As everyone knows by now, Delta has had an absolutely massive meltdown in recent days, though the carrier’s operation is starting to stabilize, which is great news.
While the initial problems were due to the IT outage that impacted companies around the globe, there’s a reason Delta’s recovery was so much worse than that of every other airline. Essentially Delta’s crew planning software stopped functioning due to how messed up the network was, and this is what triggered the number of cancelations that we’ve seen.
Delta’s crew planning software is very much within the carrier’s control, and it’s my understanding that Delta has just underinvested in this technology, never expecting something like this could happen.
Obviously Delta has ruined the travel plans of millions of passengers, and that’s something that can’t be undone. What disappoints me the most about this ongoing issue is how Delta is communicating with customers, and doing the bare minimum to make passengers whole, all while reminding everyone of how premium and reliable the airline usually is.
In this post:
Delta CEO Ed Bastian’s update for customers
Delta CEO Ed Bastian has been pretty quiet throughout this meltdown. We haven’t seen a video message from him, as you might expect from the leader of an organization suffering its worst operational meltdown ever. Instead, we’ve just seen a few statements attributed to him.
This morning (July 24, 2024), Bastian has provided his latest update for customers, which I’ll just share in its entirety:
Since the CrowdStrike outage late last week, Delta’s team of the best professionals in the business has been working around the clock to restore the reliable, on-time operation you’ve come to know and expect when you fly with us.
While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us. Delays and cancellations were down 50% Tuesday compared to Monday, and we anticipate cancellations Wednesday to be minimal. Thursday is expected to be a normal day, with the airline fully recovered and operating at a traditional level of reliability.
I know the last few days have been difficult. To our customers who were impacted, I want to thank you for your patience and apologize again for the disruption to your travel.
We understand how important travel is in your lives, and we remain committed to taking care of those whose flights may still be impacted, with meals, hotel accommodations and ground transportation offered through vouchers and reimbursements. We’re also providing impacted customers with Delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers as a further gesture of apology.
I also want to extend my thanks and gratitude to Delta’s amazing team of 100,000 aviation professionals, who have been working tirelessly to take care of our customers and ensure their safety in a challenging operating environment.
We will continue to keep you informed via delta.com and the Fly Delta app for the latest information on your itinerary.
I’ve received emails from many of you who are understandably frustrated with the pace of progress and the difficulty in getting the service you deserve. I’ve also received many notes of encouragement and support commenting on the heroic efforts of our people, who are working under trying and stressful conditions. Thank you for your feedback, as well as your patience and understanding.
Delta needs to be more apologetic
There’s the old quote “it’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” Well, I think this is an area where Delta is failing horribly. However bad Delta’s initial meltdown was, the tone the airline is taking with customers is even worse.
For one, Bastian simply doesn’t acknowledge or take accountability for the fact that the company’s own software caused the bulk of the issues. Every chance it gets, the airline simply states that it’s recovering from the “CrowdStrike outage.”
I very much interpret the tone here as being “sorry all of that happened, but it wasn’t really our fault.”
If you ask me, Bastian should have started this note by apologizing in the first paragraph, but instead we only get an apology in the third paragraph, almost as an afterthought, and after repeatedly reminding us that CrowdStrike is to blame.
Beyond that, the letter has a self-congratulatory tone, in my opinion, with little acknowledgement for the extent to which Delta customers have been inconvenienced. Like, by all means thank the “best professionals in the business” for their “heroic efforts,” but when that’s more of a focus than apologizing to customers, there’s an issue.
Bastian spends a lot of time talking about how Delta is the world’s most premium airline, thanks in no small part to how reliable it is. There’s no denying that good customer service is a big part of a premium experience, and on average, Delta employees are more professional than those at most other carriers.
Yet it seems like another part of good customer service is owning up when mistakes are made, being transparent, and leading by example. Delta customers should want assurance that something like this will never happen again, and the tone here doesn’t give me much confidence that this will be the case, since the airline is pretending like it played no part in this meltdown.
I guess long story short, this apology note feels like it was written by lawyers rather than by accountable leaders (in cooperation with comms folks), and that’s disappointing.
Bottom line
Delta’s operation is improving significantly as of today, after five very rough days. While that’s great, what’s less impressive is how Delta is communicating during this meltdown. Delta CEO Ed Bastian just published a letter today, repeatedly talking about “the CrowdStrike outage,” while taking little accountability for the company’s own part in the meltdown.
I really don’t think Delta is doing itself any favors with the tone of its communication, and by taking the approach of exclusively shifting blame, rather than acknowledging that the airline has room for improvement.
What do you make of Delta CEO Ed Bastian’s “apology” to customers?
They are also the ones that complain to the US government about foreign carriers.
I like delta, due to its domestic product, compared to rivals, but do I despise their FF program, and management team.
just felt like it'd be helpful if i chimed in again
The Gospel according to Delta Fanboy Dim Sum: on the 8th Day God created Delta and sent forth the Prophet Bastian to bring us light and bestow Delta One upon the Chosen. For those in Purgatory, the Hope of Premium Select is bestowed. For the Damned, nothing but the Hellfires of Basic Economy and an Eternity of CrowdStrike Press Releases to torment thine eyes and ears and scorch thy mind.
Hilarious, just brilliant. Now, let's never mention his name again.
