Vegas dream trip ruined by Delta Air Lines computer glitch

Gina Stapleford is in the US on a dream trip that's been six years in the planning and was due to fly out to Vegas from Los Angeles on the Monday afternoon.

At least one Kiwi has been stranded following the computer glitch that grounded numerous Delta flights for several hours.

Worldwide, media reported thousands of air passengers in airports across the United States, Japan, Italy and the UK were stranded as the airline delayed and, in some cases, cancelled flights as a result of the glitch on Monday morning (US time).

Waikato's Gina Stapleford is in the US on a dream trip that's been six years in the planning and was due to fly to Vegas from Los Angeles on Monday afternoon.

She turned up with her friend at the airport at midday, only to find her Delta flight was cancelled at the gate.

"No one would talk to us or tell us anything," she said. "We joined the help desk and stood in that, not moving for nearly three hours."

Stapleford said her initial flight was rebooked for 6pm, but it got pushed back to 9:16pm, then to 10:03pm, 12:05am and 1:50am before it was finally cancelled.

"So we are currently stuck at the airport waiting for the next Vegas flight at 7:30am."
She said no one had offered them any food, drink or even a hotel to stay in.

"The only thing we have had is an email saying we will get $200 off any future travel with Delta, which doesn't really help."

Stapleford was "devastated" her 12-day trip to the US had been marred by the travel delays and that she'd be losing out on Vegas.

"We were only having two days there to begin with and now we will be lucky to get half a day, if that."

She said several hundred others appeared stranded in the airport.

Delta said the computer glitch was the result of a power cut at its Atlanta hub. Flights were delayed, and about 650 flights were cancelled as a result.

CNN Money reported it would take the airline tens of millions of dollars and several days to recover from the disruption.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian has apologised for the delays in an online video, assuring all those affected that airline employees were working "all hands on deck" to bring the flight schedule back to normal.

"I apologise for the challenges this has created for you with your travel experience," he said. "The Delta team is working very, very hard to restore and get these systems back as quickly as possible.

"For those of you who have been inconvenienced and need to access and make changes to your travel plans, we have instituted system-wide waivers and you can access those either through delta.com or by talking to any of our reservation agents."