Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian has a full-blown PR crisis on his hands.
The airline was among the worst affected by the global CrowdStrike outage, with flights being canceled in droves and passengers stranded without their luggage. After days in which people were frustrated by Delta's lack of transparency, news reports emerged that Bastian flew off to the Paris Olympics.
Delta scrambled to control public outrage. In a message to CNN, the company said, “Ed delayed this long-planned business trip until he was confident the airline was firmly on the path to recovery. As of Wednesday morning, Delta’s operations were returning to normal. Ed remains fully engaged with senior operations leaders.”
The explanation didn't satisfy many commenters on social media.
"Ed is quite literally leaving us behind while we deal with this mess. While operations are looking better today, things are far from normal — many of us are STILL far from home," wrote the official account of the Delta flight attendants union.
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"After canceling more flights in the last five days than they did in all of 2018 & 2019 combined, @_ZachGriff confirms that Delta CEO Ed Bastian has flown to Paris for the Summer Olympics," wrote Thrifty Traveler editor Kyle Potter.
"Remember all the heat Scott Kirby got for flying private during United’s meltdown… yet somehow flying to Paris while thousands of the customers that pay your salary are still stranded… You should be in the front lines Ed Bastian," wrote YouTube-based trip reporter Emiliano Padilla.
"Delta CEO Ed Bastian needs to resign or be fired," wrote political consultant Dennis Lennox. "He should have shown up and delivered bags. Or drove stranded customers to a hotel. Maybe passed out meal vouchers. Something. Instead, he went to Paris. Complete PR malpractice. Only highlights #Delta's steep descent since 2019."
"Hey Ed, on the way back can you pick up my bag from Nassau?" wrote Greg Bluestein, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, hometown paper of the city where Delta is headquartered. "I spent countless hours in-person and on the phone begging @Delta not to send my bag to The Bahamas because I wasn’t there. Now I’ve spent hours begging Delta to send it back. And staffers say they can’t do anything."
".@ed_bastian not a good look," wrote attorney Jeremy Berry. "@Delta, which has seen profits soar, has mismanaged this and flights continue to be delayed and canceled. Families are sleeping on airport floors. Who thought it would be a good idea for you to go to Paris now?"
