“Delta has experienced a computer outage that has affected flights scheduled for this morning”, the company tweeted to customers affected by delays.
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Airport Spokesperson Kent Boyd says the Delta delays haven’t affected any other airlines.
As of Monday morning, Delta officials say they have canceled 451 flights due to the outage and are now operating 1,679 of almost 6,000 scheduled flights.
Delta’s computer systems around the world crashed overnight, stranding thousands of passengers on a busy travel day.
A power outage at an Atlanta facility around 2:30 a.m. local time initiated a cascading meltdown, according to the airline, which is also based in Atlanta.
A Delta Air Lines plane takes off at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, as Delta Air Lines grounded all flights after after a power outage hit its computer systems globally. We lost power about 2:30 this morning, which caused us to implement the ground stop that we put in place at five. With Monday’s outage, Delta now joins rivals Southwest Airlines Co and American Airlines Group Inc among airlines that have suffered flight disruptions during the past year due to data system malfunctions.
Read Tuesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
Delta had 21 departures from Memphis scheduled for Monday.
The power company that provides Delta’s electricity disputed that explanation in a statement to NBC News on Monday, and an air travel expert described what could be a far more complex problem rooted in the company’s sprawling collection of internal systems and the proliferation of airline mega mergers. Technology that appeared to be working sometimes issued bad information.
Delta conceded during the ground stop that it was having trouble providing accurate flight status on airport departure boards, at delta.com, the Fly Delta App and from Delta representatives on the phone.
The airline said those travelers whose flights are canceled or “significantly delayed” are entitled to a refund.
Many passengers, like Bryan Kopsick, 20, from Richmond, were shocked that computer glitches could cause such turmoil.
In Las Vegas, stranded passengers were sleeping on the floor, covered in red blankets.
Word of the extensive breakdown began to spread after the airline used a Twitter account to notify customers that its IT systems were down “everywhere”.
The company announced the grounding early Monday in a statement to their website. “We just want to catch the flight”, said Claudia Joseph, the family’s mother. “It doesn’t seem really hostile yet”, she said.
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An announcement from the pilot, he said, gave some hope to the stranded passengers. Travelers on some routes also can make a one-time change to the ticket free of charge.
