Microsoft: Delta declined our assistance during crisis

In the latest chapter of an escalating public relations battle, Microsoft, alongside CrowdStrike, has pushed back against Delta Air Lines' recent criticisms, asserting that the airline turned down technical support following a post-outage situation that resulted in over 5,000 flight cancellations.

The technology company accused Delta of spreading a misleading narrative about the causes of the nearly week-long disruption in late July, as detailed in a letter sent Tuesday by attorney Mark Cheffo of Dechert LLP. A copy of this letter was obtained by TPG, and it was addressed to David Boies, a prominent lawyer Delta has engaged to seek damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft.

"Delta's public statements are incomplete, inaccurate, misleading, and harmful to Microsoft and its reputation," the letter asserted. "The reality is vastly different from the distorted image you and Delta have attempted to portray."

CrowdStrike sent a comparable message to Delta on Sunday.

Delta's CEO Ed Bastian mentioned on CNBC last week that the outage on July 19 and its consequences had cost the airline $500 million, and they plan to pursue damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. CrowdStrike, which supplies security software for Microsoft's Windows operating system, experienced a flawed software update that inadvertently crashed thousands of Microsoft-dependent networks and systems.

In a letter sent on Tuesday, Microsoft, represented by its attorney, stated that the Washington-based company had offered technical assistance to Delta daily from July 19, when the outage commenced, until July 23, as Delta started to regain control over its operations, but Delta declined every offer.

The letter referenced a specific exchange on July 22, where a Delta employee informed a Microsoft representative that everything was "all good" and declined help. It also noted that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emailed Bastian on July 24 to extend support but did not receive a response.

Microsoft further asserted that the systems responsible for Delta's prolonged operational disruption were not dependent on Windows.

"Indeed, it is becoming increasingly clear that Delta likely declined Microsoft's assistance because the IT system it struggled to restore — its crew-tracking and scheduling system — was supported by other technology providers like IBM, as it operates on their systems rather than Microsoft Windows or Azure," the letter stated.

Instead, Microsoft alleged that Delta failed to ensure its systems were sufficiently equipped to handle disruptions.

"Our initial analysis indicates that Delta, unlike its rivals, appears not to have modernized its IT infrastructure, neither for the benefit of its customers nor for its pilots and flight attendants," the letter claimed.

In a response to TPG, Delta denied the assertion that its IT infrastructure was lacking.

"Delta has a long history of investing in safe, reliable, and superior service for our customers and employees," the airline stated. "Since 2016, Delta has invested billions in IT capital expenditures, in addition to the billions spent each year on IT operating costs."

While many airlines across the U.S. and around the world were compelled to halt their operations entirely during the outage — including American Airlines and United Airlines — most managed to resume operations within a day or two after a solution was implemented, with only some lingering delays and cancellations.

In contrast, Delta struggled for nearly a week, ultimately canceling over 5,000 mainline flights and hundreds of regional flights between July 19 and July 25, based on data from FlightAware.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is looking into the extended disruption, as noted by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last month.

In public statements following the initial outage, Delta attributed problems to crew scheduling software, while internal memos obtained by TPG indicated that the airline was repeatedly offering incentives for off-duty crew members to take additional trips as they faced challenges in repositioning displaced crews.

After the incident, Bastian informed CNBC that the airline relied more heavily on CrowdStrike and Microsoft compared to other carriers, utilizing products from those companies for a larger portion of its systems.

"If you're going to have access and priority access to the Delta technology ecosystem, you need to thoroughly test these systems," Bastian stated in an interview with CNBC last week, referring to the problematic CrowdStrike software update that triggered the outage. "You can't enter a mission-critical 24/7 operation and inform us that we have a bug. It simply doesn't work that way."

In a letter sent on Tuesday, Microsoft asserted that it would "strongly" defend itself against any claims from Delta and insisted that the airline preserve all relevant documentation. As the public relations conflict escalates, the tech company specifically requested Delta to keep records of any "communications with third-party media and/or public affairs consultants related to the CrowdStrike incident and Delta's outage, as well as Delta's communication strategy and/or public response. This includes both internal and external communications with third parties."