Aug 9, 2016, 1:04 pm
Last edit by: TheLifeOfA_NKCM
As most of us ...well, all of us, know, there was a power failure at ground ops in ATL on Monday (2016-08-08) at 2:39AM which lead to mass-cancellations and delays and rebookings spanning as far as next Sunday (2016-08-21) as of Aug 9. Passengers didn't hesitate to display their dissapointment, Twitter, ACS, and DL phone lines were ambushed with customers. In an effort to keep our fellow flyers informed on the incoming changes and information, this Wiki was formed.
You may all feel free to edit it as your leisure as we continue to watch this develop..
If you are currently at an airport right now, your information on the ongoing events and current situation there is equally as valuable. Thanks for your input.
If you have part of an article in your post, please cite it with a URL to it's
origin.
Airport & Support Situation..
NRT: Foam or Blowup Pad, Crackers, and water given out to customers for sleeping prior to hotel voucher last night
MSP: "Security Lines best since reconfiguration"
---
Note:
Some passengers are reporting long waiting queues on DL phone lines. If possible avoid contacting DL CSR by phone (DM and medallion lines are also expected to have a notably longer wait as well) and instead redirect att'n to Twitter which has been said to be notably quicker than other means of assistance, including Need Help Centers and Gate Agents. Fly Delta and Delta.com should also be permitting rebooking on to other flights at this time. If you are unable to take advantage of any of these methods, express add'l patience
Delta Related Updates:
---
August 11th, 2016 // 11:00AM ET - Flights OPs Return to Normal
Flight operations have returned to normal following Mondays outage, airline officials said at noon today. Delta started the day with roughly 25 mainline flights canceledsome due to bad weather in the Midwestand no additional cancellations are anticipated.
The airline is back on its feet, moving past this weeks disruption and operating normally, said Dave Holtz, S.V.P. - Operations and Customer Center. Running a reliable operation is something we pride ourselves on and frankly, that didnt happen this week. But our teams have worked tirelessly to bring back the dependable airline our customers have known us to be and have come to expect from us.
SLC.jpgWith the impact of the power loss is in the rearview mirror, the airline is carefully monitoring the development of a weather system that may hit the eastern third of the U.S. later today, with the possibility of air traffic control-related delays possible in the Northeast. No additional cancellations as a result of weather are expected, however.
The airline plans to fly more than 610,000 people today. By noon Thursday, nearly 2,200 flights had departed with more than 85 percent departing within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time.
Even so, customers traveling today should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Delta's travel waiver has been extended through Thursday.
Monday morning an uninterrupted power source switch experienced a small fire which resulted in a massive failure at Deltas Technology Command Center. This caused the power control module to malfunction, sending a surge to a transformer outside of Delta, resulting in the loss of power. The power was stabilized and power was restored quickly. But when this happened, critical systems and network equipment didnt switch over to backups. Around 300 of about 7,000 data center components were discovered to not have been configured appropriately to avail back-up power. In addition to restoring Deltas systems to normal operations, Delta teams this week have been working to ensure reliable redundancies of electrical power as well as network connectivity and applications are in place.
---
August 10th, 2016
Travel waiver impacted dates now extended to include August 11th
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...em-outage.html
---
4:30PM ET // August 10th, 2016 - Delta has canceled 317 flights today, none in the last hour. Of 3,100 flights that have departed during the day, about 2/3 left within 30 minutes of their scheduled departure time.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended. The airline has extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by lengthy delays or cancellations. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta.
Delta CEO Bastian: 'This isn't who we are'
---
2:30PM ET // August 10th, 2016 - Delta has canceled 311 flights today. About 2,540 flights have departed, 70 percent of those within 30 minutes of the scheduled departure time. Delta operates nearly 6,000 flights a day this time of year.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended. The airline has extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by lengthy delays or cancellations. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta.
---
12:30 PM ET // August 10th, 2016 - Delta has added a few more cancellations, bringing the number today to 278. About 1,950 flights have departed, 75 percent of those within 30 minutes of scheduled departure time. Delta operates nearly 6,000 flights a day this time of year.
Delta also extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or lengthy cancellations. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta.
