Delays and cancellations follow United Airlines’ IT failure last week

Washington (January 30, 2017) – Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), members of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today sent a letter to Delta Air Lines, Inc. inquiring about the state of the airline’s Information Technology (IT) system in light of yesterday’s flight disruptions. According to media reports, an IT issue yesterday caused Delta Air Lines to cancel and delay hundreds of flights. In their letter, the Senators request information on the nature of the IT failure and what safeguards and backups were in place to prevent such an issue from occurring. The Senators also ask about how Delta Air Lines accommodated impacted passengers, including reimbursement and compensation offerings.

“Now that three of the four largest air carriers have recently experienced significant disruptions due to IT failures – including two within a week of one another – it is time for airlines to update their IT systems for the jet age,” write Senators Markey and Blumenthal.

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

Last week, the Senators sent a similar letter to United Airlines, which reportedly experienced an IT issue that caused the airline to ground all domestic flights for two and a half hours, resulting in hundreds of flight delays.

In August, Senators Markey and Blumenthal queried 13 major airlines about efforts to ensure airline IT systems are reliable and resilient.