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April 5, 2017: Delta cancels 300 flights due to thunderstorm

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Old Apr 8, 2017, 1:28 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Renes Points
Great explanation about Crew Tracking & Scheduling and what went wrong: Post #590

[Feel free to edit / add to the timeline of DL events.]

First waver ATL only and only 5-7 and by 11th: https://web.archive.org/web/20170406...perations.html

Second waver "all" hubs and 5-9 and by 16th: https://web.archive.org/web/20170407...perations.html

April 6th COO Gil West apology and blames "unprecedented" ( 5 hour ) storm / weather: http://news.delta.com/chief-operatin...cedented-storm

April 7 & 8 Five things to know list: http://news.delta.com/5-things-custo...tions-saturday

April 7th In midst of service fail Delta devalues SkyMiles with partners: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...000-miles.html

April 8th updates on operations: http://news.delta.com/operational-re...ontinues-today

April 12th will be $DAL earnings live and should yield more info: http://ir.delta.com/news-and-events/...s/default.aspx

April 9, 11:40 PM (EDT): What appears to be the last cancellation of the meltdown was made for DL2682/10Apr BOS-LGA (717 aircraft)

April 11th - Delta begins to pay out compensation for impacted travelers: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/1835970-early-april-operation-disruption-compensation.html

Other coverage of the event:

Pilots board relating to this epic fail: https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/d...-atl-irop.html

Factors compounding delays/cancellations:
  • Weather in ATL April 5
  • DL terminating interline with AA
  • Delta's systems crashing/overloaded
  • DL's crew scheduling system crashed [rumor?]
  • Rumored short-term power outage in ATL A concourse caused by airport construction some time around Tuesday-Wednesday

Current delay statistics: Flightaware's live flight delay and cancellation statistics

News coverage:

BuzzFeedNews: Delta Has Canceled Thousands Of Flights And Everyone Is In Hell - No spring break is safe. (Posted on April 7, 2017, at 11:59 a.m.)

The Southampton Press: Cancelled Flight Dashes Disney Dream For Hampton Bays Marching Band (April 7, 2017 11:30 AM)

USA Today: Thousands of Delta flights canceled days after storms (Published 8:53 a.m. ET April 8, 2017)

CNN - Delta meltdown: Pilots are on hold, too (Updated 6:52 PM ET, Sat April 8, 2017)

The Wall Street Journal - Delta Struggles to Recover From Last Week’s Storms (April 9, 2017 12:23 p.m. ET)

AJC.com: Delta woes stretch into Sunday with more cancellations (11:57 a.m. Sunday, April 9, 2017)

AJC.com: Why one day of thunderstorms turned into a five-day Delta meltdown (12:01 p.m Sunday, April 9, 2017)

Detroit Free Press: Headaches continue for Delta fliers in Detroit (Published 2:26 p.m. ET April 9, 2017 Updated 5:54 p.m. ET April 9, 2017)

CNN - Delta tries to 'normalize' as flight cancellations continue (Updated 4:06 PM ET, Sun April 9, 2017)

New York Times: Storms, Though Over, Still Disrupt Delta Flights (APRIL 9, 2017)

NewsChannel5.com - Nashville Man's Body Stranded After Delta Flight Chaos (4:24 PM April 9, 2017)

CBS North Carolina: Raleigh parents upset after son’s body stranded during Delta flight chaos (April 9, 2017, 8:14 pm Updated: April 10, 2017, 5:35 am)

AJC.com: Delta reassures customers as delays continue through weekend (5:53 p.m Sunday, April 9, 2017)

AJC.com: Hundreds of stranded bags left at Hartsfield-Jackson in aftermath of Delta flight cancellations (9:29 a.m. Monday, April 10, 2017)

Bloomberg: Delta Delays Drag On, Testing Passengers' Patience (April 9, 2017, 4:10 PM EDT Updated On April 10, 2017, 10:13 AM EDT)

