"So, we had People that were legal. We had aircraft that were available, but the process of matching those Crew Members with the aircraft could not be handled by our technology. In our desired state, we have a solver that would be able to do that very quickly and accurately. Our system today cannot do that."
Sounds like at the core of it is some algorithms or IT systems that aren't sufficiently scalable and that have collapsed, forcing them to do manual work that also doesn't scale. Their upcoming "reset" is analogous to a similar situation that caused a Slack outage some years ago where the system got stuck in an overload state that it couldn't get out of and they had to effectively shut it down and re-open the service slowly to rewarm the caches.
Partly IT but “network” to them means the entire operation including equipment, personnel, passengers, and cargo. Every flight requires a full legal rested crew, ground operations staff, etc. Because so many crews are in the wrong city at the most moment, or off-shift, Sounds like they’re trying to solve an 8th dimensional traveling salesman problem to staff each flight.
I’m pretty sure this was written in order to invoke provisions of the relevant (unionized) employees’ collective bargaining agreement.
When I first read it, I was shocked at the tone and outraged on behalf of the employees, but upon re-reading, I’m pretty sure this is Southwest trying to address staffing needs within the confines of its agreements with the union representing Denver ramp workers.
I’m all for maintaining a healthy balance between labor and capital (and indeed, think that balance is pretty far out of whack in favor of capital in the United States), but my read of this situation is that management was invoking previously negotiated procedures to require unionized employees to comply with with abnormal working requirements during a state of operational emergency. These employees would have been worse off if Southwest hadn’t had union-negotiated procedures they had to follow before having the right to impose adverse employment consequences that all at-will employees are subject to.
Also, to be clear: I’m not absolving management for the obvious operational failures. From what I see at this point, this situation sure seems likely to warrant executive accountability and regulatory inquiries.
And finally, I feel very badly for everyone - travelers and employees - who had a shitty holiday season due to this incredible SNAFU.
Sounds like at the core of it is some algorithms or IT systems that aren't sufficiently scalable and that have collapsed, forcing them to do manual work that also doesn't scale. Their upcoming "reset" is analogous to a similar situation that caused a Slack outage some years ago where the system got stuck in an overload state that it couldn't get out of and they had to effectively shut it down and re-open the service slowly to rewarm the caches.