Delta Air Lines CEO Offers Employees Free Travel Passes Following Disruptions from Software Update

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian expressed gratitude to employees affected by the recent disruptions caused by a faulty CrowdStrike software update by offering them two free travel passes. The disruptions resulted in the cancellation of over 5,000 flights, costing the company approximately $500 million. Delta had more difficulty recovering from the outages compared to its competitors, as the incident affected thousands of Windows machines worldwide, impacting various industries. A crew-tracking platform also contributed to the cancellations and disruptions. The airline had to manually reset 40,000 servers to address the issue. Bastian acknowledged the challenges faced by employees and apologized for the disruption, stating that such a magnitude of operational disruption was unacceptable. He praised the efforts of Delta flight attendants, who picked up additional trips during the disruptions, and offered them confirmed seats as a token of appreciation. However, the Delta organizing committee of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, currently campaigning for unionization, criticized the offer, stating that it was insufficient. Delta’s high reliability standings were affected by the disruptions, although the airline has since stabilized its operations. The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating Delta’s disruptions, and the airline plans to pursue legal action against CrowdStrike and Microsoft to recover losses. Delta has already processed thousands of refunds and reimbursement requests. This incident highlights how technology issues can severely disrupt air travel, as demonstrated by similar disruptions at other carriers. Delta continues to position itself as a premium airline, focusing on attracting both leisure and corporate customers.