Flights cancelled.

[George K]

D3's friends were in Boston for a wedding this weekend. Apparently, their flight on Southwest was cancelled, so they have to drive back to Chicago.

Southwest says it was "weather and flight control" issues.

https://onemileatatime.com/news/southwest-airlines-operational-meltdown/

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)

Why is Southwest experiencing so many cancelations this weekend? The airline blames this on “ATC issues and disruptive weather.” There’s only one small problem with that — it seems like it’s only Southwest impacted by ATC and weather issues, which sure doesn’t add up:

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)
Given that all airlines use the same ATC system, and there’s large overlap in terms of hubs between these airlines, something isn’t adding up. Interestingly when Southwest had an operational meltdown in June 2021, the airline blamed… wait for it… weather and ATC.

But, supposedly, there's a "sick-out" with pilots protesting the vaccine mandate.

[Copper]

The FAA made it clear that the airline was lying as soon as this happened.

You can give the airline some credit for lying in a way that they could kinda defend.

They said the airplanes and employees were in the wrong places. Which from their viewpoint was probably true.