Early Friday morning, we saw a major global IT outage, which had huge implications for the airline industry. However, no airline had a meltdown quite like Delta, which has canceled over 5,000 flights in the past several days.
While Delta can’t really be blamed for the initial problem, the reason we’ve seen so many cancelations is because Delta’s crew planning software basically stopped working. This had a huge domino effect, and for several days, a vast majority of Delta flights have been delayed or canceled. According to sources I’ve heard from, this is a function of Delta having underinvested in this technology for years.
Delta markets itself as the premium airline in the United States, though the way the airline is treating customers at the moment sure leaves a lot to be desired. We’re now starting to see how the airline is making people whole, and it’s not exactly the best case scenario.
How Delta is being stingy with displaced travelers
Delta has started reaching out to travelers who were impacted by the operational issues that we’ve seen in recent days. Under government regulations, the airline of course has to cover necessary expenses that passengers incurred, ranging from hotel stays to ground transportation.
As many people may remember, Southwest had an absolutely massive meltdown in December 2022, largely for the same reasons as Delta (the crew scheduling software stopped working during a very bad situation). However, it’s interesting to contrast the response of the two airlines (and Southwest’s response was hardly impressive at the time).
Two things stood out the most about Southwest’s response:
- The airline offered to reimburse passengers for tickets on other airlines; the airline didn’t legally have to do this, but it was the right thing to do, with many people stranded for days on end, and wanting to get to their destination
- The airline offered 25,000 Rapid Rewards points to each person who got caught up in that mess
That’s quite a contrast to what Delta is doing:
- Delta is explicitly telling people that it won’t reimburse them for tickets on other airlines, and the airline is also not rebooking passengers on other airlines in most situations (and that assumes you can even get in touch with a Delta employee, which is a challenge)
- Delta seems to primarily be compensating customers using Delta SkyMiles, and I’m seeing reports of amounts all over the place; in many cases, the airline is offering passengers just 5,000 to 12,500 miles, barely enough for a premium drink in the Delta One Lounge JFK
I also find it disappointing how Delta isn’t being at all transparent in how it’s communicating with customers. In the email to stranded travelers, the airline simply blames the issue on a vendor technology outage:
Please accept our sincere apologies for the disruption to your recent travel plans caused by a vendor technology outage affecting airlines and companies worldwide.
The airline does nothing to acknowledge that its own crew planning software is the reason the airline has performed so much worse than competitors in recent days.
Delta, this isn’t how a premium airline should act
Delta executives love talking about how the airline is premium. Heck, let’s just quote Delta CEO Ed Bastian during the recent Q2 2024 earnings call:
Premium is more than just putting more room in seats. And it’s the overall experience, right?
Premium is also based on a foundation of overall reliability and service, first and foremost, and that’s what we have focused on and specialized and done better over the last 15 years and then the airline, we continue to get better. In fact, the operations we’ve run this year are the best in the industry across every measure, every month, month in and month out. That gives you then freedom to actually deliver true premium experience as compared to somewhat maybe more superficial experience.
And that, to me, is what we’re best at.
You book Delta, which is so confident in its operational reliability, that the company’s flight status page refers to the airline as “the on-time machine.” The airline tells you at every corner how it’s premium.
Yet when there’s a meltdown, Delta seems to struggle with taking accountability for what happened, and does the absolute minimum for passengers.
Many Delta travelers are finding themselves stranded for days on end. Even as Delta’s operation continues to recover, many passengers can’t be rebooked for many days, given how full flights were already scheduled to be. So to basically tell those customers “tough luck,” and to not offer to reimburse them for tickets on other airlines, is pretty disappointing.
Bottom line
Delta has started reaching out to customers to offer reimbursement for expenses incurred as a result of the carrier’s meltdown. Delta’s current situation is mighty similar to Southwest’s December 2022 meltdown, which ultimately got really bad due to issues with crew planning software.
To me, a key difference is that Southwest offered to reimburse passengers for tickets on other airlines, while Delta has said that it won’t do that. To me that’s disappointing, especially when the carrier’s biggest talking point is how it’s premium because of how operationally reliable it is.
What do you make of Delta’s handling of this situation?
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