On Saturday thousands of travelers were left stranded due to mass cancellations that rippled across Southwest Airlines’ flights. The official statement from the airline says it is due to inclement weather but one (unconfirmed) report suggests it’s because of striking flight crew that are revolting against the vaccine mandate. What gives?
Southwest Airlines was forced to cancel around 34% of flights on Saturday leaving thousands of angry passengers stranded or frustrated about mixed signals coming from the airline. The official statement released on Twitter states the delays are directly related to “ATC issues and disruptive weather.” But some folks are telling a different story.
One frequent traveler, journalist, and podcaster tweeted an emphatic statement where he noted that one of his friends was caught up in the day’s mess but had received information from the gate agent that “thousands of pilots are on strike against the vaccine.”
Southwest Airlines, like many other airlines, is implementing a mandatory employee vaccination program, the details of which were recently announced last week. Employees must provide their vaccination status by November 24th or face termination.
Unions representing pilots and mechanics have steadfastly opposed such mandates and as was suggested by Rabinowitz’s tweet, they may be unofficially striking – if this information is to be believed. We emphasize that these reports are unconfirmed at this time. However, while their unions have filed lawsuits, they have also authorized protests pledging resources in support of such efforts. Are these protests already underway and affecting operations?
Passengers stranded on Saturday are calling baloney on reports of weather delays and took to Twitter to voice their frustration en mase.
One user claims her husband is a pilot with the airline and no such walkout is underway. So what gives?
We’d love to hear from Southwest and have reached out for comment.
60 comments
Spent all day at Vegas airport waiting to fly to Dallas then to Nashville. All flights were cancelled ; therefore we had to book a night in Vegas plus cab fare.Now we are scheduled to leave tomorrow (10/10) but am uncertain that will happen. I will be looking for reimbursement,not in voucher form. I will try to never fly Southwest again.
Trade you places I’ve been stuck in Denver for two days waiting on a flight to go to Vegas….never flying Southwest again
Anyone with half a brain can surely figure out that if it’s WEATHER PROBLEMS, it affects MOST AIRLINES, not just ONE!! Do they really expect you/us to believe it’s due to weather problems? Storms and such that NO OTHER AIRLINE is seeing? Just SW?? That NO OTHER ATC can see on their systems, just the ATC’s pushing Southwest planes??
a couple of routes, maybe… dozen flights, maybe more… But THOUSANDS?!?!
You can’t sell that backlog to ME! Not if the weather is decent, planes and pilots are available… So, that means STAFFING problems… And no, not JUST pilots not showing up… If there aren’t enough flight attendants, they can’t leave the gate… They are, after all, SAFETY personnel as much as food/drink slingers… Not enough? No take offs… Same goes with the cleaners (with new covid rules in place), not ‘sanitized’, not taking off… them’s the rules…
I am a handicapped traveler and had a very bad experience with Southwest….they have no regard for the handicap….they left a very bad. Impesion on me and several other disabled travelers with canceled flights and no help rebooting or news that our flight was even canceled…Shame on you Southwest on not caring for your disabled travelers! !!
Three flights cancelled for my flight from MCO within a few hours of need to be at airport 9/8, o/9 and 9/10. Didnt get text notifications in any timely fashion on two of the three days, app showed cancelled before texts came in. Had to rent hotel rooms two nights. Got lucky on 10/10 found a seat on Sun Country Airlines. Looked like I was missing my niece’s wedding until 3:30 am. Am now on the flight. I doubt I’ll fly Southwest again. This is the second episode if a series of cancellations in 2021. Cant rely on them. Not cool that they want to keep my funds when they’re the ones causing havoc and steep added expense each time.
I will NEVER fly Southwest again, period!
You won’t fly on any airline again and neither will anyone else that factor in risk & trust, operations if in fact it’s demonstrated and corroborated (besides three whistle-blowers) that a LAX-based Delta pilot passed away three days removed from the injection. In fact….the reputational degradation could potentially wipe out the industry. Right about now…the swithboards are going nuclear into DC and K Street.
A gate attendant said a pilot called out sick and that was the reason my sister and grandma’s flights to LGA were cancelled. So yes, the airline is lying to the media.
This is beyond unlikely. Work actions are specifically prohibited via the RLA and if this were to occur it would be ruled illegal. Significant penalties against the union and pilot group would follow.
But you are allowed to use sick time per their contract.
That’s why the strikes are unofficial then, huh?
It doesn’t rule out voluntary, independent action by thousands of individuals. It doesn’t have to be coordinated or planned.
