Fact Check: Did SouthWest Airlines post a "Look who needs ol' SouthWest" tweet amid Microsoft's global outage? Viral post debunked

A viral tweet going around social media claims SouthWest Airlines addressed Microsoft's global outage rather humorously. A user named @MikeBeauvais shared the tweet on X on Friday, July 19. It featured what looked like a screenshot of an actual tweet by SouthWest Airlines on Saturday.

According to the screenshot, the tweet had over 1,200 retweets, 440 quote retweets, and over 7,200 likes. The tweet also trolls the people relying on other airlines as SouthWest, unlike other airlines was not affected by the crashing of Windows computers because of a faulty software update. The tweet read,

"Well, well, well. Look who needs ol' Southwest Airlines now because all of our systems run on a single Commodore 64 in a warehouse in Arlington. Go to hell."

@MikeBeauvais further captioned his tweet,

"I really think Southwest Airlines could have been nicer about this."

X user @MikeBeauvais's tweet of the alleged screenshot went viral, amassing over 1.9 million views and 3,200 retweets at the time of writing this article. However, the alleged tweet by SouthWest Airlines is fake. The airline has not tweeted anything of the sort from their official X handle.

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SouthWest Airlines survived the Windows crash

The alleged viral tweet from SouthWest never took place and is simply a fake screenshot. Not only hasn't the company tweeted anything like that, but their very last tweet on X was from back on January 9, 2024, in which they promoted a promo code called WOW that gave customers 40% off base fares.

As mentioned above, the reason the tweet gained a lot of popularity was because the recent global Windows crash that affected most major airlines did not affect the SouthWest. On Friday, July 5, a major software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike forced computers running on the latest Windows 11 to crash.

This caused communication issues for airline providers, which resulted in flights being grounded and delayed. Some airlines that experienced ground stops include United Airlines, Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines. According to a CNN report, around 3000 flights got canceled and 11,000 flights got delayed.

The crash also affected medical procedures and 911 services. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler even had to issue an emergency declaration. CrowdStrike CEO and President George Kurtz had to take to X to announce that this was not a security incident or cyberattack.

However, most notably, SouthWest Airlines was unaffected by the faulty update. The airline told CNN that their operations were unaffected but did not disclose why. Many have speculated that SouthWest's immunity is because of its outdated computer systems, which allegedly still use Windows 3.1.

Helane Becker, an airline analyst, told SFGATE,

"We believe that Southwest’s older technology kept it somewhat immune from the issues affecting other airlines today."

According to SFGATE, the airline has not confirmed that they use 1992's Windows 3.1 in their systems, but speculation remained high. As per the publication, SouthWest Airlines's outdated tech has led to a bunch of problems for the airline before, including a $35 million fine as part of a $140 million settlement in 2022. The airline also had to spend $1.3 billion on tech updates.