Posted on 10/11/2021 8:15:03 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Conservative figures and politicians opposing vaccine and mask mandates have blamed more than 2,000 recent flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines on vaccine mandates, but both the airline and pilots union have said the massive number of flight disruptions had nothing to do with it.
That didn't stop some politicians, like former president Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Rep. Andy Biggs from Arizona, from trying to link the cancellations to federal vaccine mandates even though they offered no evidence of it.
"The weekend challenges were not a result of Southwest Employee demonstrations, as some are reporting," a spokesperson with the airline told BuzzFeed News.
False rumors online suggested the cancellations may have been linked to pilots walking off the job or calling in sick to protest mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19, which the company is requiring all employees to get by Dec. 8. The company requirement comes after President Joe Biden in September issued a mandate for COVID vaccines for federal employees, federal contractors, and companies with more than 100 employees.
But the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, which represents nearly 10,000 pilots, pushed back repeatedly against reports that pilots protesting the vaccine mandate were behind the massive number of cancellations.
SNIP
However, the senator appeared to ignore the bulk of the article, which cited Southwest Airlines blaming air traffic control issues and bad weather for many of the cancellations. The article also discussed at length personnel shortages, pilot fatigue, and disruptions that the company has faced.
The quote noted by Cruz about mandates referred to a union post on fatigue and disruptions faced by the pilots and that vaccine mandates "exacerbates the situation."
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at buzzfeednews.com ...
No comments from pilots and other airline workers. Why didn't the "bad weather" affect other airlines?
Ha ha. LIARS.
Pants on 🔥
Hey Buttfeed, how’s that Steele Dossier working out for y’all?
Let’s go Brandon!
Leaked company internal memos clearly cited “ATC issues” as the cause. Anyone who says otherwise is just lying.
Crappola.
Hey South Wesy Pilots and flight personnel, God bless ya for taking a stand.Tell Biden’s gub mint to kiss your asses
According to a southwest pilot, the tyrannical airline mandate is at least partially responsible for it.
A reliable source told me they can’t strike over the mandates because of tons of federal laws so they did a vague sick strike excuse instead
Sure it didn’t! 😝😜🤪😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣
It is highly ILLEGAL for the union to have any contact with pilots to coordinate a walk out or sick out.
So OF COURSE the union is denying that it has anything to do with pilot sentiment to walk or sick out. Because that would be illegal.
But despite denials, that still might be the true cause.
In fact it’s likely — the explanation that they are from ATC or weather issues are clearly ridiculous. HOW would weather and ATC issues ONLY affect Southwest airlines?
Buzzfeed isn’t smart enough to think of this
Yup. There was a Reddit thread that got pulled which explained it in that way.
Exactly! I thought Southwest was the most humorous airline, guess they are keeping up the image!
😜😂😂🤣🤣
And the other rumor that the air traffic controllers have been walking out as well!
How can they make such statements with a straight face??
The spin machine is starting to overheat.
BigBob, aren’t you tired of commenting everywhere defending the leftist onslaught on our freedoms? DU has a home for you.
Yes they are. This isn't that difficult a concept to grasp. They know, but they're content to push the propaganda when it suits their agenda. Berenson reported 24 hours ago now on an email he'd received in confidence from a Southwest Airlines employee that laid out the situation chapter-and-verse.
It might not be the vax. We need to be ACCURATE.
But when first hearing something about this (which did not specify SW as the sole issue, but a big part of it), I had to wonder, if it’s ATC, what has SW to do with that?
If ATC don’t want the shot, it can’t affect only SW.
So, I’m skeptical until I can read more.
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