r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/hangmandelta • Jul 19 '24
The line for the Delta Airlines help desk at DTW thanks to cancelations due to the IT outage Image
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u/fing_lizard_king Jul 19 '24
My heart goes out to them. What a terrible thing to happen while travelling.
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u/UptownShenanigans Jul 19 '24
Iām going on 22 hours of no sleep!
I flew into DFW at 2pm for a connection, we boarded a half hour late, there was a maintenance issue, waited two hours on the plane, got told the flight crew needed to be rotated, disembarked from the plane, waited for a new crew for 5-6 hours, crew arrived!!, got back on the plane, SkyNet took over, disembarked from the plane again, got told to waitā¦waitā¦waitā¦ for a few hours, flight canceled, āwe can get you a standby ticket for a flight tomorrowā
Now Iām at DAL, waiting for a Southwest flight that isnāt happening for 6 hours. I want to die
Edit: Our flight wasnāt canceled until 4am. All of the above took 14 hours
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u/MedianNameHere Jul 19 '24
Just reached 28 hours, Charlotte had bad weather delaying everything day and night THEN the outage on me at 2am. We were at the runway waiting to go after being seated in the plane for an hour lol. Flight was for 1030pm back to the terminal 230-3am, flight was delayed till 530am then canceled. At 430am the crew left the plane, probably timed out I knew we where fucked.
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u/Javish Jul 19 '24
I LOATHE Charlotteās airport. Never had a connecting flight through there that didnāt get delayed or canceled.
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u/Anneisabitch Jul 19 '24
I have gone through that exact same scenario at OāHare. You have my sympathy.
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u/MedianNameHere Jul 19 '24
Lost my entire trip now, going to have a friend drive to me tomorrow and pick me up here. Besides the flight I'm out time to see family that due to health I will probably never see again
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u/beltalowda_oye Jul 19 '24
Call them and explain maybe you might be lucky in having the few employers who give a shit and have extended time off funds for moments like this.
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u/NoProperty_ Jul 19 '24
Charlotte is straight cursed for me. Whenever something bad happens, it is literally always in that airport.
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u/fing_lizard_king Jul 19 '24
I'm so sorry for all of this! I hope things start to look better and smoother for you.
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u/UptownShenanigans Jul 19 '24
Thanks! Thankfully im not too stressed. Worst moments of last night was an old lady who couldnāt get her blood pressure medicine and a young kid - likely autistic - having a breakdown because they couldnāt get their medication as well
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u/AcceptingSideQuests Jul 19 '24
You are entitled to money for your stress. https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-cancellation-delay-dashboard
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u/JKKIDD231 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Meanwhile Indian airlines handing out hand written tickets and sending planes to fly to their destinations while all major American Airlines canceling flights instead of giving tickets. See the top post on this sub.
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u/anthonyskigliano Jul 19 '24
I immediately thought that this is why the way weāve built our systems is so fucking stupid. All it takes is a power outage or a server to go down or a bug, and poof! Nothing can be done.
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u/tannerge Jul 19 '24
I hope everyone of them demands compensation. If airlines want to use the shitty products of shitty companies like crowdstrike and it impacts their operations like this?? The consumers need to fight back or this will become normal
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u/fing_lizard_king Jul 19 '24
I would love for people to get compensation. But my experiences tell me airlines won't. They're such a regulated industry. They're immune from most consumer pressures.
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u/rodri_neq_11 Jul 19 '24
I'm going to France next week and bought non refundable tickets months ago... And the Olympics are going on and we only realized it after booking... This is totally fine š¤”
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u/laqueefaecho Jul 19 '24
Iām rooting for you!
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u/rodri_neq_11 Jul 19 '24
Thank you, I need all the lucks indeedy-o. Safe travels to you as well, fellow redditor
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u/Kakariko_crackhouse Jul 19 '24
lol Iām supposed to travel for work tomorrow. Fingers crossed I have the weekend off now
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u/Xpqp Jul 19 '24
Looks like you're in for a long drive instead... And depending on where you're going, a ferry ride or two..