---
11:00AM EDT // August 10th, 2016 - Delta officials anticipate returning to a normal operation by afternoon Wednesday following an outage Monday that disrupted the flight schedule, though scattered thunderstorms expected in the eastern U.S. may slow the recovery.
By late morning, Delta had canceled 255 flights while 1,500 flights departed. About 80 percent of those flights departed within 30 minutes of their scheduled time.
Technology systems that allow airport customer service agents to process check-ins, conduct boarding and dispatch aircraft are functioning normally with the bulk of delays and cancellations coming as a result of flight crews displaced or running up against their maximum allowed duty period following the outage.
Were in the final hours of bouncing back from the disruption, said Bill Lentsch, Deltas Senior Vice President Airport Customer Service and Airline Operations. Delta employees have been working around the clock and are committed to bringing the airline back to full strength. We know this has been a rough couple of days for our customers and apologize to those who have experienced our less-than-stellar operation.
Leaders and employees continue to focus on promptly moving departures at the airline's Atlanta hub, the world's busiest. Delta sent reservations personnel from the corporate headquarters in Atlanta to help customer service agents process customers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. A cadre of additional employees were also positioned throughout the Atlanta airport to help customers get to their flights.
Customers traveling today should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Customers can rebook their flight via the website.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended and the airline continued to provide hotel vouchers to several thousand customers, including more than 2,300 Tuesday night in Atlanta. Delta extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or cancellations. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta.
---
7:00AM ET // August, 10th, 2016 - Delta officials anticipate returning to a normal operation by mid-to-late afternoon Wednesday following an outage Monday that disrupted the airlines flight schedule, though a chance of scattered thunderstorms expected in the eastern U.S. may have the potential to slow the recovery.
Teams across the airline continued work during the overnight hours to bring an end to the impact of Mondays outage that disrupted operations. Delta will start the Wednesday operation with a little over 150 system-wide cancellations after roughly 800 flights were canceled Tuesday.
Technology systems that allow airport customer service agents to process check-ins, conduct boarding and dispatch aircraft are functioning normally with the bulk of delays and cancellations coming as a result of flight crews displaced or running up against their maximum allowed duty period following the outage.
Were in the final hours of bouncing back from the disruption, said Bill Lentsch, Deltas Senior Vice President Airport Customer Service and Airline Operations. Delta employees have been working around the clock and are committed to bringing the airline back to full strength. We know this has been a rough couple of days for our customers and apologize to those who have experienced our less-than-stellar operation.
Delta CEO Bastian: 'This isn't who we are'
Leaders and employees continue to focus on promptly moving departures at the airline's Atlanta hub, the world's busiest. Delta sent reservations personnel from the corporate headquarters in Atlanta to help customer service agents process customers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. A cadre of additional employees were also positioned throughout the Atlanta Airport to help customers get to their flights.
Customers traveling today should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Customers can rebook their flight via the website.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended and the airline continued to provide hotel vouchers to several thousand customers, including more than 2,300 Tuesday night in Atlanta. Through noon ET, Delta will extend its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or cancellations to cover Tuesday. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta agents.
Unaccompanied minors will again be allowed to travel on Delta Wednesday following a temporary stay during the height of the disruption.
---
August 9th, 2016 // 6:00 PM EST - Rebooking, Refunds, and Compensation: What Customers Need to Know:
Delta people worldwide are working around the clock to take care of customers affected by the disruption of airline operations. Below are updates to assist customers with questions regarding rebooking a flight, the current travel waiver and compensation Delta is offering affected customers:
Q: What does Delta's travel waiver offer customers?
If a customer's flight is cancelled or significantly delayed, he or she entitled to a refund. Even if the flight is not canceled, a one-time change to the ticket may be made without a fee. See full details here.
Q. Has Delta's travel waiver been extended?
Yes, to offer additional flexibility to customers who wish to make changes to their travel plans, Delta's travel waiver has been extended. For the latest information, see full details here.
Q. Is Delta offering travel vouchers to impacted customers?
Yes. Delta will provide $200 in travel vouchers to all customers who experienced a delay of greater than three hours or a cancelled flight as a result of the impact to operations systemwide. The vouchers are available for travel on all Delta and Delta Connection-operated flights.
