Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Microsoft Says Delta Lying About Its Meltdown: It’s The Airline’s IT That Failed

by Gary Leff

Aug 06 2024

When Delta’s systems melted down, they lost track of crew. They were making announcements in terminals looking for pilots who could work. Their crew scheduling systems collapsed. It took days for those systems to catch up, running several instances in parallel (which caused its own problems, as those systems needed to sync). The meltdown was caused by crew scheduling system failures and that system was IBM, not Microsoft according to Satya Nadella and Microsoft’s lawyers.

Continue Reading »

Delta’s Lawsuit Against CrowdStrike Could Backfire, Revealing IT Failures and Damaging ‘Premium’ Image

by Gary Leff

Aug 05 2024

Delta Air Lines cancelled more flights last month than they did in 2018 and 2019, in an historic meltdown following the CrowdStrike outage. They delayed taking care of customers, denied blame, and their CEO jetted off to Paris for the Olympics.

They’ve made a big show of their plan to sue CrowdStrike for damages, since this wasn’t Delta’s fault, but they have several hurdles to overcome.

Continue Reading »

Airline Outrage: Why Passengers Keep Getting Forced To Gate Check Bags When Overhead Bins Are Empty

by Gary Leff

Aug 04 2024

Two flights in a row an American Airlines passenger found that overhead bins were virtually empty yet people were being required to gate check their carry-on bags. They weren’t allowed to bring their bags onto the plane, even though there was plenty of space.

This is one of the most frequent complaints about airlines I see in social media, day after day, alongside damaged checked bags. Those two complaints are related! Who wants to waste time at baggage claim when they land, only to find their bags lost or damaged?

Continue Reading »

Airlines Are Running Out Of Flight Numbers, And They Don’t Know What To Do About It

by Gary Leff

Aug 03 2024

Airlines use up to four digits for flight numbers. That means they can have up to 9,999 flights (since there’s no flight zero), and no one comes close. American Airlines operates around 6,700 daily flights including its American Eagle regional services. So they should have plenty of room to grow!

Except they don’t. American Airlines, Delta, and United are running out of flight numbers, and nobody knows what to do about it.

Continue Reading »