SLC travelers still waylaid as Delta struggles following weekend technical issues
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Travelers wait to resolve flights late Sunday at Salt Lake City International Airport. Photo: Katie Peralta Soloff/Axios
Dozens of flights in and out of Salt Lake City were canceled Monday as Delta Airlines struggled to recover from the weekend's travel meltdown.
The big picture: Delays and cancellations plagued almost every airline starting Friday due to a technical problem with widely used cybersecurity software that also affected hospitals, law enforcement and more.
The intrigue: Most airlines have recovered, but Delta had canceled about 20% and delayed about 15% of its Monday flights as of mid-morning, per FlightAware.
- Technical issues were stymying Delta's crew-scheduling software, which matches available pilots and flight attendants to particular flights, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement Sunday.
- Similar operations software was at the core of Southwest Airlines' meltdown in late 2022.
Zoom in: 76 flights to and from SLC International Airport were cancelled as of Monday afternoon, with 167 delayed, per FlightAware.
- That's on top of 360 cancellations and 929 delays from Friday through Sunday.
What they're saying: "The technology issue occurred on the busiest travel weekend of the summer, with our booked loads exceeding 90%, limiting our reaccommodation capabilities," Bastian said in the statement.
- "I want to apologize to every one of you who have been impacted by these events."
Friction point: U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — who's in the conversation as a potential vice presidential pick for likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris — said Sunday that he's "made clear to Delta that we will hold them to all applicable passenger protections."
- "No one should be stranded at an airport overnight or stuck on hold for hours waiting to talk to a customer service agent," Buttigieg, who's been championing stronger air passenger protection rules, wrote on X.
The other side: In his statement, Bastian noted that Delta is offering travel waivers, meal vouchers, hotels and other make-goods to some affected travelers.
The bottom line: What was once an industrywide problem is now squarely a Delta issue.