Customers affected by the outage and who have provided their email address will be contacted via email and will receive their voucher in seven to 10 business days. Customers who have not been contacted can complete a Customer Care form on www.delta.com/wecare to receive their voucher. All travel must be booked by one year from the date the voucher was issued.
Q. Do the travel vouchers also apply to customers who are entitled to a refund?
Yes. Delta will provide $200 in travel vouchers to all customers who experienced a delay of greater than three hours or a cancelled flight as a result of the impact to operations systemwide.
---
August 9th, 2016 - Delta CEO Ed Bastian Releases Another Statement
Today Ed released another statement regarding the ongoing system reset and outage. Claiming "This isn't who we are". It can be found here.
---
Nonrev Travel Discouraged; Buddy Passes embargoed
Delta employees and family with nonrev flight privileges are discouraged at this time from making any personal travel until further notice. Additionally, during this time travelling via the use of a buddy pass will be embargoed. An end date to this travel suspension has not been decided upon and will be released in future updates.
---
Travel Waiver in effect:
All Delta flights
August 8-10, 2016
Ticket must be Reissued On or Before, and Rebooked Travel must begin no later than:
August 21, 2016
Note: This also has been extended to include hotel rooms and other accommodations for those customers who may need to take an add'l night stay due to a flight cancellation.
---
August 9th, 2016 // 11:00 PM EST -
Delta canceled about 775 flights Tuesday as the airline worked to establish normal operations after Mondays outage that disrupted the flight schedule. The outlook for Wednesdays operation is positive, Delta officials said, with about 90 cancellations expected at the beginning of the day leading to normal operations later.
Delta continues to recover from events earlier this week and expect to be back to normal operations by mid-day Wed, with some cancellations in the morning. -summarized; news.delta.com
---
August 9th, 2016 // 2:00 PM EST - Cause of Outage Identified:
"a critical power control module at our Technology Command Center malfunctioned, causing a surge to the transformer and a loss of power. The universal power was stabilized and power was restored quickly. But when this happened, critical systems and network equipment didn't switch over to backups. Other systems did. And now we're seeing instability in these systems."
Power was restored quickly however, due to some critical systems and network equipment didn't switch over to the backups leading to the outage; DL still in recovery. ACS systems are still catching up and have been reported to be running slow -summarized; news.delta.com
---
August 9th, 2016 // 12:30 PM EST - Delta has canceled about 530 flights today while more than 1,600 have departed as the airline works diligently to normalize operations after Monday's outage that disrupted the flight schedule. Leaders and employees continue to focus on promptly moving departures at the airline's Atlanta hub, the world's busiest.
Customers traveling today should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Customers can rebook their flight via the website.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended to customers traveling on Aug. 9. Also, unaccompanied minors that have not yet begun travel will not be accepted until Wednesday. Those customers will be able to book without fee at a later date.
Delta offered compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or cancellations. -news.delta.com
---
August 9th, 2016 // 8:30 AM EST - What Customers Need to Know for Tuesday:
Delta is cancelling more than 300 flights Tuesday morning as it works to reset the operation and get crews, aircraft and other operational elements in place to take care of customers. The airline experienced a loss of power Monday morning that impacted operations systemwide.
Here are some things to know today:
1. Customers traveling Tuesday should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Customers can rebook their flight via the website.
2. Delays continue. Customers heading to the airport should expect delays and cancellations. While inquiries are high and wait times are long, our customer service agents are doing everything they can to assist.
3. Delta's travel waiver has been extended to customers traveling on Tuesday.
4. Delta extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or cancellations to cover today.
5. Unaccompanied minors that have not yet begun travel will not be accepted until Wednesday. Those customers will be able to book without fee at a later date.-news.delta.com
You may all feel free to edit it as your leisure as we continue to watch this develop..
If you are currently at an airport right now, your information on the ongoing events and current situation there is equally as valuable. Thanks for your input.
If you have part of an article in your post, please cite it with a URL to it's
origin.
Airport & Support Situation..
