Before employing artificial intelligence (AI) to find job candidates, Southwest Airlines had no definitive way to track the success of the company's email and website hiring campaigns. The airline also couldn't queue up potential applicants who'd logged into a job listings page and left before an applicable position had been posted. Since it began using an AI-enabled hiring platform from tech firm Phenom, the airline now has "a warm pipeline of candidates" it can draw on whenever jobs opportunities arise, according to Kelby Tansey, manager for recruitment marketing at Southwest Airlines. Tansey said the airline can now reach out to "passive" job candidates who came to Southwest but couldn't find an open position at the time. "We'll drive them into certain pipelines within the Phenom platform so we can capture their resume, their skills, and note some of those candidates and then let them know when the job opens up," Tansey said.

Before employing artificial intelligence (AI) to find job candidates, Southwest Airlines had no definitive way to track the success of the company's email and website hiring campaigns. The airline also couldn't queue up potential applicants who'd logged into a job listings page and left before an applicable position had been posted. Since it began using an AI-enabled hiring platform from tech firm Phenom, the airline now has "a warm pipeline of candidates" it can draw on whenever jobs opportunities arise, according to Kelby Tansey, manager for recruitment marketing at Southwest Airlines. Tansey said the airline can now reach out to "passive" job candidates who came to Southwest but couldn't find an open position at the time. "We'll drive them into certain pipelines within the Phenom platform so we can capture their resume, their skills, and note some of those candidates and then let them know when the job opens up," Tansey said.

Only weeks after a Southwest Airlines meltdown led to thousands of canceled flights and stranded passengers, the nation's air travel system was briefly interrupted Wednesday due to an outage in the computer system used by the Federal Aviation Administration to give pilots vital information before they take off. While the FAA system was back online within hours and flights were slowly returning to schedule, those passengers whose lives were upended in last month's Southwest debacle are still feeling the effects of the meltdown and tallying up the financial damage they endured. Passengers who spoke to The Times said the fiasco cost them between $700 in one instance (for gas costs) and $70,000 in another (for a destination wedding that was ruined). "I am trying to be patient and give them a chance to make things right," said one of Southwest's stranded passengers, actor Deborah Rombaut. "What bothers me is that I don't have a timeline as far as when I'll be reimbursed." Thousands of holiday travelers like Rombaut were stranded late last month when Southwest Airlines said its computer system that tracked crew scheduling could not keep up with a severe winter storm.

The stock market trembled in the midweek after the Federal Reserve announced Wednesday, 16 June, that it plans to hike interest rates as early as 2023. And though the Nasdaq NDAQ and S&P 500 both recovered fairly quickly from Wednesday's midafternoon slump, the Dow Jones Industrial Index wasn't quite so fortunate. The Fed's policy update deviates from previous estimates from the Fed, which pushed rate hikes out into 2024 and beyond. And while there was no mention of when the Fed will start to roll back its $120 billion per month bond purchase program, rest assured, investors are poised for that blow, too. But until that happens, we can all sit back, breathe a sigh of relief that the Fed didn't sweep the rug out from under our investment accounts overnight, and enjoy this week's trending stocks courtesy of Q.ai. Q.ai runs daily factor models to get the most up-to-date reading on stocks and ETFs.

Southwest Airlines was among the airlines affected by a contractor's computer outage Monday, forcing hundreds of flights to be delayed. Southwest Airlines was among the airlines affected by a contractor's computer outage Monday, forcing hundreds of flights to be delayed. Thousands of travelers on some of the largest U.S. airlines endured long waits Monday morning, as their flights were delayed owing to a contractor's computer outage. The technical problem forced Southwest Airlines, which had some of the biggest issues, to shut down all U.S. flights for about 40 minutes Monday. Eastern Time, more than 600 Southwest flights today had been delayed," NPR's David Schaper reports.

You are settling into your window seat, bound for a summer vacation, when the flight attendant wishes you a happy birthday or commiserates about the lousy weather that delayed the last leg of your trip. It might feel like the flight crew has been scouring your recent social media posts, but at some airlines, that wouldn't be necessary. Carriers such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines are giving gate agents and flight attendants access to more customer data in hopes of giving passengers more personalized service. Still, there is only so much a birthday greeting can do to make up for a lost bag or late arrival, particularly when airlines want to steer clear of conversations that feel too personal. While in-cabin recognition might be the most visible way airlines are working to do more with the troves of data they collect, behind-the-scenes efforts to mine stats on everything from collisions between airport vehicles to turbulence touch almost every piece of a passenger's trip.

You're settling into your window seat, bound for a summer vacation, when the flight attendant wishes you a happy birthday or commiserates about the lousy weather that delayed the last leg of your trip. It might feel like the flight crew has been scouring your recent social media posts, but at some airlines, that wouldn't be necessary. Carriers like United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines are giving gate agents and flight attendants access to more customer data in hopes of giving passengers more personalized service. Still, there's only so much a birthday greeting can do to make up for a lost bag or late arrival, particularly when airlines want to steer clear of conversations that feel too personal. While in-cabin recognition might be the most visible way airlines are working to do more with the troves of data they collect, behind-the-scenes efforts to mine stats on everything from collisions between airport vehicles to turbulence touch almost every piece of a passenger's trip.

Within the span of a month during the summer of 2016, two of the top four U.S. airlines suffered crippling IT failures. Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) were each forced to cancel thousands of flights during the peak season, leading to lost revenue and reputational damage. This article originally appeared in the Motley Fool. The summer 2018 peak season is just getting started, but there has already been a major airline IT failure. In the past week, flight cancellations have rapidly mounted at American Airlines' (NASDAQ:AAL) regional subsidiary PSA Airlines, due to problems with the carrier's crew scheduling system.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. In terms of stock market years, the bull market that kicked off in March 2009 should be on the front cover of AARP magazine. At age 8, the S&P 500 bull run is very old and very overvalued compared to its historical ratios.

Customer experience is the one area where a business can truly differentiate itself from competitors. We're already seeing some exciting innovations in 2016 as businesses continue to realize the value exceptional customer experiences (CX) yield for their bottom line. With technology driving innovation, consumers can expect to see major brands going to great lengths to ensure expectations are met, and exceeded. Omnichannel service has been developed to solve this. While not a new concept, omnichannel service is still in its infancy.