Delta Expects $500 Million Hit From CrowdStrike Outage

A Delta Air Lines charter flight carrying players and staff members of the NFL's Carolina Panthers slid off of the runway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport early Friday morning.No one was injured when the plane skidded into the mud while taxiing to Wilson Air Center at around 2:35 a.m. local time Friday.Citing a source familiar with the situation, ESPN reported that it took roughly an hour for a bus to get the team back to the air center after deplaning. The aircraft was eventually towed out of the area and crews made repairs before the taxiway reopened around 6:30 a.m.

The accusations continue to fly in the wake of last month’s global IT outage that impacted scores of flights.On the heels of Delta Air Lines saying it has “no choice” but to pursue damages from Microsoft and CrowdStrike in relation to the tech meltdown, Microsoft is firing back.Today, the tech giant accused Delta of not modernizing its technology in the lead up to the IT outage. Mark Cheffo, a partner at Dechert, the law firm representing Microsoft, said in a letter to Delta’s attorney today that Microsoft is wondering why American Airlines, United Airlines and other carriers were able to bounce back from the global IT meltdown more quickly than Delta. “Our preliminary review suggests that Delta, unlike its competitors, apparently has not modernized its IT infrastructure, either for the benefit of its customers or for its pilots and flight attendants,” Cheffo said in the letter, per CNBC.Delta canceled some 5,000 flights as a result of the July 19 IT issue, which was triggered by a software update from CrowdStrike. Millions of computers that use Microsoft Windows were ultimately impacted worldwide — for both airlines and businesses alike.Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said publicly last week that the airline is seeking about $500 million in damages for the massive disruption.The airline shot back in response to Microsoft’s new claims, pointing out that it has “a long track record of investing in safe, reliable and elevated service for our customers and employees."“Since 2016, Delta has invested billions of dollars in IT capital expenditures, in addition to the billions spent annually in IT operating costs,” Delta said in response to the Tuesday letter from Microsoft, according to a statement issued by the airline, per CNBC.Additionally, back in July, Delta lawyers told Microsoft: “We have reason to believe Microsoft has failed to comply with contractual requirements and otherwise acted in a grossly negligent, indeed willful, manner in connection with the Faulty Update” from CrowdStrike that triggered the IT issue.Cheffo rejected Delta's assertion, stating in his own letter that while Microsoft “empathizes with Delta and its customers..Delta’s public comments are incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation.”Cheffo also said that Microsoft offered to provide Delta with free assistance in the wake of the July 19 tech incident. But according to Cheffo’s letter, the airline rejected the support.

Delta Air Lines is now rolling out fast, free Wi-Fi by T-Mobile on select long-haul international routes, with most transatlantic flights to be in service with free Wi-Fi by the end of the summer. 

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, August 9, 2024, and now here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Delta Air Lines fired back at CrowdStrike Thursday, saying the cybersecurity firm is taking a “blame the victim” defense.

Airplanes are designed to withstand a lightning strike, but this one sounds like it was pretty bad.

Microsoft believes Delta has not “modernized its IT infrastructure,” which resulted in a five day-long meltdown for the carrier. 

CrowdStrike has responded assertively to Delta Air Lines after the carrier’s CEO, Ed Bastian, accused the cybersecurity firm of being responsible for a service disruption that allegedly cost Delta $500 million. 

In the latest salvo of a brewing public relations war, Microsoft joined CrowdStrike in pushing back against recent criticism from Delta Air Lines, claiming that the carrier rejected technical assistance in the aftermath of an outage that eventually led it to cancel more than 5,000 flights.

Microsoft criticized Delta Air Lines on Tuesday for overstating the technology company’s role in a costly disruption that led the airline to cancel thousands of flights last month.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, August 6, and now here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. 

CrowdStrike is striking back.