Computer guy here that just happened to work for delta in college way way back when Cvg was a hub in college during that disastrous 7.5 thing - at the heart of this, I’m pretty sure deltamatic lives on gloriously though, not mentioned and definitely not at the heart of this problem with cloudstrike. Maybe just maybe this reliance on Microsoft and all the baggage, at the front end was a disaster and not so...
Computer guy here that just happened to work for delta in college way way back when Cvg was a hub in college during that disastrous 7.5 thing - at the heart of this, I’m pretty sure deltamatic lives on gloriously though, not mentioned and definitely not at the heart of this problem with cloudstrike. Maybe just maybe this reliance on Microsoft and all the baggage, at the front end was a disaster and not so much on Microsoft, I might add. Why in this age would you build so many mission critical apps so dependent on the front end when you know the heart of your operation is so bullitt proof? Hard to see what Delta’s issues are with so many news articles, but I did see a few that indicated that so many of these apps mentioned couldn’t deal with the messaging load that they encountered when they were brought back up which indicates a lack of investment in basic IT infrastructure or taking advantage of what you already have - deltamatic in your apps like American might have done with Sabre legacy access.
Deltamatic is alive and well. Worth noting that in the weeks before SNAPP collapsed several years ago, the plan was to eliminate it from all but 1 PC in any given station. I'm not even sure new hires learn more than a handful of entries.
OMAAT commenters: "I'm annoyed by Tim's incessant rants and nonsense"
Also OMAAT commenters: makes a bunch of alt accounts to post rants and nonsense about Tim
#notallomaatcommentators.
Nope, not a bunch of alt accounts. I just call out Tim for being a hypocrite and a git. He can’t accept when he is proven wrong. Which is there are so many “alt” accounts that troll him. Because he conflates fact with opinion.
Why not just ignore him ? Ben is also a fool for allowing people to post comments under the same pseudonym. Therefore how do you know it’s the same one ?
He should have technology in place to stop others using the same nom de plume.
Starting to wonder if Ed Bastian and Tim Dunn are really the same person? It would explain Delta's PR response for sure. And they have never been seen in the same location together. . . How is the weather in Paris, Tim, er I mean Ed?
Jim
Cliff’s notes was never as good as your comprehensive summary…
We had a frequent flyer redemption flight booked on a truly premium airline which make's business class available at reasonable mileage prices. Thanks Qatar! The flight we were planning to take on Delta on Tuesday had been cancelled three consecutive days. So we drove to Atlanta from Orlando on Monday. We won’t get any compensation for the rental car or hotel as we didn’t wait until the last minute. It was all worth it when...
We had a frequent flyer redemption flight booked on a truly premium airline which make's business class available at reasonable mileage prices. Thanks Qatar! The flight we were planning to take on Delta on Tuesday had been cancelled three consecutive days. So we drove to Atlanta from Orlando on Monday. We won’t get any compensation for the rental car or hotel as we didn’t wait until the last minute. It was all worth it when we settled into our Q-Suite. Delta was less reliable than any airline for a full week at a premium price. Thankfully we were positioning to a city which was drivable.
And now Bastain's off to Paris for the Olympics—just incredible optics.
With his girlfriend.
Ok Ben, I was all for holding DL accountable and calling them out on their poor recovery but now, multiple posts later, it just seems like you have a bone to pick with them.
To be fair, hundreds of thousands of travelers (at least) have a bone to pick with them. I'm posting this from an airport hotel that I paid out of pocket, while waiting out my 30 hour layover after the first leg of my flight which was cancelled and rebooked 13 hours late, and being downgraded from my paid fare class with no recourse - only to see my new flight with almost completely empty biz...
To be fair, hundreds of thousands of travelers (at least) have a bone to pick with them. I'm posting this from an airport hotel that I paid out of pocket, while waiting out my 30 hour layover after the first leg of my flight which was cancelled and rebooked 13 hours late, and being downgraded from my paid fare class with no recourse - only to see my new flight with almost completely empty biz / premium sections that no one was allowed to 'upgrade' into even if that was their paid fare class.
Rumor mill is mixed on reimbursement since Delta themselves have been telling me to stuff it and/or pray for reimbursement. I got better treatment a couple years ago when my $50 EasyJet flight was cancelled. I was similarly stranded overseas, but got a free hotel, meals and taxi + great cash compensation, all with much less resistance than I'm experiencing from Delta, with whom I paid 50x the airfare and have over a decade of loyalty status
Delta definitely needs a helping of humble pie
I will add my comment on Delta. There APP is bad and it is years away from United in the ability to handle IRROP. You cannot even see the seat map when checking the flight status.
On the topic itself, bad optics with Ed Bastian off to the Olympics leaving the embers to everyone else at DL to put out. Worse optics to DL's paying customers.
@Ben, are you really going to permit Tim Dunn bring up your kid in his ever increasing unhinged posts. You think that is a one off? With one click, you can improve your readers enjoyment of your blog.
@ Robert J Fahr -- Oh, it's definitely not a one-off, he has done so repeatedly for months. It's odd that of all the things he could attack me for, he repeatedly claims that I'm at risk of no longer being able to feed my son. I'd be offended, except I just find it to be so exceptionally bizarre that I just chuckle...
No, it’s sad that you allow what no other site allows. You clearly monitor comments.
What exactly do you gain from people that mock other users?
Why are you unwilling to do what other sites have done?