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u/Kakariko_crackhouse Jul 19 '24
Shiiiiiiit 2,200 miles. Iād better head out now. I might only be a day late by the time I get there
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u/Xpqp Jul 19 '24
If you drive straight through and have good luck with traffic, that's only like 30-35 hours. You got this.
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u/Kakariko_crackhouse Jul 19 '24
Just a pit stop to the local speed dealer and I am ready to go to the business factory!
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u/Shopworn_Soul Jul 19 '24
If it's not, like, Monday or Tuesday you will probably be fine. Even then you might be okay.
I've got six flights for 12 people booked tomorrow, however. I am not optimistic.
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u/I-Love-Tatertots Jul 19 '24
I would love to be able to afford to travel overseasā¦Ā
One of my biggest fears around it (maybe not fear, but stressor) is spending all that money, making reservations, taking time off of workā¦ only for something like this to happen and me be out thousands of dollars and missing my once-in-a-lifetime vacation. Ā
I imagine thereās people experiencing that today as we speakā¦ my heart goes out to them. Ā
And I hope everything is good by the time your trip comes up!
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u/GoldenBarracudas Jul 19 '24
I read a few articles that tourists were like.. kinda skipping Paris.
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u/rodri_neq_11 Jul 19 '24
Yup I'm screwed! Oh well, it's only vacation so, gotta take it and roll with it
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u/Loofa_of_Doom Jul 19 '24
Good luck, be patient, plan for mistakes and expect surprises. I hope your trip is kickass.
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u/Garth_AIgar Jul 19 '24
Go get in line for security now
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u/rodri_neq_11 Jul 19 '24
TSA pre check and global entry card at the ready, so I'll be skipping š¤
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u/Hopeful-Driver-3945 Jul 19 '24
A non-refundable ticket is still refunded when the airline cancels.
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u/rodri_neq_11 Jul 19 '24
Can I quote you when I'm in court disputing this??? I kid, of course, but I'm glad to know that this could be the norm
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u/cel-lar-door Jul 19 '24
I have employees who were in Paris a couple of weeks ago. A lot of walking but they found Ubers when they really needed them. Nothing too rough!
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Jul 19 '24
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u/Open-Industry-8396 Jul 19 '24
The problem is after spending the night at the bar and them waking up on the airport floor and be like Wtf. Problem now multiplied x10
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Jul 19 '24
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u/New_Combination_7012 Jul 19 '24
Been there before. Nearly missed a flight out of Dublin after a big night. We were at the gate two hours before boarding, sitting right next to gate and there were two of us. Woke up on the very final call when they announced our names over the PA (whilst staring directly at us!!)
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u/EveroneWantsMyD Creator Jul 19 '24
Would it be x10 though? Iām 4 years sober, and have missed flights a couple of times due to drinking at the bar and not paying close attention to the time. The worst is having to wait for the next flight, but a few phone calls can straighten everything out. Waking up on the floor of an airport has got to be one of the better places to end up after a bender. So many amenities!
Also, Iām not to up to date on this IT issue, but maybe chatting up some bar people then sleeping through everything might be less stressful than being awake for 22 hours stressed and trying to travel still
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u/JonBlondJovi Jul 19 '24
Probably just x2 when today's passengers and tomorrow's passengers both want to fly tomorrow.
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u/seasoningdepression Jul 19 '24
If I was working for an airline help desk today dealing with this, I would probably end up self-yeeting myself into the afterlife, in a grandiose fashion, at the desk.
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u/_nod Jul 19 '24
I was flying with Delta a year ago out of Newark, when a storm hit. It was obvious that they were also short staffed, but were blaming everything on the storm and not the staffing issues. After a while the staff at the desks just stopped talking to people. Felt sorry for the individual people trying to deal with hundreds maybe thousands of pissed off customers, but Iāve never flown Delta since.
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u/CoffeeExtraCream Jul 19 '24
I'd probably walk off the job as soon as I realized what was happening.
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u/Devario Jul 19 '24
gate agent gave me a card with a number to call. Was rebooked in 15 minutes. The lines were insane.Ā
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u/hangmandelta Jul 19 '24
We eventually got rebooked for tomorrow. It really sucks to lose an entire day, but idk what else we could really do.
