SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – As Delta Airlines still worked to recover this week from a CrowdStrike update error that grounded thousands of flights, its CEO boarded a plane to Paris, France.
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According to CNN, Delta CEO Ed Bastian was traveling there for the Summer Olympics. Delta is the official airline of Team USA at the games.
“Delta Flight Attendants have suffered five days of system-wide chaos, leaving us stranded and often without places to stay. And while operations are looking better today, many of us are still far from home,” said a Wednesday announcement from the Delta Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA). “That’s right – while management gave us baggies of laundry detergent in crew lounges, Ed and several board members traveled to Paris instead of being on the front lines leading us through this turmoil.”
CNN explained that the AFA is a union is seeking to win the right to represent flight attendants working on Delta’s mainline flights. Bastian also reportedly flew first class, though a Delta spokesperson did not confirm this for CNN. Per the outlet, the airline canceled close to 8,000 flights between Friday, when the CrowdStrike update-fueled outage began, through Wednesday. That left an estimated half-million customers stranded.
In a press release, the airline said Thursday that “operational reliability returned to normal,” with zero canceled mainline and Delta Connection flights. Normal operations were expected to continue Friday.
Still, the airline was continuing to deal with the fallout of the outage. Initiatives were underway Thursday to reunite customers with bags, reducer call wait times and to provide compensation for those impacted by the cancellations. Delta was also posting frequently on social media about its effort to help passengers.
Margie Shafer of KCBS Radio was one of the people personally touched by the cancellations.
“We had a family wedding on – it was over the weekend, and my sister got stranded in Denver. Delay, delay, delay. She ends up crying on the phone… her kids that are under 10 are crying in the airport. They end up going home,” she said. “And this is still going on.”
Kris Van Cleave, CBS senior transportations correspondent, joined Shafer and KCBS Radio’s Eric Thomas Tuesday to discuss why Delta was hit so hard by the outage.
“Delta says this comes down to one critical system that essentially did not reset as they had hoped, and it’s continuing to not fully operate,” Van Cleave said. “And basically, that system allows Delta to track where its crews are. So, if you don’t know where your crews are and you can't assign them to flights, it gets very hard to keep track of a global airline.”
Van Cleave also noted that the Department of Transportation is launching an investigation into Delta’s response.
“I think we’ll learn a lot about their investment in it in the coming weeks,” he said.
Bastian said in a Wednesday statement that delays and cancellations were down 50% Tuesday compared to Monday.
“While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us,” he said.
However, Van Cleave said the incident may have an impact on Delta’s reputation.
“You know, almost half the flights were delayed, but they operated. That is better than they had been doing the previous days,” he said. But, I mean, it’s still an abysmal performance number, particularly for an airline that builds its brand around... you’re paying a premium to fly the most reliable carrier in the world. Right now, Delta is not living up to its brand.”
Delta does pride itself for “exceptional service,” on its estimated 4,000 daily flights.
“We understand how important travel is in your lives, and we remain committed to taking care of those whose flights may still be impacted, with meals, hotel accommodations and ground transportation offered through vouchers and reimbursements,” said Bastian in his statement. “We’re also providing impacted customers with Delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers as a further gesture of apology.”
He also thanked Delta’s team of 100,000 aviation professionals.
According to CNN, Delta has been asking many of its employees to pull extra duty amid the outage, especially its IT staff. It also reported that Delta said Bastian flew on a commercial flight to Paris, not a private jet.
“Ed delayed this long-planned business trip until he was confident the airline was firmly on the path to recovery,” said a statement from Delta provided to the outlet.
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