Delta ignites a war of words with CrowdStrike following IT outage

Catch-up quick: In an interview with CNBC last week — staged in front of the Eiffel Tower at the Olympic Games — Delta CEO Ed Bastian apologized to the impacted travelers before pointing the finger at "big tech" for its slow recovery, stating the airline has "no choice" but to seek damages.

• Bastian also contended CrowdStrike made zero offers to help the company financially, but the cybersecurity provider rejected that claim.

What they're saying: Both Microsoft and CrowdStrike were quick to point out that Delta's competitors — and affected in other industries — were much quicker to rebound after the IT collapse.

• According to CrowdStrike, Delta is peddling a "misleading narrative" by blaming the cybersecurity vendor for the airline's slow response to the outage.
• When asked for comment, a Delta spokesperson brought up Bastian's CNBC interview and added the airline "has a long track record of investing in safe, reliable and elevated service for our customers and employees. Since 2016, Delta has invested billions of dollars in IT capital expenditures, in addition to the billions spent annually in IT operating costs."

Between the lines: Bastian's CNBC appearance was likely meant to calm the shareholder audience. However, when it comes to litigation communications, experts advise corporations against threatening legal action in the public sphere.

• This approach also confines corporate communication teams from speaking on the record, given looming threats of litigation.
• As one litigation comms expert told Axios, doing so previews legal arguments (which allows your opponent more time to prepare), dilutes the impact of the actual filing and sets up possible defamation counterclaims.
• "Bastian should have focused crisis management and reputation repair efforts on the most directly impacted stakeholders — Delta's passengers," the expert said. "Then, after evaluating whether [its] claims have any merit, Delta should have sandbagged its defendants with a filing that was shared under embargo with a trusted reporter."

The big picture: Airlines continue to face heightened public scrutiny.

• As United Airlines EVP of advertising and communications Josh Earnest told Hope King at a recent Axios Communicators event, "A crazy thing could happen at a chain hotel and nobody would care, but if it happens on board an airplane, it's going to be leading the 'Today' show the next day."

• Many rely on banking goodwill with frequent flyers through consistent and transparent communications.

Flashback: Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said as much during his apology tour following the 2022 operational meltdown.

• He communicated directly with consumers, shareholders and legislators to explain the operational issue. "You've got to be transparent and not defensive. That builds trust," he said at the time.

Zoom in: Delta's response to the outage affects the "premium" airline brand it has worked hard to build.

• As such, the airline is striving to keep affected flyers up to date on refunds, waivers and reimbursements.
• "Most recently, during the global IT outage, we worked diligently to deliver information in an open, honest and accountable way to support Delta's customers and our people during an unprecedented and difficult time," added a spokesperson.

The bottom line: It remains to be seen how far the legal threats go and if the claims will hold up in court of law — but corporate finger-pointing rarely bodes well in the court of public opinion.

More from Axios: Passengers sue Delta following massive IT outage

• Delta's top-notch reputation takes a hit after flight cancellations