Delta must face passenger lawsuit over massive computer outage

(Reuters) — Delta Air Lines must face a proposed class action by passengers who said it refused to offer full refunds after delaying or canceling their flights following a massive computer outage last July, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen in Atlanta said five of the nine plaintiffs may pursue breach-of-contract claims based on Delta’s failure to refund.

The judge allowed a different group of five plaintiffs to pursue claims related to delayed and canceled flights under the Montreal Convention, a multilateral treaty.

Judge Cohen dismissed the remaining claims, including those he said were preempted by federal law.

The July 19 outage stemmed from a flawed software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike that crashed more than 8 million computers and affected many Microsoft customers.

Disruptions eased the next day for many U.S. airlines but lasted longer at Delta, which canceled about 7,000 flights.

“This ruling is a major step forward for Delta passengers seeking accountability,” Joseph Sauder, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, said in an email.

Neither Delta nor its lawyers immediately responded to requests for comment.

The Atlanta-based airline had sought the dismissal of all claims, aside from one refund claim and international travelers’ claims under the Montreal Convention.

Passengers accused Delta of failing to provide automatic refunds following the outage and providing partial refunds only if they waived further legal claims.

The case is Bajra et. al. v. Delta Air Lines.