Delta faces class action lawsuit over alleged refund refusals

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Delta Air Lines, alleging that the company refused to issue refunds after a global tech outage caused thousands of flight cancellations.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of Delta customers whose flights were canceled due to the global tech outage. The outage was linked to an update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike that crashed computers running Windows software worldwide.

The lawsuit alleges that Delta was more impacted by the tech outage than other airlines, alleging it “refused or ignored” customers’ requests for a refund over their delayed or canceled flights. The lawsuit also said that Delta did not provide impacted customers with vouchers for food, transportation or lodging.

“These unfair, unlawful, and unconscionable practices resulted in Delta unjustly enriching itself at the expense of its customers,” the complaint reads.

“Accordingly, Plaintiffs bring this action in order to secure refunds for each and every similarly situated consumer Delta has wronged by refusing to issue full refunds for flights cancelled or significantly affected as a direct and proximate result of the CrowdStrike outage,” the complaint continues.

The lawsuit comes after Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the recent global tech outage cost his company $500 million after the airline suffered major flight delays and cancellations. While many airlines faced issues due to the outage, Delta canceled or delayed thousands of flights in the days following the incident.

Bastian threatened to sue CrowdStrike, which has pushed back on Delta’s characterization of the outage. Michael Carlinsky, a lawyer for CrowdStrike, said earlier this week that the company is “highly disappointed” that Delta has accused the company of acting inappropriately, pointing to CrowdStrike’s apology after the outage.

He also questioned why other airlines were able to recover more quickly from the outage, in his letter addressed to Delta’s lawyer David Boies. Microsoft lawyer Mark Cheffo asked similar questions in a letter to Boies and suggested that the airline’s key IT system is serviced by other companies instead of Microsoft, according to The Associated Press.

The Department of Transportation has also issued an investigation into Delta following the mass cancellations.

The Hill has reached out to Delta for comment.