They have kids too
Now Timmy, this is just sad.
Insult someone over their parenting skills? No problem
An obvious joke about how Delta is the world's only perfect airline? SOUND THE ALARM THIS IS SO IMPORTANT THE WORLD IS GONNA END
What is sad is that you can’t read. There is no insult of anyone’s parenting skills.
Not once have I called Delta perfect.
You and your ilk create a false bar talk by yourself and then pat yourself on the back at how loudly you yell.
I am condemning Ben for his inability or unwillingness to control the comments section when other people can on sites that I also participate in.
...What is sad is that you can’t read. There is no insult of anyone’s parenting skills.
Not once have I called Delta perfect.
You and your ilk create a false bar talk by yourself and then pat yourself on the back at how loudly you yell.
I am condemning Ben for his inability or unwillingness to control the comments section when other people can on sites that I also participate in.
Ben needs to explain why and ONE explanation is to generate page clicks to feed his family more than create a solid and pleasant reader experience
Then please enlighten us and tell us what you consider to be the “not perfect” things about Delta
Wow... Not only does Ben get to live rent-free in Tim Dunn's head, but looks like he's building an ADU or two as well.
Sounds like Tim Dunn wants Ben to restrict others free speech, but not his own.
Tim Dunn: “I am condemning Ben for his inability or unwillingness to control the comments section when other people can on sites that I also participate in.“
You mean like airliners.net? Where they’ve banned you for being a complete and utter git? Sites are better off without you.
Discourse should be encouraged. You, on the other hand, belittle any body that dares disagree with you. You post diatribes. You can’t ever admit you are...
Tim Dunn: “I am condemning Ben for his inability or unwillingness to control the comments section when other people can on sites that I also participate in.“
You mean like airliners.net? Where they’ve banned you for being a complete and utter git? Sites are better off without you.
Discourse should be encouraged. You, on the other hand, belittle any body that dares disagree with you. You post diatribes. You can’t ever admit you are wrong, even when facts say otherwise.
Yeah, Ben. Why are you unwilling to do what other sites have and ban this guy?
(Previous comment removed) TLDR: please do not let anyone broadcast or even dastardly insinuate that your parenting skills or provider status leave something to be desired. He (guess who) did exactly that on one other site, was called out, and cooled down for at least several months.
Ben,
It is beyond cowardly and shameful that Sr. Tim threatened your son. Back when cranky wrote up the AS/AA semi-functional merger/codeshare/JV, Tim insulted Cranky’s family, who obviously had not even contributed to the online discussion. Just keep in mind that you are by no means the recipient of such behavior…
Ben, I can only wish I had your level of patience. I am in awe of your ability to merely “chuckle” at someone who considers your infant son to be more deserving of online abuse than an airline.
One Mile at a Tim.
One Timm at a time
What he should face said is :
We really failed here. Whilst there was a global IT failure we need to review our processes and systems to avoid any repetition.
We know hundreds of thousands of customers were stranded and our front line staff put in a very difficult situation.
We let you all down.
I also know offering a gesture in terms of miles or vouchers isn’t always sufficient.
...What he should face said is :
We really failed here. Whilst there was a global IT failure we need to review our processes and systems to avoid any repetition.
We know hundreds of thousands of customers were stranded and our front line staff put in a very difficult situation.
We let you all down.
I also know offering a gesture in terms of miles or vouchers isn’t always sufficient.
We know many of you are out of pocket and will consider remunerating additional costs when you submit them to us. This includes alternative transport to get you to your destination. We will do our best to get these processed as quickly as possible.
I believe Delta committed to that today. It is what Southwest had to do after their Christmas 2022 meltdown. Seems Delta had to do it or the govt would force them. Still waiting for our govt (Harris, Biden or Trump) to put in a consumer bill of rights for airlines like the Europeans enjoy.
Airline "deregulation" left us with a government-supported tri-opoly of airlines immunized--by regulation--from almost all legal accountability. Why is it surprising that they are so bad? They're collectively shielded from all but the mildest competition within the US, they're legally shielded from most liability to their customers, and they get bailed out when they manage to lose enough money anyway. The only place customers can realistically vote with their wallets is on international flights.
Airline "deregulation" left us with a government-supported tri-opoly of airlines immunized--by regulation--from almost all legal accountability. Why is it surprising that they are so bad? They're collectively shielded from all but the mildest competition within the US, they're legally shielded from most liability to their customers, and they get bailed out when they manage to lose enough money anyway. The only place customers can realistically vote with their wallets is on international flights.
There are lots of mega businesses that are just as concentrated. Airlines are high profile and used to be regulated. Some in Washington can’t let go of their power and just let the market decide who lives and dies.
We have more airlines at the risk of failure now than in the past 20 years.
1 airlines failed in 2008. Which 11 airlines are currently at risk of failure?
Save and Ha if the merger is blocked.
You know that using airlines’ stock tickers instead of saying Hawaiian and Spirit just makes you seem like a pompous git, rather than knowledgeable. This isn’t SeekingAlpha Tim….
To be fair to the airlines, adjusted for inflation, air travel is at historic low prices. Would like a consumer bill of rights that offers some protections to consumers when airlines fail to deliver their product.
As long as congress can get flights out of DCA to their home airports they don’t care.
You know a lot of us aren't interested in your petty wars between a blog writer and one commenter, right? Stop feeding the troll. It's not interesting.