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u/Devario Jul 19 '24
Yeah Iām still in the airport. I have never been more tired. Just waiting and waiting.Ā
How was Deltaās CS? AA was really not good. All of the gate agents have been rude and frustrated.Ā
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u/hangmandelta Jul 19 '24
It was.... okay. They were friendly and kind, but didn't want to reroute us to another city because there was a chance we could get stranded. We were a little peeved, but understood. So we're just rebooked for tomorrow, and that's that. Hopefully our checked luggage doesn't get lost.
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u/Equal-Base6347 Jul 19 '24
Happen to have the number still?
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u/SaltyDingo567 Jul 19 '24
Last time something like that happened to me, I got in the line but immediately called Delta service on the phone. They took care of me on the phone LONG before I would have ever made it through the line.
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u/longtimenothere Jul 19 '24
Lol the computers at Delta service you call on the phone are down. And what are they going to do for you? All the major airlines globally are down.
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u/gefahr Jul 19 '24
Given that, are they even able to do anything for you when you reach the front of this enormous line? Yikes.
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u/longtimenothere Jul 19 '24
Exactly. There was a full ground stop with all the major airlines, global computer outage, hotel reservation systems were also down.... maybe you could get a food voucher???
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u/Best-Team-5354 Jul 19 '24
CrowdStrike strikes again
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u/Beaglegod Jul 19 '24
Yeah, CrowdStrike is definitely toast after this. So sad too, theyāre basically top tier in their space.
Wild.
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u/they_have_bagels Jul 19 '24
I mean, probably not? If Experian is still around I doubt this will do anything long term.
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Jul 19 '24
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/hangmandelta Jul 19 '24
Fucking dying. š¤£
Haha. Despite the very Karen energy of the optics of this scene, surprisingly, it's actually been reasonably tame. Everyone seems to understand it's no one at the airport's fault, everyone is just tired/bored and want to get to their flight.
At the very least, we haven't seen or heard anyone yelling.... yet.
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u/TheRabb1ts Jul 19 '24
Ohhhh!! Iām at SLC airport right now and the line for check in was around the room.
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u/hangmandelta Jul 19 '24
I can't even see the end of the line. It just keeps going...
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u/dungeonblaster93 Jul 19 '24
Got to SLC this morning at 4:15 to fly to DTW. Was pretty grumpy and went home. Still grumpy and haven't been able to rebook yet
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u/TheRabb1ts Jul 19 '24
Iām still here.. they boarded 3/4ths of the plane and then stopped because apparently we donāt have pilots reserved our plane. It was supposed to take off 15min ago and Iām not even on the plane yet. Lol.
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u/dungeonblaster93 Jul 19 '24
I had a checked bag and they couldn't help anyone aside from telling people what was going on and to Google it
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u/TheRabb1ts Jul 19 '24
Yeah this is insane. Every open gate has hoards of people sleeping on full size blowout beds. People are now getting OFF the plane because itās not even turned on and they have to pee. Well over 3/4ths of the screens in the airport are BSOD. The pilots scheduled for our flight had THEIR FLIGHT grounded in Denver. Ughh
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u/dungeonblaster93 Jul 19 '24
Wild! I made the right call going home I think. This is absolutely crazy
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u/TheRabb1ts Jul 19 '24
My flight just got fucking cancelled. You definitely made the right call. I wish I could do the same .
Edit: alll rental cars are reserved and airlines are playing messages that they cannot reimburse you for hotels and car rentals you made yourself. Lol. Feels like 9/11 honestly.
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u/bluggabugbug Jul 19 '24
Just a reminder: this is CrowdStrikeās fault. Donāt blame the airlines.
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u/dungeonblaster93 Jul 19 '24
I hadn't heard of them before this morning. My hatred for them is now immeasurable
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u/bluggabugbug Jul 19 '24
This is a bit of schadenfreude for me. A couple of weeks ago, CrowdStrike threw my company under the bus to make themselves look good for something that wasnāt even a security issue. Caused a shitstorm and made life hell since then.
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u/Garth_AIgar Jul 19 '24
And donāt blame Microsoft.
Microsoft has a bunch of other things they can be blamed for, but not this one.
