Delta says outage cost it $500M as CrowdStrike hits back over responsibility

Delta CrowdStrike outage overview: 

• Who: Delta is in a public dispute with Microsoft and CrowdStrike after a global IT outage last month affected its flight systems.
• Why: Delta says the outage cost it $500 million and is suing for damages. Microsoft and CrowdStrike say Delta was partly to blame for its extended outage.
• Where: The Delta flight cancellations affected consumers worldwide.

Delta is in a public dispute with Microsoft and CrowdStrike after it was forced to cancel thousands of flights in the days following a global IT outage last month.

On July 19, security technology vendor CrowdStrike pushed an allegedly flawed software update that caused widespread computer outages at Delta and hundreds of other companies around the globe that use Microsoft systems.

Delta says the outage cost it $500 million and is suing for damages; however, Microsoft and CrowdStrike say Delta was partly to blame for its extended outage.

Delta canceled 5,000+ flights over 5 days

On July 31, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the massive IT outage that stranded thousands of people will ultimately cost it $500 million in lost revenue, compensation and hotels for customers, CNBC reports.

Bastian didn’t disclose exactly how many refunds and reimbursement requests it processed, but a spokesman told CNBC it was in the “thousands.”

The airline canceled more than 5,000 flights in the 5-day wake of the outage through July 25, according to CNBC. Delta had to manually reset 40,000 servers and did not receive a response from CrowdStrike when it asked for help, Bastian says.

Delta hired prominent litigator David Boies of Boies Schiller Flexner, known for high-stakes business cases, to seek damages from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft, Reuters reports.

Microsoft, CrowdStrike say other airlines not as affected

However, Microsoft and CrowdStrike have hit back, saying other airlines didn’t experience such dramatic cancellations and delays. 

CrowdStrike fired back at Delta’s claims, saying that the airline ignored its offers of assistance.

In a letter from CrowdStrike’s legal counsel to Delta’s legal counsel, the cybersecurity firm says it is “highly disappointed by Delta’s suggestion that CrowdStrike acted inappropriately and strongly rejects any allegation that it was grossly negligent or committed willful misconduct,” CNBC reports.

Microsoft also blamed Delta for its days-long struggle to recover from the outage, stating its preliminary review suggested that Delta, unlike its competitors, had not modernized its IT infrastructure.

Feds investigating Delta flight cancellations

The outage left Delta passengers stranded at the airport and on hold for hours to speak with customer service representatives and resulted in thousands of complaints, according to CNN. As a result, the United States Department of Transportation launched an investigation into Delta’s handling of flight cancellations. 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the probe on X on July 23. 

“Every other airline got back on its feet within a day or two,” he says. “Delta actually seemed to move in the opposite direction.”

What do you think of the Delta IT outage dispute? Let us know in the comments! 

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