Delta under investigation for its handling of flight delays after IT outage

The Transportation Department said Tuesday that it was launching an investigation into Delta Air Lines’ treatment of passengers as the carrier entered a fifth day with hundreds of flight cancellations — disruptions that sowed chaos at its hub at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The airline’s problems began with Friday’s global computer outage, which caused a wave of flight cancellations. But Delta has said a key system it uses for scheduling crews was affected, and it has struggled to recover even as other airlines quickly got back to normal. The airline canceled 440 flights Tuesday, on top of almost 1,200 Monday — about a third of its schedule.

A larger share of the cancellations have been flights through Delta’s huge base in Atlanta. Local news showed unclaimed bags piled up at the airport and crowds of people trying to get help.

Delta did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday. Ed Bastian, the airline’s chief executive, said in a message to employees Monday that the company was working round-the-clock to get back on its feet.

Delta is the latest airline to experience a long-running wave of cancellations since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. They have often begun with an outside problem such as bad weather, before revealing weaknesses in the carrier’s internal operations. The situation at Delta mirrors a meltdown at Southwest during Christmas 2022, which began with severe weather but snowballed once the airline’s scheduling system became overwhelmed.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement Tuesday that Delta had to take care of its passengers.

“This is not just the right thing to do, it’s the law, and our department will leverage the full extent of our investigative and enforcement power to ensure the rights of Delta’s passengers are upheld,” Buttigieg said on X.

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(Allison Robbert/The Washington Post)

Last week, a botched update by CrowdStrike melted down the world’s computer systems. The global IT outage caused chaos across many businesses, including health-care systems. Experts urge users to brace for lingering problems with computer systems for the next few days.

The department’s actions are in line with the aggressive posture the Biden administration has taken to ensure airlines are meeting their obligations to customers, amid record number of consumer complaints. Regulators launched a similar probe of Southwest after its December 2022 meltdown and fined the carrier $140 million for its handling of the crisis.

On Tuesday, the Delta showed continuing progress in its effort to rebuild its operations after an software update Friday knocked out computer systems worldwide causing flight delays across the globe. Though several major carriers were able to recover relatively quickly, Delta continued to struggle throughout the weekend and into this week.

On Sunday, the carrier canceled more than 40 percent of scheduled flights, according to FlightAware.com, a flight-tracking website.

In a blog post published Sunday, Bastian said the carrier’s recovery had been hampered because the outage affected the tool used by the airline to keep track of crew members. The disruption to that system made it impossible for the carrier to process the number of schedule changes caused by the breakdown, he said.

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