Well, here’s a funny story for you. Southwest Airlines had a bit of a whoopsie today. Apparently their firewall took a nap and decided to cut off access to important data. Oops! But, never fear, the Southwest teams worked quickly to fix it and prevent any major flight disruptions.
But, let’s be honest, the real kicker is that FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, reported that over 1,700 flights were delayed. That’s 41 percent of their daily schedule. Talk about taking a day off!
Bless their hearts, Southwest released a statement thanking their customers and employees for their patience during the “brief” disruption. Sure, it was brief if you consider a 41 percent delay rate brief.
To make matters worse, this meltdown comes just four months after a massive December meltdown that caused them to cancel more than 16,700 flights over 10 days. Two million customers were affected by that one. Yikes!
I mean, we can’t blame them for trying to prevent another disaster. Bob Jordan, Southwest’s chief executive, pledged to investigate and release an action plan to prevent another catastrophic event. Among the plan’s elements, he said the company would fork over a whopping $1.3 billion on technology upgrades and improvements.
But hey, let’s not forget to give credit where it’s due. The FAA paused Southwest’s departures to give them time to fix the issue, and their service has resumed. Hallelujah! All’s well that ends well, right?

Serious News: washingtonpost