The Latest Breaking News from Southwest Airlines

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of canceled flights. Countless separated bags. Millions of angry passengers.

Southwest Airlines’ top executives say the company’s technology, staffing and scheduling plans didn’t fail in late December, even after a holiday meltdown in which 16,700 flights were canceled and the carrier forced the shutdown of two-thirds of its operations.

The Transportation Department is looking into whether the airline scheduled more flights than it could handle during a December storm when 16,700 flights were canceled.

The federal government is investigating whether Southwest Airlines knowingly scheduling more flights than it could handle in December, when it ended up canceling nearly 17,000 flights

A viral video shows a couple flying Southwest and blocking a row of seats while searching for the ‘right person’ to take the seat next to them

As Southwest Airlines spiraled out of control during its 16,700 cancellation holiday meltdown, so did the plans for passenger Brenda Angeles, pilot Seth Kornblum and flight attendant Kristen Loucks.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has come to a tentative contract deal with the union representing its 450 dispatchers that would give immediate 17% raises and scheduling improvements, a positive sign for the carrier after a rocky year of labor relations.

Early January saw Southwest Airlines cutting two-thirds of its flights following an operational meltdown stemming from an arctic storm. A canceled flight often leaves passengers in a conundrum over whether to request a refund or sit and wait for the airline to put them on the next available flight.

Travel meltdowns at Southwest Airlines and the FAA have exposed how deeply we depend on outdated or unreliable computer systems. Yet as Io Dodds discovers, cancelled flights and ruined holidays are only the tip of the iceberg