Southwest Airlines’ Reputation Crumbles After Fallout From COVID Policies – RedState

Southwest Airlines suffered mass chaos yesterday with thousands of flight cancellations across the country. Southwest Airlines passengers found themselves in chaos as they refused to issue refunds and presented nonsensical excuses.

The official story was that ATC “issues” and bad weather caused the meltdown, which hit Jacksonville, FL especially hard. This affected flights all over the world as other planes couldn’t connect to each other.

ATC issues and disruptive weather have resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend while we work to recover our operation. Your patience is appreciated as we try to accommodate customers affected by the weather. Customer Service wait times may be longer than normal. (2/1) pic.twitter.com/o1scQJ5lLb

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 9, 2021

A quick glance at radar and airport delays shows that this was not weather-related in any part of the country, including in sunny Jacksonville. The cancellations were caused by a combination of an unresolved pilot shortage and an inability to control air traffic. That’s made obvious by the fact that other major US airlines saw cancellation ratesOver 10x less during that same time period.

Further, it’s been confirmed now that the mass “sickout” was a result of the vaccine mandates.

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. The lawsuit alleges that it violates the collective bargaining agreements. 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.

Southwest is trying to cancel over 800 flights today including mine from Chicago. While it is cloudy in the northeast, pilots are making claims about ATC and inclement Weather. Pilots have gone on strike because of

— Nitul Purohit (@Nitboi7) October 10, 2021

Part 3. A rescheduled 2 day flight. ATC claims meant that they refused to reimburse passengers or provide hotel accommodations. We were unable to locate the cause of almost every cancellation, so chaos set in.

— Nitul Purohit (@Nitboi7) October 10, 2021

(Part 5) Or wait for 2 nights at the airport to be rescheduled. It’s crazy to think that major airlines can cause disruption to the lives of so many people without being held accountable. @SouthwestAirIs there a better way? #southwestvaccinegate

— Nitul Purohit (@Nitboi7) October 10, 2021

It is not clear how much of the events occurred on the ATC or pilot sides of the equation. However, this will allow us to be as exact as possible. Given Southwest’s reported problems with its pilot union over the vaccine mandate, if yesterday wasn’t largely due to a pilot shortage, that’s probably only a temporary reprieve. Strikes are possible as soon as the mandate becomes effective in the coming weeks.

While the exact blame is not clear (aside form vaccine mandates generally), it is evident that Southwest Airlines is causing fury. In blaming inexplicable weather issues, Southwest Airlines was able to avoid paying layover expenses or giving refunds to those who were stuck, while many sat on planes for hours.

That decision to not just be honest with its customers about the cause of the cancellations has hampered the reputation of what was once seen as the “different” airline. Yet, they aren’t operating any differently than their typically more loathed counterparts in the industry. It was possible to avoid this by applying common sense.

These mandates also have a pointlessness. If the COVID can be spread by only those who are not vaccinated, mandates for vaccines only make sense. However, everyone, even those who are vaccinated can spread COVID so mandates don’t make sense. Rather, they’ve become a political point and companies have stupidly decided that it’s better to signal virtue than take care of their customers. This is just the beginning of a backlash.