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Southwest Airlines, unlike its competitors, was able to continue normal operations during the global IT outage that affected many companies around the world, including the largest US carriers. Recall that the problem arose due to a failed update to CrowdStrike’s antivirus software, which caused BSoD (blue screen of death) to appear on millions of computers.
Other major airlines, such as United Airlines, Delta Airlines and American Airlines, were forced to ground flights due to glitches in control, maintenance, pilot scheduling and ticketing systems. Southwest, which uses Windows 3.1, which has not been updated for a long time, was simply technically unable to receive this problematic update. However, some Southwest passengers still experienced delays due to system failures at airports. The company assured that these problems were minimal compared to the difficulties faced by other air carriers.
IT security experts note that while using legacy systems helped Southwest in this situation, in the long term the company will still have to upgrade its infrastructure. By the way, Southwest also uses Windows 95 for its employee scheduling system, which causes dissatisfaction among staff.
Despite the criticism, the company has not yet announced plans to modernize its IT systems, continuing to evaluate the situation and weigh the risks and benefits of using outdated technologies in the modern aviation industry.