Delta meltdown: US DOT opens investigation to CrowdStrike outage, backlog being reduced

ATLANTA - The U.S. Department of Transportation has opened an investigation into Delta Air Lines' struggles to recover from last week's worldwide CrowdStrike outage. 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced on Tuesday that the agency started the investigation to ensure Delta is following federal law and taking care of customers.

"All airline passengers have the right to be treated fairly, and I will make sure that right is upheld, Buttigieg wrote on X.

A LOOK AT WHAT EACH AIRLINE HAS COMMITTED TO PROVIDING CUSTOMERS

FlightAware reports that more than 400 flights have been canceled so far on Tuesday morning at the Atlanta airport. Most of those are Delta flights.

In a statement, a Delta spokesperson said the airline was cooperating with the investigation.

"We remain entirely focused on restoring our operation 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 it right for customers impacted by delays and cancellations as we work to restore the reliable, on-time service they have come to expect from Delta."

As part of the investigation, the agency is asking passengers who believe Delta has not complied with travel protections to submit a complaint here.

MORE: Olympic fan hopes Atlanta airport recovers from IT meltdown before Paris flight

Delta ‘makes progress to restore operations’

Delta Air Lines reports that as of early Tuesday evening, things are "moving firmly in the right direction" to return service to normal.  

"Teams are working around the clock to reposition planes and people to where they need to be so we can return to normal operations by the end of the week," said John Laughter, Chief of Operations and President, Delta TechOps. "We’re seeing solid day-over-day progress across operating metrics that the entire team should be proud of." 

The airline reports it has seen a 50% decrease in cancelations day by day and Atlanta flight volume continues its upward trend with 43% more flights on Tuesday. It also reports that the backlog has been reduced by 75% in the last 36 hours. 

As for bags, they are working with their customers and partners to reunite travelers with the luggage. 

"With our collective focus, we will continue this momentum to be in good shape ahead of the busy weekend," Laughter said. 

The airline also thanked its 1,500 volunteers, who are part of the Behind the Wings shifts, who have helped to accommodate passengers. 

"We know this hasn’t been easy. We have every confidence that Delta will quickly reclaim its position as the industry-leading, on-time machine that our customers have come to expect from us," said Allison Ausband, Chief Customer Experience Officer. "In the meantime, keep supporting each other and our customers, and we’ll continue to keep you informed every step of the way." 

What are your rights as a passenger? 

Can you get a refund for the flight? What about vouchers? There are a lot of questions consumers continue to have as the fallout from the CrowdStrike flight outage continues.

Travelers are entitled to a refund of the ticket price and associated fees if it meets one of the following criteria: 

Cancelled Flight: If an airline cancels a flight, passengers are entitled to a full refund, regardless of the cancellation reason. 

Schedule Change/Significant Delay: Passengers can claim a refund if a significant schedule change or delay occurs, and they opt not to travel. The Department of Transportation (DOT) assesses "significant delay" on a case-by-case basis, considering factors like delay length and flight duration. 

Class of Service Change: If downgraded to a lower class (e.g., from first class to economy), passengers are entitled to the fare difference. 

Optional Service Fees: Refunds are granted for optional services (e.g., baggage fees, seat upgrades) if they are unusable due to flight cancellations, delays, or schedule changes. 

Lost Baggage: Passengers whose baggage is declared lost by the airline are entitled to a refund of the baggage fee. Airlines typically declare bags lost between five and fourteen days after the flight. 

Fully Refundable Tickets: Consumers with fully refundable tickets are entitled to a refund if they do not complete their travel. 

Situations such as personal issues which caused the traveler to miss the flight, unsatisfactory service, or incidental expenses are not covered by the above. 

In addition, ticket holders who purchased at least seven days before departure can get a full refund from the airline a full refund within 24 hours or have a reservation held at the quoted price for 24 hours without requiring payment. This does not apply to tickets bought through travel agents or third-party vendors online. 

Airlines must issue refunds within seven business days for credit card payments and within 20 days for cash or check payments. 

Passengers should proactively request refunds in writing from the airline or ticket agent. 

For more information, refer to the DOT guidelines on Airline Ticket Refunds and Consumer Protections. 

To cancel or refund a Delta flight, follow this link.

Delta passengers fed up

One Delta traveler said it took him five days to return home to Atlanta.

"Flight Friday afternoon canceled. Three flights Saturday canceled. Three flights Sunday canceled," David Dunsmuir told FOX 5. "Monday, flew me to Minneapolis, canceled the flight to Atlanta, stayed in the airport."

Tiffany Colleran said she finally got fed up with the delays and cancellations. She drove back to Atlanta from Detroit, not knowing where her luggage ended up.

"I just looked over randomly and saw the stickers on my suitcase and was like, ‘OMG, there it is,’" she said.

The same cannot be said for Boone Brown's bag.

Brown is supposed to play in the U.S. Kids Golf World Teen Championship on Thursday in Pinehurst, North Carolina, but his clubs, which are fitted to him, are somewhere out west.

"I’ve been dreaming of this for three years now. I’ve been trying to qualify for years, been doing fundraisers and mowing lawns to just get onto and pay for the tournament, and now I’ve lost my clubs," Brown told FOX 5.

