Summary

  • Delta Air Lines has hired a prominent attorney to seek compensation for financial losses caused by the global IT outage on July 19.
  • The outage forced Delta to cancel thousands of flights, incurring losses estimated to be between $350-500 million.
  • David Boies, known for high-profile cases, will represent Delta in seeking damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft.

The massive global IT outage a few days ago affected many airlines and airports around the world, with Delta Air Lines taking a harder blow than most other carriers. The airline was forced to cancel thousands of flights, incur financial losses, and face the wrath of customers and authorities alike. And now, it has hired a prominent attorney to seek compensation for all the problems it has faced in the last week and a half.

Delta hires attorney to seek compensation

Delta Air Lines wants to be compensated for the financial losses incurred due to the global IT outage on July 19. While the technical malfunction affected several global airlines, Delta’s operations were affected more than others.

According to CNBC, the carrier has hired David Boies—a prominent attorney who has handled some high-profile cases in the past—to seek damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. A faulty update from CrowdStrike, a software company, affected Microsoft systems globally on July 19.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232 (N696DL) at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Photo: CarterAerial | Shutterstock

The report states that Delta has not filed a lawsuit yet and is likely seeking compensation from the two tech companies. The airline has to issue thousands of refunds following the cancelation of thousands of flights, incurring losses in the range of $350-500 million.

Boies is no stranger to high-profile cases, having represented the US Government in a famous antitrust case against Microsoft as well as working with Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. It remains to be seen how his handling of Delta’s case plays out in the coming days.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-932/ER (N864DN) at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Photo: fivetonine | Shutterstock

Massive loss due to IT outage

Delta’s ire against the tech companies stems from the massive fallout after the IT outage, which forced it to cancel thousands of flights. Some estimates put the number at almost a year’s worth of cancelations in just one weekend.

Angry passengers took to social media in the wake of widespread flight disruptions and service failure, prompting the US Department of Transportation to sit up and take notice as well.

Related

A Year’s Worth Of Cancelations In 1 Weekend: Delta Air Lines Now Under DOT Investigation

More than 5,300 flights have been canceled since Friday.

Delta’s CEO, ED Bastian, apologized for the disruption caused and even announced compensation packages for passengers. He said that the airline used the system that was affected on Friday extensively, which also impacted “one of our crew-tracking-related tools was affected and unable to effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system shutdown.”

But that was seemingly not enough to pacify angry passengers or Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who warned that the airline is liable to protect its passengers following the disruptions and also compensate them fairly. He added,

“Delta must provide prompt refunds to consumers who choose not to take rebooking, free rebooking for those who do, and timely reimbursements for food and hotel stays to consumers affected by these delays and cancellations, as well as adequate customer service assistance.”

Delta Air Lines aircraft at ATL shutterstock_2305806895

Photo: Darryl Brooks | Shutterstock

The action was in response to the hundreds of complaints filed with USDOT against the airline when things went out of control following the outage on July 19. It’ll be interesting to see if the airline can manage to get compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft now that it has hired a prominent attorney to do the job.

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