The airline would like to be reimbursed by Microsoft and CrowdStrike, but this is obviously not the case.
On July 19, a computer failure on an unprecedented scale hit numerous machines running Microsoft's Windows operating system. In fact, it was Windows machines running CrowdStrike security software that were affected, due to the application of an update to this software. MacOS/Linux machines were of course unaffected, as were Windows machines that didn't have CrowdStrike or hadn't updated it on July 19. The problem was that in many cases - and especially in very large structures - the damage was enormous, with paralysis particularly visible in the airline industry. Most of the world's airlines and countless airports were forced to suspend operations, resulting in delays and cancellations galore.
© Reuters
In the majority of cases, it only took a few days to resolve the problems, but some airlines have been dragging their feet for much longer. This was the case, for example, with Delta Airlines, the world's third-largest airline in terms of passenger-kilometres flown. Quite annoyed, Delta has announced its desire to be compensated by Microsoft and CrowdStrike, which it considers responsible for its setbacks. Having enlisted the services of David Boies - a well-known lawyer who, among other things, defended the interests of the US federal government against Microsoft - Delta estimates that it lost $500 million as a result of the July 19 outage, and is therefore seeking compensation from both CrowdStrike - for its "indelicate" update - and Microsoft. Last week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian stated that Microsoft had not provided the " exceptional service " expected of it, pointing out that the firm had the " most fragile platform ".
As is often the case in this kind of situation, the blame is passed back and forth, and Microsoft's response was swift. Indeed, Microsoft points out that Delta Airlines simply refused the assistance it offered, and did so on several occasions. For Satya Nadella's company, the problem is not just related to CrowdStrike, and Microsoft points out that if Delta had more difficulty than others in getting back up and running after July 19, it was because of its IT infrastructure, which was obsolete. Mark Cheffo, Microsoft's lawyer, says Delta's comment is " incomplete, false, misleading and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation ". A point that seems to tip the scales in Microsoft's favor: Delta Airlines is already at the heart of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation for its "post-outage" management. The case seems far from over...
