Attorneys for Microsoft have sent a scathing letter to Delta Air Lines, warning the carrier that its “incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging” narrative concerning where the blame lies for the recent meltdown will be countered.
Microsoft Sends Scathing Response To Delta Air Lines Over CrowdStrike Issue
Yesterday I wrote about the CrowdStrike letter–that I found more bark than bite, except perhaps for the reference to a contractually defined liability limit–but the Microsoft letter strikes me as far more damning against Delta and also suggests that Delta is deliberately lying about what went down that caused a week-long meltodwn last month.
Let’s first examine the letter in its entirety (bolding mine):
Let me say first that Microsoft empathizes with Delta and its customers regarding the impact of the CrowdStrike incident. But your letter and Delta’s public comments are incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation.
The truth is very different from the false picture you and Delta have sought to paint:
(a) Even though Microsoft’s software had not caused the CrowdStrike incident, Microsoft immediately jumped in and offered to assist Delta at no charge following the July 19 outage;
(b) Each day that followed from July 19 through July 23, Microsoft employees repeated their offers to help Delta. Each time, Delta turned down Microsoft’s offers to help, even though Microsoft would not have charged Delta for this assistance.
(c) On the morning of July 22, a Microsoft employee, aware that Delta was having more difficulty recovering than any other airline, messaged a Delta employee to say, “just checking in and no pressure to reply, but if you can think of anything your Microsoft team can be helping with today, just say the word.” The Delta employee replied, saying “all good. Cool will let you know and thank you.” Despite this assessment that things were “all good,” public reports indicate that Delta canceled more than 1,100 flights on July 22 and more than 500 flights on July 23.
(d) More senior Microsoft executives also repeatedly reached out to help their counterparts at Delta, again with similar results. Among others, on Wednesday, July 24, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emailed Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who has never replied.
(e) In fact, it is rapidly becoming apparent that Delta likely refused Microsoft’s help because the IT system it was most having trouble restoring—its crew-tracking and scheduling system—was being serviced by other technology providers, such as IBM, because it runs on those providers’ systems, and not Microsoft Windows or Azure.
Microsoft continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the CrowdStrike incident to understand why other airlines were able to fully restore business operations so much faster than Delta, including American Airlines and United Airlines. Our preliminary review suggests that Delta, unlike its competitors, apparently has not modernized its IT infrastructure, either for the benefit of its customers or for its pilots and flight attendants.
Given all this, my client was surprised to see your letter. This is particularly so given that CrowdStrike has acknowledged responsibility for the content update that caused the July 19 incident.
As you know, Windows is an open platform that supports a vibrant ecosystem of programs, including built-in and first-party solutions and additional options by third-party developers, such as CrowdStrike. To ensure that Microsoft’s customers have options for the best possible protection from malicious attacks, Windows enables trusted third-party developers to develop kernel drivers, in addition to user mode drivers. Security programs are able to use kernel mode drivers to protect the Windows system in the startup process. Third-party programs that utilize kernel drivers must balance security against resilience, and Microsoft provides feedback and best practices to third-party security program developers through Microsoft’s Virus Initiative.
Given Delta’s false and damaging public statements, Microsoft will vigorously defend itself in any litigation if Delta chooses to pursue that path. Further, Microsoft demands that Delta preserve (a) the documents CrowdStrike demanded that you preserve; as well as (b) documents discussing or referring to (i) the CrowdStrike incident and Delta’s outage, including Delta’s efforts and experience in returning to working order its systems, including its crew-tracking and scheduling system and systems that use other third-party technology providers; (ii) the extent to which non-Microsoft systems or software, including systems provided and/or designed by IBM, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Kyndryl or others, and systems using other operating systems, such as Linux, contributed to the interruption of Delta’s business operations between July 19 and July 24; (iii) the decision to deploy CrowdStrike across the various different systems comprising Delta’s computer infrastructure; and (iv) Delta’s communications with third-party media and/or public affairs consultants concerning the CrowdStrike incident and Delta’s outage, and concerning Delta’s communications strategy and/or public response. Such documents include both communications internally and externally, with third parties.
Please let me know if you would like to schedule a time to talk.
While I think Delta has a very reasonable case against CrowdStrike, I see no case against Microsoft and I find the allegations Microsoft is making concerning Delta’s crew-scheduling software may help to exonerate (or least mitigate damages) for CrowdStrike as well.
It seems like the problematic software for Delta was not even run via Windows or Azure but via IBM or AWS…that’s a big deal.
As I said yesterday, I don’t think the real rebuilding starts until Delta issues a sincere apology for its part in prolonging and exacerbating a mess. Blaming it all on CrowdStrike and Microsoft may be a legal tactic, but passengers are not buying it when other airlines recovered far more quickly and as the letter above suggests, blaming Microsoft is like grasping for straws. There is a divergence between legal strategy and the court of public opinion, but Delta has already lost in the court of public opinion (its image as a top-tier, premium, reliable airline has been shattered) and if its hubris continues, it may lose in court too.
The best course Delta can take now is to apologize sincerely to customers, work out a quiet, face-saving settlement with CrowdStrike, and get back to work trying to run a tight operation and offer a premium experience.
CONCLUSION
Microsft has countered Delta’s legal threat with a threat of its own and a threat that resonates with me far more than the veiled threats by CrowdStrike. No matter where the blame ultimately lies, Delta is not moving forward by digging deeper. It’s time to move on from the blame game and start moving forward again.
image: Delta
Microsoft does not realize that they are “micro” and “soft” .
Delta has led the way over the past decade in destroying frequent flier programs and finding new and inventive ways to screw over their most loyal customers. The one thing they had going for them was their operation, which was still meaningfully better than their competitors. Over the past 18 months, that last domino has fallen, and I will shed no tears to watch Delta’s management try to clean up the mess they’ve created.
None of that will happen until Ed is sacked. It’s quite telling that he was reached out to by both vendors and refused to answer. Delta really choose the wrong path, again.
Delta is a destroyer of value. Current leadership is more interested in attending SXSW and Coachella to promote their lifestyle brand. It’s Jonestown all over. Cult status. When push comes to shove, Delta is a glorified Spirit and Bastain is a post turtle.
If you compare Delta to all other US carriers, the Crowdstrike debacle clearly exposed Delta as a fraud. It is neither a premium carrier nor a particularly well run one. If it was both, it would spend more of its earnings boost, which are all derived from skimming customers in every seat on every one of its flights, on bolstering its technology and IT platforms.
This is the correct assessment
You can say whatever you want about Delta but all I can say is that as a Million Miler, they treat me way above what I would expect. Yes, not everyone is a million miler but I have been overly impressed with their care. Won’t get into details here but just reached out for help and they stepped up big in my case.
The real underlying change has to be “recognise the value that your infrastructure and IT teams provide” – what happened to Delta is a great example of when you don’t do that.
This could sink Ed Bastian.
I imagine he would care because of pride but financially he is set for life. He could be fired and still have a ton of money in stocks and deferred compensation to get.
As I noted in another post, this is the rattling of the sabers by the lawyers….great way to pile on the billing hours.
@Exit Row … +1 . Bingo . Bush-League lawyers .
YES!!! Tell it like it is and say it louder for those down the back. Delta and its CEO should be ashamed of themselves for how they handled this. I hope all the ugly is revealed in court.
Maybe the emails were having problems getting through to Bastian at The Olympics. Oh wait, he waited until the middle of this catastrophe to run off on vacation. Gotta love that Delta “leadership”!