Delta’s failures led to increased delays and cancellations
The lawsuit, filed by John Brennan, Arben Bajra, Asher Einhorn and Melanie Susman, alleges that in the days and weeks following the July 19 computer outage, Delta refused repeated offers of help from Crowdstrike and Microsoft to get its computers back online.
As a result, Delta canceled a total of 5,470 flights during the weekend of July 19-21 alone. That’s more cancellations in one weekend than all 5,370 Delta flight cancellations in 2018 and 2019 combined.
Travelers spent thousands of dollars booking flights on other airlines, reserving rental cars or other ground transportation, and arranging their own lodging and meals, the lawsuit says. In addition, some travelers were stranded far from home and had no access to their luggage, which contained clothing and medicine.
Although Delta offered e-credits as a form of reimbursement to some customers, the lawsuit alleges that many of them were not informed of their right to a full refund of their flight costs under federal law.
“These unfair, unlawful and unconscionable practices resulted in Delta unjustly enriching itself at the expense of its customers,” the complaint states.
Delta customers will not receive any reimbursement
Brennan states in the Delta lawsuit that on July 20, he and his wife were traveling from Tampa, Florida, to Seattle, Washington, where they were planning to take a cruise to celebrate their anniversary. When they arrived at the airport, they were told their flight had been canceled. Delta rebooked the flight with a connecting flight in Atlanta and checked in the travelers’ luggage. However, upon arrival in Atlanta, that connecting flight was also canceled.
After waiting until 2:00 a.m. to speak to a Delta ticket agent, Brennan realized that all agents were gone for the night. He was told to return to the ticket counter at 6:00 a.m. the next morning. Then Brennan and his wife realized they would miss the departure time for their cruise. They were stranded in Atlanta with no luggage, unable to rent a car, and forced to buy Greyhound bus tickets to get back to Tampa.
According to the lawsuit, Delta never issued Brennan any meal or hotel vouchers and refused to automatically refund the ticket price. Instead, the company issued Brennan a $100 voucher for a future Delta flight.
After Brennan filed a refund request with Delta, he says he was offered an additional $219.50 in compensation – far less than the $800 in out-of-pocket expenses and the $10,000 he lost from the cost of the cruise tickets, all of which were lost due to Delta’s flight cancellations and delays, according to the lawsuit.
Bajra, Einhorn and Susman each described similar travel issues at Delta due to flight delays and cancellations caused by CrowdStrike that lasted several days longer than necessary.
“The impact (of the Crowdstrike outage) on Delta passengers was catastrophic,” the complaint states. “Delta’s inability to recover from the Crowdstrike outage resulted in passengers being stranded for days at airports across the country, in many cases thousands of miles from home.”
Flood of lawsuits following the computer outage on July 19
In addition to Delta Airlines’ lawsuit, a class action lawsuit has also been filed by airline travelers directly against CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity company whose software update caused the July 19 computer outage. The travelers are seeking compensation for themselves and others who were forced to spend thousands of dollars on food, lodging and additional travel arrangements after flights on various airlines were canceled.
As a result of the flight cancellations, Delta also threatened to file its own lawsuit against Crowdstrike to recoup $500 million it allegedly lost due to Crowdstrike’s computer failure.
In response to Delta’s potential lawsuit, Crowdstrike released a statement through outside counsel saying the company “strongly denies any allegation that it was grossly negligent or engaged in any wrongdoing.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation is also investigating why Delta took significantly longer than other companies affected by the Crowdstrike outage to get its computers back online.
