SWA: Sick out? Work stoppage? ATC? WX? Oppression? Violation of rights? Tantrum?

[Sam I am]

What's the dealio behind the cancelled flights? I'm starting to see photos popping up of anti-vax SWA folks expressing their opinions. Is this an attempt to get back to the bargaining table? Do folks really feel oppressed? Did SWA folks feel oppressed when their industry accepted $54 billion in COVID Payroll aid from the same government now requiring vaccines? I didn't quit the Navy when I had to get Anthrax and Smallpox Vaccines. Let's hear about it...why is this suddenly a hill so many are picking to die on? Because it seems like a pretty small hill...just sayin'. Lastly, why isn't the pilot in the picture below willing to show their face?

I'll go first: I think the Executive Order is policy at its worst. Either require it or don't. I have no problem with the vaccine and got mine back in March. In Phizer I trust. But I think the 100 employee threshold is complete crap. All or nothing and don't force larger employers to be the tip of you political spear.

edited for grammar

 

[ABMD]

What's the dealio behind the cancelled flights? I'm starting to see photos popping up of anti-vax SWA folks expressing their opinions. Is this an attempt to get back to the bargaining table? Do folks really feel oppressed? Did SWA folks feel oppressed when their industry accepted $54 billion in COVID Payroll aid from the same government now requiring vaccines? I didn't quit the Navy when I had to get Anthrax and Smallpox Vaccines. Let's hear about it...why is this suddenly a hill so many are picking to die on? Because it seems like a pretty small hill...just sayin'. Lastly, why isn't the pilot in the picture below willing to show their face?

I'll go first: I think the Executive Order is policy at its worst. Either require it or don't. I have no problem with the vaccine and got mine back in March. In Phizer I trust. But I think the 100 employee threshold is complete crap. All or nothing and don't force larger employers to be the tip of you political spear.

edited for grammar

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Wait, planes have retractable windscreens?

 

[Treetop Flyer]

The company scheduled more flights than they can staff. A minor disruption without staffing cushion and the wheels came off. They are back to normal now.

There was no sick out, sick time is in line with previous months. There was no slowdown, voluntary open time participation has been the highest rate of any of the past five October’s.

The people who desperately want to believe there’s a vaccine mandate strike have seized the narrative. I wouldn’t mind seeing a real general strike though.

Let’s go Brandon

 

[taxi1]

The company scheduled more flights than they can staff. A minor disruption without staffing cushion and the wheels came off.

Planning without buffer in a Just In Time world, small burps can create big ripples...this is an interesting article.

‘It’s Not Sustainable’: What America’s Port Crisis Looks Like Up Close

An enduring traffic jam at the Port of Savannah reveals why the chaos in global shipping is likely to persist.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Sam I am]

Wait, planes have retractable windscreens?

Ohhhh...good eyeballs! lol You mean you don't slide the window back and fly with your elbow perched up there and the wind tousling your hair?

So the SWA ops department is really that screwed up?

 

[Python]

Staffing is screwed everywhere. Delta had meltdowns during thanksgiving and Christmas last year. American had similar meltdowns this year IIRC. All due to staffing. The domestic recovery took off way faster and more intensely than anyone could’ve predicted at first, and the airlines chopped too much off of their seniority lists.

 

[sevenhelmet]

This is wild. Really demonstrates how out-of-control bad information can get in the social media era.

We have got to do better with getting facts out to people. No idea how we could realistically accomplish that in a truly unbiased way though. I'll go back to my popcorn now.

 

[ChuckMK23]

All day on Guard yesterday "let's go Brandon"...

 

[ChuckMK23]

Staffing is screwed everywhere. Delta had meltdowns during thanksgiving and Christmas last year. American had similar meltdowns this year IIRC. All due to staffing. The domestic recovery took off way faster and more intensely than anyone could’ve predicted at first, and the airlines chopped too much off of their seniority lists.

