Delta Air Lines is shuffling its schedule out of New York City this fall by cutting three different routes and adding one more.
23.07.2024 - 23:50 / skift.com / Delta Skymiles / Ed Bastian / Delta Air Lines / Delta Ceo / Jackson Hole / Meghna Maharishi
Delta is facing increasing pressure from its customers and Washington as a meltdown caused by an IT outage on Friday continues.
In particular, Delta’s customer service practices have come to the forefront. Passengers have complained on social media that the airline hasn’t offered them refunds, reimbursement for hotel accommodations or meal vouchers. Some passengers have reported waiting for hours to get on the phone with a customer service agent and others have been rebooking their flights with a different carrier.
One traveler told Skift he was unable to talk to a customer service agent after being put on hold for three hours.
Tuesday looked a little better for Delta, with 467 cancellations and 1,067 delays as of 3:25 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware. On Monday, Delta canceled 1,160 flights and delayed 1,809. Since Friday, Delta has canceled over 5,000 flights.
Other airlines have recovered far more quickly than Delta after an issue with a CrowdStrike software update Friday caused systems that rely on Microsoft Windows to crash.
Delta has long prided itself on its operational reliability and on-time performance, but so far, hasn’t given a timeline for when it expects operations to stabilize.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian told customers in a letter on Sunday that the airline would provide Delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers as a “gesture of apology.” However, some customers said they never received any vouchers.
Brian Sifford, a resident of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, said his flight back home has been canceled for two days. He said a customer service agent at Nashville International Airport initially told him that they weren’t giving any hotel vouchers. He was ultimately able to receive a hotel accommodation after speaking with the agent for 20 minutes. Delta also gave him a $36 food voucher, which he said didn’t cover meals for two days.
The Department of Transportation requires airlines to cover hotel accommodations if a flight is delayed or canceled overnight.
“Usually you book Delta knowing that they’ll get you there on time or 30 minutes late,” Sifford said.
Sifford said he hadn’t received any communication from Delta about providing SkyMiles for the disruptions. Some reported on X receiving an email from Delta that they would receive as many as 12,500 SkyMiles — worth about $140 — in the next five business days.
Hedy Carter, a resident of Austin, said she was traveling from New Hampshire but her flights got canceled. She said she then tried to get a flight from Boston, but those flights were canceled twice.
Ultimately, she was able to snag a flight from Boston to Nashville, but that flight was delayed causing her to miss her connection to Austin. She’s been waiting at the Nashville airport for six
Delta Air Lines is shuffling its schedule out of New York City this fall by cutting three different routes and adding one more.
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