Twelve hours after a power outage knocked out its computer systems worldwide, Delta Air Lines was struggling Monday to resume normal operations and clear backlogs of passengers stranded by canceled flights.
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Delta has explained that this glitch in the system was caused by a power outage in Atlanta at 2:30AM ET this morning which impacted its computer systems and operations worldwide.
Typical responses to Delta’s customers complaining about their service were: “We are experiencing a system outage nationwide” and “Delta has experienced a computer outage that has affected flights scheduled for this morning”. One of the world’s largest airlines said that only 800 of almost 6,000 scheduled flights were operational. FlightStats.com showed almost 2,500 delays throughout Delta’s system Monday.
A mass shutdown of Delta Airline’s flights Monday due to computer issues was not expected to affect service at Valdosta Regional Airport, according to gate crew and passengers.
“Customers heading to the airport should expect delays and cancellations”, Delta warned. “Hopefully it won’t be much longer”, the airline said on Twitter.
Most other airlines rely on one of a handful of specialty travel-technology companies to help with IT.
Delta officials declined to say what kind of backup procedures they have.
“The last Delta flight left at around 7:45 this morning”, said Trudy Wassel, director of marketing and business development at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
So far, there are more than 70 Delta flights that are scheduled to leave Pearson on Monday, which won’t be taking off unless the problem has been resolved.
Computer network outages have affected almost all the major carriers in recent years.
Delta said it serves almost 180 million customers annually, employs more than 80,000 people around the world and operates more than 800 aircraft. “They have hundreds and hundreds of cobbled together things that they have to track down to make sure everything is working correctly”.
Passengers stuck in check-in queues in airports across the world, or on board planes waiting to depart took to Twitter to share photos and frustration at the delays.
But the failure of computer software or the loss of electrical power should not cripple an airline, experts agreed. The company suffered a similar outage in October of 2015 that delayed 800 flights.
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The airline will issue refunds to passengers whose flights are canceled or “significantly” delayed on Monday.