Yeah - I'll say - I know a certain DL FO that got paid 20 year FO pay to sit at home almost 12 months waiting for 737 training. Thats amazing to me. ?

 

[Treetop Flyer]

SWA still has hundreds of pilots out on paid leave

 

[Sam I am]

This is wild. Really demonstrates how out-of-control bad information can get in the social media era.

We have got to do better with getting facts out to people. No idea how we could realistically accomplish that in a truly unbiased way though. I'll go back to my popcorn now.

Specifically which information do you consider bad:
That there's no sickout? There is a sickout? Airline personnel are protesting? Photoshopped images? Staged photos?

 

[Sam I am]

SWA still has hundreds of pilots out on paid leave

What's the deal there, can't get them requalled/spun back up fast enough or just not bringing them back online until a certain date?

 

[HAL Pilot]

Specifically which information do you consider bad:
That there's no sickout? There is a sickout? Airline personnel are protesting? Photoshopped images? Staged photos?

There was no job action or sick out by the pilots. Nothing vaccine related. Pilots picked up more than an average amount of open trips. This was all on SWA management over scheduling.

What's the deal there, can't get them requalled/spun back up fast enough or just not bringing them back online until a certain date?

They gave them paid leaves during COVID that have not yet expired. Again, all management's fault from their quest to quickly dump employees to save cost when COVID started without knowing all the facts or really having a plan.

Unfortunately for the Hawaiian pilots that took paid leave, our management had a clause that they could call them back early with 60 days notice.

Getting people trained, retrained and retrained again is also a problem due to all the airlines quest to immediately dump employees when COVID started. Guys were displaced to a different aircraft when pilots were dumped, assigned yet another aircraft when pilot started returning, and assigned to yet a 3rd or 4th aircraft as more pilots returned and company's started hiring to fill the early retirement loses or extended leave absences. I have a United friend who is on his 4th aircraft/position and keeps getting switched before training. He hasn't flown in at least 18 months but has been getting full guarantee. He's happy.

COVID was the usual management overreaction followed by more overreactions/over corrective reactions.

 

[Jim123]

... our management had a clause that they could call them back early with 60 days notice.

That was a pretty smart business decision and really best for everybody at the company. It gave the head shed more flexibility to respond to future demand. That's the part that helps everybody- if it keeps the company out in the spotlight for schedule meltdowns then that translates into more paying customers in the future. More customers is good for everybody's paycheck.

If the traveling public is angry at brand X or brand Y for whatever reasons—the company made some bad organizational decisions, these or those employees are being greedy, any other idea gets put out there on the news and mind you it doesn't have to be true—that's good for nobody's bank account.*

I like to say that my favorite passengers are the ones who are going to buy another ticket.

60 days notice that it's time to come back is pretty reasonable for the employees. The give and take of this one and how much the various employee groups deserve and should expect is that the people calling the shots from the proverbial C-suites are going to be taken care of no matter what.


* except if your name is Icahn

 

[sevenhelmet]

Specifically which information do you consider bad:
That there's no sickout? There is a sickout? Airline personnel are protesting? Photoshopped images? Staged photos?

@HAL Pilot pretty much nailed it, but I'm referring to the widespread story that there is a sickout which is being covered up by the media. Perhaps "misinformation" would be a more accurate description. Someone makes an assumption about what is "really" going on, and the untrue information gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on. The staged photos (assuming that's what they are) are an order of magnitude worse, because someone deliberately intended to put forth a false narrative. That's not a new problem, and to a certain extent it's the price of free speech, but I'd like to see even just a shred of civic virtue when it comes to not chumming the water with intentionally misleading info.

Tangential to my point, but yesterday a friend found himself in "FB jail" because he posted a link to Flight Aware showing canceled SWA flights, saying "This is interesting, lots of canceled SWA flights". Nothing speculating why, or making any inflammatory statement about SWA, COVID, UAPs, or who killed Kennedy. I take it as yet another reason social media is a bad source for knowing what's really going on.

But the cat videos are awesome.