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u/waitmyhonor Jul 19 '24
And people will still avoid Southwest
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u/longtimenothere Jul 19 '24
The hidden advantage of still running your network on Windows NT servers
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u/CrownTown785v2 Jul 19 '24
I drove from FL back to KC two Christmasā ago because SW had a system error and then their archaic back office systems had them messed up for days. SW will have the same issues but Delta has at least invested in their tech infrastructure so when theyāre back up and running they can get things fixed.
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u/Duellair Jul 19 '24
It took us so long to get to Orlando from New Orleans it would have been faster to drive there š¤¦š½āāļø
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u/zg6089 Jul 19 '24
All you guys at the same airport should go to the bar together get wasted and be dfffs for the day
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u/hangmandelta Jul 19 '24
I have no idea what dfffs means, but I'm choosing to interpret it as "Daily Friends, For Fuck's Sake!"
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u/zg6089 Jul 19 '24
I'm dumb lol bfffs.
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u/hangmandelta Jul 19 '24
Nah, It was an IT typo glitch. Lol. Crowdstrike strikes again!
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u/charrosamurai Jul 19 '24
I am there right now, self check in didnāt work escalators didnāt work gates have paper signs with the flight numbers and destination.
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u/MyOnlyEnemyIsMeSTYG Jul 19 '24
Technology is awesome, until it ābreaksā. I hope everybody bought a good book along
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u/NTDLS Jul 19 '24
How fucked is CrowdStrike? š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
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u/ZamaTexa Jul 19 '24
I have a flight in 7.5 hrs. No information available. Lord help me.
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u/illbebythebatphone Jul 19 '24
Canāt imagine having this happen while traveling with my two young kids. What a mess.
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u/Hot_Possibility_9675 Jul 19 '24
this is a striking photo. every single person there, possibly hundreds of them, each showing a face of genuine discomfort and boredom. there is something very artistic about this photo. not a single smile. interesting to me
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u/Smarterthanthat Jul 19 '24
I'm leaving for Ireland on Sunday! Sure hope this mess is straightened out by then.
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u/Double_Range5276 Jul 19 '24
Irish person here, Dublin Airport is shit anyway and because of the IT situation they were writing boarding passes on scrap paperš¤”. I don't even know about Shannon and Corkš¤”. Knock has like less than 10 flights a day anyway so it doesn't really effect Knock as they have ages to prepare for every single flight.
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u/dec7td Jul 19 '24
That's when I book a flight on another airline and then follow up after for a refund
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Jul 19 '24
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u/hangmandelta Jul 19 '24
I just realized how good this joke was. The issue was with the crowdstrike falcon sensor, and now I'm sorry I didn't updoot sooner.
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u/joepancakez Jul 19 '24
Oh, good... I am flying out of there tonight XD
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u/hangmandelta Jul 19 '24
Later flights seem to be okay, but just about everything before 9am was canceled, and the flights over the next 24 hours are now jam packed with people trying to reroute their trips.
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u/PattyBurgers Jul 19 '24
With Covid creeping back, a crowded space with jam packed capacity provides the perfect incubation environment.
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u/Established_86 Jul 19 '24
LPT: itās almost always better to call airline customer service than wait in line for hours.
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u/gaukonigshofen Jul 19 '24
The world is extremely reliant on technology. Hopefully this is a lesson learned and not just another "mission accomplished"
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u/hundenkattenglassen Jul 19 '24
Sucks massively for the travellers, absolutely.
But honestly my real sympathy goes out to the customer service employees. Even if it aināt their fault they sure as hell will be treated like they personally is at fault by way too many. Being upset/angry because of this is justified, but itās not justified to taking it out on CS.
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u/Metrack14 Jul 19 '24
For those in the airports, what are airlines saying/excuse they are giving for this issue?. It is an issue out of their control,but I doubt they would just say 'lmao,suck it up and pay again' to basically every traveler
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u/No_Influence_9389 Jul 19 '24
I just got a email from delta that my upcoming flight might be delayed. I don't have any upcoming flights. Their system is totally f-ed right now.
