Delta CEO Apologizes Following Computer Failure, Cancellations
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The week got off to a messy and frustrating start for hundreds of thousands of Delta Air Lines passengers.
A power outage early Monday morning at Delta's Atlanta headquarters shut down its computers, forcing a worldwide ground stop for thousands of flights.
At airports all around the country, passengers were scrambling to rebook onto other carriers or wait for flights to get rescheduled.
In Minnesota, about 100 flights were affected at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Delta is still not saying exactly what caused this internal power outage. But it took down the entire computer and operations center.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian took to the company's website to explain the problem and apologize to the hundreds of thousands of affected passengers.
"I apologize for the challenges this creates for you," he said. "The Delta team is working very, very hard to restore and get these systems back as quickly as possible."
By midday, Delta had canceled more than 450 flights. Less than a third of the scheduled 6,000 flights were on time.
Taylor Akers and her husband were forced to delay a honeymoon.
"We have since switched to a different airline entirely and had to buy brand new tickets, hopefully get a reimbursement from Delta," Akers said.
Though frustrated and inconvenienced, passengers did about the only things they could: wait and rebook.
"No point in getting angry," Akers said. "What can you do about it? Just have to make due."
Delta did announce to those affected that it will issue waivers, giving passengers all this week to change and rebook travel without fear change fees.
As of 6 p.m., Delta had canceled more than 740 flights.
