“The Southwest Airlines story was being reported and then suddenly disappeared. Did the pilots and aircrews deliberately strike in objection to the vax mandate?”
It seems that way - or something related.
I heard people took their accumulated days off because they don’t want to lose them if they are fired later.
Something happening with American airlines now, 1000 flights canceled yesterday i think
I think that's close to the answer. I don't believe it's a "sick out" with the intention of harming the airline. A lot of Southwest's pilots are older so they're close to retirement. Many weren't planning on retiring right now, but when the government started with the vaccine mandate BS they decided it would be a good time to retire instead of stick around and be forced to take the shots. These guys have a lot of sick time accrued and are suddenly looking at trying to use it before they retire instead of leaving unused sick leave on the table as they go.
Basically you're going to see a bunch of pilots retire before the mandate takes effect instead of letting themselves be forced to take the vaccines. They're trying to use up their sick time so they don't lose it. This won't just be Southwest, other airlines will likely have the same thing happen. The combination of lots of retirements to avoid the shots along with guys trying to burn sick time should make for an interesting holiday travel season. People might want to plan on driving for the holidays instead of relying upon air travel.