Delta Slowly Recovering From Massive Computer Meltdown That Stranded Thousands
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An early morning power outage knocked out Delta Air Lines' computer systems, prompting more than 3,000 flights around the world to be canceled and delayed and stranding tens of thousands of travelers Monday.
Delta said it had canceled 870 flights worldwide. Tracking service FlightStats Inc. counted more than 2,400 delayed flights.
According to the Flight Aware website, Delta canceled six flights at LAX and delayed 10 others.
By midday, the problem was fixed. But the backlogs were just getting started. Expect at least 100 more cancellations and hundreds of additional delays Tuesday, according to Delta.
Los Angeles natives Genavee Tapia and her husband just got married, but Delta problems delayed their honeymoon in Hawaii.
"We've been here since 10 in the morning. So we haven't ate or anything, so obviously emotional," Tapia said. "I've been stressing day and night so that we could have the perfect wedding, the perfect honeymoon, and for this to happen, it's frustrating."
The couple was able to rebook a flight to leave Tuesday for their destination. But Tapia said they had already lost $1,000 on their hotel for Monday night.
Many passengers were frustrated that they received no notice of a global disruption. They found out about it only after making it through security and seeing other stranded passengers sleeping on the floor.
Delta said that the outage caused a lag in posting accurate flight-status information on its website.
Trent Leonhard said he waited for 20 hours trying to get a flight home to Minneapolis. "I just want lay down in my own bed."
Melinda Addison can't get back to Saint Louis with her grandchildren until Tuesday and was not sure where they were going to sleep Monday night.
"They need to do something, I mean, I've got kids. Can't really stay all night in this airport."
"It's been an emotional day," said newlywed MoRaya Ferryman, who was hoping to fly to her honeymoon with husband Todd Ferryman.
"I've been sitting in this line now for maybe three hours and moved 50-60 feet," Todd Ferryman said. "I still have a couple hundred feet to go."
Like many Delta customers who have been stranded at LAX, they had to sleep on the concrete floor. At one point, they were able to get on a flight but they were quickly told to get off.
"It was so chaotic. The energy was so horrible … because it wasn't explained in a professional manner," MoRaya Ferryman said.
The newlyweds said they've already missed one day of their honeymoon. And they've been told they may be stuck at the airport for two more days.
Even going home is out of the question, since they live in Central California and flights aren't available.
Delta declined to describe whether the airline's information-technology system had enough built-in redundancies to recover quickly from a hiccup like a power outage.
A power outage at an Atlanta facility at around 2:30 a.m. local time initiated a cascading meltdown, according to the airline, which is also based in Atlanta.
A spokesman for Georgia Power said that the company believes a failure of Delta equipment caused the airline's power outage. He said no other customers lost power.
Airlines depend on huge, overlapping and complicated systems to operate flights, schedule crews and run ticketing, boarding, airport kiosks, websites and mobile phone apps. Even brief outages can snarl traffic and cause long delays.
Delta said it will refund passengers for canceled flights and give $200 vouchers to travelers delayed for more than three hours. But for many customers like Tapia, it was too little too late.
Travelers on some routes can also make a one-time change to the ticket without paying Delta's usual change fee of $200 for domestic flights and up to $500 for international flights.