Microsoft says Delta was largely responsible for flight cancellations
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. In a letter between lawyers representing the two companies, which was reviewed by The New York Times, Microsoft said Delta had sought to deflect from its own shortcomings by blaming the technology giant for its problems. Delta’s comments, both publicly and in legal correspondence, are “incomplete, false, misleading and damaging,” Microsoft said in the letter, which was addressed to David Boies, a prominent lawyer whose firm is representing Delta. “The truth is very different from the false picture you and Delta have sought to paint,” wrote Mark Cheffo, a partner at the Dechert law firm who is representing Microsoft. In mid-July, a cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike, issued a flawed software update to customers who run Microsoft Windows, effectively shutting down various computer systems of lots of businesses, including several airlines. Most carriers bounced back relatively quickly, but Delta struggled for days, ultimately canceling about 5,000 flights over four days, or more than a third of its schedule. Delta’s CE, Ed Bastian, has said the episode had cost the airline about $500m. Last week, he told employees that he had hired Boies’s firm, Boies Schiller Flexner, to pursue legal claims against Microsoft and CrowdStrike, which also rebutted Delta’s claims this week. In its letter on Tuesday, Cheffo said that Microsoft “empathizes” with Delta and its customers and that while the technology company was not at fault, it had offered to help the airline for no charge after the outage. Microsoft repeated that offer over five days, from July 19 to July 23, but was turned down each time, it said.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-08-07/general/microsoft-says-delta-was-largely-responsible-for-flight-cancellations
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Microsoft says Delta was largely responsible for flight cancellations
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. In a letter between lawyers representing the two companies, which was reviewed by The New York Times, Microsoft said Delta had sought to deflect from its own shortcomings by blaming the technology giant for its problems. Delta’s comments, both publicly and in legal correspondence, are “incomplete, false, misleading and damaging,” Microsoft said in the letter, which was addressed to David Boies, a prominent lawyer whose firm is representing Delta. “The truth is very different from the false picture you and Delta have sought to paint,” wrote Mark Cheffo, a partner at the Dechert law firm who is representing Microsoft. In mid-July, a cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike, issued a flawed software update to customers who run Microsoft Windows, effectively shutting down various computer systems of lots of businesses, including several airlines. Most carriers bounced back relatively quickly, but Delta struggled for days, ultimately canceling about 5,000 flights over four days, or more than a third of its schedule. Delta’s CE, Ed Bastian, has said the episode had cost the airline about $500m. Last week, he told employees that he had hired Boies’s firm, Boies Schiller Flexner, to pursue legal claims against Microsoft and CrowdStrike, which also rebutted Delta’s claims this week. In its letter on Tuesday, Cheffo said that Microsoft “empathizes” with Delta and its customers and that while the technology company was not at fault, it had offered to help the airline for no charge after the outage. Microsoft repeated that offer over five days, from July 19 to July 23, but was turned down each time, it said.<br/>
