As chaos at Southwest Airlines brought misery to thousands of frustrated travelers and growing scrutiny from U.S. regulators and lawmakers, many in the aviation industry said the massive cancellation of flights by the nation’s largest domestic carrier was far from surprising.

Industry experts and union leaders for Southwest employees cited the company’s outdated technology and vulnerable operations, both of which are particularly susceptible to any disruptions, much less multiple coast-to-coast weather events.

“This was the perfect storm,” William McGee, a senior fellow focused on aviation for the American Economic Liberties Project. “Other [airlines] dealt with this and came back from this; Southwest was sort of brought to its knees. It deserves to be blamed for not being more resilient.”

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“This is not hyperbole, I’ve never seen an airline meltdown of this size and magnitude,” said McGee, who has worked in and around U.S. airlines for almost four decades.

Although McGee and union leaders pointed directly to technology shortcomings for the unprecedented delays this week, experts said they could also be due in part to the way Southwest does business. The U.S. airline giant has no partnerships with other airlines to assist with rebookings, it operates with few open seats or backup crews and its unique flight patterns — running from destination to destination instead of in and out of certain hubs — leave little room for error, meaning delays can quickly spiral.

“They just keep domino-ing and cascading,” McGee said. “It will take weeks to try to just accommodate all the people who have been displaced.”

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