Summary:
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CrowdStrike System Update Error: A recent CrowdStrike system update error has grounded nearly every flight in the U.S., affecting various services from travel to mobile ordering at Starbucks. However, Southwest Airlines flights have remained operational, seemingly unaffected by the widespread outage.
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Legacy Operating Systems: Southwest Airlines, along with UPS and FedEx, has avoided the issues plaguing other airlines. Reports suggest that this is due to their use of older operating systems like Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, which are over three decades old. Unlike other airlines such as Delta, American, Spirit, Frontier, United, and Allegiant, Southwest’s operations continue smoothly.
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Official Response and Analyst Insights: While Southwest Airlines did not confirm the use of Windows 3.1, they acknowledged that their older technology might have provided immunity from the issues affecting other airlines. An airline analyst noted that Southwest’s reliance on older systems likely kept it operational during the outage.
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