On July 19, Microsoft experienced a faulty software update from Texas-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike that affected 8.5 million machines globally. CrowdStrike immediately fixed it, but experts warn that fully repairing all affected systems could take days or even weeks. With most of Delta's IT systems using Windows, the company had to manually repair and reboot each affected system and synchronize applications to restore functionality. (Related: World scrambles to restore normalcy amid biggest IT outage in history.)
Delta has canceled over 5,500 flights, including at least 700 on July 22, since the outage began. Atlanta-based Delta and its regional affiliates accounted for approximately two-thirds of all flight cancellations worldwide on July 22, most of which were within the United States.
Ed Bastian, Delta's CEO, reassured their customers that Delta was working to restore disrupted operations on July 21. However, Bastian also stated that it would take another two days before the situation improves significantly with the technology issue coinciding with the busiest travel weekend of the summer.
Delta has offered waivers to facilitate the rescheduling of trips to alleviate passenger inconvenience, but with booked loads exceeding 90 percent, the airlines admitted that re-accommodation capabilities were severely limited.
On July 22, Bastian reassured employees that improvements were being made.
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"It is going to take another couple of days before we are in a position to say that the worst is clearly behind us," Bastian said that day. "Today will be a better day than yesterday, and hopefully Tuesday and Wednesday will be that much better again."
However, Rahul Samant, the Chief Information Officer of Delta, added that restarting the traffic management system at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta's largest hub, and the crew-scheduling application poses significant challenges. The crew-scheduling program is now operational, but ongoing issues continue to emerge that require further attention.
Southwest Airlines experienced similar problem in December 2022
The problems at Delta are similar to the problems that occurred at Southwest Airlines when it canceled nearly 17,000 flights over more than a week in December 2022.
According to insiders and the airline itself, the internal process required multiple departments to manually redesign the airline’s schedule – a system that works "the vast majority of the time." The "antiquated" technology at Southwest Airlines culminated in a massive travel meltdown that disrupted holiday plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers. Orphaned baggage piled up at airports and travelers scrambled to provide shipping addresses at the time.
"The magnitude and scale of this disruption stressed our technology and processes, forcing a great deal of manual processing," Southwest said in a statement. "Our crews are showing up in every way throughout this challenge."
Other airlines managed to recover earlier that year, but Southwest's cancellations, just like Delta's, only increased because Southwest’s software, including the crew scheduling system, requires extensive manual intervention when flights are canceled. Crew schedulers manually check which pilots and flight attendants meet strict federal rules on work hours, leading to hours-long wait times for crew members calling in for instructions.
"It can't see the best way to fix anything when flights are canceled," said Brian Brown, the president of Transport Workers Union Local 550, representing Southwest dispatchers and meteorologists. "It requires a lot more human intervention and human eyesight or brainpower, and can only handle so much."
Brown added that the outdated system means that airline officials "don't necessarily know where our crews are, where our planes are."
Furthermore, Lyn Montgomery, who represents Southwest flight attendants at TWU Local 556 stated that the manual work resulted in crew members who could be working instead stuck in lengthy phone queues.
"The phone systems that the company uses is just not working," said Montgomery. "They're just not manned with enough manpower to give the scheduling changes to flight attendants, creating a ripple effect of chaos."
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Watch the video below that talks about the link between the CrowdStrike outage and a possible election theft.
This video is from Ron Gibson's channel on Brighteon.com.
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