Cruz put the blame on Biden's push for vaccine mandates. Roy said while he was unsure if this was airline employees or air traffic controllers rebelling, they would have his support. Ted Cruz, both Republicans from Texas, tweeted about the cancellations. Others on social media suggested Southwest employees are protesting the vaccine requirements the company implemented. Are the cancellations due to walkouts over COVID-19 vaccine mandates?Ī tweet began circulating Saturday alleging a walkout of air traffic controllers at the Jacksonville International Airport due to a vaccine deadline for federal workers instituted by President Joe Biden.

This created a cascading effect for Southwest that continued into Monday, with more than 300 flights canceled, according to FlightAware. The FAA confirmed that weather and staff shortage issues as well as military training Friday near the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center in Hilliard, Florida, contributed to the cancellations. 'Unfortunately, the out-of-place aircraft and continued strain on our crew resources created additional cancellations across our point-to-point network that cascaded throughout the weekend and into Monday.' 'On Friday evening, the airline ended the day with numerous cancellations, primarily created by weather and other external constraints, which left aircraft and crews out of pre-planned positions to operate our schedule on Saturday,' Southwest Airlines said in a statement. The airline added more details about the issues on Monday. (1/2) /o1scQJ5lLb- Southwest Airlines October 9, 2021

We appreciate your patience as we accommodate affected Customers, and Customer Service wait times are longer than usual. ATC issues and disruptive weather have resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend while we work to recover our operation.

Southwest airlines cancelled flights