Maybe you should ask why it doesn’t happen on other sites and the reason is because I say my two cents like everyone wants, let others do the same, and those sites don’t allow themselves to be the gutter of the internet w anonymous sites
Even Gary tapped a few people on the shoulder and told them to knock it off. Cranky did it years ago. Seeking Alpha has always been moderated
Ben is the odd man out. Ask him why he he can’t get control of his comment section
Because I asked him to let me keep poasting
"let others do the same"
No you don't, you browbeat people when they have a different opinion and deflect and move the goalposts in an effort to try to justify why Delta is never wrong at anything, ever.
@Julia - exactly. Timmy browbeats everyone who dares have a different opinion.
I did post a comment under your name (Tim Dunn) at LALF (see “DELTA (FINALLY) BLAMES OPERATIONAL MELTDOWN ON “DEEPLY COMPLEX” INTERNAL ISSUE” on 22July).
I do feel a bit guilty as I didn’t expected it to be published. Sorry about that.
Daddy,
Gary has done NOTHING of the sort to tap folks on the shoulder.
Neither has Matthew at LALF.
What they are totally wrong about is everything relating to you and the multi-verse's #1 PREMIUM business.
Hell, these 500K travelers should be PAYING DL for the privilege of being stranded by the best company EVER!
Now, please continue schooling these trolls with your opinion-based arguments...because you are WINNING!
And Airliners.net banned YOU. Which makes it much more civilized than other sites. Go away Tim. Seek help. You need it.
I dealt with the madness trying to get from MCI to LAX. Finally made it home last night and on the flight, they left a seat empty in first class even though they had 12 people on the upgrade list including myself...I was 3rd. Just added salt to the wound of this "premium" airline. I'm seriously thinking of going back to United after this experience to work towards 2 million miler status.
I'm sure that all the fanboys and apologists are gloating at today's FlightAware's stats as of noon Eastern. China Eastern is the new Delta with 200 cancellations today and counting! Rejoice!
Does anyone else here find the need for corporate groveling to be completely unnecessary? If I am one of the stranded travelers, the only thing I want to hear from the company is regular, detailed updates. Don't we, as a society in general, look at these PR platitudes as scripted and worthless anyway?
We have the ability to vote with our wallets as to whether the inconvenience was enough to make us change our...
Does anyone else here find the need for corporate groveling to be completely unnecessary? If I am one of the stranded travelers, the only thing I want to hear from the company is regular, detailed updates. Don't we, as a society in general, look at these PR platitudes as scripted and worthless anyway?
We have the ability to vote with our wallets as to whether the inconvenience was enough to make us change our spending habits, and I don't care if the CEO is X'ing that he is sorry every hour if the experience was too much for me to endure.
My prediction - one month later congressmen and senators will have a hearing to scream at Ed Bastian and get some screen time for their voters.
6 months later DOT will fine them peanut million dollars and delta stock price will rise 10% at the ridiculously low fine.
As long as congress can get flights out of DCA to their home airports they don’t care.
Delta is a joke! Bad PR and Ed should resign
Delta is not a joke. They screwed up, definitely. Would you rather travel on Delta verse a ULCC, definitely. While I find them overpriced compared to the competition, they "usually" get you where you want to go without much issue.
The horse is dead. Let's move on.
I wonder how long DL can keep blaming CrowdStrike before CrowdStrike has a viable defamation case.
As whiny as Delta's "Crowdstrike started this!" reminders are, they're not materially false, so Crowdstrike wouldn't have much chance of winning such a suit.
What they should be doing (and I'd be shocked if they aren't) is gathering all possible evidence of contributory-negligence by the airlines, hospitals, etc, in preparation to defend against the inevitable suits that will be headed their way, from those businesses.
"Crowdstrike started this!" is of course objectively true, but DL is continuing to blame them for their ongoing problems, which is more like "CrowdStrike continues to impede us". That's disingenuous at best, seeing as how every other airline recovered.
Like if I drive over a nail and get a flat, I can blame the nail. If I keep driving without fixing the flat and need new rims too, I can't reasonably blame the nail for that.
Bad PR decisions at DL
The deflecting of blame is so frustrating and a leaves such a sour taste. After DMing them on X/Twitter for help rebooking a cancelled SFO-ATL-MIA, I pleaded that they rebook me on a nonstop UA or AA that had plenty of seats open. Their exact response:
"We cannot rebook you on other airlines as the CrowdStrike outage was not our fault, so we will can keep you on Delta."
Mind you, my rebooked flight...
The deflecting of blame is so frustrating and a leaves such a sour taste. After DMing them on X/Twitter for help rebooking a cancelled SFO-ATL-MIA, I pleaded that they rebook me on a nonstop UA or AA that had plenty of seats open. Their exact response:
"We cannot rebook you on other airlines as the CrowdStrike outage was not our fault, so we will can keep you on Delta."
Mind you, my rebooked flight was for TWO DAYS later, and still cancelled.
DO BETTER DELTA! Or at the minimum, accept responsiblity.
I used to feel sorry for Tim for all the mocking and trolling he used to get. But his comments over last few days has made it clear that he has lost all sense of rationality and common sense when it comes to Delta. He gets offended on Delta criticism as someone is criticizing Tim himself. His only response to any criticism of DL is whataboutism. Now Dl and Ed tries hardest is projecting how...
