings calls was overcapacity for the remainder of the year and now Delta has alienated a ton of customers who may choose to book other airlines for future travel. It could be a really ugly fall for them with weaker bookings in a time where the industry is already forecasting lighter revenue than initially expected.
They’re lying about ‘weather’ to not compensate people out of NY – when every other airline is flying in the same “weather.” Will passengers eventually get reimbursed?!