Did Delta's slow web performance signal trouble before CrowdStrike?

The CrowdStrike outage was a reminder of how quickly the dominoes can fall—especially when the foundation is shaky. Delta Airlines was hit harder than its competitors. While United and American Airlines were able to recover within days, Delta faced ongoing struggles, leading to the cancellation of 7,000 flights over five days.

CEO Ed Bastian estimated this cost the company $500 million. And unlike United, which canceled a smaller number of flights, Delta’s difficulties lingered. It comes as no surprise that the fallout was a 26% drop in third-quarter earnings. Delta earned $971 million, down from $1.31 billion a year earlier, and is now seeking compensation for the July outage. These numbers paint a stark picture of the financial toll taken by Delta's slow recovery, and it’s hard not to ask: Why was Delta so vulnerable?

According to Microsoft, the answer may lie in their infrastructure. In an ongoing war of words, Microsoft suggested Delta’s IT simply wasn't up to par. "Unlike its competitors, Delta apparently has not modernized its IT infrastructure," Mark Cheffo, an attorney for Microsoft, pointed out. It raises the question: Did Delta's struggles really begin with CrowdStrike, or were the seeds sown well before?  

Maybe the fundamental problem is that Delta has under-invested in IT. I have yet to meet a CIO who has too many resources and no backlog of systems to modernize, legacy tools to retire (SiteScope, anyone?), or security enhancements to implement.  

This post is not trying to blame IT or even point the finger at Delta. We are looking at them as an example of a large, complex organization that may need to increase its investment in IT overall to be better prepared for the future. This connection became evident when we revisited our Airline Website Performance Benchmark Report. Published before CrowdStrike’s devasting impact on Delta, the report highlighted significant deficiencies relative to industry benchmarks – and customer expectations.  

Lagging website performance: A window into deeper issues

Catchpoint has been conducting web performance benchmarking reports for many years, often as exclusive reports for our customers or other internal purposes. Commenting on the purpose, the report states, “Our aim isn’t to pick winners and losers or point the finger at brands with slower sites. Instead, it’s to learn about the range of customer experiences being delivered, identify areas for improvement, and spark a conversation about best practices.”

Our benchmarking report, published July 2024, revealed that Delta's website lagged behind its competitors in categories such as page load time, where Delta was the slowest among the airlines analyzed. For context, a recommended page load time is less than 5 seconds. Delta's was over 7 seconds.

You may be asking: How is that relevant? How damaging is slow page load time?  

Page load time matters more than you think

In its simplest terms, page load time is the average amount of time it takes for a page to show up on your screen. It measures the time from initial navigation to receiving the last byte of the final element on the page. More than just a single metric, it encompasses factors like the number of requests, the amount of data downloaded, DNS quality, and third-party requests. Essentially, it's a crucial metric and an effective indicator of how well your website is performing.

Slow load times aren't just technical problems—they’re business problems. It’s well established that the longer people stare at a blank screen, the less likely they are to spend money on a website. Research shows that 40% of users abandon a site that takes over three seconds to load—and that goes up to 53% if they're browsing on a mobile device. As page load time goes from one to ten seconds, the probability of a mobile user bouncing increases by 123%. Perhaps, the most frightening statistic of all is that a one-second delay in page load time can lead to a 7% reduction in conversions. Now consider that in our tests, Delta's page load time was over 7 seconds.  

Document complete time: The hidden cost of delay

Delta also struggled with document complete time—the point when a browser has fully loaded all the necessary elements for a page to be functional. Delta's score of 5133ms was well above the 3-second benchmark. This means customers were left waiting, often staring at a partially loaded page while trying to book their tickets or make changes to their reservations.

In an industry where every minute matters, these delays are more than just inconvenient—they translate directly into lost bookings and lost revenue.

Building a culture of excellence: Why every detail matters

There's a school of thought that building a culture of excellence means striving for greatness in every corner of the business—not just the obvious parts like getting planes from A to B, but also in areas that might not seem directly connected to flying. It's about establishing high standards and continuously improving—before outages like CrowdStrike's happen. Things like web performance might feel peripheral, but in today’s digital world, they absolutely matter.

So, at first glance, Delta’s poor digtial customer experience and page load times may seem disconnected from their primary business of flying passengers. But having poor web performance metrics isn’t just about website speed; it’s a red flag for the entire operation. It signals a gap in the commitment to excellence, which always becomes apparent under stress. When CrowdStrike happened, it stress-tested Delta’s resilience as an organization, and Delta struggled.

Was Delta's vulnerability inevitable?

The CrowdStrike outage may have been the spark, but the dry tinder—lack of investment in IT systems from cybersecurity to web performance—was already in place. In times of crisis, organizations that have built Internet Resilience into every part of their business are the ones that come out on top. Our Inaugural Internet Resilience Report, based on insights from 300+ digital leaders in North America and EMEA, found that overwhelmingly, resilience was deemed to be a moderate or high driver for every part of business operations.

Internet Resilience matters across the entire business, from improving operational efficiency and maximizing workforce productivity to mitigating business risk.

For those in the airline industry—and beyond—every industry now relies on the Internet as the primary enterprise network. Delta’s recent struggles highlight why a proactive approach to web performance is essential. Internet Performance Monitoring is crucial. In a world where slow is the new down, companies must invest in Internet Resilience now or risk losing out when the next outage inevitably occurs.

For a detailed look at the web performance of major airlines and what they can do to improve, read the full benchmark report.