Delta Air Lines meltdown appears to be nearing the end

Delta Air Lines says its operations are getting back on track, signaling the likely end of a multi-day meltdown that’s seen the carrier cancel more than 5,000 flights since an IT outage on Friday.

In a letter to customers, CEO Ed Bastian said he expected disruptions on Wednesday to be “minimal,” and for Thursday to be a “normal day,” with the airline “fully recovered.”

It’s welcome news after a chaotic few days across Delta’s global operation, particularly at its hubs.

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The five-day fiasco saw hundreds of thousands of passengers affected, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates, with many of those travelers stranded, frustrated, and at times unclear on a good — or affordable – way to get to their destination.

The first major meltdown of a U.S. airline in 2024, the disruptions have drawn scrutiny from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the U.S. Department of Transportation, which on Tuesday announced an investigation into the Atlanta-based carrier’s response.

cancellations are trending downward

As of 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Delta had canceled 47 flights, about 1% of its operation.

It’s a stark improvement from cancellation rates that regularly topped 30% between Friday and Monday, when Delta canceled at least 1,100 flights daily — before cancellations dropped to just over 500 on Tuesday, per FlightAware.

Delta was among several U.S. airlines affected by a faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which affected Windows systems around the world.

But even as other carriers recovered, Delta’s cancellations continued to mount. The carrier cited particular problems re-synchronizing its crew-scheduling software, a critical program that gets pilots, flight attendants and aircraft to the right places.

“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 behind us,” Bastian wrote in his letter Wednesday morning.

Lawmakers question response

But Delta will face no shortage of questions in the weeks to come.

On top of an investigation announced Tuesday by the DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protections, Congressional leaders are also demanding answers about the carrier’s response.

“While the technology outage was clearly not caused by Delta or any airline, I am nevertheless concerned that Delta is failing to meet the moment,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, wrote in a letter Tuesday, calling for a response from Bastian by July 30.

Related: What to do if your flight is canceled or delayed

How Delta is responding

For its part, Delta says it has provided stranded passengers with meals, hotel accommodations and ground transportation, per its guarantees spelled out in the DOT’s Airline Customer Service Dashboard.

It’s also, Bastian said, providing travel vouchers and SkyMiles to affected passengers “as a further gesture of apology.”

One affected TPG reader shared that they received 12,500 SkyMiles, per a letter from Delta. That’s worth about $143, per TPG’s points and miles valuations.

Another caught in the meltdown this past weekend received 10,000 miles for their trouble — worth about $115 per our valuations.

The airline is also accepting refund requests from eligible passengers at delta.com/refund.

Related: What to do if you’re stranded because of Delta’s meltdown

Under DOT policy, passengers whose flight is canceled or significantly delayed are entitled to a refund for the unused portion of their ticket, back to the original form of payment, if they do not accept rebooking and choose not to travel.

Meanwhile, Delta says its “making progress” working through a slew of misplaced bags, and making use of its delivery partners to reunite customers with luggage, the carrier shared Tuesday evening.

In the meantime, operations appear to be getting back on track, with cancellation rates down and Delta “working around the clock to reposition planes and people,” the airline’s head of technical operations said.

Questions abound, though, over whether customers might look differently at the airline’s ordinarily stellar reputation for operational reliability.

“I’ve received emails from many of you who are understandably frustrated with the pace of progress and the difficulty in getting the service you deserve,” Bastian wrote in Wednesday’s letter. “To our customers who were impacted, I want to thank you for your patience and apologize again for the disruption to your travel.”

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