Joe “I am the Democratic Party” Biden and his incompetent administration issued a controversial, but as yet not official as no rule has been released, WuFlu vaccine mandate on businesses with over 100 employees.
Many businesses were thrilled and immediately began, if they hadn’t already, enforcing the non-mandate. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Americans have thus far been fired as a result, and in all sectors from health care to K-12 education to the airline industry.
Wildly unpopular Biden and his bumbling administration are attempting to conflate “anti-vaxxers” (a misnomer to begin with) with Americans who reject invasive central government mandates. There are many vaccinated people who reject the mandate, and this is a problem for the Biden buffoons.
Another problem? Beyond destroying the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Americans (none of whom is likely to dash to the nearing polling place or mailbox to vote for more of the same next year or in 2024), the loss of employees is creating huge holes in companies that keep our economy and way of life afloat.
From transportation, to health care, to education, to first responders, to . . . well, you name it, gutting an already thin workforce through unnecessary mandates is hobbling an already Biden-weakened economy and is creating shortages, more inflation, and a whole new wave of very angry American voters.
The shortages have apparently affected Southwest Airlines. In the midst of mandate-related lawsuits brought against the company, they reportedly cancelled up to (or over) 1,800 flights.
The company blames Jacksonville, FL air traffic control (which is allegedly having its own problems with anti-mandate employee walk/sickouts) and the weather. Oddly, though, no other airline that services the same areas as Southwest ran into the same significant “weather” or “air traffic control” problems and merrily continued ferrying their customers across the U.S.
Oh, and the blame also goes to “military training,” according to the FCC, which we all know routinely interrupts commercial air traffic. Or something. Yes, they really think we are that stupid.
There is apparently a “meltdown” at Jacksonville International Airport that has led to the cancelation [sic] of more than 1,800 Southwest Airlines flights. The company says the cancelations [sic] are due to weather and “air traffic control issues.”Well, the claim that weather is the culprit is absurd. Other airlines, according to the respected aviation site One Mile at a Time, are operating at near capacity.
- On Saturday American canceled 66 flights (2% of the schedule), Delta canceled 16 flights (less than 1% of the schedule), and United canceled 11 flights (less than 1% of the schedule)
- On Sunday American canceled 63 flights (2% of the schedule), Delta canceled three flights (less than 1% of the schedule), and United canceled six flights (less than 1% of the schedule)
- On Saturday, October 9, 2021, Southwest canceled 808 flights (24% of the schedule) and delayed 1,154 flights (35% of the schedule)
- On Sunday, October 10, 2021, Southwest canceled 1,007 flights (27% of the schedule) and delayed 120 flights (3% of the schedule)
Speculation centered on air traffic control employees walking out because of the vaccine mandate.
And it really is speculation at this point, but it’s odd and worth noting that the weather, Jacksonville air traffic control staff shortages (due to . . . ?), and (purported) military flight training exercises didn’t impact other airlines. Airlines not currently being sued by their pilots for vaccine mandates.
One look at the radar and airport delays, though, shows there was absolutely nothing weather-related anywhere in the country (where Southwest Airlines operates) that caused this, much less in sunny Jacksonville. Rather, it was some mix of an air traffic controller and pilot shortage due to pointless vaccine mandates driving the cancellations. That’s made obvious by the fact that other major US airlines saw cancellation rates over 10x lower during the same period.Further, it’s been confirmed now that the mass “sickout” was a result of the vaccine mandates.
Here’s the tweet cited to back up the purported confirmation:
Again, the situation is murky, as Red State’s Bonchie goes on to explain:
To be as accurate as possible, though, how much of what transpired came from the ATC side of things vs. the pilot side of things is unclear. 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. You can expect strikes to occur as the mandate goes into effect in the next few weeks.Further, while the details here are still murky about who is specifically to blame (aside from vaccine mandates in general), what is clear is that people are furious with Southwest Airlines. By blaming non-existent weather problems, they were able to avoid giving refunds or paying for layover expenses for those left stranded, many sitting 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. This was all completely avoidable by using some common sense.
Ultimately, the Southwest Airlines cancellations seem unlikely to be due solely to weather or to the other cited problems simply because these problems didn’t impact other airlines, either at all or to the degree they slammed Southwest, who travel the same hubs. Something is going on here, but what?
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