Mass flight cancellations snarled U.S. airports for a third consecutive day Sunday, the lingering fallout after a Friday tech glitch affecting Microsoft Windows clients caused worldwide I.T. infrastructure outages— and upended many airline operations, even prompting an apology from Delta Air Lines’ CEO Sunday afternoon.
Delta and United Airlines again canceled hundreds of flights Sunday, as the two carriers continued working to recover their operations in the wake of the problems caused by a third-party vendor late last week.
The problems have led to packed terminals at airports across the country this weekend, with long, snaking lines of travelers waiting to speak to customer service common — and images of passengers sleeping on airport concourse floors.
By Sunday evening, airlines had canceled more than 1,700 flights in the U.S.
Delta led the way with more than 1,000 cancellations Sunday – more than a quarter of its operation, according to data from flight-tracking site FlightAware. United was second, with 262 cancellations Sunday — about 9% of its schedule.
In all, airlines have canceled more than 7,000 flights in the U.S. since Friday’s disruption — more than 3,400 of those on Delta, per FlightAware data.
In a note to customers Sunday afternoon, Delta CEO Ed Bastian apologized for the prolonged disruptions.
“Delta is in the business of connecting the world, and we understand how difficult it can be when your travels are disrupted,” Bastian said. “Thank you for your patience as we work through these issues, restore our operation and return to the reliability you expect from Delta.”
Source: thepointsguy.com