I used to feel sorry for Tim for all the mocking and trolling he used to get. But his comments over last few days has made it clear that he has lost all sense of rationality and common sense when it comes to Delta. He gets offended on Delta criticism as someone is criticizing Tim himself. His only response to any criticism of DL is whataboutism. Now Dl and Ed tries hardest is projecting how different and unique DL is to other carriers. Just based on that mindset, whataboutism defense is utter BS. Either you are like everyone else or you aren't. Can't have it both ways.
Now coming to the article, the whole message was written by their PR firm and it reminds me of quote by Ben Stone in his last episode of Law & Order - For once, I want people to take responsibility. I am baffled that in this day and age, PR still thinks best way to respond to such crisis is to blame others rather than take the ownership of your mistake. With each passing day and message, Delta is losing it's face.
Obviously Tim Dunn is an American hero but +1 for a Ben Stone reference. loved that guy
At this point while Delta Airlines is not Tim Dunn, Tim Dunn is Delta Airlines
We don't claim him
We need a more precious Member gemstone for Tim than Diamond. Emerald? Sapphire?
How about Executive Platinum just to really needle him? :p
1K-arat.
I find the ad hominem insults hurled at the host of this blog by the overly-excited "insert airline name" fanboy frankly very ungentlemanly and totally unnecessary.
I think about how Southwest handled their debacle. Even Alaska which had a much smaller meltdown a year or so back. The COO made daily videos. The CEO did at least one. Credits were proactive and generous along with bonus miles. I couldn't agree more. Customer Service is judged by how you react when things go wrong. Delta failed and continues to fail
In terms of legality be blaiming Crowd Strike you could still...
I think about how Southwest handled their debacle. Even Alaska which had a much smaller meltdown a year or so back. The COO made daily videos. The CEO did at least one. Credits were proactive and generous along with bonus miles. I couldn't agree more. Customer Service is judged by how you react when things go wrong. Delta failed and continues to fail
In terms of legality be blaiming Crowd Strike you could still do that: "This crowdstike issue is terrbile but we will take care of you our paying customers as priority number one"
This, apparently, is the hill Tim Dunn will choose to die on.
Spot on OMAAT.
This story is pretty spot on. There are probably some legal reasons why responsibility is being shifted, but there are also ways to emphasize the duty of care without admitting legal fault. As smart as these people are, you can always count on them to be tone deaf when it comes to falling on the metaphorical sword. This isn't unique to Bastion, but he is the latest example of the behavior. This is partially pride...
This story is pretty spot on. There are probably some legal reasons why responsibility is being shifted, but there are also ways to emphasize the duty of care without admitting legal fault. As smart as these people are, you can always count on them to be tone deaf when it comes to falling on the metaphorical sword. This isn't unique to Bastion, but he is the latest example of the behavior. This is partially pride getting in the way, but my god...consult someone who has a clue before putting out these statements.
I don't pretend to know if this is the biggest airline disaster ever or if it is a run-of-the-mill failure, but just a little contrition goes a long way in making people feel seen. And then...only then, will some people begin to feel empathy for the company and trust it again. Some of the stories of people being stranded are harrowing. In some cases, even people with means can't do much for themselves because of the extent of the disaster and its ripple effects. If you are a traveler visiting family on a shoestring budget (like I was for many years), you are in a very difficult position. There may be no hotel room to send you to. You can't take the initiative to save money by buying groceries and cooking for yourself. You are just stuck with airport vouchers (if you can get them) and the hope that a Motel 6 room will shake loose somewhere. CEOs can't just talk about the abstract impact on the schedule -- they have to acknowledge the real impact on specific people. They have to show some basic empathy. This is crisis communication 101. It is just embarrassing that they still don't get it.
Most IT now is not thoroughly tested. Companies want to save money on software implementations/upgrades and vendors will play right into things like "yes we can do this all virtual and you won't have to pay for onsite travel." In this case the IT meltdown was very public. Anyone thinking that "name the airline" couldn't suffer a similar fate doesn't know anything.
And recovery becomes difficult because the system is already stretched thin. Been...
Most IT now is not thoroughly tested. Companies want to save money on software implementations/upgrades and vendors will play right into things like "yes we can do this all virtual and you won't have to pay for onsite travel." In this case the IT meltdown was very public. Anyone thinking that "name the airline" couldn't suffer a similar fate doesn't know anything.
And recovery becomes difficult because the system is already stretched thin. Been to an airport this summer? There's no slack in the system so passengers and crew can't get where they need to be. And so far DL doesn't seem to want to spend millions on things like ferry flights and sending corporate staff to work the front lines. Much easier and cheaper just to do press releases. Welcome to the C Suite today.
I was told this was a Southwest problem and other airlines were immune from a lack of IT redundancies
While it's true that there is a lot of hubris, the Delta leadership team is ultimately accountable to one metric alone: their share price. And here's the thing. The share price is doing fine; it's only down 5% since this whole meltdown started. They have a great AMEX deal and people in core Hubs (MSP, ATL, DTW, SLC) are realistically not going to switch to a competitor. So yes, not great over the last week,...
While it's true that there is a lot of hubris, the Delta leadership team is ultimately accountable to one metric alone: their share price. And here's the thing. The share price is doing fine; it's only down 5% since this whole meltdown started. They have a great AMEX deal and people in core Hubs (MSP, ATL, DTW, SLC) are realistically not going to switch to a competitor. So yes, not great over the last week, but unless high-value customers start switching to AA/UA, everything will be fine.
