January 1, Buttigieg’s DOT Probes Delta Amid Over 4000 Flight Cancellations and Persistent Issues

The federal government, under Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, has launched a probe into Delta Air Lines, which, due to persistent operational issues and over 4,000 flight cancellations since Friday, has caught the attention of regulatory authorities.

Delta’s massive disruption has seen the Department of Transportation swing into action to “ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions,” as Buttigieg announced online. He further stated that all airline customers have an entitlement to fair treatment, and his role will be to ensure this right is maintained.

This follows Buttigieg’s disclosure of hundreds of complaints about Delta’s service interruptions received by his department. With competitors swiftly resuming regular service after a global tech outage inflicted by CrowdStrike, Delta continues grappling to restore its systems and operations.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., headquartered in Austin, revealed the global disruptions, which were felt by emergency services, banks, hospitals, and other enterprises, were due to a “defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.” This defect caused a complete halt of airline operations, resulting in an estimated 35,000 delays and 8,500 cancellations across the U.S., from Friday to 10 a.m. ET Monday, said FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs.

Delta felt the brunt of these disruptions. CEO Ed Bastian divulged that “a significant number of applications,” crucial ones among them being Delta’s crew tracking-related tools, are reliant on Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Bastian attributed the operational hang-ups to a bug in one of CrowdStrike’s applications, which necessitated a full stop and reset on Friday.

In a note issued Monday, he cautioned that it would “take another couple of days before we’re in a position to say that… the worst is clearly behind us.”

In a previous statement, Bastian assured that diligent efforts were underway to normalize operations. He also mentioned that impacted customers would be compensated with either SkyMiles Program miles or a travel voucher. Delta has yet to comment on the situation.

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