Delta's 'widespread flight disruptions' prompts Department of Transportation investigation

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Chaos continues at Delta Air Lines as the carrier enters its fourth day of struggling with the fallout from Friday’s CrowdStrike outage. Now the Department of Transportation is investigating what’s going on at the airline.

While other U.S. carriers’ operations are more or less back to normal, Delta posted more than 400 cancellations by 9 a.m. ET Tuesday. Since Friday, the airline has canceled more than 5,500 flights overall, with thousands more delayed, according to FlightAware. That’s more than half the number of flights the airline canceled in all of 2023, according to DOT statistics .

The DOT said it is investigating the airline “following continued widespread flight disruptions and reports of concerning customer service failures.”

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Passengers have taken to social media saying they airline hasn’t honored its commitments to provide hotel and meal vouchers, or offer rebooking options on other airlines. In some cases, passengers have also said the airline refused to provide cash refunds, instead offering only credits for future flights.

“We have made clear to Delta that they must take care of their passengers and honor their customer service commitments. This is not just the right thing to do, it’s the law, and our department will leverage the full extent of our investigative and enforcement power to ensure the rights of Delta’s passengers are upheld,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

The statement also said the DOT’s investigation will continue to evolve as it learns more and processes all the passenger complaints that have come in.

Delta did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.

What are Delta customers entitled to if their flights are delayed or canceled?

All passengers are always entitled to a full refund to their method of payment if an airline cancels their flight for any reason, even if they booked a nonrefundable ticket.

In addition, Delta’s customer service policy guarantees:

• Meal or meal vouchers for passengers who are delayed more than 3 hours by a cancellation or interruption
• Hotel accommodations for delays or cancellations that result in unplanned overnight stays
• Ground transportation to and from the hotel

Delta acknowledged in a statement that all passengers are entitled to refunds when their flights are canceled. It also said it would reimburse customers for expenses they incur as a result of flight disruptions, including hotel, meal and ground transportation.

Because of the high volume of flight disruptions, Delta may not be able to organize accommodation for all affected passengers itself, so those reimbursements mean it will cover reasonable expenses for travelers who make their own arrangements instead.

Delta said it will not cover “prepaid expenses, including but not limited to hotel reservations at the customer’s destination, vacation experiences, lost wages, concerts or other tickets.”

The airline is also issuing SkyMiles or travel vouchers as a goodwill gesture to affected passengers. Delta said the value of this compensation will be “an amount based on the customer’s affected travels.”

Will Delta rebook passengers on other airlines?

Delta’s customer commitment does offer rebooking on other airlines for passengers whose flights are significantly delayed or canceled, but that guarantee is not always so straightforward.

Summer is peak travel season, and even when Delta has agreements in place with competitors that allow its agents to make external bookings, it doesn’t magically mean seats will be available.

Flights routinely run at 90% capacity or more – every traveler has heard the announcement that their flight is completely full and no overhead bin space remains – so there’s not a lot of slack in the system to pick up passengers stranded by Delta’s disruptions.

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Airlines can also be limited in their rebooking capabilities for various reasons, even if people are willing to use different airports than the ones they originally booked from. This adds a layer of complication to agents’ ability to search for alternative flights.

Passengers may be able to find flights on their own, outside of the options Delta offers for rebooking on its website or app, but it’s not totally clear if the airline will cover the cost of new tickets passengers purchase themselves.

Delta’s information about reimbursable expenses does not mention other airline tickets, and DOT guidance focuses on the rebooking options the airline itself offers. Often these situations are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Delta's 'widespread flight disruptions' prompts Department of Transportation investigation