At least half of all Delta Air Lines flights Monday were delayed or canceled after a power outage knocked out the airline’s computer systems worldwide.
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On Monday, the company reported canceling around 1,000 flights.
Edwards did not have specific data on how numerous delays and cancellations Wednesday affected Detroit Metro Airport travelers, but he advised customers to check delta.com or the airline’s app, Fly Delta.
On Tuesday night Delta posted a press release to their News Hub website with a more “positive” tone and outlook for Wednesday’s flight schedule.
Delta Air Lines was able to restore power to the computers; however, some of its critical systems still could not switch over to backups resulting in a system slowdown.
The cancellations and delays grew throughout the day as the airline moved planes and crews back into normal positions while attempting to get as many passengers as it could where they needed to go.
Delta is offering $200 travel vouchers to customers whose flights have been delayed more than three hours or canceled through 12 p.m. Wednesday. He said no other customers lost power. The company said that some flights have resumed, but that customers should still expect cancellations and long wait times. Last month, Southwest Airlines had to cancel more than 2,000 flights because of a faulty router.
The failure of Delta Air Lines’s worldwide computer network this week spotlights the vulnerability of the information systems sustaining the biggest US carriers, each of which has contended with major disruptions during the previous year. “We’re very sorry, I’m personally very sorry”.
The starting point for preventing computer failures is to ensure reliable electricity sources, said Ron Peri, CEO of Radixx International, which provides passenger-service systems to airlines including FlyDubai and Air India Express.
Three subsequent flights to Charleston were canceled, she said, and it was unclear whether the next flight she was rebooked on would be canceled as well.
Sometimes, though, that can lead to measures that passengers might not prefer. Another 59 flights were delayed, including four by midday Wednesday. “I would have rather received a cancellation yesterday instead of waiting around all night”. Tickets must be reissued on or before August 21 and rebooked travel must begin no later than August 21. Delta is waiving certain change fees for customers who were scheduled to travel Monday or Tuesday and want to change their travel plans to later in the week.
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Airlines depend on huge, overlapping and complicated systems to operate flights, ticketing, boarding, airport kiosks, websites and mobile phone apps. The vouchers can only be used by the person who was stranded. However, some companies might require employees to apply the credit toward their next work trip, although that is usually a small percent of companies.
