Hurt by the Delta Outage? Here’s What You Can Do

If you’re one of the people left stranded by Delta’s outage, you have options.

The airline is waiving fees, offering refunds and giving out travel vouchers to those who were scheduled to fly on Aug. 8 or Aug. 9. Over those two days, more than 1,200 Delta flights around the world were canceled due to a power outage that crippled its booking and communications systems.

Here’s what you can do:

GET A REFUND

If your flight was canceled by Delta or delayed more than three hours, and you decide not to reschedule, you can ask the airline for your money back.

RESCHEDULE YOUR FLIGHT

Delta won’t charge its ticket change fee, which can cost as much as $500, even if your flight was not canceled. But if you book the rescheduled flight to take place after Aug. 12, you may have to pay more for airfare.

Delta Air Lines Inc. recommends rescheduling flights on its website or app since its phone lines may be busy.

GET VOUCHERS FOR FUTURE TRAVEL

As a bonus, Delta is giving away $200 in travel vouchers to those whose flight was canceled or delayed more than three hours. The voucher can be used within a year on any Delta-operated flight.

The vouchers can only be used by the person who was stranded. So if you were traveling for work, the voucher is yours to keep for that next family vacation. However, some companies might require employees to apply the credit toward their next work trip, although that is usually a small percent of companies.