I think this is exactly what’s wrong with capitalism or our interpretation of it. Execs being only responsible for the share price will continue to “optimize” which means layoffs and underinvesting in critical systems.
What’s wrong with execs being responsible not only for the financial wellbeing but also for the experience, for the communities… what’s wrong with having a moral compass where we can take care of business but to a limit, without jeopardizing...
I think this is exactly what’s wrong with capitalism or our interpretation of it. Execs being only responsible for the share price will continue to “optimize” which means layoffs and underinvesting in critical systems.
What’s wrong with execs being responsible not only for the financial wellbeing but also for the experience, for the communities… what’s wrong with having a moral compass where we can take care of business but to a limit, without jeopardizing other areas.
It took us 3 days to get where we needed. Once we hit partner airline, things went smoothly!
ZTravel - 100% agree!!
The share price is not doing fine. It's down +20% since mid May. You could have bought DAL shares for the same price 10 years ago and that is not even inflation adjusted.
...and did we tell you the name of the game, boy?
We call it riding the gravy train.
Fast Eddie doesn't have time for this distraction. He needs to catch that plane to Paris so he can rub elbows with other elites at the Olympics
Ed left last evening on DL84. Time to party in Paris and bear the fruits of a very expensive 10 yr Team USA sponsorship deal, getting wined and dinned.
I had a bit of fun yesterday at VftW. I'm sharing it again in hopes that the readers here will enjoy it here too.
I read every word Tim Dunn writes so you don’t have to:
Delta — the only airline that is perfect in thoughts, words and deeds. The best company in the history of the world. The first company (predates Hudson’s Bay), the richest company (more profitable than Google), and the...
I had a bit of fun yesterday at VftW. I'm sharing it again in hopes that the readers here will enjoy it here too.
I read every word Tim Dunn writes so you don’t have to:
Delta — the only airline that is perfect in thoughts, words and deeds. The best company in the history of the world. The first company (predates Hudson’s Bay), the richest company (more profitable than Google), and the largest company (they own a refinery — so big)
Southwest — a pretty good airline, but not perfect. Should be more like Delta
United — airline that needs a refinery and isn’t very good in the Pacific
American — I wish there were more hurricanes so that more of their flights would be delayed
Delta vendors — companies who are responsible for anything that goes wrong at Delta
People who “get it” — people who agree with me
Fact — anything I write
Opinion — anything I don’t agree with, including statistics that paint Delta in a bad light
Mayor Pete — dumbest human being ever, with the possible exception of Gary and Ben
Bias — anti-Delta opinions
“You need to get off the Internet” — a really clever insult that wins the argument every time
“The only person who XXXX is you” — a really effective comeback that makes people agree with me every time
The stock market — a perfect tool to show how good Delta is because there is always some period of time when Delta is outperforming competitors
Seattle — place where Delta makes more money than Alaska
The Pacific — a place where it doesn’t matter if you have a big route network
Texas — a place where you wouldn’t want to have more than 7% market share
Delayed Delta flights — an opportunity for a traveler to spend more time with Delta
Delayed flights by other airlines — an outrage 100% of the time, even if due to weather
Cancelled Delta flights — not a problem because Delta will reaccommodate you — most likely on a routing that will get you to your destination even faster than your original itinerary
Cancelled flights by other airlines — conclusive proof that Mayor Pete doesn’t get it
Delta’s bankruptcy — something that never happened
Tim didn't think that sounded like him AT ALL, and I dug out a long list of Tim Double Standards:
Tim Dunn — This week: “Are you telling me that you are incapable of pulling out a credit card and getting a new ticket?” An interesting comment given what you said in 2022: “Many customers don’t have the flexibility to whip out a credit card and get their way home another way.” The Tim of 2021 seemed to be a bit kinder than the Tim of this week too: “Because the majority of the readers of this blog are generally well-educated travelers doesn’t mean that we should serve as the judge and jury of what consumers should consider an acceptable resolution to their travel irregularities, if they occur.” Tim of 2021 and 2022 was a fairly understanding Tim; Tim of 2024 just assumes everyone can float a $2K last-minute ticket for a few months while Delta deals with a backlog of claims.
You’ve been full of grace for Delta the last few days (instead training your fire on CrowdStrike). That’s a different Tim from this one in 2021: “If an airline cannot reset their operation overnight, there is a problem.” I agree with 2021 Tim.
In 2020, you promised to be a kinder, more positive Tim: “I welcome others to hold me accountable to the standard of “is something positive being said” and would suggest that be a standard we all accept in order to create a positive commenting environment.” That didn’t last — here’s what you said to Ben this week: “Ben – Clearly I hit a nerve. Good. You, just like Gary, have been bullied for large parts of your life. Your site is now the tool through which you get revenge. I can see it clearly.” Pretty clear that the new, positive Tim that you promised us in 2020 didn’t last, huh? And here was you being ****ty to Gary last year: “Another anecdotal opinion piece from View Inside the Rear Lav that is actually contrary to public data.” Pathetically juvenile Tim.
