We read recently that there might be a problem this upcoming holiday season with Southwest Hawaii flights. That warning came after the union representing Texas-based Southwest pilots (and those at American Airlines) asked for exemptions to the federal vaccine mandate for contracting companies.
We weren’t, however, expecting to see 40 Southwest Hawaii flights canceled in just one day, as is happening in the islands today. Network-wide, SWA abruptly canceled over 800 flights yesterday and more than 1,000 today.
The problem has now become very noticeable in Hawaii. And we don’t know how long it could go on.
Last Monday, SWA announced that it would comply with the December 8 federal deadline for airline employees to be vaccinated. The order covers all federal contractors. SWA said vaccination will be required “to continue employment with the airline.” CEO Gary Kelly added, “Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination directive.” American Airlines also said it would comply.
Conflicting stories as to what caused this weekend’s massive cancelations.
Southwest said it was a result of “ATC (air traffic control) issues and disruptive weather.” Is that true? For whatever reason, other airlines don’t seem to have been impacted. Southwest pilots union said they are “aware of operational difficulties affecting Southwest Airlines today due to a number of issues, but we can say with confidence that our Pilots are not participating in any official or unofficial job actions. Our Pilots will continue to overcome SWA management’s poor planning, as well as any external operational challenges, and remain the most productive Pilots in the world.”
At the same time, it is being reported that the FAA is not having any ATC issues. The agency said, “no FAA air traffic staffing shortages have been reported since Friday.” Hmmm. We aren’t sure what to make of that.
If you are on Southwest Hawaii flights in the next day or two or during the upcoming holidays, however, this could be a big problem if it isn’t resolved.
Southwest Hawaii flights that were canceled or delayed today.
According to FlightAware, there are in total 40 Southwest Hawaii-inbound and outbound flights canceled today, in addition to others that are delayed. All of the other airlines flying to Hawaii had only one flight cancellation between them.
The Southwest cancellations are as follows:
Honolulu – 20 flights canceled today.
Maui – 9 flights canceled today.
Kauai – 5 flights canceled today.
Big Island – 6 flights canceled today.
What about SWA Hawaii personnel in relation to Safe Travels?
We were also left wondering about any unvaccinated Southwest Hawaii personnel. As far as we know, they, they like rest of us, are required to comply with Hawaii Safe Travels. That means they must either be vaccinated, be tested within 72 hours of their flight to Hawaii, or be in quarantine during their stay in Hawaii. Do you know if that is happening?
Will this impact your plans to fly Southwest to and from Hawaii?
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All of this “it’s a protest against the vaccine mandate” is completely unproven. It’s just a bunch of anti-vaxxers jumping on this because SWA hasn’t given a good explanation. So far the pilots union has said it wasn’t any kind of work action, either official or unofficial. SWA has said that the absenteeism rate was about normal.
But we are starting to get some more info: apnews.com/article/unsuported-sickout-claims-southwest-airlines-4a85a5b314b0627311bceea028109d2a
Aloha BOH Bro’s
Sitting here enjoying another outstanding day on Wailea Beach. Snorkeling has been no good, but the high surf has provided some excellent boogie boarding.
Just got an updated from SW saying our flight tomorrow home is good to go, but if things go wrong I have a plan B locked and load.
Very chill low key week here on Maui.
Hi Richard.
Your comments make us smile. Glad you are still enjoying. Things are looking a lot better at SWA today in terms of cancellations. That good all the way around. On the other hand, it is so true that having plan B in hand is always a good idea.
Aloha.
Enjoy your stay in Maui Richard! I’m glad you have the right attitude about this whole thing. In the end, we’ll all get to our destination with a good story to tell our grandchildren about the COVID era.
My whole family of 11 will be on vacation to Maui this coming November for a week. I hope and pray that everything by then will be fine, ok and safe to travel. Meaning no more cancellations of flights or else we will be losing our time, accommodations and car rentals and most especially to those of my kids that are still working that they will be losing their days off if this cancellations will happen again. Good luck be stay safe everyone!!!
If this is indeed a work issue regarding vaccinations we should be thanking Southwest flight crews for taking to heart the request of so many for the unvaccinated to stay away from others.
Surely this in the spirit of the federal vaccine mandate of no shot-no work.
If only American, United, and Delta crews as well as other professionals will be as responsible.
Perhaps we might be somewhat careful what we ask for and how we ask; we may well receive it.
I applaud those airline employees for standing up for medical freedom. I am not anti-vax, but am a strong believer in our personal freedoms. My son wants to be a pilot and I know if he were one of those in this situation I would hope people would stand up for his rights. My family of 5 all recovered from Covid and our MD has told us we do not need to get the vaccine.
