Delta CEO Provides Free Flights to Employees Amid CrowdStrike-Microsoft Chaos

• Delta CEO Ed Bastian announced that employees would receive two travel passes to any destination served by the airline.
• The botched CrowdStrike software update caused an outage of Windows systems worldwide, making it difficult for Delta to recover.

On Friday, CEO Ed Bastian expressed gratitude to employees by offering them two free travel passes. This gesture was in appreciation of the staff members who were affected by the software update that caused disruptions and stranded thousands of customers and crew last month.

Delta faced more difficulties than its rivals in restoring service following the outages that affected thousands of Windows computers, resulting in the cancellation of over 5,000 flights from July 19 to July 24, which exceeded the total number of cancellations in all of 2019. This incident, which Delta CEO Bastian stated earlier this week, resulted in a loss of approximately $500 million, which is equivalent to about 40% of the company's second-quarter earnings.

Bastian acknowledged in his Friday note that the disruption had been a humbling moment for the company. He expressed his deepest apologies for the difficulties experienced and emphasized that an operational disruption of this magnitude was unacceptable, and that the company and its customers deserved better.

Delta's reputation as a reliable airline was damaged by flight cancellations and delays, which left thousands stranded. Despite this, Delta frequently highlights its efforts to win over customers who are willing to pay more for a premium flying experience.

Staff were praised by him for their heroic efforts throughout.

Microsoft and CrowdStrike didn't immediately comment on Friday.