Tim Dunn — this week: “the hypocrisy and rage at Delta is as notable as the lack of yours and others memory of what has happened at other airlines.” That’s an interesting perspective given what you said in 2021: “Consumers, regardless of the price, buy their tickets with the expectation that their flights will be operated and reasonably close to on-time.” Interesting evolution in your thought process, eh?
These are all direct copy-and-pastes. The contradictions are easy to find when someone writes thousands of words of comment barf a day and the only consistency to any of it is “whatever Delta does must be defended.”
You forgot the fabulous A350s Delta has.
This comment is Exhibit 2 why Tim needs to be banned. He is a hypocrite who can’t ever admit he is wrong, even when confronted with his own words.
so the cowardly children who aren't even smart enough to come up with their own username don't have to listen to real facts as inconvenient as they are?
The only hypocrites are those that can't admit that DL fell hard but managed to get back on its feet faster than the two most recent major industry meltdowns -WN and UA - and still has better operational performance than AA which is running its usual operational...
so the cowardly children who aren't even smart enough to come up with their own username don't have to listen to real facts as inconvenient as they are?
The only hypocrites are those that can't admit that DL fell hard but managed to get back on its feet faster than the two most recent major industry meltdowns -WN and UA - and still has better operational performance than AA which is running its usual operational which is the worst.
but since Ben has status on AA, we don't hear how bad AA's operation is day in and day out.
Hi Tim,
my take from this blog is that Ben is repeatedly criticizing AA.
But since Delta wants to be perceived as a premium airline, they need to be better than AA.
If you have the time to read and dice what I write and repost it on other sites, it is you, not me, that has mental issues.
I have you and a whole lot of people wrapped around my little finger and you (collectively) aren't smart enough to realize how you are being played like an out of tune violin
Tim Dunn: 4-dimensional chess master, aviation knower, cheesemonger extraordinaire, infosec guru. A true renaissance man. A real treat at parties.
Narcissism is a disease.
Hi Tim,
Let’s just assume you are wrapping them around your little finger: Why? What is your benefit? What is your motive?
And isn’t all that commenting very time consuming?
Honest question: does it boost your Seeking Alpha subscriptions?
The only person being played here is the real Tim Dunn, by Lucky.
The only hubris is from Ben who needs to milk the DL story for every page click he can get and keep the fake user names going in order to put milk in front of his child.
Seriously, Ben.
Grow up.
Tim, go away. This post is Exhibit 1 on why you need to be banned.
Your comment that is…. You attack Ben for a well-written post (unlike some of your drawn-out comments) on his own blog and tell him to grow up. You, sir, are the one who needs to grow up.
Tim resit the urge to react to every DL article and you will find that the trolling will organically diminish overtime.
*resist
Correct me if I am wrong, but if it says “Tim Dunn - Diamond” it’s the @RealTimDunn from Seeking Alpha.
If it says “Tim Dunn - Guest” or “Tim Dumbest - Guest” etc. it’s a different Tim Dunn? Maybe the NASA Tim Dunn or the British historian Tim Dunn?
So actually easy to differentiate.
Delta is a garbage airline. Get over yourself.
I think the fake names are too much and I think the attacks on you are out of proportion.
But honestly this is a pretty misguided and gross comment.
Delta has had a bad few days. We can all admit that. And Ben can write a piece on how they need to lift their customer service game. It’s a very valid point. You could even agree with that one.
But Bringing his kid into it? “Milk in front of his child”? So unnecessary and reflects badly on you.
The fake names are good actually
p.s.: none of this happened; delta is the most reliable airline in the history of airlines
What is it like to live life without any of the emotional intelligence to accept an iota of criticism for an airline that doesn’t give a sh*t about you?
da fuq is wrong with you
Bringing Ben's son into the mix to defend the inanimate entity you have a parasocial relationship with is gross and uncalled for, even by an already low standard. Please stop talking about other people's children.
Tim the fact that you keep bringing in Ben’s child whenever you feel insecure is really unbecoming of a person. You should be ashamed of yourself and seriously i am surprised you are not banned from here.
There is a reason you are banned from many places and people think of you in such negative light. You don’t come across as an admirable guy because you are have ego issues, it is always “everything is...
Tim the fact that you keep bringing in Ben’s child whenever you feel insecure is really unbecoming of a person. You should be ashamed of yourself and seriously i am surprised you are not banned from here.
There is a reason you are banned from many places and people think of you in such negative light. You don’t come across as an admirable guy because you are have ego issues, it is always “everything is me, everyone else is nobody”. Maybe respect others, especially those who know better then you and maybe everyone will stop taking a swipe at you
But who am i to say this, you are just gonna reply with some utterly baffling
Tim, when there’s even a debate about banning you, you’re losing.
Tim Dunn wrote this comment not realising half his comments here are written on posts abt how crappy AA is...
The simple of it is that IT issues happen all the time. Yes, CrowdStrike was severe. But Delta, perhaps more than any other major business I know of, has found its IT processes and systems sorely lacking. Whether it's Delta under-investing, internal mistakes, lack of a reasonable business continuity/disaster recovery plan (or poor execution of that) or something else, the fact that everyone else is back in business shows that this is a Delta problem.
"...lack of a reasonable business continuity/disaster recovery plan..."
This, right here.
It's like DL had nothing planned, and if they did, never exercised it before they needed it. Instead, they winged it.
"...Instead, they winged it."
