Computer outage could tarnish Delta's on-time reputation
We don't cancel flights. That's been the message for the past two years from Delta Air Lines. Double decker buses roamed the streets of New York, wrapped in ads proclaiming "canceling cancellations." Delta executives boasted about the number of days without a single flight scrapped. That all literally ground to a halt Monday when a system-wide computer outage led to the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights. Passengers were stranded around the globe with many spending the night in the airport. Until this outage, Delta had an impressive record, envied by other airlines. By June 9 of this year, Delta had already notched up 100 days where none of its own jets cancelled flights — more than all of its major competitors' no-cancel days combined. And the cancellations during the other 61 days were mostly related to weather, not maintenance issues. "Our people are hitting it out of the park, delivering on our promise to be a safe and reliable airline and making canceling cancellations a reality," Gil West, Delta's COO, said in a news release at the time trumpeting its record. Sometimes, Delta took extreme measures to preserve that record such as letting delays roll on throughout the day instead of canceling. But the lack of cancellations and the airline's mantra of "keep climbing" won over business travellers willing to pay extra for flights that arrive on time. A decade ago, Delta was getting 90 cents for every dollar charged by its competitors. Today, it gets 110 cents, Delta's new CEO, Ed Bastian noted in a May interview. But Monday's outage threatens to wipe away all that trust that Delta has worked to build. It took Delta more than 24 hours to explain what happened: a power control malfunction that led to a power surge and loss of electricity. When the power came back some systems switched to backups, others didn't and that, Delta said, caused "instability in these systems." "Obviously this is a public relations disaster. But they're not unique. This has happened to pretty much every major airline," said Jim Corridore, of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Since this is the airline's first major outage — and as long as there isn't another one — Corridore said "Delta may get a pass here."<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-08-10/sky/computer-outage-could-tarnish-deltas-on-time-reputation
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Computer outage could tarnish Delta's on-time reputation
We don't cancel flights. That's been the message for the past two years from Delta Air Lines. Double decker buses roamed the streets of New York, wrapped in ads proclaiming "canceling cancellations." Delta executives boasted about the number of days without a single flight scrapped. That all literally ground to a halt Monday when a system-wide computer outage led to the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights. Passengers were stranded around the globe with many spending the night in the airport. Until this outage, Delta had an impressive record, envied by other airlines. By June 9 of this year, Delta had already notched up 100 days where none of its own jets cancelled flights — more than all of its major competitors' no-cancel days combined. And the cancellations during the other 61 days were mostly related to weather, not maintenance issues. "Our people are hitting it out of the park, delivering on our promise to be a safe and reliable airline and making canceling cancellations a reality," Gil West, Delta's COO, said in a news release at the time trumpeting its record. Sometimes, Delta took extreme measures to preserve that record such as letting delays roll on throughout the day instead of canceling. But the lack of cancellations and the airline's mantra of "keep climbing" won over business travellers willing to pay extra for flights that arrive on time. A decade ago, Delta was getting 90 cents for every dollar charged by its competitors. Today, it gets 110 cents, Delta's new CEO, Ed Bastian noted in a May interview. But Monday's outage threatens to wipe away all that trust that Delta has worked to build. It took Delta more than 24 hours to explain what happened: a power control malfunction that led to a power surge and loss of electricity. When the power came back some systems switched to backups, others didn't and that, Delta said, caused "instability in these systems." "Obviously this is a public relations disaster. But they're not unique. This has happened to pretty much every major airline," said Jim Corridore, of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Since this is the airline's first major outage — and as long as there isn't another one — Corridore said "Delta may get a pass here."<br/>
