Just weeks ago, over Columbus Day weekend, Southwest Airlines experienced unprecedented flight delays and thousands of cancellations due to staffing issues related to the company’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate. The company, at the time, denied pilots were participating in a “sick out” protest over vaccines, though some pilots corroborated that there was an effort made by workers to flex some muscle in negotiations over how the company would treat unvaccinated workers.
Now, American Airlines has experienced a similar meltdown with thousands of flight cancellations, staffing issues, and a catastrophic disruption of service. Many airlines are so strapped with labor shortages in general, that the Covid vaccine mandate has pushed them further into the abyss whenever any minor disruption occurs. For American Airlines this weekend, it was severe weather, runway problems, and staffing shortages in correlation with the Covid vaccine mandate that left passengers stranded and still cleaning up Monday morning:
American Airlines Group Inc. scrapped about 1,500 flights on Saturday and Sunday, plus 250 on Monday, according to tracker FlightAware.com, after operations at its main hub in Dallas were curtailed because of winds gusts.
For American, those dominoes were toppled earlier this week, when three out of the five runways at Dallas/Fort Worth International airport — its home base — were closed because of high wind. The airline canceled 1,023 flights a Sunday — some 36% of its schedule, according to FlightAware. Southwest, also based in Texas, canceled only about 5% of its Sunday schedule.
The disruption at American continued into Monday as the carrier worked to get its schedule back in order. As of 7:05 a.m. in New York, FlightAware was reporting 252 cancellations, or about 9% of American’s schedule. The carrier’s shares were unchanged at $19.20.
Few major media outlets will touch on the issue being mandate-related because they’re afraid to give credit to Biden’s critics. There is no question that causing severe labor disruptions due to issues between management and employees has caused these companies to lose staff to early retirement at record numbers specifically due to the impending vaccine mandate.
According to Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association representing American Airlines pilots, over 3,700 American pilots have yet to turn in paperwork regarding their vaccination status:
“By the 24th of November, all the paperwork has to be in and by the 8th of December you cannot fly at American Airlines or any other federally contracted airline after that date,” Tajer said, referring to pilots who do not submit proof of vaccination or exemption.
Right now, Tajer said just over 73% of their pilots are vaccinated.
“That leaves about 3,700 pilots that are in the process of either working on an exemption or attaining the vaccine, or taking on another choice,” Tajer said.
Just days ago, heading into this weekend, American Airlines workers were protesting outside the company’s Dallas headquarters voicing opposition to the impending deadline for workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or risk losing their jobs:
More than half a dozen demonstrations have erupted outside airline transportation companies in the Dallas- Fort Worth metroplex within the past month since Biden issued the orders. Airline crews and allies have lined up outside the headquarters of Southwest Airlines and American Airlines to protest the enforcement of the vaccine health mandate. According to employees, American Airlines issued a memo to staff saying they had to be vaccinated or submit a reason for exemption by Nov. 24.
American Airlines technician Charlie Bucket said he’s been with the company for more than 30 years and refuses to abide by the new rules that will soon be put in place.
“I don’t want to end my career like this, I do not want to end my career like this,” said Bucket. “It’s a good airline, has a good history, and I don’t want to see 32 years come to an end.”
There is little coincidence that these protests were happening last week and it spilled over into this weekend as American experienced delays and staff shortages. Weather can explain some issues, but it can’t explain all issues, and it can’t be discounted that thousands of their workers are under threat of being fired over their vaccination status, a situation that puts the airline on the defense whenever service disruptions occur.
Labor unions representing pilots have urged airlines to end this standoff for the safety of crew and passengers alike. The onus is on their airlines to let up and stop threatening pilots and other airline personnel with job loss or unpaid leave for refusing the vaccine:
Vaccine mandates implemented by airlines have also given rise to staffing concerns. The Allied Pilots Association, a labor union representing thousands of American Airlines pilots, has told pilots not to let looming vaccine deadlines distract them in the cockpit.
“The latest hazard we face may be the hardest, regardless of your personal views concerning the vaccine mandate. We are seeing distractions in the flight deck that can create dangerous situations,” the union said in a memo.
“We must eliminate distractions in the flight deck to ensure that we continue to operate at the highest levels of safety,” it added.
No airline wants to admit their own actions of threatening workers with unpaid leave over their vaccination status is causing a staffing problem, but it’s abundantly clear what’s going on. As we head into November and December, demand for air travel will increase around the same time these airlines start enforcing their mandates, causing even more disruption.
The issues with Southwest and American foreshadow what may be coming around the Thanksgiving travel week, a point when airlines will be most vulnerable to even the smallest staffing problems.
For its part, Southwest apologized to workers for the way it has been handling the issue and pledged to work closely with employees seeking religious or medical accommodation from the vaccine.
Delate Airlines also took a different approach with the CEO saying it was wrong for companies to take adversarial approaches with their workforce and that they should be all working together, treating employees with respect, not ostracizing employees for their personal health choices.
The problems with air travel will continue to deteriorate until these companies learn that they simply cannot expect 100% compliance on the vaccination issue. There is no perfect solution for forcing thousands of employees to submit to a medical procedure some of them don’t want and don’t need due to natural immunity. Government mandates rarely solve problems like this, they only tend to create more problems and trample individual freedoms.
