Gone quiet · last update Oct 26, 2024

The CrowdStrike outage and Delta's fight over it

Overview · reviewed October 28, 2026

On July 19, 2024, a faulty software update from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike crashed computers around the world, grounding flights and knocking banks, hospitals, media outlets and other businesses offline.[1][2][3] Delta Air Lines said the outage cost it more than $500 million and sued CrowdStrike in October; CrowdStrike blamed Delta's own IT shortcomings.[4][5]

Read the timeline

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Delta Air Lines said the outage cost it more than $500 million and sued CrowdStrike in October; CrowdStrike blamed Delta's own IT shortcomings.[4][5]

Coverage over time

Share of tracked outlets · monthly average of weekly shares (UTC)

Jul 2024: average weekly share 17% (left 5%, center 9%, right 3%), from 3 of 3 weeksAug 2024: average weekly share 3% (left 1%, center 2%, right under 1%), from 4 of 4 weeksSep 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksOct 2024: average weekly share 2% (left under 1%, center 1%, right under 1%), from 4 of 4 weeksNov 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksDec 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJan 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksFeb 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksMar 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksApr 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksMay 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksJun 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJul 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksAug 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksSep 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksOct 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksNov 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksDec 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJan 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksFeb 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksMar 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksApr 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksMay 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksJun 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJul 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksAug 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksSep 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksOct 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksNov 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 2 of 2 weeks, so far

LeftCenterRight

Each bar is the share of the outlets on our Left / Center / Right rating scale that we tracked publishing that week which carried reporting on this story, split by the outlets' ratings. Over more than two years each bar is a month: the average of that month's weekly shares, so the shape stays readable. The weekly table below keeps every week. We track more outlets now than in the archive, so a share keeps earlier and later weeks comparable. An outlet counts once a week however much it published, and outlets in one ownership or syndication group count as one on each side they appear on. A rating describes the outlet, not the report. A gap means no such reports were collected that week, not that nothing was reported anywhere. Weeks run Monday to Sunday in UTC, so a report published on a Sunday evening in US Eastern time counts in the next week. 6 more outlets off the scale (not rated, or outside the left-right graphs) also reported; they are not in this chart. See them.

Weekly counts, outlets and reports (5 weeks with coverage)
Outlets on the rating scale that carried this story each week, of the outlets tracked that week, newest first
Week of (UTC)LeftCenterRightOf trackedShareReceipts
Oct 21, 202438213 of 1997%
Aug 5, 2024714223 of 20211%
Jul 29, 202427110 of 2284%
Jul 22, 202486519 of 2348%
Jul 15, 202426441686 of 22039%

Latest coverage

The newest reporting in this story's record.

  1. Oct 25, 2024 · first reported · Headline from Newsweek

    Delta sues CrowdStrike for outages causing $500 million in losses

Background

CrowdStrike said a "defect" in an update caused the outage, and its shares plunged.[3][6] Delta hired the lawyer David Boies to pursue damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft,[7] and its chief executive said the outage cost the airline $500 million.[8] CrowdStrike fired back that Delta would have to explain its own technology failures,[4] and in October Delta filed suit in Georgia.[5]

Supporting stories (8)
  1. Massive tech outage causes worldwide disruptions to flights, banks, media outlets - what we know
  2. What is CrowdStrike? Cybersecurity company at center of global IT outage
  3. CrowdStrike stock price plummets amid worldwide IT outage
  4. CrowdStrike says it isn't to blame for Delta's flight cancellations after July outage
  5. Delta sues cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike over tech outage that canceled flights
  6. Crowdstrike blames bug for letting bad data slip through, leading to global tech outage
  7. Delta reportedly seeking potential damages from CrowdStrike, Microsoft after global IT outages
  8. Delta passengers sue airline over refund refusals after CrowdStrike meltdown

The full record

Each date is when an update was first reported.

All 8 recorded updates

October 2024

  1. Delta sues cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike over tech outage that canceled flightsHeadline from KEYT Santa Barbara · 13 outlets

Coverage & sources

Read the reports, see how much was collected over time, or compare outlets by political leaning.

Coverage & sources →