Stranded in Baltimore nothing more than smoke and mirrors, two hour wait if you call . No true and accurate press release no vouchers or commitments from SW airlines . Bad show !!!!!!
Omg people don’t be so stupid 1 storm would not cause 32% of an airlines flights to be cancelled. Delayed by an hour or so yes. I mean were there tornados or 90mph straight line winds? I watched the weather that day a storm clipped Florida, nothing to crazy. Pilots have been squaking about this for a week, they are ticked. None of them is going to rat on the other if they admit they stagged a walk out repercussions would follow. If we want to send a clearer message to the govt we need more of these. We need to NOT wait until the last minute. I would gladly participate in a walk out as a protest and I work in health care. Nurses, doctors and first repsonders are livid that when this thing started we had to risk out lifes for the general public and now those ungrateful socialists/communist want to stab us in the back by forcing a vaccine that WAS rushed through approval and is 10 years short of studies to prove its long term efficacy and safety for a virus that is much less dangerous than riding a bike or driving to work or suicide for that matter? And the vaccine doesn’t even stop the spread of COVID? And the vaccinated can spread COVID but should get special privileges because they adhered to a government mandate and stuck with the ruling poltical party. I am all about safe vaccines heck I even CHOOSE to get Vaccinated KNOWING the potential risk and wanting to help the studies along. Had I known it would be twisted against the public like this I would have stood out in protest. Biden is a liar, he clealry stated along with Fauci and Harris that there would not be a mandate and now he stabbed ALL AMERICANS IN THE BACK. He is not a President he is a childish dictator using fake science to manipulate the public into believing he can stop COVID so more fools will vote for him come next election. And people thought Trump was bad for building a wall lol.
You said it all! Well done I totally agree with everything you said. Some people will never admit the truth about what is going on.
Pretty sure everything you say about working in healthcare is a lie unless maybe you clean tables in the cafeteria or something.
First all the healthcare professionals I know are in favor of the vaccine mandate. Since I am actually a physician I would wager I know more than you do.
Second the vaccine was not “rushed”. Actually the first iteration was complete about 2 weeks after the first outbreak in China. Long before it became a pandemic. See that’s what pharma companies do, they create things as soon as they can so they don’t have to rush. So as soon as the first samples of the virus were stabilized and able to be shared, they were and the vax was created and would have sat in a vault doing nothing had not the pandemic occurred. Before your tinfoil hat gets twisted, the drug companies didn’t cause the pandemic to make money, they follow the same steps for every known virus.
Third stfu with your whack political ideas and bad misinformation. It’s people like you, who on all honesty should be considered traitors to our country and treated as such, that are the problem, not Biden.
If you are a doctor, I wouldn’t trust you with my in grown toe nail. Sorry, you seem to believe everything the communist media tell you. So sad! There were doctor at Auchwitz too. My husband is a nurse, many of my family and friends are and no one wants the jab, if it wasn’t rushed that was because it was planned.
I work at the airport in Fort Myers and there has been 8-10 flights canceled by southwest today 10/10 and again I’m not sure where this so called weather is at
@swa. You canceled flight from Atlanta to to Jacksonville send me a text to rebook it two days later. I go down to baggage to pick up my luggage so I could drive from Atlanta to Jacksonville and you automatically told me you have rerouted my luggage to Jacksonville?
Southwest don’t force your personnel/pilots to get the vaccine. It’s a personnel choice. Unvaccinated individuals are no more contagious than vaccinated. Also take into consideration if people with natural immunity.
Thank you Dr. Jane. Now stop spreading you’re completely unfounded BS on the internet.
Thank you Professor Sean. Now go back to school to learn when to say “you’re” and “your”.
Drinking the koolaide = woke vaxers
Do the research Shawn. It is not a vaccine, it is RNA “gene therapy”. Vaccines prevent contraction of diseases. This shot does not prevent a person from contracting or spreading COVID-19. Can guess what side of the aisle you are on from the ignorance you are spewing at others. And, it is ignorance. Look up the facts.
Sean basically you believe that the protected vaxed ppl need to be protected from the pureblood unprotected ppl? What planet does that make sence? Oh I guess the insane one you live on. I will get a vaccine to protect myself but wait now I am not protected from someone who does not have any protection. LOL Wake TF up you stupid moron. Here just let me help you get into this train car- oh yeah sometimes we use it for cattle but today it’s just for you.
Not unfounded. Look at VAERS, Look at what other countries, Sweden, Norway. Stopping the vaccines due to extreme side effects. Don’t tell me to move there either. This is the USA, land of the free or have you forgotten.