This has nothing to do with anybody’s freedoms. It is a scheduling problem at SWA. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Is that what the CEO just said because he was just on blaming Biden for forcing him to do the mandate when that is not the case. So trying to figure out if the guy is a liar or just weak.
Mahalo Beat of Hawaii, as usual you’re right there with cutting edge news when we need it!
Please tell me why anyone would fly any other airline, when we’ve got our own Hawaiian Airlines?
No worries.
We’ll stay tuned for all that’s coming, in this storm of breaking news.
Mahalo and Aloha Always 🌺🌺🌺🌺
Hi Pam.
Thanks, as always. Have a great week.
Aloha.
Our last 3 Southwest flights outbound from Dallas have been cancelled or delayed to the point where they had to reschedule to the following day. Each time we were quoted “air traffic control” issues… it’s there “canned” response. Therefore, no vouchers & no overnight hotels. They don’t lose any money & just rebook you (without even notifying you prior).
Good for Southwest! Fire everyone of those simpletons. Keep America safe again! Enjoy your unemployment pay.
I don’t like the reaction of the SW pilots’ union, tossing blame on “poor mgmt. planning”, the old blame-shifting game which is the current coin in Congress! This is an airline that came to life as a customer-serving little competitor to the Big Boys at birth.
And then the pilots want to blow back against mandatory vaxxing— Whose interests are they defending? It’s bad enough to deal with angry anti-maskers & vaxers on planes today, without contention coming from the cockpit. Perhaps a hike in compensation to lure military pilots who’ve for SURE accepted inoculation, and let the present contrarian pilots find some other source of employment?
I found the Pilots Union statement in bad taste as well. Trying SWA to Hawaii for the 1st time with a flight to HNL on Wednesday. I’m fearful that the flight will be 100% full as all these passengers will need to be reaccommodated.
SWA flights are almost ALWAYS 100% full, so don’t hold your breath on that front. You want a cheap, bus like experience, that’s what you get from SWA.
Aloha Jeff & Rob!
Wow, so many constitutional law experts that know nothing
about constitutional law.
Private businesses in the U.S. can dictate their own customer
service rules—“No shirt, no service”—remember that?
The COVID19 vaccine is not experimental or investigational.
It’s no more experimental than that Motrin you pop for muscle
aches or that Z-pack you take for bronchitis without thinking twice.
Yup: the FDA & Big Pharma are behind those too.
If you went to public school in the U.S., you were required to
to have an MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, polio vaccine
& DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) vaccine prior to admission
at the very least: some states require other vaccines such as hepatitis.
The COVID19 vaccine is no different: it’s a public health measure.
Get off your pseudo-political, pseudo-religious victim soapbox & do
the socially responsible thing: get vaxxed & wear a mask.
I’m sitting in Honolulu. Supposed to fly from San Diego to Maui this am at 7:30am. Arrived at 5:45 am to airport, only to find my flight was canceled and I was sent to Honolulu arriving at 10:30 in the morning with a connecting flight to Maui at 6 PM. You’ve got to be kidding. Add to that they did not do the pre clear for Hawaii so upon landing in Honolulu it was an hour online smashed in with no social distancing, 3 long lines deep to clear safe travels then had to claim my luggage because they did not check it through. I them changed terminals to Hawaiian and paid for a same day ticket where I am now waiting to get on board. My dinner reservations are no good and my day to spend in paia and Kihei no longer. No understanding of why. Even the flight attendants had no idea why the flights were cancelled. I have flown sw to Hawaii before but if this is what things will be like it isn’t worth it. Trip already cost me so much more money and time, which to me is more valuable.
I’m not flying any carrier to anywhere until Biden quits ordering people and companies how to run their lives and businesses. If he wants the economy to tank, then so be it. If he wants it to grow,as he claims he does then it will take the rich and powerful to tell him to knock it off.
Aloha Skip. Mahalo for not flying. That will mean more availability for the rest of us. And less chance of some crazed maskless passenger delaying our flights.
I did wear a mask on my last flight back in December of 2020. Sad to see reports of people causing delays ad disturbances over a mask. Stupid or drunk or both?
I don’t want to get caught up in that either!
It would be nice if people who want or need to fly would just follow the rules they implicitly agreed to when they bought a ticket.
Same for me!
i don’t know about any games the management of swa may be playing with its scheduling, but i agree with their decision to mandate vaccination or testing for their flight staff. this is a public health measure involving appropriately developed, tested and manufactured drugs that are literally life-saving. of course it is individual choice whether or not to comply with the mandate. and it is of course appropriate that there be consequences for failing to comply. this is an unfortunate but straightforward matter.
