Delta Air Lines said Tuesday night that it was experiencing a “technology issue” with some of its computer tracking systems, forcing officials to issue a ground stop and disrupting travel across the nation.
In Twitter messages to customers — who ranged from irate to puzzled — the airline called the problems temporary and promised they would be resolved soon. But that did little to quell widespread outrage, as people railed against the company, demanding to know why they could not book flights, print tickets or board their planes.
Delta information technology teams “are working diligently to address a technology issue impacting some of our systems,” the airline said in a brief statement around 8:30 p.m. “We have issued a Delta ground stop as we work to bring systems back up as quickly as possible. We apologize to all customers for this inconvenience.”
The airline, which serves more than 180 million customers each year, did not immediately offer any additional details.
In the meantime, customers fumed.
In Las Vegas, restless fliers said they were waiting in long lines to book alternative flights and dealing with delays that were dragging on throughout Tuesday night. In Detroit, one customer claimed that a plane failure combined with the widespread problems led to her being stuck at the airport for nine hours. And in Atlanta, Delta’s headquarters and largest hub, a line of idle planes stretched across the runway, carrying passengers who were unable to disembark.
“How about a pickup truck and a ladder?” one customer wrote on Facebook. “Get us off this plane.”
While Delta has not faced a recent public relations fiasco that escalated to level of some recently suffered by United Airlines, the company has still experienced its share of turbulence.
In March, Georgia lawmakers stripped out a tax break proposal for Delta in retaliation for its decision to end a promotional discount for members of the National Rifle Association. (Georgia’s governor restored the tax break in July.) And in June, the company cut its profit forecast in response to a steep rise in fuel prices, prompting its stock to drop 1 percent.
Andrew R. Chow and Melissa Gomez contributed reporting.
