Microsoft has accused Delta Air Lines of failing to modernize its IT infrastructure, exacerbating the impact of the major CrowdStrike outage that led to numerous flight cancellations and a financial loss estimated at $500 million.
Criticism of Legacy Systems
Matthew Cheffo, representing Microsoft, wrote a letter claiming Delta's CEO Ed Bastian did not respond to an email from Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella offering aid during the crisis. He blamed Delta's antiquated IT systems for the prolonged disruption, which began on July 19. The incident stemmed from a defective Falcon software update from CrowdStrike that affected millions of systems running Microsoft Windows.
In a letter to Delta's attorney David Boies, Cheffo pointed out that other airlines, such as American Airlines and United Airlines, recovered more swiftly. He argued that Delta's use of IBM and Amazon technology, rather than Microsoft, contributed to its ongoing difficulties. Delta's crew-scheduling system, which collapsed during the outage, was managed by other technology providers, not Microsoft's Windows or Azure services.
Delta's Stance and Investment
Delta argued that it has made significant investments in its IT infrastructure, totaling billions since 2016, aiming to offer safe, reliable, and high-quality service. The airline faced a situation where it had to manually reset approximately 40,000 servers.
Delta's CEO Bastian, in a CNBC interview, noted the necessity of seeking damages from both Microsoft and CrowdStrike due to the disruptions. He criticized them for not providing enough financial reparation, although CrowdStrike did offer free consulting services.
A global tech crisis involving Microsoft and CrowdStrike caused mayhem last month, when an erroneous Falcon security update caused an outage impacting a then estimated 8.5 million Windows PCs. Microsoft has since addressed this with an automated fix, while CrowdStrike issued its own patch.
An insurer estimated that Fortune 500 firms experienced collective losses of $5.4 billion. Following the crisis, CrowdStrike's CEO apologized for the incident. It is worth noting that Microsoft's software did not cause the outage.
Legal and Financial Consequences
Microsoft's letter to Delta sought the preservation of records about IBM and Amazon's roles in the outage. Cheffo suggested that Delta may have declined Microsoft's help due to its reliance on non-Microsoft systems that were affected. Notably, Microsoft employees allegedly offered daily assistance from July 19 to July 23, which Delta refused.
The legal tussle emphasizes the challenges of managing extensive IT systems in large companies such as Delta. It highlights the necessity of maintaining up-to-date IT infrastructures to ensure operational continuity.
Additional Insights
Microsoft's letter provides an alternative perspective in response to Bastian's CNBC interview comments, where he labeled Microsoft as fragile and questioned, “When was the last time you heard of a big outage at Apple?” Bastian also mentioned that over 40,000 of the company's servers were impacted by CrowdStrike's faulty update. Microsoft's response suggests Delta's challenges may be broader than the Windows server outage alone.
Microsoft also recounted an instance where a staff member offered help to Delta on July 22, but a Delta representative responded that things were “all good.” This corresponded with Delta canceling over 1,100 flights on that same day, with another 500 cancellations following the next day.