I think you’re the one spreading bs. Every single politicians and health official to date has been very clear that the jab does not stop transmission Only “MAY” reduce severity (which is complete crap as you cant make a vax without isolating the damn V is the first place). But keep up the Shilling for corrupt industries mate.
Wake up you half wit. A mandated vaccine for a virus with a 99.98% survival rate? A mandated vaccine for a virus so deadly that football stadiums are packed, grocery stores are packed, amusement parks are packed. People aren’t scared anymore because anyone with half a shred of common sense knows it has all been smoke and mirrors. The good news it’s not too late for you. You can wake up and say to yourself, yeah, none of this makes any sense. It’s time to turn off CNN and get back to your life. Enjoy your life. Take the mask off, wipe your a** with it (it never worked anyway) and just live.
Agree 100% Jane
Southwest A List & fully support all Pilots & ATC doing whatever they have to do to protect their health from government mandates.
Southwest management…step up to the plate for your inconvenienced travelers… hotel room & meal vouchers is the least you can do
Travelers have short memories, and are extremely cheap.
They love to complain online, too.
Good for pilots for taking action as their country falls to pieces. First time I’ve supported unions in years.
F them and thier union.You dont F the public .If they want to strike then do it without f’ckin people conveniently on a Holliday weekend ..I hope they get fined then replace
Jim, I don’t think they GAF about you, at this point. You have too much vax-juice making your hot-headed. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oh Jim. Who will they be replaced with? All the other pilots who are also refusing to work due to the vaccine mandate? Takes alot of work to be a pilot, and the supply of avaialble pilots is very much finite.
Use your head man.
Yeah that will send a message, not, open your eyes fool. Go ahead fire 1000 pilots you think there are just thousands of pilots sitting at home waiting to go to work? Get a clue you privileged whiny brat. Im going to guess you support Dictator Biden and his poltical ploys? Now you have even more fuel for your fire because poor baby had to wait for a flight because of the evil unvaccinated. And you must be that VACCINATED hero, doing everything big Joe tells you to because your a good guy. Like now you can’t spread COVID because your vaccinated…oh wait thats not true. Okay well the vaccine works and you won’t be a part of the problem…oh wait its only 44% effective now against Delta. Well at least you listen to your President and Government when they force you to get EXPERIMENTAL vaccines. Thats write you support true democracy….oppsss I mean tyranny.
LOL. because your convenience is more important than their health
Agree Don! I applaud the pilots and/or their union for standing up for their absolute basic constitutional right to make decisions about their own bodies and well being. Bravo!!
My flight was canceled from BWI to Miami at 6am. No flights to south Florida all day it cost me 5000 for my missed cruise. Southwest employees at BWI seemed unconcerned. My bags still are somewhere at the airport. Southwest said they had one guy to locate hundreds of missing bags. I was told to return in 6 hours to the airport to get my bags.
My son left Tampa Florida yesterday afternoon and got got stranded in Denver, cancel 3 times for 3 flights and then told he may not get home until Tuesday or Wednesday! We had to buy him another ticket with another airline to get him home today . Unhappy mother in Portland. Do not care what the reason is!
Ummmm they CLEALY tell you with giant warnings that you NEED insurnace and that if you don’t get it that you need to arrive several days early. No ones fault your dumb and tried to save a few bucks. Who flies in right before a cruise? In case you missed all the warnings Never Cruise without cancellation insurance and always arrive min 2 days early. If you new to cruising I understand you may have made a misjudged the importance of insurance but if your not new thats all on you. There are about 1000 different reasons a person can miss their cruise including having any cold symptoms. Its cold and flu season with a pandemic going on. How can you ignore that?
Southwest is lying. We were in Orlando and while it did rain, there was nothing out of the ordinary. They canceled our flight very rewarding causing us a lot of anxiety trying to figure out how to get home and book another hotel. waited on hold for over four hours to speak to a person…..Will never to fly this terrible airline again.
I was caught up in the cancellations yesterday, 10/8/21. When heading to Dulles airport at 5 am to fly home, I was notified of the cancellation, was automatically rebooked for a different flight and instructed to see the airport agent. That’s when I learned my rebook was actually for the next day. The agent showed me her computer screen which read that the cancellations for me and three other passenger groups around me was because of “crew”. The agent said the meant they didn’t have crews to fly the plane or attendants for the cabin.
