Delta's Outage Resulted in Roughly $100 Million in Lost Revenue
If you're a frequent traveler, chances are you're well aware that there have been quite a few computer issues lately. Most recently, British Airways had issues at an unknown number of airports today, but earlier this summer both Southwest and Delta had outages that resulted in a significant number of delays and cancellations in all cases. And now we know the full impact of the outage for one of those carriers — about $100 million in lost revenue for Delta Air Lines.
The $100 million in lost revenue includes both cancellations (there were about 2,300 during the course of the four-day outage and aftermath) and recovery efforts. For example, Delta had to dish out more overtime for employees' pay. The Atlanta-based carrier also offered $200 travel vouchers to passengers whose flights were delayed more than three hours or canceled, but the airline didn't confirm exactly how many it gave out.
The outage, which was caused by a hardware breakdown after a power failure, cost the carrier more than just revenue, but it also made its statistics suffer. On-time performance dropped to 79.9% from 85.5% a year earlier, and cancellations jumped from 0.2% last August to 2% this year after the outage. In the few weeks since the outage, the one thing for certain is that no one — Delta nor its passengers — came out ahead.
TPG featured card
at Bilt's secure site
Terms & restrictions apply. See rates & fees.
| 1X | Choose to earn up to 1X points on rent and mortgage payments with no transaction fee |
| 2X | Earn 2X points + the option to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases |
Pros
- Choice to earn up to 1 Bilt Point per dollar spent on rent and mortgage payments
- Elevated everyday earnings with both Bilt Points and the option to earn Bilt Cash
- $400 Bilt Travel Portal hotel credit per year (up to $200 biannually)
- $200 Bilt Cash annually
- Priority Pass membership
- No foreign transaction fees
Cons
- Moderate annual fee
- Designed primarily for members seeking a premium, all-in-one card
- Earn points on housing with no transaction fee
- Choose to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend. Use Bilt Cash to unlock point earnings on rent and mortgage payments with no transaction fee, up to 1X.
- 2X points on everyday spend
- $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit. Applied twice a year, as $200 statement credits, for qualifying Bilt Travel Portal hotel bookings.
- $200 Bilt Cash (awarded annually). At the end of each calendar year, any Bilt Cash balance over $100 will expire.
- Welcome bonus (subject to approval): 50,000 Bilt Points + Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 90 days + $300 of Bilt Cash.
- Priority Pass ($469/year value). See Guide to Benefits.
- Bilt Point redemptions include airlines, hotels, future rent and mortgage payments, Lyft rides, statement credits, student loan balances, a down payment on a home, and more.