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AUSTIN (KXAN) – Ahead of the busiest travel days of the year at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Southwest Airlines canceled dozens of flights that lasted until Monday.
On its Twitter account on Saturday, Southwest Airlines said the cancellations were due to “air traffic control issues” and “disruptive weather” that led to widespread cancellations across the country, including Austin.
If your trip has been affected, please check the self-service options by checking your flight status on https://t.co/GiF91yLJcx. (2/2)
– Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 9, 2021
According to the Austin Airport flight board, dozens of arrivals and departures in AUS have been canceled, just like over the weekend. Some of these cancellations spilled over into Monday, resulting in busy security checkpoints and long waits.
The cancellations follow Southwest Airlines officials who are demanding that their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 8, “to continue employment with the airline.” The airline announced on October 4th.
In total, Southwest Airlines canceled around 1,800 of their flights, 27% of their flight schedule, over the weekend. 19 departures were canceled by Monday morning. Other airlines serving the regions in which the flights take place report far fewer cancellations.
It’s been a fun weekend touring for Austin City Limits festival goers who came to Austin, but now Katie Hickey and Peri Tehven are slowly coming out of cloud nine because they’re stuck on a canceled flight.
“Went out after the festival last night, ended up in a bar around 1 o’clock and received a text message: ‘Hey, your flight is canceled’, no reason, no explanation, just canceled,” said Hickey and Tehven.
“I own a business in Denver,” said Tehven. “I had to go back tomorrow. That’s why we decided on an earlier flight. “
According to ABIA Public Information Officer Bryce Dubee, Southwest has canceled around 100 flights.
“More importantly, this will have an impact in the next few days when passengers are rebooked in their travel plans,” said Dubee. “If you’re flying in the morning … you should allow yourself at least two and a half, three hours to get through the security check.”
Hickey and Tehven were able to rebook their flights. They said they are taking things the way they are, hoping to get home safely on Monday.
“They’re trying their best,” said Hickey. “If we should stay here one more day, then shoot, I’m not going to complain too much.”
Social media helped fuel speculation that the cancellations were caused by Southwest Airlines employees, who banded together in a nationwide sick-out as a sort of protest over the vaccine mandate. A Southwest spokesman said this was not the case.
We experienced weather issues at our Florida airports early in the weekend, challenges exacerbated by unexpected air traffic control issues in the same region that resulted in delays and significant cancellations for us as of Friday night. We have been working diligently all weekend to re-establish our operations with an emphasis on repositioning aircraft and crews to take care of our customers.
With fewer frequencies between cities in our current schedule, recovery during operational challenges will be more difficult and longer.
We are working flat out to meet our customers as quickly as possible and are grateful for their patience. We offer customers additional flexibility in exploring self-service rebooking options Southwest.comwhere you can find out about the status of your trip. We know that flight cancellations are frustrating for our customers and employees, and we apologize and thank everyone again for their patience as we firstly work to be safe and secondly, we work to resolve disrupted plans as quickly as possible
Southwest Airlines spokesman
The Federal Aviation Authority has not yet commented on the subject.
With the last day of the ACL Fest on Sunday, many concert-goers have to fly to the airport by Monday. Officials say expected traffic through the airport could break records as people leave the city.
Airport officials said on Saturday as the cancellations began that people flying on Southwest Airlines should check their flights during the day and contact the airline directly if any changes are made. They also stressed that people should show up for flights at least 2.5 hours early.
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