Delta Air Lines’ operational woes are continuing into Monday afternoon, with the carrier now finally admitting that “deeply complex” crew scheduling software impacted by the faulty CrowdStrike update has held it back from resuming normal operations.
“Deeply Complex” Crew Software Cited As Reason For Continuing Delta Air Lines Operational Meltdown
Earlier today I wrote about Delta’s operational meltdown entering its fourth day. Delays and cancellations continue, with 21% of flights canceled and 37% of flights delayed as of 4:00 pm ET. Within the last 90 minutes, Delta has issued an operational update that for the first time pinpoints its crew scheduling software as a key factor in the continued delays and cancellations:
Delta people worked Monday to get the airline’s complex global operation back on track after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update rendered IT systems of companies across the globe inoperable.
“We’ve got everyone around the company working around the clock to get this operation where it needs to be,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a video message to employees on Monday. “Keep taking great care of our customers and each other in the coming days.”
Upward of half of Delta’s IT systems worldwide are Windows based. The CrowdStrike error required Delta’s IT teams to manually repair and reboot each of the affected systems, with additional time then needed for applications to synchronize and start communicating with each other.
Delta’s crews are fully staffed and ready to serve our customers, but one of Delta’s most critical systems – which ensures all flights have a full crew in the right place at the right time – is deeply complex and is requiring the most time and manual support to synchronize.
Across the operation, Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for customers impacted by delays and cancellations as the airline works to put flight crews and aircraft back in position following the disruption.
Look, I am confident Delta is doing the best it can and that if it was the fault of a third-party (CrowdStrike) for triggering the operational meltdown that continues today. No one is seriously denying it and I’m not sure Delta could have done it any differently. This time it was Delta software that got hit but next time it may be United or American. Some software glitches you simply cannot prepare for.
Could Delta have proactively canceled more flights to get the operation back in order and ruined fewer consumer travel plans? Maybe…it’s a bit too early to examine that.
But maybe this unmitigated disaster will humble Delta and lead to even better and stronger operations going forward. That’s the only benefit that can come from this staggering meltdown and if Delta can learn anything here, it might be that to always “show, don’t tell.” Efficient operations are borne out across airports each day, not in marketing slogans.
image: Delta
What the hell is wrong with you, Matthew, that you are incapable of providing an unbiased story? Is it all click-bait to get your rent paid?
Of course, creating even more controversial topics that create page clicks is the way to fix the problem that you should be able to fix.
Or maybe you really are paranoid that Gary routinely posts how far down the list your site is the ranking of page clicks for travel sites.
It isn’t hard to also look at the FAA’s ATC status page to see that DL at ATL is the only carrier requested gate hold being continually requested since the crowdstrike mess started.
Delta operates more mainline flights than any other US airline except WN and also operates the world’s largest hub at ATL with the highest percentage of mainline flights of any large US hub. ATL is more than 60% connections for DL.
DL simply cannot dump thousands of passengers per hour into ATL onto flights that risk cancellation.
There have been thunderstorms in the SE just as there have been thoughout Texas in May (documented by Cranky Flier)
UA operates a much smaller percentage of mainline flights than DL and yet still is cancelling a high percentage of international flights – which will have a large impact on their bottom line – just as this mess will for DL.
And the real question is why AA has managed to get back on line faster as well as how many passengers have just cancelled with DL or UA and flown WN whose decades old computers actually work.
Yes, DL is having a harder time because of their size and the concentration of mainline operations at ATL
When you focus on creating page clicks, there will be no light shed on why but let’s face it that your blog Live and Lets Fly is not about creating understanding anything despite the article name but about creating page clicks by the AA and UA employees that can’t stand to admit the real news which is that DL is still at the top of the industry and this event won’t change it.
I hope you get the help you so desperately need.
Trump Air will give Delta some fortitude and resilience .
If Delta cannot handle the pressure , then Trump Air will do the job for them .
988. Keep that number handy. You’re inching closer to needing it
You really are nucking futs.
Computers , tech , and AI are junk .
Similar recovery failure Southwest faced in Dec 2022 except Southwest seemed more willing to reimburse impacted passengers.
“affected” is correct … not “impacted” .
Delta stock down almost 4% today while United didn’t decline.
This is another stain on their reputation as more people see Delta’s marketing messages as vapor ware.
Such coincidence 7/22 was going to be the ‘big’ summer not ending marketing hype announcement.
At least remove “the ontime machine” from the flight status page.