A report tells of the huge chaos caused by the major Delta Air Lines service meltdown which rendered about 500,000 passengers helpless. The incident left thousands of travelers stranded at the airport, causing them to sleep on the airport’s floor. They even faced a lot of hassle in locating their bags, let alone getting any information from the airline.
Although there might be widespread frustration and anger among the affected passengers, industry sources say most will probably stick with Delta. This is because the American air transport industry has some underlying factors that make this projection possible. For one, the four largest airlines in America, American, United, Southwest, and Delta, hold more than 70 percent of all air transport in the United States.
On its part, Delta serves as a hub for some of America’s largest cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City among others, and this implies that for travelers heading to these cities, they have even fewer alternatives available.
Also, most customers are tethered to specific airlines because they accumulate airline miles and rewards through frequent flier accounts and branded credit cards. This makes them feel loyal and switching airlines becomes a difficult decision for them.
Don Hooper, a million-mile Delta frequent flier from Atlanta. Hooper, with his wife Dorothy, was stranded for three days in Salt Lake City as they were on their way home after attending a wedding and visiting the Glacier National Park. The Hoopers faced several inconveniences and even had to book a Spirit flight to head home as quickly as possible. Hooper expressed his disappointment, more than anger, as there was no communication from Delta’s end. Yet he has not mentioned ceasing to fly with Delta anymore. Hooper said that as a million-mile customer, he has received services from Delta for a long, and wouldn’t want to change his airlines because of this incident.
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The computer problems triggering the meltdown are reported as being said to have shut down Delta’s computer system used to track pilot and flight attendant locations. These problems are again considered to arise from issues with cyber security firm CrowdStrike that affected sources of business worldwide on July 19. While the majority of organizations quickly resumed normal running within a few hours, Delta’s problems seemed to continue beyond its initial preparation, leading it to cancel more than 4,400 flights that were scheduled from July 19 to 21 and leading to 1,800 cancellations on the two following days, Monday and Tuesday.
The article also circulated contradictory views from other passengers who were stuck. The newlywed couple Jeremy and Kaylee Jones came in for their honeymoon but now don’t want to fly Delta for at least the next couple of months. Industry professionals, however, expect that, as usual, after a severe air travel shock, demand generally rebounds very fast. They pointed to Southwest Airlines, which quickly recovered after an incident in late 2022.
The report noted that Delta occupies a very strong space in the markets, particularly in its hubs. For example, 83% of all available seat miles flown in or out of Atlanta are controlled by the airline, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm. The combination of this advantage and Delta’s generally good reputation for service and performance should help maintain customers despite the recent setback.
The story wrapped up by reporting that Delta led the industry in first-half on-time performance and the lowest percentage of canceling flights, thanks to 39 days of avoiding the canceling of any flights. This record and relatively small customers’ complaint rate will likely play in the field when it comes to retaining customers over the longer term.