NRT: Foam or Blowup Pad, Crackers, and water given out to customers for sleeping prior to hotel voucher last night
MSP: "Security Lines best since reconfiguration"
---
Note:
Some passengers are reporting long waiting queues on DL phone lines. If possible avoid contacting DL CSR by phone (DM and medallion lines are also expected to have a notably longer wait as well) and instead redirect att'n to Twitter which has been said to be notably quicker than other means of assistance, including Need Help Centers and Gate Agents. Fly Delta and Delta.com should also be permitting rebooking on to other flights at this time. If you are unable to take advantage of any of these methods, express add'l patience
Delta Related Updates:
---
August 11th, 2016 // 11:00AM ET - Flights OPs Return to Normal
Flight operations have returned to normal following Mondays outage, airline officials said at noon today. Delta started the day with roughly 25 mainline flights canceledsome due to bad weather in the Midwestand no additional cancellations are anticipated.
The airline is back on its feet, moving past this weeks disruption and operating normally, said Dave Holtz, S.V.P. - Operations and Customer Center. Running a reliable operation is something we pride ourselves on and frankly, that didnt happen this week. But our teams have worked tirelessly to bring back the dependable airline our customers have known us to be and have come to expect from us.
SLC.jpgWith the impact of the power loss is in the rearview mirror, the airline is carefully monitoring the development of a weather system that may hit the eastern third of the U.S. later today, with the possibility of air traffic control-related delays possible in the Northeast. No additional cancellations as a result of weather are expected, however.
The airline plans to fly more than 610,000 people today. By noon Thursday, nearly 2,200 flights had departed with more than 85 percent departing within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time.
Even so, customers traveling today should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Delta's travel waiver has been extended through Thursday.
Monday morning an uninterrupted power source switch experienced a small fire which resulted in a massive failure at Deltas Technology Command Center. This caused the power control module to malfunction, sending a surge to a transformer outside of Delta, resulting in the loss of power. The power was stabilized and power was restored quickly. But when this happened, critical systems and network equipment didnt switch over to backups. Around 300 of about 7,000 data center components were discovered to not have been configured appropriately to avail back-up power. In addition to restoring Deltas systems to normal operations, Delta teams this week have been working to ensure reliable redundancies of electrical power as well as network connectivity and applications are in place.
---
August 10th, 2016
Travel waiver impacted dates now extended to include August 11th
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...em-outage.html
---
4:30PM ET // August 10th, 2016 - Delta has canceled 317 flights today, none in the last hour. Of 3,100 flights that have departed during the day, about 2/3 left within 30 minutes of their scheduled departure time.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended. The airline has extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by lengthy delays or cancellations. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta.
Delta CEO Bastian: 'This isn't who we are'
---
2:30PM ET // August 10th, 2016 - Delta has canceled 311 flights today. About 2,540 flights have departed, 70 percent of those within 30 minutes of the scheduled departure time. Delta operates nearly 6,000 flights a day this time of year.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended. The airline has extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by lengthy delays or cancellations. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta.
---
12:30 PM ET // August 10th, 2016 - Delta has added a few more cancellations, bringing the number today to 278. About 1,950 flights have departed, 75 percent of those within 30 minutes of scheduled departure time. Delta operates nearly 6,000 flights a day this time of year.
Delta also extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or lengthy cancellations. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta.
---
11:00AM EDT // August 10th, 2016 - Delta officials anticipate returning to a normal operation by afternoon Wednesday following an outage Monday that disrupted the flight schedule, though scattered thunderstorms expected in the eastern U.S. may slow the recovery.
By late morning, Delta had canceled 255 flights while 1,500 flights departed. About 80 percent of those flights departed within 30 minutes of their scheduled time.
Technology systems that allow airport customer service agents to process check-ins, conduct boarding and dispatch aircraft are functioning normally with the bulk of delays and cancellations coming as a result of flight crews displaced or running up against their maximum allowed duty period following the outage.
Were in the final hours of bouncing back from the disruption, said Bill Lentsch, Deltas Senior Vice President Airport Customer Service and Airline Operations. Delta employees have been working around the clock and are committed to bringing the airline back to full strength. We know this has been a rough couple of days for our customers and apologize to those who have experienced our less-than-stellar operation.
Leaders and employees continue to focus on promptly moving departures at the airline's Atlanta hub, the world's busiest. Delta sent reservations personnel from the corporate headquarters in Atlanta to help customer service agents process customers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. A cadre of additional employees were also positioned throughout the Atlanta airport to help customers get to their flights.
