• by Tanya Gazdik , July 24, 2024

U.S. Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg is investigating Delta Air Line after flight cancellations and delays continued into a fifth day Tuesday.

The aim of the investigation is to “ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions,” Buttigieg said in a statement. “All airline passengers have the right to be treated fairly,” he added.

Passengers should try to resolve their travel issues directly with Delta, but the department wants to hear from those who thought the airline “has not complied” with protection requirements during the recent travel disruptions via a form for passengers to provide information about their concerns.

“Delta has canceled more than 1,000 flights again on Tuesday, marking the fifth consecutive day that Delta has struck at least 1,000 flights from its schedule, stranding thousands of passengers,” according to Afar. “While operations at other U.S. carriers have returned to near normalcy as of Tuesday morning, Delta continues to flounder. More than 25 percent of the airline’s flights were delayed or canceled, as of 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to flight tracking site FlightAware."

Meanwhile, families are left scrambling as Delta bars minors from flying alone in wake of outage.

“Its suspension of travel for unaccompanied minors, a measure implemented with little notice, left some children stranded across state lines or even in different countries, and it left families scrambling to book last minute flights on other airlines or arrange alternative transportation,” according to The New York Times. 

Delta appears to rely more than other airlines on systems that run on Microsoft Windows. 

“John Laughter, Delta’s chief of operations, said the airline was moving planes, pilots and flight attendants ‘to where they need to be so we can return to normal operations by the end of the week,’” according to The Associated Press.