Rumor: "Vaxx" Mandate Protest Shuts Down Jacksonville ATC Tower

ZH: Sickout? Southwest Airlines Cancels 1,000 More Flights As Disruptions Increase

Southwest airlines canceled nearly 2,000 flights between Saturday and Sunday - blaming the FAA and the weather for problems that didn't seem to affect other airlines. According to FlightAware, Southwest canceled over 1,000 of the flights on Sunday.

“We experienced significant impact in the Florida airports [Friday] evening after an FAA-imposed air traffic management program was implemented due to weather and resulted in a large number of cancellations,” Alan Kasher, who oversees Southwest’s flight operations, in a statement obtained by several news outlets on Saturday.

Does this confirm or deny the walkout rumor:

CNBC: Southwest Airlines cancels 1,800 flights, blaming weather and staffing

“No FAA air traffic staffing shortages have been reported since Friday,” the FAA said. “Some airlines continue to experience scheduling challenges due to aircraft and crews being out of place. Please contact the airlines for details about current flight schedules.”

From social media:

There was 2 inches of rain over the course of an hour on Friday, but no high winds. Nothing that suggests delayed flights. A computer screwup is possible, and would be consistent with negative and falling social mood, as well as experienced workers not showing up because of the vaccine mandate.

I'm skeptical of unconfirmed rumors, but verification is difficult because the government and media have proven they will lie about anything and everything. In this case, media probably isn't lying, I suspect they're merely repeating what they were told by Southwest and the FAA. Since airlines are heavily regulated by the government and the FAA is the government, there is increased risk of punishment for speaking the truth. I don't know if the ATCer's themselves would even be willing to talk because I assume that would be their job. In this case, the social media account seems plausible. People close to the situation have heared rumors that its related to the vaxx mandate. What has been stated by officials thus far doesn't refute this. An hour of rain doesn't delay flights (click to see the weather report) and the FAA admitting to a staffing problem on Friday. I'm not an expert on airline logistics, but if the walkout shut down air traffic control for a good part of the day, I can imagine delays would stretch through the weekend.

Takeaway: if airline industry workers are saying no vaxx and Mom is right, Americans might want to think about staying local or driving for Thanksgiving.

Update: Anecdote, but someone claiming to be an ATCer online says 40 percent of them have still not receieved the mRNA therapy.