Southwest Cancels 1,800 Flights Days After Pilots Fight Vaccine Mandates; Airline Claims ‘Bad Weather’

Just two days after the Southwest pilots union asked a federal judge to block the company’s vaccine mandate, the airline canceled 1,800 flights this weekend, blaming bad weather.

“Southwest Airlines canceled more than 1,800 flights this weekend, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of customers and stranding flight crews, blaming the meltdown on a combination of bad weather, air traffic control and its own shortage of available staff,” reported CNBC.

In a note to staff on Sunday, Alan Kasher, executive vice president of daily flight operations, said that the airline “did not anticipate” the series of disruptions that arose over the weekend.

“I know this is incredibly difficult for all of you, and our customers are not happy,” said Kasher.

“Although we were staffed for the weekend, we could not anticipate the significant disruption that was created from unexpected ATC issues and bad weather across our Florida stations,” he added.