July 2024 operation

Operational reliability returned to normal Thursday morning, with zero canceled mainline and Delta Connection flights.*  Normal operations are expected to continue Friday and beyond.  

Major initiatives at all Delta hubs are still underway to reunite customers with bags, by ground delivery or via operating flights. The majority of bags have been reunited with customers. 

The average call and messaging wait times with Reservations is consistently below 2 minutes. 

Delta is committed to caring for our customers during this time and has taken a number of other steps to make things right for customers affected by delays and cancellations:   

Reimbursing Out-of-Pocket Expenses:  Delta has continued to offer meal vouchers, ground transportation and hotel accommodations, where available, to customers whose travel has been disrupted with canceled or significantly delayed flights. We know many customers have incurred unplanned travel expenses, including purchasing tickets on other airlines, rental cars, train tickets and more. Delta will cover reasonable costs for additional categories of expenses incurred during the duration of the travel waiver (which currently applies for flights between July 19 and July 28). As before, customers who have incurred hotel, meal or ground transportation expenses while in transit during this operational disruption may also submit eligible expenses for reimbursement.**   

Flight Cancellation/Extended Delay Refunds & Trip Cancellation Option:  Customers whose travel has been disrupted due to a canceled or significantly delayed flight may choose to cancel their travel and receive an eCredit for the unflown portion of the trip or request a refund for the unflown portion of the trip at delta.com/refund.  In addition, Delta is permitting customers with Delta travel booked from July 19-28 who no longer wish to travel to cancel and request a refund of the unflown portion of their trip – regardless of whether their flight has been canceled or significantly delayed.   

Issuing SkyMiles Program miles or a travel voucher in an amount based on the customer’s affected travels.   

Reaching out to customers about cancellations and rebooking options.  Delta is continuing to notify customers about delays and cancellations in their itinerary via the Fly Delta app and text message, and offering rebooking options that can be managed online. 

Customers have three options for support with displaced luggage:   

1. Visit their local Baggage Service Office and file a claim.    

2. Visit Delta.com, search Online Baggage Claim Form and submit a claim.   

3. Call 1-800-325-8224 to make a baggage claim.      

Delta’s last-mile delivery partners are ensuring bags are returned to customers directly at their homes or final travel destination.  

Extending a travel waiver. Delta extended a travel waiver for all customers with travel booked from July 19-28. The waiver offers customers the ability to make a one-time change to their itinerary. The fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before Aug. 4, in the same cabin of service as originally booked. Customers are encouraged to manage changes to their travel via delta.com or the Fly Delta app.   

*Based on Delta preliminary internal data for mainline flights scheduled and flown systemwide for July 25, 2024. 

**Delta does not reimburse prepaid expenses, including but not limited to hotel reservations at the customer’s destination, vacation experiences, lost wages, concerts or other tickets. 

Delta teams saw a significant return to operational reliability on Wednesday, with only 48 canceled flights as of 4:30 p.m. EDT.¹ Normal operations are expected to continue Thursday and beyond. 

All of Wednesday’s cancellations were related to the morning startup, with zero mainline cancellations added throughout the day. 

The number of misplaced bags continues to be significantly reduced by major initiatives at all Delta hubs to reunite customers with bags, by ground delivery or via operating flights.  

Meanwhile, throughput at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – Delta’s largest hub – reached its highest mid-day point since the CrowdStrike outage first disrupted operations. This indicates normal movement for Delta customers, crew and aircraft. 

Customer wait times for help have diminished as well, with average call and messaging wait times with Reservations falling below 2 minutes. 

Further details about how Delta is continuing to support customers can be found in our 2:45 p.m. Wednesday update. 

¹ Based on Delta preliminary internal data for mainline flights scheduled to depart and flown on July 24, 2024. 

Latest Updates | July 2024 Operation

Delta teams across our global network continue to restore operational reliability with significant reductions in cancellations and delays on Tuesday and even fewer to start morning operations on Wednesday. Delta’s crews and airports are fully staffed and ready to serve our customers, and as of noon E.T. on Wednesday, the airline had canceled 50 flights. 

Displaced baggage counts are trending downward significantly as major initiatives at all Delta hubs are underway to reunite customers with bags, by ground delivery or via operating flights. 

CEO Ed Bastian shared an update to customers on Wednesday morning, sharing in part: 

“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. Delays and cancellations were down 50% Tuesday compared to Monday, and we anticipate cancellations Wednesday to be minimal. Thursday is expected to be a normal day, with the airline fully recovered and operating at a traditional level of reliability.” 

Delta is committed to caring for our customers during this time and has taken a number of other steps to make things right for customers affected by delays and cancellations:  

Extending a travel waiver. Delta extended a travel waiver for all customers with travel booked from July 19-28. The waiver offers customers the ability to make a one-time change to their itinerary. The fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before Aug. 4, in the same cabin of service as originally booked. Customers are encouraged to manage changes to their travel via delta.com or the Fly Delta app.  

