October 4, 2021, Southwest Airlines sent an announcement to its employees informing them that “because Southwest Airlines is a federal contractor,” the airline is “required to comply with the government federal contractor mandate for employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.”1 The following weekend, October 9 and 10, 2021, the airline was forced to cancel some 1,800 flights. The reason for the mass cancelations remains unclear, however. While some claim the cancellations were due to a coordinated “sickout” in protest of the vaccine mandate, Southwest Airlines blamed “disruptive weather” and “air traffic issues” for the cancellations. Curiously, bad weather did … Continue reading →