DOT Investigates Delta Over Flight Disruptions
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has launched an investigation into Delta Air Lines due to a surge in customer complaints regarding canceled and delayed flights that began last week following a global technological disruption.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the investigation on Tuesday, stating that its purpose is to ensure Delta’s compliance with regulations and its commitment to passenger welfare during ongoing widespread travel disruptions.
Buttigieg had previously expressed concerns in a statement on Sunday, noting that the DOT had received numerous complaints against Delta concerning “persistent disruptions and unsatisfactory customer service conditions.”
“I have made it clear to Delta that we will hold them accountable for all relevant passenger protections,” Buttigieg stated in Sunday’s post. “Delta must promptly issue refunds to passengers who opt out of rebooking, offer free rebooking for those who choose to reschedule, and provide timely reimbursements for food and accommodation costs to travelers affected by these delays and cancellations. Furthermore, they are obligated to offer adequate customer service assistance.”
“No one should be left stranded at an airport overnight or enduring hours on hold waiting to connect with a customer service agent,” he added.
The CrowdStrike outage, triggered by a faulty update deployed to computers running Microsoft Windows on Thursday night, resulted in widespread technological disruptions globally. Since the outage commenced, Delta has canceled over 6,600 flights, exceeding any other airline, as reported by .
A Delta spokesperson informed TIME in a statement that the airline is “fully cooperating” with the DOT’s investigation. Delta stated on its that over half of its IT systems globally are Windows-based, and that the CrowdStrike outage necessitated their IT teams to “manually repair and reboot each of the affected systems.”
“We remain entirely focused on restoring our operations after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update rendered IT systems across the globe inoperable,” the spokesperson said. “Across our operation, Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for and make amends with customers impacted by delays and cancellations as we strive to restore the reliable, on-time service they have come to expect from Delta.”
While Delta has faced in the past, the airline has often . However, on Tuesday, Delta experienced an additional 470 flight cancellations, even as other airlines, including United and American Airlines, appeared to have recovered from the CrowdStrike outage with only 47 and 40 flight cancellations, respectively, according to .