Delta apologizes, promises 10,000 SkyMiles to customers impacted by outages

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines say they will issue SkyMiles and reimburse certain expenses for customers whose flights have been canceled or delayed because of the IT outage.

ABC News got a copy of the new message Delta sent to customers on Wednesday morning. The Atlanta-based airline apologized for days of impacts and cancellations to travelers in the wake of the global outages from CrowdStrike’s software update bugs.

According to Delta, the disruption caused by the vendor technology outage, and their teams have “been working tirelessly to restore our operation to get our customers safely to their final destinations.”

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Delta said “delaying or canceling a flight is always our last resort and is never taken lightly” and that the disruptions were unexpected.

Officials said they recognized the difficulty of the situation for those impacted and said they “do not reflect the operational reliability and experience you have come to know and expect” from them.

To make up for the outage’s fallout, Delta said in a statement to customers that they will issue 10,000 SkyMiles to the account or emails the reservations are under.

The airline said it will take up to five business days to process the miles.

“Additionally, if you incurred any hotel, meal, or transportation expenses while in transit resulting from this flight disruption, you may submit reasonable expenses for reimbursement.”

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The airline said that while they do not reimburse prepaid expenses, including hotel reservations, vacation experiences, lost wages, or event and concert tickets, they will reimburse some costs resulting from the cancellations tied to the outage.

Customers in the U.S. or Canada can submit expense reimbursement forms online here.

All other Delta customers can fill out a Feedback & Complaints form, where they can attach any relevant receipts to potentially receive compensation.

Closing their apology and announcement to their customers, Delta said they wanted to them to know that they “deeply value you and your experience as our customer. Despite this unexpected disruption to our operations, we are doing everything possible to ensure your future travel meets the high service and reliability standards that Delta is known for. We appreciate your trust in us and look forward to providing an exceptional experience to you on your next Delta flight.”

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