CrowdStrike outage: U.S. Department of Transportation opens investigation into Delta delays

As delays and cancellations continue to pile up for Delta Air Lines, the U.S. Department of Transportation has opened an investigation into the travel meltdown left in the wake of the CrowdStrike outage last week.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced Tuesday that the department will investigate the airline after five days of cancellations and delays have left thousands of passengers stranded, WSB reported.

WSB reported that Delta responded to the investigation. The company said in a statement: “Delta is in receipt of the Department’s notice of investigation and is fully cooperating. We remain entirely focused on restoring our operation after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update rendered IT systems across the globe inoperable. Across our operation, Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for and make it right for customers impacted by delays and cancellations as we work to restore the reliable, on-time service they have come to expect from Delta.”

On Monday, Buttigieg posted to X, “Delta must provide prompt refunds to consumers who choose not to take rebooking, free rebooking for those who do, and timely reimbursements for food and hotel stays to consumers affected by these delays and cancellations, as well as adequate customer service assistance.”

Several airlines were grounded when a software update by CrowdStrike crashed Windows computers globally on Friday, bringing many industries, including air travel, to a standstill.

Delta is still trying to reestablish systems, including one that ensures flights have a full crew, which is taking the most time to bring back online, WSB reported.

“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,” the company said, according to Forbes.

As of 8:52 a.m. ET Tuesday, Delta had canceled 417 flights and delayed 356, according to Flight Aware.

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