Because I was one of the first passengers of the day inconvenienced by this mess, they arranged a hotel stay for me. Later, I learned that reservation was invalid. Fortunately, after 5 hours, I was slipped into a reservation that would take me significantly out of the way but get me home late the day. During my layover, there were about 50-75 passengers waiting in lines at the gate agents to find alternate flights in an airport which had at least 18 cancelled SW flights.
Earlier in the week, a SW Air flight attendant shared with me that after two decades of faithful service, and working through the entire COVID crisis, she was going to be fired If she wouldn’t get the shot. She had severe reservations about the shot and didn’t believe this was appropriate. Additionally, she mentioned that the initial time frame given by SW corporate to get the two-dose vaccinations meant they would have already needed the first dose prior to the announcement of the deadline that was given. Furthermore, SW is ignoring so much of the science, especially when it comes to recognizing that COVID survivors have much greater immunity than people who have gotten the shot.
This cancellation mess was extremely inconvenient, but the ultimatum from SW and the Biden administration is completely out of line. I hope we learn this mess is a direct result of the employees standing up to the tyrannical dictates of government and corporate overreach. Our inconvenience is disappointing but if this is one of the steps that helps bring about rationale conversation, I fully support it.
This entire article is based on tweets of random people claiming their “friend” said something. Are you guys idiots just repeating rumors or is this purposeful anti vaccine propaganda?
My sister and husband stranded in Las Vegas. She said the airport had over 2000 people waiting to speak with Southwest Airlines, but no attendant. Finally got a hold of someone and was encouraged to book with another airline because employees are on strike.
I know airlines sometimes give hotel vouchers and other comp even in weather delays, but for what it is worth, a friend who was scheduled to fly home MSP-PHX yesterday (Sat. 10/9) was given a hotel night and a $200 future travel voucher. He was on a pretty cheap RR award ticket, too.
He decided to rebook to Sun Country for travel today, worried that SWA would fail to get him home, and I think he made the right call given that more than 1000 Sunday flights are already binned.
Biden should be asking Who is John Galt?
The “Covid” shots need to go away.
This isnt about weather or the ATC Z.Its a call in sick strike on a Holliday weekend because of the mandatory vax..F the pilotssgf and thier union for leaving people stranded on a Holliday weekend. It was planned and F SW for lieing to us again..I’m done with SW …I hope the union gets fined and the pilots replaced. It the wrong way to send a message.
Well, Jim. Perhaps the right way would be for you to have denounced the vaccine mandates from the start. Now the pilots are left to fight this battle alone that this is the leverage they have. More power to them!
I appreciate the sentiment but give the credit where it’s due- the Biden administration. They control the TSA and FAA. They could deny unvaxxed crew access through the checkpoints, they could ground one or more airlines, and/or they could pull unvaxxed pilots’ medical certificates. That said, SWA and all the other airlines operating in the US need to get together and tell the government to go bug off. Unfortunately, the likes of ultra woke United and Delta make that difficult if not impossible.
Do you not understand what a strike is Jimbo? If you’re still coming to work as to not ‘inconvience’ customers…… then it’s not a strike, that’s just work.
I sat next to a transferring flight attendant who confirmed the strike due to mandated vaccination. The baggage claim attendant confirmed as well.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣I LOVE IT.
Hey hey
Ho ho
Vaccine mandate
Had gotta to go
I’m not even effected right now. But I’ll never fly Southwest again, because I don’t forget.
Agree 100% Jane
Southwest A List & fully support all Pilots & ATC doing whatever they have to do to protect their health from government mandates.
Southwest management…step up to the plate for your inconvenienced travelers… hotel room & meal vouchers is the least you can do
Not unfounded. Look at VAERS, Look at what other countries, Sweden, Norway. Stopping the vaccines due to extreme side effects. Don’t tell me to move there either. This is the USA, land of the free or have you forgotten.
The whole point of a walk out is to hurt the business!!
Good job pilots! Our choice our freedom!!
I’ll just be honest if they have to shut down won’t bother me 1. I don’t fly, 2. They need to be taught a lesson we the people have the power to do all things don’t forget the power you hold
Why doesn’t Southwest just produce the weather charts/maps that would prove their claims of weather-related issues causing the cancelations?
Easy peasy!
Southwest airlines offer the policy of Southwest Same Day Flight Change. Through this service, you can make same-day change reservations in your flight bookings. pessengers can make same-day changes through online or offline methods. Online methods mean you have to visit the website of airlines and go ahead with the given process. The offline method means you can call or mail to the reservation department or make flight changes. Southwest airlines provide the best methods to you for making changes done without paying any charges.