Customers traveling today should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Customers can rebook their flight via the website.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended and the airline continued to provide hotel vouchers to several thousand customers, including more than 2,300 Tuesday night in Atlanta. Delta extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or cancellations. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta.
---
7:00AM ET // August, 10th, 2016 - Delta officials anticipate returning to a normal operation by mid-to-late afternoon Wednesday following an outage Monday that disrupted the airlines flight schedule, though a chance of scattered thunderstorms expected in the eastern U.S. may have the potential to slow the recovery.
Teams across the airline continued work during the overnight hours to bring an end to the impact of Mondays outage that disrupted operations. Delta will start the Wednesday operation with a little over 150 system-wide cancellations after roughly 800 flights were canceled Tuesday.
Technology systems that allow airport customer service agents to process check-ins, conduct boarding and dispatch aircraft are functioning normally with the bulk of delays and cancellations coming as a result of flight crews displaced or running up against their maximum allowed duty period following the outage.
Were in the final hours of bouncing back from the disruption, said Bill Lentsch, Deltas Senior Vice President Airport Customer Service and Airline Operations. Delta employees have been working around the clock and are committed to bringing the airline back to full strength. We know this has been a rough couple of days for our customers and apologize to those who have experienced our less-than-stellar operation.
Delta CEO Bastian: 'This isn't who we are'
Leaders and employees continue to focus on promptly moving departures at the airline's Atlanta hub, the world's busiest. Delta sent reservations personnel from the corporate headquarters in Atlanta to help customer service agents process customers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. A cadre of additional employees were also positioned throughout the Atlanta Airport to help customers get to their flights.
Customers traveling today should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Customers can rebook their flight via the website.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended and the airline continued to provide hotel vouchers to several thousand customers, including more than 2,300 Tuesday night in Atlanta. Through noon ET, Delta will extend its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or cancellations to cover Tuesday. Many customers have already been contacted by Delta agents.
Unaccompanied minors will again be allowed to travel on Delta Wednesday following a temporary stay during the height of the disruption.
---
August 9th, 2016 // 6:00 PM EST - Rebooking, Refunds, and Compensation: What Customers Need to Know:
Delta people worldwide are working around the clock to take care of customers affected by the disruption of airline operations. Below are updates to assist customers with questions regarding rebooking a flight, the current travel waiver and compensation Delta is offering affected customers:
Q: What does Delta's travel waiver offer customers?
If a customer's flight is cancelled or significantly delayed, he or she entitled to a refund. Even if the flight is not canceled, a one-time change to the ticket may be made without a fee. See full details here.
Q. Has Delta's travel waiver been extended?
Yes, to offer additional flexibility to customers who wish to make changes to their travel plans, Delta's travel waiver has been extended. For the latest information, see full details here.
Q. Is Delta offering travel vouchers to impacted customers?
Yes. Delta will provide $200 in travel vouchers to all customers who experienced a delay of greater than three hours or a cancelled flight as a result of the impact to operations systemwide. The vouchers are available for travel on all Delta and Delta Connection-operated flights.
Customers affected by the outage and who have provided their email address will be contacted via email and will receive their voucher in seven to 10 business days. Customers who have not been contacted can complete a Customer Care form on www.delta.com/wecare to receive their voucher. All travel must be booked by one year from the date the voucher was issued.
Q. Do the travel vouchers also apply to customers who are entitled to a refund?
Yes. Delta will provide $200 in travel vouchers to all customers who experienced a delay of greater than three hours or a cancelled flight as a result of the impact to operations systemwide.
---
August 9th, 2016 - Delta CEO Ed Bastian Releases Another Statement
Today Ed released another statement regarding the ongoing system reset and outage. Claiming "This isn't who we are". It can be found here.
---
Nonrev Travel Discouraged; Buddy Passes embargoed
Delta employees and family with nonrev flight privileges are discouraged at this time from making any personal travel until further notice. Additionally, during this time travelling via the use of a buddy pass will be embargoed. An end date to this travel suspension has not been decided upon and will be released in future updates.
---
Travel Waiver in effect:
All Delta flights
August 8-10, 2016
Ticket must be Reissued On or Before, and Rebooked Travel must begin no later than:
August 21, 2016
Note: This also has been extended to include hotel rooms and other accommodations for those customers who may need to take an add'l night stay due to a flight cancellation.