The Department of Transportation created a chart that shows what each airline is supposed to do for travelers during delays or cancellations during a controllable event. The CrowdStrike outage applies

Delta says the airline is still trying to fix a vital crew-scheduling program.

"They blame it all on Microsoft, but at the end of the day, they’re big enough to have a contingency plan," said Dunsmuir. "It’s just pure incompetence."

Pete Buttigieg criticizes Delta cancellations

In an update on Monday, the airline’s chief executive said it would take "another couple days" before "the worst is clearly behind us." 

While other carriers were returning to normal levels of service disruptions, Delta’s chief information officer said that the airline was still trying to fix a vital crew-scheduling program.

On Sunday, Buttigieg spoke to Delta CEO Ed Bastian about the airline’s high number of cancellations. Buttigieg said his agency had received "hundreds of complaints" about Delta, and he expects the airline to provide hotels and meals for travelers who are delayed and to issue quick refunds to customers who don’t want to be rebooked on a later flight.

"I have made clear to Delta that we will hold them to all applicable passenger protections," Buttigieg wrote on X, calling the reports of disruptions "unacceptable."

"No one should be stranded at an airport overnight or stuck on hold for hours waiting to talk to a customer service agent," he said. He vowed to help Delta passengers by enforcing air travel consumer-protection rules.

Delta has canceled more than 5,500 flights since the outage started early Friday morning. Delta and its regional affiliates accounted for about two-thirds of all cancellations worldwide on Monday, including nearly all the ones in the United States.

United Airlines was the next-worst performer since the onset of the outage, canceling nearly 1,500 flights. United canceled only 17 Monday flights by late morning, however.

MORE: 'We're sorry': Delta offers vouchers, miles, waivers, more after global IT outage | How to get yours

What's causing the Delta flight cancellations?

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a message to customers over the weekend that the airline was continuing to restore operations that were disrupted. One of the tools Delta uses to track crews was affected and could not process the high number of changes triggered by the outage.

"The technology issue occurred on the busiest travel weekend of the summer, with our booked loads exceeding 90%, limiting our re-accommodation capabilities," Bastian wrote. Loads are the percentage of sold seats on each flight.

Airlines have large, layered technology systems, and crew-tracking programs are often among the oldest systems. When the outage began Friday, it also affected systems used to check in passengers and make pre-flight calculations about aircraft weight and balance, airlines reported. United and American reported intermittent problems communicating with crews in the air, contributing to their decisions to briefly ground all flights.

Delta's response to canceled, delayed flights

On Wednesday, Delta Air Lines told FOX 5 they are implementing the following to reconcile with passengers experiencing delays, cancellations or other inconveniences:

Baggage:

• As Delta continues our operational recovery, we’re working reunite bags with customers.
• We have set up an internal Baggage Command Center in Atlanta, where we are seeing the highest number of displaced baggage, in an effort to expedite the process of reuniting customers with their belongings.
• Customers have three options for support with displaced luggage:Visit their local Baggage Service Office and file a claim.Visit Delta.com, search Online Baggage Claim Form and submit a claimCall 1-800-325-8224 to make a baggage claim.
• Visit their local Baggage Service Office and file a claim.
• Visit Delta.com, search Online Baggage Claim Form and submit a claim
• Call 1-800-325-8224 to make a baggage claim.
• We are also leveraging all of our delivery partners to assist in making final mile delivery of bags needing to be returned to customers at their homes or their final travel destinations.
• Delta continues to leverage as many solutions as possible to ensure customers’ bags are returned to them as soon as possible.

Operation:

• As industry tracking sites like FlightAware show, Delta’s cancellations today are lower than previous days. As of 3:30pm, Delta (including Delta Connection flights operated by regional carriers) has ~500 cancels out of 5,059 flights scheduled for Tuesday.
• More: Delta people working 24/7 to restore operation, support customers, get crews to right place at right time | Delta News Hub

Action Delta is taking for customers:

• Delta extended a travel waiver for all customers with travel booked from July 19-28. The waiver offers customers the ability to make a one-time change to their itinerary. The fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before Aug. 4, in the same cabin of service as originally booked. Customers are encouraged to manage changes to their travel via delta.com or the Fly Delta app.
• Right to a Refund Upon Request - Customers whose travel has been disrupted due to a canceled or significantly delayed flight may choose to cancel their travel and receive an eCredit for the unflown portion of the trip, or may instead request a refund for the unflown portion of the trip at delta.com/refund.
• Issuing SkyMiles Program miles or a travel voucher in an amount based on the customer’s affected travels.
• Covering eligible expenses resulting from this flight disruption, including providing meal vouchers, hotel accommodations where available and ground transportation.
• Reimbursement of eligible expenses. Customers who have incurred hotel, meal or ground transportation expenses while in transit during this operational disruption may submit eligible expenses for reimbursement via Delta.com.
• Reaching out to customers about cancellations and rebooking options. Delta is notifying customers about delays and cancellations in their itinerary via the Fly Delta app, email and text message, and offering rebooking options that can be managed online.

DOT:

• Delta’s statement: "Delta is in receipt of the Department’s notice of investigation and is fully cooperating. We remain entirely focused on restoring our operation after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update rendered IT systems across the globe inoperable. Across our operation, Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for and make it right for customers impacted by delays and cancellations as we work to restore the reliable, on-time service they have come to expect from Delta."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.