Following a weekend where nearly 2,000 flights had to be cancelled, passengers of Southwest Airlines on Monday were in for a fourth day of headaches after the airline operations were not back to normal yet, with 360 flights canceled and another 750 delayed, according to FlightAware.
While the airline blamed the weather and air traffic control disruptions, others reported that a “mass ‘sickout’” of federal workers and pilots protesting a vaccine mandate was the reason.
ATC issues and disruptive weather have resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend while we work to recover our operation. We appreciate your patience as we accommodate affected Customers, and Customer Service wait times are longer than usual. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/o1scQJ5lLb
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 9, 2021
According to The Washington Post, “federal regulators said air traffic control staffing shortages caused delays out of Florida, but said airlines generally are experiencing operational issues because of their own staffing and aircraft issues.”
Southwest's official narrative has been questioned due to the fact that other airlines have not been significantly impacted by weather or air traffic control staffing problems.
Good call by Southwest to cancel flights out of Columbus, Ohio due to weather. As someone who just flew outta there I would never want anyone to suffer through the same 70 degree temperature with zero wind or rain that we faced. Thankful today for the bravery our pilots showed.
— Jimmy Failla (@jimmyfailla) October 11, 2021
Praying for Southwest today. They are being forced to cancel thousands of flights due to weather conditions that only affect their airplanes and nobody else's. Very unique weather phenomenon.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) October 11, 2021
Major airline flight cancellations yesterday:
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 11, 2021
American—63
Spirit—32
United—6
Delta—3
Southwest: 1,007—23% of flights scheduled
Are we still supposed to believe it was the weather or Air Traffic Control?
Why is the media covering this up?
The travel problems came days after Southwest announced it was requiring employees to receive vaccinations against the coronavirus — a mandate that some airlines have had for weeks without experiencing similar issues.
The Dallas-based carrier said last week that employees will have until Dec. 8 to provide proof of vaccination or face the possibility of losing their jobs, with allowances for religious, disability or medical exemptions. President Biden last month announced that private companies with 100 or more employees would be required to ensure that their workers were vaccinated or implement weekly testing programs.
While U.S. airlines fall into that category, many also are government contractors who must meet a Dec. 8 deadline for vaccinations. There is no testing option for contractors. (WaPo)
On Monday, Southwest pushed back on reports that the issue stemmed from protests over the vaccine mandate.
“The weekend challenges were not a result of employee demonstrations, as some have reported,” Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King said in a statement. “We have a closer to normal operation today, navigating some new weather across our system.”
Southwest Airlines Pilots Association President Casey Murray also disputed the reports of a vaccine protest.
“I can say with certainty that there are no work slowdowns or sickouts either related to the recent mandatory vaccine mandate or otherwise,” Murray said in a statement.
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