I believe everyone gets that weather was the impetus that pushed this snowball down the hill. But...I ask again, why is it only Southwest that has been devastated to the current extent? Southwest accounted for 80% of all airline cancellations on Monday, and an unbelievable 99% of all cancellations for today, Wednesday. If all airlines were equally affected, the weather bogeyman would not be pointing its finger at just one carrier.
The current president of Southwest's pilot union blamed the company's antiquated scheduling software for the meltdown. Their system, apparently a relic from the 90's, relies on technology based on phone lines, and once the first domino fell, the system was doomed to fail. The failure of their scheduling system affected everything from customer service calls, to crew scheduling, and everything in between. I'm sure this event will trigger a response from the company to update their system, but a rebuild like that will not happen overnight. In the meantime, there are other air carrier choices.
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