According to an internal memo flagged by aviation watchdog JonNYC last night, Delta is offering to pay for accommodations and reimbursements on other forms of travel, including travel on other airlines, following the Atlanta hailstorm that rocked the airline’s operations.
According to FlightAware, Delta had cancelled 360 flights on Friday and 584 flights on Saturday. Although it’s now been two days since the storm, Atlanta remains an operational headache for the airline.
The airline will pay for:
- Hotels and other accommodations during the event
- Rental car reimbursement, if passengers opted to drive to their destination instead of dealing with flight delays and cancellations
- Travel on other airlines (OAL travel), if passengers chose to buy a ticket on another airline to reach their destination
This is a big decision by the airline made at a relatively early stage compared to the Crowdstrike/IT meltdown last year. You can say that the airline learned from last year, and have changed their approach to dealing with issues like this.
This is also far from what’s required legally. Airlines in the US aren’t required to pay for accommodations and alternate travel in events out of control (weather), but Delta is doing so anyway.
Featured image by the author.
