Delta Needs To Take Accountability For Meltdown, Drop The Hubris

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.

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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.

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?