Thank you William. I agree. My family has an upcoming trip to 3 islands starting on Nov. 7. It’s been hard enough wondering if it’s going to happen at all let alone having flights cancelled at the last minute. We qualified for the Southwest companion pass in 2020 and were going to come for our 35th anniversary. Fortunately, Southwest extended the companion pass perk through December of 2021. All of our flights from Florida and in Hawaii are on SW. They have already made a few minor adjustments.
Hello all
Good for them, it’s time to stand up to this attack on our constitution. So proud they stood up for themselves. Don’t back down Southwest employees, make it hurt.
Van
This doesn’t have anything to do with constitutional rights. It only has to do with choices. And choices have consequences.
Vaccine mandates are all about prioritizing safety. Requiring vaccines is no more an infringement on an employees rights then requiring the pilots to pass a FAA Physical or subject employees to required training mandates. The job does come with a certain amount of responsibility and passenger safety should be number one.
Simple fact is a vaccinated employee is far less likely to spread Covid to a passenger or fellow employee, if you want to work for an airline that should be important to you.
Go get um South West!!! I’m a private pilot with access to a few aircraft. Can’t make it to Hawaii. But my girlfriend is not vaccinated and the rules for indoor dining need civil disobedience. Think lawsuit ADA laws.
Their pilots union is suing the company over vaccine mandates, they are a Texas company and that certainly provides some clue were much of their employees perspective on mandates are coming from and no other airline had massive “weather” cancellations….
I’m wondering what’s going to happen inter island. Hawaiian has mandated vaccines for their employees and SWA, whose crews fly in from the mainland to fly inter island for one day then go home, has not.
Southwest Airlines is a great American Company that brings much Aloha to the State of Hawaii. I am confident they will resolve this issue quickly and we can all fly with confidence on SWA!
LUV Southwest Airlines!
SWA has been a major negative impact on the state of Hawaii. I know I will take grief for saying what I have stated in the past but the over population of tourists directly attributed to SWA is unhealthy for the people, infrastructure and the environment of Hawaii.
Our islands can only sustain so many people at a time and the greed of SWA making Hawaii so “accessible “ will have locals paying the long term costs.
Before everyone states the obvious…yes we are dependent on tourism, but don’t benefit from tourist numbers that are not sustainable.
Mahalo for your updates gentlemen.
Aloha
Hi Chris.
Thanks. We appreciate your dozens of comments.
Aloha.
Well said Chris…Aloha and SWA is like oil and water…Hawaii simply cannot handle SWA’s push to expand at all cost to Hawaii. We are an island state and cannot support their business plan like Las Vegas or Orlando can. They are a bad fit for Hawaii.
We left Honolulu on Thursday for a few days in California on our way home. No issues leaving Honolulu at all. But yesterday, flying from San Jose to Chicago was a nightmare. We were not affected as much as many others, we were not canceled, but delayed and our non stop was changed to a stop in Long Beach. Then we were told to stay on the plane; then it was get off the plane; then it was get all your belongings and wait for further information; then it was a gate change; then it was leave your belongings and get off the plane so they could count us (32 through passengers). No one on the ground knew anything. We were moved around like cattle and yelled at for being in the way; the lines for rebooking at the airport were unending and the wait on hold was over 120 minutes! We were delayed again out of Long Beach and the flight was packed to Chicago. The baggage claim at Midway Airport was delirious with lines a mile long at the baggage office; piles of luggage tagged and waiting all over the room. IF this is how SW is going to handle the issues, be aware, they are NOT going to be the only ones with these messes on their hands. There was NO weather and NO ATC issues because every other airlines was flying unhindered, for the most part. Those were lies they shouldn’t have told because it truly pissed a whole lot of people who were flying yesterday, off
Your question as to whether this would impact flying Southwest or to Hawaii is a simple one for me to answer. I will not fly any airline where it mandated for either a passenger or employee to have to take the “vaccine”. Whether I believe in the “vaccine” is irrelevant at this point but I do Not believe anyone should be subject to putting something in their body that they are not comfortable with and is still experimental. If You want the vaccine and you think I that it protects you, that is your business but the govt and business should Not have the right to force it on others!
With all due respect, i must disagree with your claim that COVID19 vaccines are experimental. Every available vaccines has met all the rigorous development, clinical studies and manufacturing requirements of the FDA. The Pfizer vaccine has received full pre-marketing approval from the FDA and the Moderna and Jansen vaccines will receive full approval within a few weeks. There have been over 300 million doses (counting all available COVID19 vaccines) administered in the US and over 4 BILLION administered worldwide. as is normal, post-marketing surveillance of vaccine use is done to identify if any unanticipated adverse reactions or responses have occurred. the fact is that the vaccines are extraordinarily safe and effective, although Nothing is ever 100%.
Give Judy a hi five
Have fun never flying ever again!
