Delta Air Lines has hired the services of a prominent US lawyer as it looks to seek damages for a global system outage from cyber-security firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft, according to media reports.
CNBC reported that CrowdStrike shares dropped as much as 5% on July 29, 2024, when news of Attorney David Boies’ appointment broke.
Companies and services around the world were left struggling to operate in July 2024 after a software update by CrowdStrike caused Microsoft Windows to crash.
The incident caused 46,013 flights to be delayed and saw 5,171 canceled on June 19, 2024, with Delta particularly hurt by the turmoil.
According to CNBC, the system outage has cost Delta between an estimated $350 million to $500 million and resulted in thousands of refund requests after the carrier canceled over 6,000 flights.
Ryanair, Vueling Airlines, IndiGo, Ajet, SpiceJet, Air India Express, Transavia France, Turkish Airlines and Akasa Air confirmed that they were also affected by the outage.
“Delta is in the business of connecting the world, and we understand how difficult it can be when your travels are disrupted. We have issued a travel waiver to enable you to make a change to your itinerary at no charge,” Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta, stated in a press release on July 21, 2024. “In addition, for those whose flights have been impacted, we continue to offer meal vouchers, hotel accommodations and transportation where available.”
Between 1998 and 2000, David Boies served as Special Trial Counsel for the US Department of Justice in its antitrust suit against Microsoft and was co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in Perry v. Brown. He won the first judgment establishing the right to marry for gay and lesbian citizens under the US Constitution.
No lawsuit has yet been filed against CrowdStrike and Microsoft on behalf of Delta.