---
August 9th, 2016 // 11:00 PM EST -
Delta canceled about 775 flights Tuesday as the airline worked to establish normal operations after Mondays outage that disrupted the flight schedule. The outlook for Wednesdays operation is positive, Delta officials said, with about 90 cancellations expected at the beginning of the day leading to normal operations later.
Delta continues to recover from events earlier this week and expect to be back to normal operations by mid-day Wed, with some cancellations in the morning. -summarized; news.delta.com
---
August 9th, 2016 // 2:00 PM EST - Cause of Outage Identified:
"a critical power control module at our Technology Command Center malfunctioned, causing a surge to the transformer and a loss of power. The universal power was stabilized and power was restored quickly. But when this happened, critical systems and network equipment didn't switch over to backups. Other systems did. And now we're seeing instability in these systems."
Power was restored quickly however, due to some critical systems and network equipment didn't switch over to the backups leading to the outage; DL still in recovery. ACS systems are still catching up and have been reported to be running slow -summarized; news.delta.com
---
August 9th, 2016 // 12:30 PM EST - Delta has canceled about 530 flights today while more than 1,600 have departed as the airline works diligently to normalize operations after Monday's outage that disrupted the flight schedule. Leaders and employees continue to focus on promptly moving departures at the airline's Atlanta hub, the world's busiest.
Customers traveling today should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Customers can rebook their flight via the website.
Delta's travel waiver has been extended to customers traveling on Aug. 9. Also, unaccompanied minors that have not yet begun travel will not be accepted until Wednesday. Those customers will be able to book without fee at a later date.
Delta offered compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or cancellations. -news.delta.com
---
August 9th, 2016 // 8:30 AM EST - What Customers Need to Know for Tuesday:
Delta is cancelling more than 300 flights Tuesday morning as it works to reset the operation and get crews, aircraft and other operational elements in place to take care of customers. The airline experienced a loss of power Monday morning that impacted operations systemwide.
Here are some things to know today:
1. Customers traveling Tuesday should check the status of their flight at delta.com or the Fly Delta App. Customers can rebook their flight via the website.
2. Delays continue. Customers heading to the airport should expect delays and cancellations. While inquiries are high and wait times are long, our customer service agents are doing everything they can to assist.
3. Delta's travel waiver has been extended to customers traveling on Tuesday.
4. Delta extended its offer of compensation to customers significantly affected by delays or cancellations to cover today.
5. Unaccompanied minors that have not yet begun travel will not be accepted until Wednesday. Those customers will be able to book without fee at a later date.-news.delta.com
Delta computers down
Aug 9, 2016 | 7:34 am
#526
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: JAX
Programs: Delta DM, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 320
I don't think anyone is saying it is trivial... But I also don't think it needs to be that hard either. I see a few possible solutions to this problem (I am by no means an expert here):
1) DB failover: redundant DBs that automatically replicate and self-elect a master. Requires 3 or more members so you can have a quorum during master election. During normal operations, all reads and writes happen to an appointed master instance. All instances send "are you still online?" Heartbeat messages to each other to verify status, and slaves replicate data from the master as soon as it is written. If the master ever goes offline, the remaining members vote and elect a new master, automatically resuming operations.
2) blockchain-like distributed ledger. Biggest problem I see with this I current implementations is significant time delay while transactions are verified (proof of work currently takes lots of time, by design). But on the upside, even "untusted" parties can help contribute. Doesn't make a lot of sense for an airline.
3) fully redundant DBs: similar to a raid disk array. Writes happen across multiple DBs in parallel. Writes are verified for congurancy across all mirrors when a read occurs. If a mirror drops, the set is degraded, but still remains functional until the mirror comes back online. Biggest downside to this approach is the additional time needed to verify reads, which may not scale fantastically. But then again, we're talking milliseconds... If you have to wait a few extra ms to confirm that seat/ticket/weight balance call/whatever, it's probally not the end of he world.
1) DB failover: redundant DBs that automatically replicate and self-elect a master. Requires 3 or more members so you can have a quorum during master election. During normal operations, all reads and writes happen to an appointed master instance. All instances send "are you still online?" Heartbeat messages to each other to verify status, and slaves replicate data from the master as soon as it is written. If the master ever goes offline, the remaining members vote and elect a new master, automatically resuming operations.
