What to know if you’re flying Delta on Wednesday
Delta's flight schedule still hasn’t recovered since it was thrown into disarray Monday, when an outage took the airline's computer systems offline for several hours.
Delta is again cancelling hundreds of additional flights Wednesday, the third day in a row the airline has been hit with a significant schedule disruption.
Here’s what to expect if you’re flying Delta on Wednesday:
Don’t expect on-time flights Wednesday (again)
Yes, it may sound like a broken record, but don’t expect a normal flight schedule Wednesday from Delta. The airline says it hopes to have a normal schedule in place sometime on Wednesday, but that sounds optimistic. Already, the airline had canceled more than 200 flights and delayed more than 200 more by 9 a.m. ET.
Brace for long lines, long waits (again)
The queues were long for Delta’s customers on both Monday and Tuesday, and that’s likely to extend into Wednesday. The long-wait times were found both at Delta’s airport counters and on phones for those trying to call. On Wednesday, some airports may appear to be back to business as usual for Delta. But others will see residual lines and back-ups as the airline attempts to clear the backlog of fliers stranded by the outage. The worst back-ups will most likely be found at Delta’s busiest hubs such as Atlanta, where fliers faced particularly bleak scenes on Tuesday, according to reports from WXIA TV of Atlanta.
FLIGHT TRACKER: Is your flight on time?
Don’t need to fly Delta on Wednesday? Don't …
In response to the disruptions, Delta is waiving change fees for customers ticketed to travel between Monday and Wednesday, an expansion of the Delta's initial waiver policy. The airline says customers booked on those days' flights can make one change to their itineraries without paying the standard change fee, which ranges from $200 domestically to as much as $500 on some international itineraries. Delta says rebooked travel must be for flights no later than Aug 21. Initially, Delta said rebooked travel had to commence by Friday to qualify for the fee waiver.
Delays may extend beyond Wednesday
Delta said it hoped normal flight schedules will resume by Wednesday afternoon. But with more than 200 cancellations and as many delays by early Wednesday, that sounds optimistic. It’s possible schedules could see dramatic improvement by late Wednesday, but don’t be surprised to see lingering delays and cancellations to pop up around Delta’s network on Thursday.
Is Delta really giving $200 vouchers to affected fliers?
Yes, Delta says customers caught up in the flight disruptions stemming from Monday’s outage will be compensated with a $200 voucher. The vouchers are available for travel on all Delta and Delta Connection-operated flights. Via its website, Delta says: “Customers affected by the outage and who have provided their email address will be contacted today and will receive their voucher in seven to 10 business days. Customers who have not been contacted can complete a Customer Care form on www.delta.com/wecare to receive their voucher.”
Will Delta put you on another airline?
Delta may be able to put some customers on other airlines that fly to a passenger’s destination. That’s especially true of partners such as Air France and KLM, which could help international Delta passengers looking for other options to get to Europe. Delta’s other international partners include AeroMexico, China Airlines, China Eastern, Korean Air and a number of others.
Domestically, Delta could put some passengers on rival U.S. airlines. Don't be afraid to ask, though be warned that's likely to be an option of last resort for Delta. Additionally, most flights on all airlines are full during the busy summer travel season, meaning any options that do exist on other carriers also will be limited.
And don’t ask Delta to rebook you on American Airlines. Delta and American ended their “interline” agreement that allowed them to funnel passengers to each other carrier during travel disruptions. The decision was described as "mutual," though Delta publicly called out American for sending it too many of its own customers during poor weather events.
Elsewhere, low-cost carriers like Southwest, Frontier and Spirit also are not options. Those airlines do not have passenger-sharing agreements with major carriers like American, Delta and United.
TWITTER: You can follow me at twitter.com/TodayInTheSky