The latest chapter in the Delta and CrowdStrike attorney battle royale has been written with Delta’s outside counsel calling the company’s apology “inadequate”. This is just the next phase of a story that dates back to July 19th when a CrowdStrike issue caused a massive IT outage for airlines around the world.
In the days after the outage, Delta struggled to get its operation back online while other carriers restored operations within a day or two. Once the airline’s operation was back on solid footing, it turned its focus on CrowdStrike and Microsoft. In a letter to employees that offered them two free, positive space, tickets as a thank you for their hard work, the airline noted it had hired outside counsel to pursue damages against CrowdStrike and Microsoft.
Both CrowdStrike and Microsoft sent sternly worded letters back to Delta’s legal counsel and, at the time, I was curious to see how the airline would respond. Now we have our answer.
In a letter from Delta’s outside counsel to CrowdStrike’s attorneys obtained by xJonNYC, it is clear that Delta believes that they have an extremely strong case against CrowdStrike in the pursuit of damages.
Delta vs… pic.twitter.com/uWM9bbTeaG
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) August 8, 2024
While the full letter is in the tweet embedded above, there are a few items of note that I wanted to call out, the attorneys did state that “without trying at this point to correct every inaccuracy in your letter”, so I think it’s worth touching on some of their points. The letter states that:
- CrowdStrike showed no sense of urgency or appreciation for the scale and scope of the damage it caused.
- CrowdStrike’s Monday evening offer of additional support was too late (the initial outage occurred early Friday morning).
- Delta’s IT investments resulted in worldclass operational industry performance.
- Reliance on CrowdStrike and Microsoft was the reason Delta took longer to fully recover.
- CrowdStrike caused the disruption to Delta’s crew tracking system.
While I won’t go into all of the details surrounding the points above, if you’re interested in this ongoing saga it is definitely worth the read. Delta’s attorneys have taken the tone of the letters from CrowdStrike and Microsoft and turned it up a few notches.
The letter ends by stating “If Crowdstrike genuinely seeks to avoid a lawsuit by Delta, then it must accept real responsibility for its actions and compensate Delta for the severe damage it caused to Delta’s business, reputation, and goodwill”.
It’s safe to say things won’t be settling down here anytime soon as both companies fight to protect and defend their reputations. After the responses from CrowdStrike and Microsoft earlier this week, I assumed there may be a small settlement reached but that Delta was backed into a corner. This response paints a completely different picture. As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle but this looks like it’s headed to a courtroom.
Summary
Delta’s outside council, brought in after the operational meltdown triggered by a CrowdStrike outage, has responded to the company calling its apology “inadequate”. Delta is requesting that CrowdStrike take responsibility for its actions and compensate Delta for the damage caused. While I was skeptical earlier in the week, this looks like both sides have every intention of taking this to trial.
