Delta Airlines jets are taking off again after computer outages left customers stranded. However, after Delta apologized to the public, apologies were not accepted due to their untruthful reason given to explain their computers shutting down. Delta airlines blamed the problem on a power failure. Experts say the exact problem was unknown, but the computer shutdown should not have happened.
Many in the public affected by the shutdown refuse to accept the apology because they know the excuse was a lie according to the Wall street Journal. All the major airlines have an interconnected system and they interfere with each other like a tangled web. This has been the case for years, say experts. According to sources, Delta was blame-shifting instead of taking the blame for their faulty system platform that has not been updated in years.
Due to the computer shutdown, many missed their deadlines and business engagements, a problem that could have been avoided had they properly updated their platform. 451 flights were canceled out of nearly 6,000 daily flight. Rick Seaney, creator of farecompare.com, said in an interview with the Washington Post, “These major Airlines have 20 years worth of cobbled together systems.” Mr. Seaney went on to say, “These days it is almost impossible to integrate old obsolete technology with new, more modern technology.The new modern technology is more advanced and the older systems can not keep up. “
Before Monday, the last known system failure occurred at Southwest Airlines and resulted in 2,300 cancellations and close to 8,000 late flights. It took Southwest a full week to get back to being fully operational according to the Washington Post. Last year, a United Airlines computer glitch caused many canceled flights and delayed over 100 more. These statistics has many frequent flyers concerned about which airline to trust.
The thing that gave the Delta lie away is that all the Airlines have backup power and they never lose power, experts say. So the power outage excuse cannot possibly work with most passengers that have been flying for a while. So how can they avoid this problem in the future? By simply upgrading all their systems. According to Mr. Seaney, “American’s about to, in the next month-and-a-half or two, start to integrate US Airways systems,” Seaney said. “Typically, when you’re trying to do a cut-over like that, you pick a weekend when you have slow traffic just in case you have glitches.” Mr. Seaney also suggested that all the other airlines follow suit.