2) blockchain-like distributed ledger. Biggest problem I see with this I current implementations is significant time delay while transactions are verified (proof of work currently takes lots of time, by design). But on the upside, even "untusted" parties can help contribute. Doesn't make a lot of sense for an airline.
3) fully redundant DBs: similar to a raid disk array. Writes happen across multiple DBs in parallel. Writes are verified for congurancy across all mirrors when a read occurs. If a mirror drops, the set is degraded, but still remains functional until the mirror comes back online. Biggest downside to this approach is the additional time needed to verify reads, which may not scale fantastically. But then again, we're talking milliseconds... If you have to wait a few extra ms to confirm that seat/ticket/weight balance call/whatever, it's probally not the end of he world.
I think it's more than fair to feel like whatever happened is unacceptable (and it is very unacceptable in this day and age), yet at the same time understand the position they are in. The bottom line is whatever happened is preventable, given time and money. Every decision to build redundancy in their systems isn't free, and they have to weigh the cost vs. benefit. Obviously a day after a major incident, the natural inclination is to spend every dime of profit to make sure this never happens again, but I guarantee you that setiment will change in some people's minds on Virginia Ave in three years, assuming they don't have another major, public incident. It's natural and is in many cases, human nature. I've been turned down for money multiple times to make systems more redundant and it was really frustrating. In some cases, the exact component I want to harden failed, and in some cases, the component I wanted to harden never failed, and there were a couple times where something I didn't think of failed. Bottom line it was my responsibity to ensure uptime.
In terms of why they haven't issued a statement, what would you like them to say, and how would it change anything? I think as a customer, it's quite clear this isn't weather, terrorism, ATC, or other act of god. Further, as a customer, it's not my job to care exactly what happened. Are they really going to promise it will never happen again? They can't guarantee that.
I have my opinions working in the industry I do, but the main reason I've been on this thread since yesterday morning is because I'm flying tomorrow and I'm hoping I get where I need to get (DFW) some semblance of on time.
Aug 9, 2016 | 7:49 am
#528
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: US of A
Programs: Delta Diamond, United 1K, BA Blue, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Gold, Amex Platinum
Posts: 1,786
Given the number of hotels in Atlanta -- and I do not have any metrics to corroborate my view -- I struggle to believe that. More likely: many hotels did not have dozens of vacant rooms available and logistics of ferrying people to and from those places are something that DL did not want to bother with.
Aug 9, 2016 | 7:51 am
#529
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 5,924
Yeah, I bet the remaining capacity got booked in those airport area hotels pretty fast at full freight (or points where applicable). The nanosecond I find out I am not going anywhere that evening I am going to be trying to procure a room.
Aug 9, 2016 | 7:52 am
#530
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 207
I've lost a lot of respect for Delta over the last couple of days. My flights yesterday went fine, but my 18-y.o. daughter is still stranded in ATL. Last night at 2:00a, after 10 hours of delays and I've lost count of how many flight cancellations, the Diamond desk was saying that the earliest they could get her into her destination airport is Wednesday. Meanwhile, pax in her shoes are left to fend for themselves for two nights at the ATL airport with no food vouchers, hotels, showers, etc. etc. Delta's response is "there are 30,000 people stranded there so there's nothing we can do." I hope there are at least a couple of competent class-action lawyers among the stranded.
Aug 9, 2016 | 7:52 am
#531
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
Did you read some documentation on exactly what the problem was that none of us have seen yet?
The amount of "I can't believe they didn't have a backup system!" naivety and general speculation about something no one here clearly has knowledge of us appalling.
Can we keep all the armchair IT quarterbacking out of this until we have some sort of definitive information about what happened and have someone who can start a post with "I AM an expert"?
The amount of "I can't believe they didn't have a backup system!" naivety and general speculation about something no one here clearly has knowledge of us appalling.
Can we keep all the armchair IT quarterbacking out of this until we have some sort of definitive information about what happened and have someone who can start a post with "I AM an expert"?
Is DL now "too big to fail" (as in too big to be allowed to fail) in our airline market, a bit like some of our largest financial sector behemoths?
