ATLANTA — After almost a week stuck in Atlanta, the Johnson family finally made it home to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The family first landed in Atlanta on Friday and could not get another flight out until the following Wednesday afternoon, due to the massive IT outage that affected Delta Air Lines more than most.
That flight didn't even get them all the way home—it only got them as far as Omaha, Nebraska. The family then rented a car—at their own expense—and drove another two hours home to Sioux Falls. Fatima Johnson told 11Alive's Angelina Salcedo last week that the airline told her they were not going to reimburse her for the rental car.
"We have three little ones, and Delta hasn't helped with a hotel voucher, transportation, nothing," Fatima Johnson previously said. We're going to get you to Omaha, but for you to get to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, you have to rent a car, pay for that, and we're not going to reimburse you.' That's what they said.
Delta Air Lines is still under intense scrutiny by travelers and is now under investigation by the Department of Transportation.
While the setback left hundreds stranded and far from home, this family who had just made it back to the States from Paris is among the most affected.
She and her family had been enjoying a vacation away for her birthday abroad. On their flight back to the States on Friday, family members and friends warned them about the CrowdStrike outage that was causing delays to flights; but it was already too late.
"They were telling us to extend our trip if we could, but we were already just three hours away from Atlanta," Johnson previously said.
Since then, she and her husband have been surrounded by chaos. While trying to get back home, two cancellations left them stuck in a city miles from home.
"The second cancellation was too much, and we had seats. I even took screenshots, so I had the proof. We got here Monday and had just been dropped off only to find out our flight had been canceled, and Delta sent me an email about it," she said.
The agents at the counter tried to get them hotel vouchers and accommodations, but the system was still down. They were told that they would have to foot the bill and try to get a refund later.
"Try is the key word here. You're basically saying I'm not going to get my money back," Johnson said, frustrated.
Their trip to Paris was overshadowed by the setback of their preferred airline. Their options were to go back to Paris and fly abroad, try another airline at the expense of more than $4,000, or just stay in Atlanta and pay for hotels and transportation on their own.
In an exclusive one-on-one interview with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, 11Alive learned that the family is entitled to the reimbursements and accommodations that Delta hasn't provided them.
"Their expenses should absolutely be covered in terms of things like ground transportation and hotels. Also if anytime your flight is cancelled you don't take the rebooking, you're entitled to a cash refund, and that is something else that we enforce. If the airline is not holding up its responsibilities, I would encourage that family, or any family, to go to our website, flightwrights.gov. That has not just information about your rights, but also a way to report to us if an airline is not doing what they need to do. We'll hold them accountable," Buttigieg said.
He emphasized that this was the most 'widespread and intense' meltdown the department had seen since Southwest Airlines about a year and a half ago.
"One of the things that this has in common with that situation is there was something that affected everybody. In that case, it was a Winter storm, but then when all of the other airlines recovered, one airline had a different set of problems, and of course, that was Southwest. We ultimately investigated Southwest and arrived at the conclusion that there were many violations, which led to a record enforcement action of $140 million. I can't say yet where this investigation will lead, but I will say that we have sought to launch a new era in terms of passenger protections, and we're going to follow through on that high standard when it comes to dealing with this situation," Buttigieg said.
Their story is a reminder that travelers have protections their entitled to. If you have any pushback from your airline, the Department of Transportation urges you to reach out here.
