It is headquartered in Love Field, Dallas neighborhood, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the United States and ten other countries.

[12] Southwest experienced a holiday meltdown in 2022 resulting in the cancellation of thousands of flights representing over 70% of its schedule following the late December 2022 North American winter storm.

"[22] That September, in response to pressure from Elliott, Southwest announced that Gary C. Kelly would retire in 2025 rather than seeking reelection as executive chairman, and that several members of the corporate board would be replaced.

[26][28] In January 2025, the US government sued Southwest for operating multiple chronically delayed flights and disrupting passengers’ travel.

[29] As of January 2024[update], Southwest Airlines flies to over 100 destinations in 42 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

[50] As of December 2024, Wi-Fi includes free streaming of live television, movies, music, in-app messaging (iMessage and WhatsApp), and real-time flight tracking.

[8][66] Chris Sloan of Airways magazine stated they are "as much a living, breathing museum and showcase for the 'culture that LUV built' as they are corporate offices.

The newest addition to the corporate campus is composed of a 420,000-square-foot, six-story office building, and a 380,000-square-foot adjoining structure called the Leadership Education and Aircrew Development (LEAD) Center that serves as the new pilot training facility.

[69] On August 16, 2019, Southwest announced an expansion of the LEAD Center to accommodate eight additional simulators for future operational and training demands.

[70] On January 2, 2020, it was announced that Southwest would be purchasing an additional 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land adjacent to its Wings and LEAD facilities.

[75] Bob Jordan, formerly executive vice president of corporate services, became Southwest's sixth CEO on February 1, 2022, replacing Gary C. Kelly.

[77] On January 10, 2017, Southwest announced changes to the company's executive leadership ranks, with Thomas M. Nealon named as president and Michael G. Van de Ven as the airline's chief operating officer.

[78] On September 14, 2021, Southwest announced Nealon had decided to retire from his duties as president effective immediately, but would continue to serve the company as a strategic advisor.

Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven was named as the company's president the same day, and remains COO.

The company has appeared on various "best places to work" list, with its employee culture mentioned by Travel and Leisure, CNBC, and Forbes.

[86] As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company launched voluntary separation and extended time-off programs in 2020, and around 16,900 employees volunteered to take an early retirement or long-term leave.

Other airlines with a business model based on Southwest's system include Canada's WestJet, Malaysia's AirAsia (the first and biggest LCC in Asia), India's IndiGo, Australia's Jetstar, a subsidiary of Qantas (although Jetstar now operates three aircraft types), Philippines' Cebu Pacific, Thailand's Nok Air, Mexico's Volaris, Indonesia's Lion Air and Turkey's Pegasus Airlines.

In the early 1990s, Southwest lobbied US Congress and the Texas Legislature to oppose a high-speed rail system between Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, and filed three lawsuits against the initiative.

The American reality is that high-speed rail will be viable in Texas only by destroying the convenient and inexpensive transportation service the airlines now provide, and only by absorbing huge public subsidies.

[92] While several reasons led to the initiative's demise, most commentators attribute a key role to Southwest Airlines' aggressive campaign against it.

[100] On June 22, 2011, a March 25 recording was released to the press of an apparently inadvertent in-flight radio transmission of Southwest captain James Taylor conversing with his first officer.

[108][109][110] On September 26, 2017, a woman was removed from a Southwest flight after claiming to have a life-threatening allergy to dogs, two of which were present on the aircraft, including a service animal.

Southwest employees requested that she provide documentation of her condition and staff asked her to exit the aircraft multiple times.

[115] In February 2020, a report conducted by the DOT inspector general found that Southwest was flying airplanes with safety concerns and that the Federal Aviation Administration was failing to properly oversee the airline.

[116] In 2020, a captain of a Southwest flight watched pornography on a laptop computer with his clothes removed while his female first officer continued her duties.

[120] The airline experienced severe delays and thousands of flight cancellations starting on December 21, 2022, and continuing through the Christmas holiday.

[14][15][16] While many cancellations were due to bad weather from the severe late December winter storm across much of the United States, industry experts and SWAPA also blamed inadequate staffing and the airline's "outdated" employee scheduling system, citing reports of pilots waiting on hold on the telephone for up to eight hours awaiting work assignments.

[122] Federal officials criticized the airline and US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a formal investigation.

[124] Paul Krugman in The New York Times suggested the turmoil was not as much about corporate greed as some might expect and noted that despite an increasingly digitalized world, "there's a lot of physical action, and real-world labor, going on behind the scenes.

"[125] Another writer on the paper's opinion pages, Elizabeth Spiers, said this was an example of the airlines knowing they are offering passengers a poor deal but that many people have little choice given the alternatives.