Delta Air Lines has grounded flights and predicted widespread cancellations on Monday, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers, after a power outage hit its computer systems globally.
The Atlanta-based carrier said the outage began at around 2:30 a.m., though it was unclear how that affected the company’s global computer systems. Flights already en route were operating normally, but others were delayed or cancelled, AP reported.
The massive outage threw the airline back to the days of yore in aviation travel, where many things were done manually. In Richmond, Virginia, boarding passes were written out by hand. In Tokyo, a dot-matrix printer was resurrected to keep track of passengers on a flight to Shanghai. In New York, self-service check-in kiosks were dark. And the technology that was working was giving inaccurate information. Flight status systems, including airport screens, were incorrectly showing flights on time, something the company was trying to address.
“We apologize to customers who are affected by this issue and our teams are working to resolve the problem as quickly as possible,” the company said in a statement.
Early confirmation of the troubles first came in an official account that responds to customers via Twitter. The company had said its IT systems were down “everywhere” and “hopefully it won’t be much longer”. Several applications were affected, including the company’s website.
The company said travelers will be entitled to a refund if the flight is cancelled or significantly delayed. Travelers on some routes can also make a one-time change to the ticket free of charge.
