There has been multiple articles written in many major newspapers about the issue.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/opinion/southwest-airline...
From what I have read so far, it seems like SWA uses a homegrown scheduling system for their plane, employees, and flights. The suggestion is that it is about a generation older than other American airlines. Their competitors uses a third-party software system. When this is combined with SWA's point-to-point business model, a large, disruptive event -- like a big snow storm in the Eastern Seabord -- it ripples through their entire system.
They have already admitted that the software system has failed and they have resorted to manually re-scheduling flights. Employees trying to update the company on where they are being put on hold for 9-10 hours (1 employee has a screenshot of waiting for 17 hours.)
