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Update: 1:30 p.m. Thursday -- I finally made it home to Detroit from D.C. on Wednesday night after Delta canceled three of my flights.
The first cancellation was on Saturday. The next night, I spent five hours at Reagan National Airport before my twice-delayed flight was canceled. That was the second of three cancellations. The third was on Tuesday. Thankfully during the five-day stretch I was able to stay at some friends' home in D.C.
The mess all stems from the computer outage last week that resulted from a faulty software upgrade from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. It hit other airlines, but Delta the worst. The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating Delta because of the high number of consumer complaints.
My fourth booking worked, though it certainly wasn't ideal. Flights from D.C. to Detroit normally take around an hour. But on the fourth and last try on Wednesday, Delta booked me from D.C. to JFK International Airport and then to Detroit.
The noon flight from Reagan National Airport on Wednesday left for New York around 2:30 p.m. The 4:30 p.m. flight from JFK to Detroit left around 6:30 p.m., partly due to some weather issues. I finally arrived home in Detroit around 9 p.m.
It was a long day of travel.
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From Tuesday
Airlines face disruptions regularly. Snow storms. Hurricanes. Tornados.
The result is often mass cancellations, mass chaos, agitated customers and days of resheduling to move people out of airports and hotels to destinations. It's often unnerving for both the customers and airline workers.
Fortunately, in most instance I've been an outsider, unattached to the mass airline delays, simply watching them unfold on TV.
This time I've gotten a front row seat at the current airline mess, initially triggered late last week by a computer outage from a faulty software upgrade from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Of all the airlines, Delta has been impacted most. By midday Tuesday, Delta and its affiliated carriers had already canceled 500 flight along the east coast, according to the Associated Press.
After spending 10 days in D.C., I was scheduled to return to Detroit this past Saturday afternoon via Delta. But in the morning, on the day of the flight, I was informed that mine had been canceled. Luckily, I was staying with friends in D.C., an incredibly hospitable couple. That day, they took off to the beach for a week.
My next flight was rescheduled for 8:30 p.m. Sunday. While at the airport, it was pushed to 11:30 p.m. and then 12:30 a.m.. Then before you know it, after spending five hours at Reagan National Airport, the flight was canceled.
While still at the airport, I asked them to reschedule me for a Wednesday departure. They gave me a 12:30 p.m. flight on Tuesday instead. I then retrieved my luggage and hopped a cab back to my friends' home. They weren't home, but thankfully I was able to get in.
Then late Monday night I got a text from Delta that my Tuesday flight had been canceled.
Then the kind people Delta scheduled me without my input for a 12 p.m. flight Wednesday to JFK Airport in New York, with a four hour lay over. What could possibly go wrong with relying on two flights? Two chances, not one, to get canceled.
So all day Tuesday I've been trying to reschedule that New York flight for one later in the week. Surprise. The online site isn't working properly, and the wait on the phone is very very very long.
The upside: I've been able to see more friends, and Monday afternoon I went to the National Portrait Gallery, which is a very impressive museum. I highly recommend it.
So, as of late Tuesday afternoon, it's anyone's guess when I and many many others will return home.
Caught in the CrowdStrike Outage? Here’s How to Get Compensated (New York Times)
