After the 2022 holiday season, when Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 70% of flights due to bad weather and left customers stranded (and many without their luggage for weeks), CEO Bob Jordan said it “will not happen again”. The fiasco cost the company about $1 billion and damaged its reputation loyal customers.
This week, however, Southwest Airlines faced another problem.
On Wednesday, computer outages and a software malfunction caused the delay of more than a thousand Southwest Airlines flights. Customers also reported that they were unable to check in for their flights on the airline's mobile app.
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“Southwest Airlines has resolved a brief technology issue that was caused by a power outage at one of our data centers in the Dallas area this afternoon,” the company explained. in a statement. “We apologize to our customers and appreciate their patience as we work to get them to their destinations as quickly and safely as possible.”
According to FlightAwareSouthwest delayed a total of 1,515 flights Wednesday — 192 flights were still delayed as of Thursday morning.
Some customers reported delays of up to 10 hours before boarding, plus additional tarmac delays.
@SouthwestAir worst airline ever! 8 hours to go from Chicago to LGA! Finally reached LGA and now almost 1 hour has passed and no bag has come out. This airline is a joke!
— Michele Glassberg (@MicheleGla55520) May 30, 2024
Sitting here at the San Antonio track because @SouthwestAir there are problems with the computer. again?
— NativeTexan (@peaklover16) May 29, 2024
HEY @SouthwestAir what's going on with your app/site? I can't see any of my upcoming trips and I have to check in on a flight in a few hours.
– Amy Shahenian (@amykate1971) May 29, 2024
“Undoubtedly, the delays are frustrating for everyone involved, especially our customers,” Southwest told customers. in response to complaints at X. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Last month, Jordan hinted that The airline may change its notorious boarding process — the airline does not allow assigned seats before boarding begins — and other changes aimed at cutting costs amid ongoing problems with Boeing that have resulted in Southwest taking less than half of the 737 Max 8 aircraft it had anticipated this year.
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Southwest had a strong Q1 2024bringing in $6.3 billion in operating income which was an increase of 10.9% year over year.
Southwest Airlines was down about 13% year over year as of Thursday morning.