Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights over four days last month after a computer outage it said resulted from a faulty network router.
Advertisement
“We were able to bring our systems back on line and resume flights within a few hours yesterday but we are still operating in recovery mode”, said Dave Holtz, senior vice president – Operations and Customer Center.
Delta’s travails, and those of its customers, move into day two with the airline canceling of another 300 flights.
“The meltdown highlights the vulnerability in Delta’s computer system, and raises questions about whether a recent wave of four US airline mergers that created four large carriers controlling 85% of domestic capacity has built companies too large and too reliant on IT systems that date from the 1990s”.
By early afternoon, more than 500 of today’s Delta flights had been scrubbed, and almost 1,200 were delayed – according to the tracking service FlightStats.
Delta’s challenge now will be to find enough seats on planes during the busy summer holiday season to accommodate the tens of thousands of passengers whose flights were scrubbed.
The airline is offering compensation for people who have had cancelled flights or delays of more than three hours in the form of a $200 flight voucher.
The meltdown exposes vulnerabilities in Delta’s computer system, which is over-reliant on IT systems that date from the 1990s, correspondents say.
In a statement on their website Tuesday, Delta urged travelers to check their flight status at delta.com.
Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian apologised to customers on a video posted on the company’s website and said Delta was working around the clock to restore its systems. Delta is particularly focused on promptly moving departures at its Atlanta hub.
United Airlines suffered a series of massive IT meltdowns after combining its technology systems with those of merger partner Continental Airlines.
Lines for British Airways at some airports have grown longer as the carrier updates its systems.
Advertisement
However, for passengers completing the second leg of their trip (flying home from vacation, for example), “that’s where things get sticky”, says Charles Leocha, founder of the advocacy organization. Experts said it will be Wednesday, at best, before the schedule can be back to normal. “I travel weekly, so I’m used to it”, Shannon said. Travelers on some routes can also make a one-time change to the ticket without paying Delta’s usual change fee of $200 for domestic flights and up to $500 for worldwide flights.