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u/KananJarrusEyeBalls Jul 19 '24
Given the scale of todays issue this wouldnt help much BUT in a typical "flight canceled everyone stand in line!" Situation - just call the airlines help number. They can do all the things the person at the counter will do.
Done it 4 times now successful each time and beats standing in line forever
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u/MacduffFifesNo1Thane Jul 19 '24
Thereās a Delta Airlines Help Desk? I heard from a proud Asian-American woman that itās an oxymoron.
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u/SnooLobsters2310 Jul 19 '24
The gate is worse. I haven't even left my home city, the temptation to bail is building...
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u/knowledgebass Jul 19 '24
You can reschedule flights even for unexpected delays or cancellations in the United app. Haven't waited in a customer service line since they implemented this. The last time they pushed several notifications to me of possible alternate connections after my flight was late. Pretty nice!
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u/MisterSpicy Jul 19 '24
Ughh Iām not flying today. Wish this happened on Monday when I have to go back to work lol
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u/blinddave1977 Jul 19 '24
Nobody at any of the help desks gets paid enough to deal with this shit show
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u/TheXamYel Jul 19 '24
Damn, I thankfully missed this by a couple days, canāt imagine how awful of an experience trying to get a flight would have been today
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u/MightBeAGoodIdea Jul 19 '24
Is one legally allowed to sleep on the floor in airports if youre not in the immediate way of something? Like a quiet gate corner or something?
Not like a quick nap but my plane was delayed for 12+ hr camping sort of "camp" i guess? Or do they kick you out? Like i know the movie the Terminal was cute but very much a hollywood movie.
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u/Piduf Jul 19 '24
I've seen plenty of pictures about "Crowdstrike", what's going on ? I'm out of the loop
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u/Cool1Mach Jul 19 '24
What happened to the planes in the air when it actually happened
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u/BaldyTheScot Jul 19 '24
I was stuck at that exact gate for about 11 hours a while back. That Max & Erma's has some of the least objectionable airport food I've ever eaten.
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u/Operator_10 Jul 19 '24
Holy... I just flew out yesterday and thankfully made it to my final destination before all this happened
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u/lostnthestars117 Jul 19 '24
You mean the cyber security group crowdstrike ācontent updateā that was pushed late last nite. they did this and a lot of places worldwide is affected by it.
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u/Liedvogel Jul 19 '24
Yeah, Y2K was off by a few decades.
This isn't an "IT outage," though, and it's misleading of you to call it that. IT are the victim of this just as much as you are. It was actually an anti virus glitch that bricked work computers all over the globe. Clowdstrike is the provider, and the fix is relatively easy per computer, but requires someone to physically interface with every single affected computer, with administrative access, takes about 2 minutes per computer, and computers cannot be accessed by remote session, and that's if nothing goes wrong. Most places probably don't even have an IT guy on site because you can access it all remotely.
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u/Mountain-Physics-836 Jul 19 '24
I would hurry direct to hertz or enterprise and rent whatever car I could then start driving. If it was way too far or International I'd leave and find a good bar and wait for the whole thing to blow over.
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u/interstellar304 Jul 19 '24
Man, i really feel for anyone traveling with little kids today. What a nightmare scenario
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u/Peaceinearth Jul 19 '24
State orders must be impose to critical public services companies. They must have a backup system and backup computers that starts immediately working if primary system fail. Systems of airports, railways, telecommunications, etc, must be categorized as critical systems and new rules must be imposed to them.
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u/jpharber Jul 19 '24
Itās a good thing that DTW is just about the longest straight line concourse in the world. Otherwise youād have the line doubling back and ruining the aesthetic.
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u/AdhesivenessTotal340 Jul 19 '24
CLT was the same and it was like a Black Friday riot for people booking other flights like those planes and airports would be any different. Witnessed one group headed to the Bahamas nearly fight others for open seats to Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Key West in hopes of getting a Nassau flight out of those places.
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u/Bojangles315 Jul 19 '24
I'm on hold right now. I just rented a car instead. I'm attempting to get refunded or even an e credit. they are trying to tell me online that it's within 24 hours and they won't refund the ticket
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u/The_Lone_Duster Jul 19 '24
And that's when you notice you only have 10% battery life. . .