Posted on 10/10/2021 8:38:15 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
As we reported earlier today, Southwest Airlines canceled hundreds of flights yesterday claiming, initially, that it was due to bad weather and that there were air traffic control issues.
But their issues continued, with another 1,000 flights canceled today, as well — almost 28% of their total flights. This was the second straight day of significant issues.
As we noted earlier, the claim of “weather” didn’t match what was happening in the country, and it wasn’t hitting other carriers. So, that wasn’t the real story. Fox’s Leland Vittert indicated that there was a “mass sickout” in protest of vaccine mandates. That many scrapped flights is obviously an internal problem, not weather.
The FAA claimed that the problem wasn’t due to air traffic control issues, that there had been no staffing shortage reported since Friday. “Some airlines continue to experience scheduling challenges due to aircraft and crews being out of place. Please contact the airlines for details about current flight schedules,” they said.
Hardest hit by the cancellations were Denver, Baltimore, Dallas Love Field and Chicago Midway airports, and while they said things would get better on Sunday, they actually got worse.
While the Southwest Pilot’s Association said they weren’t participating in any official or unofficial job action, they decried Southwest’s “poor planning” and “operational challenges,” noting that the COVID vaccine mandate — on top of existing shortages and issues — was a further distraction.
“Make no mistake about it – due to months of staffing issues and inefficient scheduling practices we have been operating at a higher than normal operational risk,” the union’s safety committee told members in a post on Saturday.
It said reports of fatigue, which require pilots not to fly, are triple historic norms.
“All of these challenges have led to an added distraction in the cockpit,” it said. “This week’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate announcement by the Company only exacerbates the situation.”
On Friday, the labor union asked a federal court in Dallas to temporarily block the implementation of the vaccine mandate and other Covid-19 policies, arguing the company took unilateral decisions that require negotiations with the union.
Southwest may only be the tip of the iceberg. American Airlines may be next up on the list, with the union representing its pilots warning the company could face a staffing shortage if they implement a stringent vaccine mandate. So, things could get very interesting, right as we enter the holiday season.
Thanks, Joe Biden!
Go Woke, Go Broke.
Airline sources: mass “sickout” @FAANews center in Jacksonville – caused ripple effect and 1000+ flight cancellations mostly effecting @SouthwestAir – report “sickout” protesting #VaccineMandate
— Leland Vittert (@LelandVittert) October 10, 2021
For context, Southwest Airlines has been in a running battle with its pilots’ union over a coming vaccine mandate. A lawsuit has now been filed alleging it is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement. According to one passenger, and many other accounts floating around on social media, that’s behind the walkout that saw the cancellation of over 1000 flights on Saturday.
MIGHT AS WELL POST THE TWEET YOU PROVIDED IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE ....
Buzz Patterson
@BuzzPatterson
Southwest Airlines crews are walking out and so are FAA air traffic controllers. This is just the beginning.
I’m going to speculate that a majority of SWA’s customers are deplorables who are largely in solidarity with the employees [and used to be in Solidarity with the SWA management].
Thanks
Dang those issues.
So happy to see people’s me standing their ground!!
If only the Delta and United employees were so brave
Go Woke, Go Broke.
‘I’m going to speculate that a majority of SWA’s customers are deplorables who are largely in solidarity with the employees’
As far as I am concerned, you are correct.
I can remember when Southwest Airlines was a well run company with a management that made sensible decisions. Not so anymore I guess. Without Air Traffic Controllers anyone who flys is taking their life in their hands.
The ludicrously simplistic statement, “The vaccines are safe”, is used everywhere to try to convince employees to stop resisting and get the shot. But if that statement is true, then it means we never again need more than four months of clinical trials before approving a drug or vaccine. If four months was enough to justify injecting every person on Earth with the first-ever use of mRNA technology in humans, then there cannot possibly be justification for taking ten years the next time some headache medicine or antacid or some such comes before the FDA for approval. Heck, those kinds of mundane drugs should fly through approval in a day if it only takes four months for mRNA-based COVID “vaccines.”
This sucks, SW is my main non-stop conduit to getting to my Arizona house.
They are actually doing it FOR you.
Burn it down.
Then tee up American, United, Delta, and JetBlue.
This actually raises a question my hospital workers haven’t gone on strike to protest the firing of their colleagues.
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