(faa mandate covers all airlines flying to or from usa)
Good for anyone walking out of their jobs due to vaccine mandates! October 18th is the day that nationwide teachers plan to walk out due to the vaccine mandate. Parents who object to the teacher and student mandate are keeping their children out of school. It’s time to stand up to a government that is taking away personal freedoms and forcing something on citizens where no long term studies have been done. I just heard today from a medical provider about all the heart issues that are surfacing from the vaccines.
While I honestly respect your decision not to vaccinate I hope all of you who are not getting vaccinated are wearing masks, staying home as much as possible, having food delivered and home schooling your children so the rest of us who have complied with all of the safety protocols for 19 months can live our “vaccinated lives” . We will not end this if unvaccinated people are being carefree. And yes, COVID affects every aspect of our economy.
I am not getting any younger and I would like to be able to take a trip without feeing at risk from fellow citizens.
My mom is 92 & has been forced to stay in due to the amount of unvaccinated people around her home. She vaccinated. She had hoped to fly but she doesn’t trust people are doing what they should. She lost her grandfather to the 1918 pandemic & her father to an epidemic in 1936. She watched her brother struggle with polio & now with Parkinsons, which is directly related to his polio. She can’t go out or be around friends because they won’t vaccinate. This has forced her to be completely alone.
If you are vaccinated what are you worried about?
Liam
Here in FL only 58% of the population is fully vaxed. In Hawaii it’s the same at 59%. The Delta variant is very strong. I have to assume when I go anywhere that half of the people I encounter are not vaxed. I suspect they may be the ones not masked since there was, and is even more so now, so much resistance from this group. I want to have my once in a lifetime trip to Hawaii. Even a mild breakthrough case on either end of this trip would ruin it for everyone.
I was lucky enough to live I HAwaii for 20 years 6 on maui 14 on Oahu. Everyone should go at some point. Now is not the time. I speak almost daily with people there and have gotten 3 of them remote here on the mainland in the last few months. Do not go now whether vaccinated or not. Is it a coincidence that numbers of cases dropped when they told people to stop coming? No the same number of people were traveling that are locals and yet the rates dropped anyway. They need to test again.
Will Southwest flights on October 14,2021 be affected from Las Vegas to OGG?????
Maybe due to the Covid vaccine mandate? Of course they will deny.
Hi ROB T
In spite of the pilot’s union statement one must wonder. A little “air sickness” perhaps.
As of 28 September, 2021, American Airlines (AA) reported 30 percent (4200) of its pilots were not vaccinated despite the company’s and government’s vaccine mandate.
Currently, Delta Airlines has not mandated shots but does have a $200/month “surcharge” to the provided health care plan payable by those subscribers who are unvaccinated. Apparently, Delta does not wish to face an AA situation until it must and may think workarounds are possible.
Pilots fear heart and other long term health issues from the vaccine that result in their being found medically unfit to fly. They prefer testing in lieu but there appears no accommodation being considered by the administration.
What could possibly go wrong with iron fist mandates?
There are just too many people claiming “personal freedom” as the reason to endanger the majority of the people in the country. I don’t get it, but I believe my personal health, that of my family and sane friends deserves protection from those who believe they are smarter and know more than virtually every scientific authority in the country.
I fly often and this gives me one more reason to avoid SWA. I want to be safe when I fly and when I arrive.
Heyward..have to correct your “Pilots fear heart and other long term health issues from the vaccine” …that’s unfair to Airline Pilots, most are pragmatic, sensible, and don’t buy into conspiracy theories. What you are witnessing is for sure a minority do go done the political/conspiracy rabbit hole but the majority of Airline Pilots are in fact quite happy to get a vaccination. They are professional enough to know Covid is a far greater risk to their long term health then a vaccine is.
Hi JOHN
I spent 30+ years warming a cockpit seat.
Pilots know our livelihood and love of flying could end in an instant if a flight surgeon finds an issue.
I certainly agree we are pragmatic, sensible, and don’t buy into conspiracy theories. We very much recognize and follow the rules. But we are also independent enough in judgement to not blindly follow the rules into the dirt. Both with our aircraft and our ability to fly.
A good pilot is pretty astute at risk analysis.
Agree with Hayward. The fear is that the known blood clot side effect can manifest in pilots who are sitting down for hours on end during a flight. I certainly don’t want my pilots to have a blood clot and die during the flight. This is according to a well spoken cardiologist, not me.
My point exactly, most pilots are getting vaccinated after looking at the situation. Often those who tend to “do it their own way” rather then fly by the book with their own creative interpretation of how to fly an approach or landing are the biggest problem at sim and out on the line. The pilots I know that are anti vax seem to fit that mold. There is no solid evidence against the vaccine, just a lot of misinformation and speculation from some pretty dubious sources. Good pilots can see that.