BuzzFeedNews: Delta Suffered "Failure of Crew Tracking Systems" During Cancelled Flight Fiasco - "I feel like we are lost in the system." (Originally posted on April 11, 2017, at 3:28 p.m. Updated on April 12, 2017, at 10:38 a.m. )

Reuters (posted on BusinessInsider): Delta's profit drops 36.3% (Apr. 12, 2017, 7:20 AM)

AJC.com - Accused child rapist caught at airport when flight is delayed (7:39 p.m Thursday, April 13, 2017)
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April 5, 2017: Delta cancels 300 flights due to thunderstorm

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Old Apr 5, 2017, 7:24 pm
  #61  
 
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And ATL-SNA cancelled... waiting in line in sky club. sigh.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 7:28 pm
  #62  
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Originally Posted by kxc262
Everything pushed back to depart to 10pm
Looks like another line of thunderstorms is going to hit ATL about then:
National Weather Service Enhanced Weather
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 7:40 pm
  #63  
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Kiosk doesn't help much when there aren't any options available without getting creative. Phone line has epic wait times.
this is feeling like when jet blue had a total meltdown at JFK a few years ago
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 7:45 pm
  #64  
 
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Originally Posted by fliesdelta
Make that 08:10 departure. I guess the ripple effects will continue for a while.
And actually, I see I will miss my connection at ATL now, and the ATL-RDU flights are not looking very promising.

Meh.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:02 pm
  #65  
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Originally Posted by RatherBeOnATrain
Looks like another line of thunderstorms is going to hit ATL about then:
National Weather Service Enhanced Weather
ATL is already ground stopped for 2nd tier airports for DL and Connection carriers. This is going to snarl things further. The portion of the storms near the GA/AL border, near Carroll and Heard counties, are being watched carefully for severe potential.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:08 pm
  #66  
 
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My flight tomorrow has already been cancelled. I was able to buy a new ticket connecting through LGA, but the weather forecast for New York looks scary tomorrow - thunderstorms and wind. It might be another long day. I had to wait an hour and a half to reach a phone agent, and they told me they can't book anything through Atlanta right now.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:10 pm
  #67  
 
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Easily one of the toughest IROPs I've seen in my years at DL. Just when it would seem like things would start recovering, another line would come through and the ramp would shut back down...it was closed for almost 3 hours this morning. Not to mention the fact SNAPP went (and still is) down and everything had to be done in Deltaterm.

Please be kind to your GAs folks...they've had to deal with hell today!

Also, just a plug for the scan-and-go kiosks throughout the concourses and at the help centers...every hub has an IROP team that begins immediately rebooking customers on delayed/cancelled flights. The easiest way for those who don't have the app to see their new flight info is scan anything with a barcode (any BP, etc.) and it'll pop up. I can't believe how many people bypassed these to wait in a 2 hour line just to see if they've been rebooked.

Update: SNAPP is coming back up now! Also, there haven't been any system *outages*...the app/rebooking engine were running slowly earlier because of the volume of transactions they had to process. Same with SNAPP.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:13 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by Ordhater
My flight tomorrow has already been cancelled. I was able to buy a new ticket connecting through LGA, but the weather forecast for New York looks scary tomorrow - thunderstorms and wind. It might be another long day. I had to wait an hour and a half to reach a phone agent, and they told me they can't book anything through Atlanta right now.
Yeah, LGA ain't gonna be pretty tomorrow.

Gale Warning 6am - 6pm Thursday

Flood Watch 8am Thursday - 2pm Friday
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:14 pm
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by Fly_Delta_Jets
Easily one of the toughest IROPs I've seen in my years at DL. Just when it would seem like things would start recovering, another line would come through and the ramp would shut back down...it was closed for almost 3 hours this morning. Not to mention the fact SNAPP went (and still is) down and everything had to be done in Deltaterm.

Please be kind to your GAs folks...they've had to deal with hell today!

