As you are no doubt aware, at the end of last year Southwest Airlines (LUV) had a meltdown, owing to a combination of understaffing and outdated software, that ruined many people’s holiday.
4,000 domestic flights were delayed on Christmas alone, and more than 16,700 flights were impacted, which could end up costing Southwest $825 million, at least.
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And in mid-April, Southwest had another meltdown over a technology issue.
Earlier this week, the airline grounded its flights over a technical issue, that the company referred to as a “data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure.”
The Federal Aviation Administration initiated a temporary ground stop at Southwest's request, citing “equipment issues,” and service resumed after it was resolved.
Southwest delayed 1,820 flights or 43% of its schedule on Tuesday, but only canceled nine flights on Tuesday, according to FlightAware. Southwest says its workers “worked quickly to minimize disruptions.”
The company later took to Twitter to apologize to impacted customers.
Twitter Weighs In
So once again, Southwest delayed flights and inconvenienced its customers over a technology issue. By this point, its well known amongst travel aficionados that the company has made a series of unforced errors by not investing enough in keeping its technology current, instead of allegedly giving executives bonuses.
Naturally, many would-be customers and onlookers roasted the company for its shortcoming. So while the problem may be resolved (for now), the internet never forgets.
