Delta Cancels More Flights as It Slowly Restores Operations After Tech Outage

Hundreds of U.S. flights were canceled early Monday, with carrier Delta Air Lines struggling the most to recover from a global tech outage that started Friday, according to numerous reports.

Frustrated Delta passengers were hit with more than 800 cancellations Monday, and over 4,500 cancellations since Friday, the most of any airline, CNN said. 

As of 3:30 p.m., Delta had canceled 815 flights on Monday, or about 21% of its scheduled flights, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

The latest cancellations and delays came a day after Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg knocked Delta for its response to the tech outage, which is affecting Microsoft users and was prompted by a failed update of CrowdStrike, a U.S. cybersecurity firm.

Buttigieg said his office had “received complaints about Delta’s customer service, and warned that the carrier must provide its customers with adequate assistance and refunds,” according to The New York Times.

In an update to customers Sunday afternoon, Delta CEO Ed Bastian apologized to customers, saying the company is working to restore operations, and announced that Delta has issued a travel waiver for itinerary changes at no cost.

“Delta is in the business of connecting the world, and we understand how difficult it can be when your travels are disrupted,” he said. “Please know that Delta’s entire team of the best professionals in the business have been working around the clock to safely get you where you need to go, and restore the reliable, on-time experience you’ve come to expect when you fly with us.”

Bastian explained that Delta has “a significant number of applications” that use the Windows operating system, and “in particular one of our crew tracking-related tools was affected and unable to effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system shutdown. Our teams have been working around the clock to recover and restore full functionality.”