Also, just a plug for the scan-and-go kiosks throughout the concourses and at the help centers...every hub has an IROP team that begins immediately rebooking customers on delayed/cancelled flights. The easiest way for those who don't have the app to see their new flight info is scan anything with a barcode (any BP, etc.) and it'll pop up. I can't believe how many people bypassed these to wait in a 2 hour line just to see if they've been rebooked.

Update: SNAPP is coming back up now!
Thank you for this... great reminder and a solid tip.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:18 pm
  #70  
 
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Originally Posted by kxc262
We are stuck in LGA and there are several flights to ATL that are severely delayed. 2 cancelled flights too.

Everything pushed back to depart to 10pm
Not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this on LGA-ATL. Looks like 8 of 17 LGA-ATL canceled today. The 4:55pm and the 5:55pm are currently estimated to leave at 11:00pm. The 8:55pm is estimated to leave at midnight.

And the 11:55 *AM* finally left at 4:29pm...and then diverted to CHA, where it's still sitting. oof.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:22 pm
  #71  
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Originally Posted by Fly_Delta_Jets
Easily one of the toughest IROPs I've seen in my years at DL.
Here's a screenshot of the National Weather Service's "Storm Total Precipitation" radar for 10 PM EST -- the airport has received more than 3 inches of rain so far today.

RatherBeOnATrain is online now  
Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:39 pm
  #72  
 
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Originally Posted by ty97
Not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this on LGA-ATL. Looks like 8 of 17 LGA-ATL canceled today. The 4:55pm and the 5:55pm are currently estimated to leave at 11:00pm. The 8:55pm is estimated to leave at midnight.

And the 11:55 *AM* finally left at 4:29pm...and then diverted to CHA, where it's still sitting. oof.
Looks like the 11:55am that was diverted to CHA is now there overnight and not scheduled to leave until in the morning.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:39 pm
  #73  
 
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3-4 hour return call estimate. Heading back to my house.

Kiosk wouldn't process changes. App won't process. Delta.com won't process.

Worst of all the sky priority line was closed and an agent said no more people can get in. Was told to go to the huge main line. That is what made me leave. 3-4 agents there could be reduced to 1 to help sky priority customers. Multiple diamonds and platinums were pleading with agent to let us use line. Negative. "These agents will move to main line to clear it faster".

Yah 4 agents will help hundreds of people really fast.

Who knows where my bag will go. The line for baggage issues was 300-409 deep.
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:43 pm
  #74  
 
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Originally Posted by Ledfish
Looks like the 11:55am that was diverted to CHA is now there overnight and not scheduled to leave until in the morning.
I've noticed several flights in that predicament (presumably crew time-out issues). That's going to lead to a number of knock-on effects at ATL tomorrow.

The 12:30pm RSW-ATL left RSW at 4:51pm and made it to BHM but the continuation is delayed until the morning. The remaining 5 RSW-ATL flights after 12:30pm all canceled.

Ugly, ugly weather day.



(off-topic: I initially typed crue timeouts. I apparently need to go rock out a bit)
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Old Apr 5, 2017, 8:46 pm
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by ty97
I've noticed several flights in that predicament (presumably crew time-out issues). That's going to lead to a number of knock-on effects at ATL tomorrow.
This is exactly what happened to my flight tomorrow morning, 941 MCI-ATL. Originally for 5:40am, but the plane won't arrive into MCI tonight until almost midnight. Min crew rest periods and all, now the flight is scheduled for 8:10am.

Which makes me miss my connection @ ATL.

And there's no room on any ATL-RDU flights.

So my only choice for MCI-RDU tomorrow is via MSP, departing at 5:30pm CDT.

EDIT: I ended up getting a refund from Delta, bought a one way ticket on AA (connecting in DFW, with a two hour layover).

Last edited by fliesdelta; Apr 5, 2017 at 9:25 pm
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