A global technology outage disrupted several major airlines, causing thousands of flight cancellations and delays on Friday July 19. The tech outage impacted banks, media outlets and hospital systems around the world as well. Days after the outage, Delta travelers are still experiencing the effects.
On Friday, many unlucky travelers had to wait for hours trapped at the airport to try to check in and get onto their flights with the systems down. The glitch led to all flights getting temporarily grounded for Allegiant Air, American, Delta, Spirit and United, according to The New York Times. There were challenges and delays at many American airports, including in major hubs like Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago and New York, CNN reported.
Ultimately, the problem stemmed from a software update by CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company. Over the course of the day Friday, the various impacted systems slowly returned to operational normalcy.
And while most airlines have recovered from the outage, Delta is still struggling. According to FlightAware, on Sunday, Delta canceled over 1,300 flights and delayed over 1,600. On Monday, the airline had over 700 cancellations and over 1,000 delays, more than any other airline. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta's main hub and the busiest airport in the world, is facing extreme crowds and long lines at airline counters as thousands of travelers get stuck at the airport.
This past weekend, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, spoke to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, saying his agency has received "hundreds of complaints" about Delta and he expects the airline to issue prompt refunds and assistance to customers.
If your flight was canceled or delayed due to the tech glitch, here’s what you need to know about reimbursement for your disrupted flights.
How to get reimbursed if your flight was canceled or delayed
Consumers are entitled to a refund if an airline cancels a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Refunds are also given if the airline makes a “significant schedule change” and/or “significantly delays” a flight and the consumer chooses not to travel.
Although what determines a “significant change” has not been explicitly outlined by the DOT, in this case, the DOT will hold airline companies responsible for issuing reimbursements, USA Today reported.
Typically, airlines don’t provide compensation for delayed flights over three hours, except for Alaska, JetBlue and Southwest. You can check the DOT’s Customer Service Dashboard to get more information about each airline’s policy.
The good news is several major airlines, including Delta, American and United, have already issued waivers to customers in the wake of the tech outage to reimburse their flights or allow them to rebook travel for no additional cost.
The following was shared by airlines: Delta customers can rebook travel up to July 28. United customers can rebook travel up to July 25. American Airlines is waiving a change fee for those who were booked to fly Friday the 19th. Frontier customers whose flights were delayed by more than 180 minutes or canceled can rebook flights at no charge or cancel flights for a full refund. Additionally, Frontier said that change fees are waived for rescheduled travel completed on/before July 25, 2025. Spirit is allowing customers to rebook or get a refund on flights for those that were canceled or delayed by more than 2 hours. The fare difference is waived through July 28, 2024.
Often, if you need to rebook but can’t find suitable flights from the airline you made the initial booking with, you can rebook with a partner airline or another airline with which it has an agreement (again, at no additional cost). Changing travel dates, instead of opting for a full refund, is worth considering. If you take the refund and rebook travel at a later date, prices could be more expensive than they were to begin with, meaning you’ll end up spending more money.
To start the reimbursement process, call your airline’s customer service line or go to the customer service desk if you’re already at the airport.
Also note that not only can you get compensation for the price of the airfare itself, but most airlines also offer meal vouchers and hotel accommodations for customers. All major airlines offer meal vouchers when cancellation results in passengers waiting for 3 hours or more for a flight, and most offer complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation.
Unfortunately, automatic refunds aren’t available yet, but will be later this year. The Department of Transportation announced in April that airlines will soon be required to promptly provide passengers with automatic cash refunds when owed.
Does travel insurance cover canceled or delayed flights?
Situations like this are when travel insurance comes in handy. Most travel insurance policies cover canceled flights or those delayed by at least 3 to 12 hours.
Some policies also cover accommodation and food costs, missed trip events that were pre-paid and added costs for meeting up with your cruise or travel group, according to Progressive. If federal law requires an airline to reimburse you for a delay or cancellation, file a claim through your airline. However, other prepaid, nonrefundable costs caused by the covered delay or cancellation can be filed through your insurance provider.
If you don’t have a separate travel insurance policy, there’s a good chance you already have cancellation or delay coverage through your travel credit card, so it’s important to stay up to date with your card’s terms and conditions. Check out these 10 credit cards with travel insurance.