I see what you did there. ;)
tell us how long WN took to get its IT issues resolved - it was a whole lot longer than the 4 days it took DL.
And tell us how long UA took to get its network back on track after its meltdown 13 months ago which came as a direct result of overscheduling EWR.
Hint: it took a lot longer than 4 days.
And Ben should be capable of posting Scott Kirby's letter...
tell us how long WN took to get its IT issues resolved - it was a whole lot longer than the 4 days it took DL.
And tell us how long UA took to get its network back on track after its meltdown 13 months ago which came as a direct result of overscheduling EWR.
Hint: it took a lot longer than 4 days.
And Ben should be capable of posting Scott Kirby's letter to customers - but he can't because Scott Kirby was on a private jet at Teterboro while his operation fell apart.
It should be abundantly clear that Ben has a serious ax to grind and he only is hurting his own site and credibility.
And at this hour of the morning, AA has cxld more flights than DL and AA's on-time is already worse than DL's.
Where is AA's accountability for the repeated operational failures that are part of the way they do business - and yet Ben (and Gary) cling to AA status on AA.
Hello Tim,
Why do you want to compare Delta to WN?
If you want Delta to be seen as a premium carrier, you shouldn’t use low performers as a benchmark, should you?
Just because someone else did the same thing worse doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t do it badly.
totally on point
Some businesses (IMO, bad biz) look at how others perform and seek to perform less bad in order to be successful. In a nutshell, that's the reality of your argument for why Delta is great.
This response is nothing more than "whatabout"ism. This does nothing to excuse Delta's issues during this meltdown.
That is a shame how Delta keep's pushing the blame to the third party vendor instead of admitting their fault with the poor investment in their Operations IT systems. IMO, this position is hurting more their image then the meltdown itself from the weekend, which was shared by AA and United (which recovered earlier, so clearly Delta is to blame in this long problem that they got into to).
Pathetic.. just pathetic.... he is just worried about his bonus going out to the people that contributes to it.
NEVER!
Long live Supreme Leader Ed Bastian and the valuable Skypeso!
They should at least try to keep all their customer service agents up to date on policy changes. I had a bit of back and forth yesterday with chat support just getting them to acknowledge that the travel waiver date had indeed been extended — they were originally trying to get me to pay the fair difference with points.
I’m going to guess that DL is mounting an enormous lawsuit against Crowdstrike to claw back every penny they can get, so they cannot admit any guilt publicly or it’ll be used against them.
I’m not saying that’s the right thing to do. It’s absolutely the wrong approach, but DL is a publicly traded company and is doing right by the shareholders even if it means doing the wrong thing for customers.
I've seen in several other articles that the damage to Crowdstrike financially will be minimal. Their licensing agreements limit financial damages to the cost of the service, not anything ancillary. This means at the most, Crowdstrike will be on the hook for whatever they charged the clients for the software as a refund, but no additional damages
The Delta CEO needs to step down. He failed his customers. The company needs to invest in IT redundancy not an outsized CEO bonus.
Ed Bastian is a sex-god CEO! He has overseen the most profitable business in the history of humanity!
These Tim Dunn jokes are getting really boring now. Debate him for sure but these quips are flogging a dead horse.
"The company needs to invest in IT redundancy not an outsized CEO bonus."
I won't claim to know what DL's IT setup is, but redundancy wasn't the cause of their meltdown.
Redundancy may not be the cause but it may very likely be the cure in such events.
Redundancy won't help - having more Windows boxes crippled by the CrowdStrike update unable to recover a crew management application that can't get the job done won't cut it.
The cure is to stop using an OS that was developed back when the Great Communicator was president and hair bands ruled MTV and to develop a crew management application with redundancy built in.
Notice Linux boxes weren't affected - Sounds like it's time for Linux boxes on AWS.
Oh, this won't be a cluster down here in the comments...
Just kidding!
Enough said.
Ed Bastian reportedly flew to Paris yesterday on DL84. The flight left ATL some two hours late.
Where is Delta's board of directors? Why are they allowing corporate management, who work for them and the shareholders, to knowingly lie to customers? And at what point is a publicly traded company lying to customers and, ultimately, shareholders in public statements now a serious issue for financial regulators?
why didn't you ask that about UA's board the Monday morning after Scott Kirby boarded a private jet at Teterboro while his operation was collapsing because of overscheduling at Newark?
Why don't you ask that about AA which has underperformed the industry for two decades?
Accountability is great and I am all for it but your calls for heads would be a whole lot more reasonable if you weren't so selective.
Typical Tim Dunn.
Fluffy cookie dough.
Ask about Delta, you get United as an answer.
Whataboutism - the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue.
I see you are a Diamond member here on OMAAT, shouldn't you remember how angry Ben was on Scott Kirby after he took a private jet?
I give AA credit for slowly turning around their operation. Even before the start of Covid they were predicted to go bankrupt Their earnings now exceed Southwest's. While AA still has the most work ahead of the big 3 US airlines, it has made progress. It some ways it is industry leading such as creating 3 levels of premier lounges at JFK and sharing the cost with BA.
UA constantly living rent-free in your head. Often I think you come across to me as an AI. You couldn't mention anything without bringing UA into it.
This past incident just shows DL isn't what you ve hyping them to be.
This is just the beginning.
Thats so funny! I'm yet to find out what Scott Kirby did to Tim Dunn. Someone help me.
"Anyway..."