Southwest Airlines flight attendants say they have had to “bear the brunt” of several weeks of weather cancellations, tech difficulties and delays that have crew members “stretched to the limit.”
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, as well as Fort Worth-based American Airlines, has struggled with an unusually high number of cancellations and delays in the midst of strong demand for summer leisure travel. Southwest was hit by two rounds of technical malfunctions that resulted in a cascade of flight cancellations earlier this month.
But airline unions are complaining that carriers have been too aggressive in ramping up flight schedules after the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that workers are growing fatigued with irregular schedules and excessive time on call.
“Whenever weather and the company’s irregular operations or technology issues occur, flight attendants bear the brunt of the impact,” TWU Local 556 president Lyn Montgomery, who heads Southwest’s 15,400 member flight attendants union, said in a statement. “While there are multiple operational issues that are contributing factors, flight attendants have been stretched to the limit.”
Last week Southwest asked flight attendants to start submitting doctor’s notes in order to take a sick day, which Southwest is allowed to do when the flight operation is experiencing difficulty. Pilots have also complained about being rescheduled in the middle of trips.
Southwest canceled more than 160 flights Monday, about 4% of its entire operation, according to Flightaware.com. That was after canceling more than 500 flights over the weekend.
Even issues like weather can cause long-term problems for crew members during peak flying seasons. Flight attendants and pilots can run into flying and work hour limits set by the FAA to ensure that critical employees are alert while flying.
“While there are multiple operational issues that are contributing factors, flight attendants have been stretched to the limit,” Montgomery said. “In addition, the company added a high number of trips after flight attendants’ schedules had already been built, and these uncovered trips have added additional strain on the operation.”
Crew members have been dealing with other difficulties as the economy copes with post-pandemic issues. Airports and hotels, dealing with a shortage of staff members, are closing restaurants and other amenities early.
This week a series of thunderstorms across the Mountain West and Midwest caused a ripple of delays at some of Southwest’s biggest airports in Denver, Chicago, Houston and in Florida. Southwest said it preemptively canceled hundreds of flights to avoid surprise itinerary changes for passengers.
Southwest spokesman Brian Parrish said the recent “cancellations were driven by weather, not staffing.”
“Many times when the network is broken apart by irregular operations, it can take a few days to balance the fleet and crew network,” Parrish said. “While there are temporary emergency sick call procedures in effect for flight attendants, it is not uncommon for Southwest to implement this policy proactively after irregular operations or during peak travel times to protect our operations and working crews and ensure appropriate staffing as the airline recovers.”
Southwest Airlines Pilots Association president Casey Murray said the carrier is struggling in part because about 1,400 pilots are still out on voluntary leave that the company begged employees to take to trim payroll during the pandemic.
“We have a staffing problem,” Murray said.
Southwest is also in the midst of training more pilots to fly routes to Hawaii. Combined with the increase in summer flying, a lot of pilots are working long hours, Murray said.
