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"What are the reasons preventing flight booking software modernization?"

Let's ask the opposite question:

Why do you feel that software necessarily needs to be modernized ?

I'm not sure how well SABRE works but I do know how fast and efficient keystroking through a non-GUI interface can be and I don't know why expert mode interfaces should ever be replaced by unsophisticated mousey-mouse-mouse ones.

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In context, it seems like modernization simply means that the software knows whether a flight was canceled and therefore can automate the status updates for the airplane crew. Nothing to do directly with UX.

The existing flight booking software that they use (Sabre) can and does do that, but Southwest’s issue is likely their insistence on using a homegrown management system on top of that. Southwest only switched to Sabre in 2021, so it’s likely still being implemented, and their homegrown approach has likely evolved with them from their founding, so it’s not something the company itself is likely organizationally prepared for.

At least, I feel confident in that analysis, since this exact same issue happened to Southwest in 2016, before they were using Sabre. Which would point to a chronic organizational failure

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/07/2...

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