From Los Angeles to Miami, Dallas to Denver, thousands of Southwest prospects had weekend journey plans ruined by greater than 2,000 flight cancelations. The airline canceled one other 10% of flights on Monday.
It is not clear what’s inflicting the disruption as the airline and its pilots are telling totally different tales. The delays and cancelations started shortly after the pilot’s union tried to block Southwest’s new COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Traces have been lengthy and tempers quick at airports in a number of cities, as passengers have been pressured to wait hours, and in some instances, days to rebook on different flights.
The corporate on Monday provided a “tremendous apology” to prospects and staff, citing climate and exterior constraints.
Captain Cassey Murray, president of the Southwest pilots’ union, insists the disruptions weren’t attributable to pilots protesting the pending vaccine mandate. He instructed CBS Information that the airline’s pilot sick price for this weekend was “right in line with what was occurring this summer.”
However Murray did acknowledge the union is suing the airline over its coverage.
“The problem is not meeting months ago and addressing these insurance issues — addressing our pilot medicals,” he mentioned. “All the airlines have the same issues we do today, but they’ve mitigated it by having agreements in place, and they are a lot further along than we are.”
Southwest stood out amongst airways as a result of different carriers had nowhere close to its price of cancelations.
“We have a temporary restraining order that is trying to get them to stop the mandate so that we can sit down and discuss and provide some support for our pilots so that they can understand and make a decision to get vaccinated with that understanding behind them,” Murray added.
Some stranded passengers hit the highway to get dwelling.
Julianne Mattox attended a marriage in Austin, Texas, with two associates. Earlier than Southwest canceled their Sunday flight again to Washington, D.C., providing Wednesday as an alternative.
“The general consensus among everyone was it’s easier to rent a car and just get out of town to start moving, rather than waiting until Tuesday or Wednesday to even potentially get a flight,” she mentioned.
The trio made it safely dwelling, after spending 25 hours driving 1,500 miles.
Murray mentioned the union is presently negotiating with Southwest over its upcoming vaccine mandate, and he expects to discover a workable decision ultimately.
However, he mentioned he is not sure if that can occur by the December 8 deadline — possibly not even earlier than Thanksgiving.
