Recently, a significant American airline has shown that it has a difficult connection with the winter travel season.
A significant systems failure that occurred at Southwest Airlines (LUV) - Get Free Report in December of last year severely disrupted the airline's passenger service.
In the end, the airline had to cancel a significant number of flights during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year.
Southwest's capacity to oversee its flights appears to have suffered as a result of antiquated computer systems that were unable to handle an increase in reservations.
Due to the broad impact of the cancellations, travelers were left stranded and separated from their belongings.
The airline has taken a number of precautions to ensure that similar instances won't happen again, but a new change is on the horizon, which might strain ties with customers.
Members of Southwest's point-earning program, Rapid Rewards, can exchange points they accrue through travel or partner purchases.
An trip across an unpredictable, treacherous mountain region in Indonesia's Papua province led to the rediscovery of a severely endangered egg-laying animal that had not been seen in more than 60 years.