All Things Travel: Delta's Computer Crash Downs The Airline

BOSTON (CBS)– Delta Air Lines had a tough week at the peak summer travel season.

Logan Airport's third largest carrier, behind JetBlue and American, lost millions of dollars and the goodwill of its passengers when a computer system went down early Monday morning. Full service was expected on Friday.

American, Southwest and United have all experienced some sort of short-term computer glitches.

Thousands of passengers were stranded, many in Delta's home town of Atlanta where it also has its major connecting hub.

The Delta CEO, Ed Bastian, still did not have and full answer to the power problem with its computer, but took responsibility for the computer crash.

The timing of the incident could not have been worse. As of Wednesday, 2,100 flights had ben cancelled.

It occurred early on a Monday morning when leisure travelers were heading away on vacation, many of the families making their one trip of the year. August is not a busy period for business travelers. But many got to Logan Airport without any advance knowledge of the incident.

In the past when one airline had a disruption of service, other airlines pitched in to literally carry the load.

Not this year. This summer about 90 percent of flights are full and the airlines can't seem to agree on costs for a competitor's problem.

One of Delta's expansion plans is to buy a major stake in an international airline like British Virgin Atlantic. Virgin brings hundreds of passengers to Boston weekly who board Delta flights to other markets.

The airline is also the major U.S. member of the Sky Team Alliance with Air France and KLM with its Boston service.

Delta's advertising slogan is "Keep Climbing." It will climb back and expand at the Boston Airport in Terminal A. It has thousands of loyal employees.

Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.