Aug 9, 2016 | 7:54 am
#532
Join Date: May 2015
Location: DCA
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP, DL PM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 6,974
I sometimes prebook refundable rooms if it looks like there will be bad weather, especially if I'm connecting through ATL in the evening.
Aug 9, 2016 | 8:00 am
#533
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
Did DL just cancel travel for UAMs scheduled to fly today even on flights that have taken off or are taking off today?
It seems so, and almost systematic at that. Not a nice surprise.
It seems so, and almost systematic at that. Not a nice surprise.
Aug 9, 2016 | 8:06 am
#534
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 28
Well, we already know what outcome DL's experts delivered (or at least didn't manage to avoid). And it wasn't pretty yesterday. And it still isn't all smooth yet.
Is DL now "too big to fail" (as in too big to be allowed to fail) in our airline market, a bit like some of our largest financial sector behemoths?
Is DL now "too big to fail" (as in too big to be allowed to fail) in our airline market, a bit like some of our largest financial sector behemoths?
My point is that it's improper to speculate on remediation, even in the most most generic sense (which has been done over and over in this thread: "more money + time = no failing!"), until we actually know what happened. Yes, obviously something bad happened, but let's see what that actually was.
And I don't think I've seen any mention here of the systems likely in play here being hosted by Travelport (i.e. with a corresponding SLA) rather than Delta:
"Travelport will continue to run the system infrastructure for the Delta platform in its Atlanta data center."
http://news.delta.com/delta-and-trav...responsibility
Aug 9, 2016 | 8:07 am
#535
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Minneapolis, MN (MSP)
Programs: DL DM, UA 1K MM, Subway Club Member
Posts: 1,993
IMHO; hotels are worse than airlines at overselling because they don't offer this type of rate and they still overbook their rooms. Airlines at least have a plausible argument that they sell refundable tickets of which a certain percentage no-show and collect refunds after departure.
Aug 9, 2016 | 8:10 am
#536
Join Date: May 2015
Location: DCA
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP, DL PM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 6,974
What hotels offer fully-refundable rooms? Most I ever see require cancellation the day before arrival (or at least by late afternoon the day of arrival). If hotels offered the equivalent of a refundable airline ticket (i.e. refundable at any time even after the scheduled date) I'd be all over it.
IMHO; hotels are worse than airlines at overselling because they don't offer this type of rate and they still overbook their rooms. Airlines at least have a plausible argument that they sell refundable tickets of which a certain percentage no-show and collect refunds after departure.
IMHO; hotels are worse than airlines at overselling because they don't offer this type of rate and they still overbook their rooms. Airlines at least have a plausible argument that they sell refundable tickets of which a certain percentage no-show and collect refunds after departure.
Aug 9, 2016 | 8:14 am
#537
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 629
Gate agent was making all standbys gate check their bags last night on our delayed flight at 2140, despite the GIDS screen showing 53 open seats. The standby list according to GIDS was only 17 deep! One lady literally couldn't check her bag and was forced to take her original flight delayed until 0130!
Aug 9, 2016 | 8:27 am
#538
Join Date: May 2015
Location: DCA
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP, DL PM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 6,974
Gate agent was making all standbys gate check their bags last night on our delayed flight at 2140, despite the GIDS screen showing 53 open seats. The standby list according to GIDS was only 17 deep! One lady literally couldn't check her bag and was forced to take her original flight delayed until 0130!
At the same time, seems like a simple matter of putting the tag on, and getting on board with it anyway.
Aug 9, 2016 | 8:28 am
#539
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Huntsville, AL
Programs: DL DM 2.017 MM, Hilton Life Diamond, IHG Diamond, Avis CHM, Marriott Titanium (life gold), AA Gold
Posts: 8,052
So Delta can't get me anywhere today, because the United flights filled up with the other refugees. In fact, they can't even get me close and their rebooking for tomorrow is wretched.
I had to call my company agent and I am flying the dAArk side today. It cost my company about $900 in extra travel costs minus a refund from Delta of around $200 or so.
The GA said I should get ORC and a $200 voucher. Do you folks normally request ORC on the phone or via delta.com?
I guess I will figure out how to use the voucher for my next company trip, but will worry that whenever the voucher shows up.
Thank you,
David
Last edited by DiverDave; Aug 9, 2016 at 8:34 am