Delta Air Lines sued cybersecurity company CrowdStrike in Georgia state court on October 25, 2024, over the faulty software update that disrupted airline operations on July 19, 2024. Delta says the outage led to about 7,000 flight cancellations over five days and caused it more than $500 million in lost revenue and extra expenses. Those figures are Delta’s reports and estimates—not a court award—and CrowdStrike disputes Delta’s account.
What happened in the CrowdStrike outage?
On July 19, 2024, a faulty CrowdStrike software update affected Microsoft computers, according to contemporary reporting. Delta said the resulting disruption affected its operations and caused approximately 7,000 flight cancellations over five days. Its August 8, 2024 Form 8-K reported the cancellation figure: Delta’s filing with the SEC.
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Delta attributed more than $500 million in lost revenue and additional expenses to the disruption, according to the Associated Press’s October 25, 2024 report. That is Delta’s estimate, not an amount a court has found CrowdStrike owes. The same AP report said the U.S. Department of Transportation was investigating Delta’s recovery and customer service at that time; it does not establish the investigation’s later status. Associated Press report, October 25, 2024.
What is Delta accusing CrowdStrike of?
Delta’s complaint alleges that CrowdStrike did not adequately test its update before deploying it worldwide. The complaint characterizes the company’s conduct as cutting corners and circumventing advertised testing and certification processes. Those are Delta’s allegations, not established findings about what happened.
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CrowdStrike’s response, as reported by AP, was that Delta’s claims were based on “misinformation” and sought to shift blame for Delta’s slow recovery. The available account of the dispute does not establish which party’s characterization is correct.
What does the lawsuit claim?
Delta filed its complaint against CrowdStrike, Inc. in the Superior Court for Fulton County, Georgia, on October 25, 2024. CrowdStrike’s SEC filing summarizes the complaint as asserting claims involving:
- Computer trespass and trespass to personalty
- Breach of contract
- Intentional misrepresentation or fraud by omission
- Strict-liability product defect and gross negligence
- Deceptive and unfair business practices
Delta sought monetary damages, attorneys’ fees and punitive damages, without specifying the amounts in the claims summarized by CrowdStrike. The filing of these claims does not prove liability. CrowdStrike’s description of the case appears in its SEC filing dated July 2026.
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On May 16, 2025, the court granted CrowdStrike’s motion to dismiss in part and denied it in part. The order dismissed part of Delta’s intentional misrepresentation and fraud-by-omission count; the rest of the motion was denied. That ruling allowed most of the challenged claims to proceed past the dismissal motion, but it was not a decision that CrowdStrike was liable.
CrowdStrike’s July 2026 SEC filing said discovery was ongoing. That is the latest primary-source status located here, not confirmation of the case’s status on October 4, 2026. It does not establish whether a later ruling, settlement or trial setting occurred. The court order is available through CourtListener.
What the reported loss figures do—and do not—mean
The roughly 7,000 cancellations describe the operational impact Delta reported over five days. The more-than-$500-million figure is Delta’s estimate of lost revenue and additional expenses attributed to the outage. Neither figure, by itself, establishes the amount of any recoverable legal damages. The court would have to resolve liability and damages through later proceedings or an agreement between the parties.
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