Important systems should have redundant backup/restore options.
Where I worked (now retired) as sysadmin, every system had two boot disks. If a system was patched and failed on reboot for any reason, the system was booted off the unpatched second disk. Now if the second disk failed because lightning struck the system we would boot to the unpatched hot spare system which also had duel boot disks. We also had multiple levels of remote backup to restore every system.
I don't know at what level Delta made their decisions on backups but I am sure they didn't treat their critical systems as important as my former employer did.
Not one minute after the call ends my boss who "wasn't listening in" called me to reassure me that my job was secure. Since I was the only one of our team in the entire state, I was reasonably certain that was aready the case.
I quietly let some of the team who I trusted know that the anonymous calls were anything but.
I could have left then but I was 60+ years old and desided to just ride it out until retirement. They re-orged shortly after and I ended up with a new boss so it worked out for me anyway.
Another time I called about a man who colapsed in the street. When I checked he wasn't breathing and had no heart beat. I called 911 and told them there was a dead man laying in the middle of the street. She asked what I wanted them to do. I was thinking: you're the professionals and you don't know what to do about a dead body.
No one showed up. No police, no ambulance, no EMS, no one at all. His friends loaded the body in a car an left. No one ever came by for any kind of statement or investigation.
So what "retarded country" do I live in where the police don't respond to theft? That would be Detroit, USA.
They're a for-profit business and they have a legal responsibility to maximize shareholder return.
This idea always shows up whenever business is mentioned on slashdot. There is NO legal requirement to maximize profits, shareholder return or even to try to make a profit. The board of directors might get voted out if they keep making bad choices but that is by vote of shareholders, not a legal process.
You should read Google's SEC filings that say something like "we will do whatever we feel like doing even though some of those choices will cause a loss for the company."
Caesors Palace (Las Vegas) destroyed about 90% of the value of the company in the 80's to avoid a hostle takeover. As a shareholder I lost a boatload of money on that one but there was no legal recourse except voting to kick out the board of directors at the next shareholder meeting.
"Buy land. They've stopped making it." -- Mark Twain