Delta Airlines Sues CrowdStrike for $500 Million Over Software Glitch That Disrupted Global Flights

Delta Air Lines has filed a lawsuit against cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike in Georgia’s Fulton County Superior Court, seeking damages exceeding $500 million. The suit follows a software update from CrowdStrike in July that Delta claims triggered a mass outage, leading to widespread flight cancellations that affected the travel plans of 1.3 million passengers and disrupted industries across the globe.

Delta’s legal filing describes the software update as “catastrophic,” alleging that CrowdStrike deployed an untested and flawed patch, which reportedly caused around 8.5 million Windows-based systems worldwide to crash. The incident forced Delta to cancel approximately 7,000 flights over five days, resulting in significant operational and financial impacts, as well as reputational harm to the airline.

In response, CrowdStrike defended its position, asserting that Delta’s claims are based on “disproven misinformation” and deflect from Delta’s “failure to modernize its outdated IT infrastructure.” The cybersecurity firm has maintained that while its software update did result in global system crashes, Delta’s recovery challenges were compounded by internal technical limitations.

CrowdStrike’s Senior Vice President Adam Meyers testified before Congress last month, offering an apology for the error, which he attributed to a configuration update on CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor security platform. “We are deeply sorry this happened and are committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen again,” Meyers said.

As Delta pursues compensation for direct losses and long-term damages, including future revenue impacts and legal expenses, the case has attracted the attention of the U.S. Transportation Department, which has launched its own investigation into the widespread disruptions. Delta argues that CrowdStrike’s failure to test the update on even a single device before deployment was reckless, further alleging that the inability to remotely remove the faulty update exacerbated the situation.

Delta has maintained that it invests heavily in advanced technology for its IT systems and argues that CrowdStrike should be held accountable. However, CrowdStrike has questioned why Delta was uniquely impacted, with other airline carriers faring better in their recovery efforts.