Reimbursing Out-of-Pocket Expenses: Delta has continued to offer meal vouchers, ground transportation and hotel accommodations, where available, to customers whose travel has been disrupted with canceled or significantly delayed flights. We know many customers have incurred unplanned travel expenses, including purchasing tickets on other airlines, rental cars, train tickets and more. Delta will cover reasonable costs for additional categories of expenses incurred during the duration of the travel waiver (which currently applies for flights between July 19 and July 28). As before, customers who have incurred hotel, meal or ground transportation expenses while in transit during this operational disruption may also submit eligible expenses for reimbursement.**  

Flight Cancellation/Extended Delay Refunds & Trip Cancellation Option: Customers whose travel has been disrupted due to a canceled or significantly delayed flight may choose to cancel their travel and receive an eCredit for the unflown portion of the trip or request a refund for the unflown portion of the trip at delta.com/refund.  In addition, Delta is permitting customers with Delta travel booked from July 19-28 who no longer wish to travel to cancel and request a refund of the unflown portion of their trip – regardless of whether their flight has been canceled or significantly delayed.  

Issuing SkyMiles Program miles or a travel voucher in an amount based on the customer’s affected travels.  

Reaching out to customers about cancellations and rebooking options. Delta is continuing to notify customers about delays and cancellations in their itinerary via the Fly Delta app and text message, and offering rebooking options that can be managed online.  

Customers have three options for support with displaced luggage:  

1. Visit their local Baggage Service Office and file a claim.   

2. Visit Delta.com, search Online Baggage Claim Form and submit a claim.  

3. Call 1-800-325-8224 to make a baggage claim.  
     

Delta’s last-mile delivery partners are ensuring bags are returned to customers directly at their homes or final travel destination. 

**Delta does not reimburse prepaid expenses, including but not limited to hotel reservations at the customer’s destination, vacation experiences, lost wages, concerts or other tickets.

Delta people worked Monday to get the airline’s complex global operation back on track after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update rendered IT systems of companies across the globe inoperable.   

“We’ve got everyone around the company working around the clock to get this operation where it needs to be,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a video message to employees on Monday. “Keep taking great care of our customers and each other in the coming days.” 

Upward of half of Delta’s IT systems worldwide are Windows based. The CrowdStrike error required Delta’s IT teams to manually repair and reboot each of the affected systems, with additional time then needed for applications to synchronize and start communicating with each other.   

Delta’s crews are fully staffed and ready to serve our customers, but one of Delta’s most critical systems – which ensures all flights have a full crew in the right place at the right time – is deeply complex and is requiring the most time and manual support to synchronize.  

Across the operation, Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for customers impacted by delays and cancellations as the airline works to put flight crews and aircraft back in position following the disruption.  

We’re also working to make it right for our customers, starting with these steps: 

Extending a travel waiver. Delta extended a travel waiver for all customers with travel booked from July 19-23. The waiver offers customers the ability to make a one-time change to their itinerary. The fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before July 28, in the same cabin of service as originally booked. Customers are encouraged to manage changes to their travel via delta.com or the Fly Delta app. 

Right to a Refund Upon Request. Customers whose travel has been disrupted due to a canceled or significantly delayed flight may choose to cancel their travel and receive an eCredit for the unflown portion of the trip, or may instead request a refund for the unflown portion of the trip at delta.com/refund.

Issuing SkyMiles Program miles or a travel voucher in an amount based on the customer’s affected travels. 

Covering eligible expenses resulting from this flight disruption, including providing meal vouchers, hotel accommodations where available and ground transportation. 

Reimbursement of eligible expenses. Customers who have incurred hotel, meal or ground transportation expenses while in transit during this operational disruption may submit eligible expenses for reimbursement.* 

Reaching out to customers about cancellations and rebooking options. Delta is notifying customers about delays and cancellations in their itinerary via the Fly Delta app and text message, and offering rebooking options that can be managed online. 

While customers can monitor and manage their itineraries on Delta.com or on the Fly Delta app, these online tools have been inundated with traffic, causing intermittent performance challenges. Delta teams are working to stabilize those tools. Also note that our ability to respond to service messages on social media platforms such as X are limited. 

*Delta does not reimburse prepaid expenses, including but not limited to hotel reservations at the customer’s destination, vacation experiences, lost wages, concerts or other tickets. 

LATEST UPDATES | July 19-22, 2024 operation

More than 1,200 Delta mainline and Delta Connection flights have been canceled Friday due to a vendor technology issue impacting airlines and companies around the world. 

Additional delays and cancellations are expected Friday and potentially through the weekend. 

We’re sorry for this inconvenience – canceling a flight is always our last resort and isn’t taken lightly. Delta takes seriously the trust placed in us to deliver the reliability and experiences customers have come to know and expect from us. That’s why we’re working to make it right for our customers, starting with these steps: 

Issuing a travel waiver: Delta extended its waiver for all customers who have booked flights departing Friday, July 19. It allows customers to manage their own travel changes via delta.com and the Fly Delta app. The fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before July 25, in the same cabin of service as originally booked. 

Reaching out to customers about cancellations and re-booking options: Delta is notifying customers about delays and cancellations in their itinerary via the Fly Delta app and text message, and offering re-booking options that can be managed online. 

While customers can monitor and manage their itineraries on Delta.com or on the Fly Delta app, these online tools have been inundated with traffic, causing intermittent performance challenges. Delta teams are working to stabilize those tools. Also note that our ability to respond to service messages on social media platforms such as X are limited.  

Covering meals and accommodations: Meal vouchers and hotel accommodations where available are being provided to impacted customers.