Delta's flight delays and cancellations prompt Dept. of Transportation investigation : NPR

Delta’s flight delays and cancellations prompt Dept. of Transportation investigation : NPR

U.S. airline regulators have opened an investigation into Delta Air Strains, which was nonetheless struggling to revive operations on Tuesday, greater than 4 full days after a defective software program replace precipitated technological havoc worldwide and disrupted world air journey. Right here, a Delta Air Strains airplane leaves the gate on July 12, 2021, at Logan Worldwide Airport in Boston.

Michael Dwyer/AP


cover caption

toggle caption

Michael Dwyer/AP

Vacationers, you should definitely pack some endurance. Chaos continues to be underway with Delta Air Strains, because the airline has entered its fifth day of flight cancellations and delays following Friday’s world software program outage.

And whereas the Atlanta-based service continues to be attempting to get operations so as, the U.S. Division of Transportation has opened an investigation into the current flight disruptions, citing “the excessive quantity of shopper complaints” the division has obtained in opposition to Delta.

“We’ve got made clear to Delta that they need to handle their passengers and honor their customer support commitments,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mentioned in a press release Tuesday.

“This isn’t simply the precise factor to do, it’s the regulation, and our division will leverage the total extent of our investigative and enforcement energy to make sure the rights of Delta’s passengers are upheld,” he added.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Delta had canceled greater than 400 flights and delayed roughly 860 flights for the day, in keeping with flight monitoring web site FlightAware.

In a press release to NPR, Delta Air Strains acknowledged the Division of Transportation’s discover of the investigation and mentioned it’s “absolutely cooperating” with the division.

“We stay solely targeted on restoring our operation after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s defective Home windows replace rendered IT methods throughout the globe inoperable,” the airline mentioned in its assertion, including that groups are continuously working to get its operations again to regular.

On Monday, Delta Air Strains CEO Ed Bastian mentioned that the airline has been working to revive the software program that tracks and schedules its flight crews. Nonetheless, he famous that it might take a number of days to completely restore the airline’s operations.

“We’ve acquired everybody across the firm working across the clock to get this operation the place it must be,” Bastian mentioned within the assertion.

In a public letter Sunday, Delta supplied journey waivers to prospects on flights impacted by the outage, permitting them to alter itineraries and rebook their flights with none added charges. However in a put up on X, Buttigieg mentioned that underneath new federal rules, prospects usually are not obligated to just accept the journey credit score supplied to rebook flights however are entitled to a immediate money refund.

“Delta should present immediate refunds to shoppers who select to not take rebooking, free rebooking for many who do, and well timed reimbursements for meals and lodge stays to shoppers affected by these delays and cancellations, in addition to sufficient customer support help,” he wrote.

Thousands and thousands of Microsoft customers worldwide have been knocked offline following a flawed software program replace from CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity group. CrowdStrike mentioned the issue was not a cyberattack however a “software program glitch.” After figuring out the problem, the corporate mentioned it withdrew the “problematic channel file” that affected prospects’ methods.

Delta’s technical points are comparable to people who occurred with Southwest Airways throughout the 2022 vacation journey season. The Dallas-based airline canceled hundreds of flights and left thousands and thousands of vacationers stranded.

Following the incident, the U.S. Transportation Division ordered Southwest to pay $140 million in a civil penalty, which was by far the biggest the DOT has ever levied for shoppers, the division mentioned in a press release asserting the penalty.