The weekend of April 2-3 would become a disruptive one for a significant percentage of airline passengers booked with Alaska, JetBlue, and Southwest. For Alaska, an informational picketing by the Alaska Airlines chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, with pilots unwilling to fly additional flights on contract-granted time off to backfill pilot slots, lead to a chain reaction of cancellations on the US West Coast.For JetBlue, extreme weather, pilot and flight attendant shortages, and air traffic control hiccups caused its passengers a historic level of cancellations. For Southwest Airlines, technology and weather challenges would also disrupt its network. Overall, a lack of crewing and climate disruption caused a most turbulent weekend in US commercial aviation.

Alaska Airlines' pilots informational picketing incorrectly blamed

Passengers Waiting at a Quiet Alaska Airlines SFO Gate
Many thousands of passengers were left waiting for pilots to fly them on Alaska Airlines this weekend.
Photo: AvgeekJoe Productions

On April 1, 9% of Alaska Airlines' flights were canceled causing disruptions throughout the Alaska Airlines route network and to thousands of passengers. As per further statements by Alaska Airlines, 88 flights or 7% of overall operations were canceled on Saturday, April 2, with over 12,000 customers impacted. This was followed by 73 flights or 6% on Sunday, April 3. Alaska Airlines has repeatedly publicly apologized, saying,

We apologize for the inconvenience and frustration we have caused because so many travel plans have been disrupted. We keep working hard to get everyone to their destinations as quickly as we can.

Meanwhile, the Alaska Airlines chapter of Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) held informational picketing sessions on Friday, April 1, in Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Informational picketing is when employees, on their free time, picket to stress their collective bargaining case to company leaders, customers, and potential customers. This is different to striking, which is when employees refuse to work under the contract or a previous contract and therefore forfeit pay.

A rally also streamed on social media. Pilots unions' leaders representing various US and Canadian airlines spoke stridently about the need for management to "Break the Stall." Furthermore, in a clear admonishment to Alaska Airlines' executives who attempted to blame the informational picketing for the loss in flights, Alaska Airlines Pilots issued a strong statement highlighting in part the problems with Alaska Airlines' pilot shortage:

Alaska Airlines failed to properly plan for increased travel demand and take the steps necessary to ensure it attracted and retained pilots. In fact, just this week, ALPA met with two corporate vice presidents who made clear that they have failed to adequately retain and staff up to meet a predictable return to flying.

Granted, Simple Flying recently profiled Alaska Airlines' startup of a flight academy and supported an upcoming female-led airshow to help with the pilot shortage. Still, those are long-term partial solutions to Alaska Airlines' pilot staffing requirements. Recently, Alaska Airlines Pilots also created a YouTube video with former members who left for other airlines explaining their perspectives on Alaska Airlines' pilot retention problem:

In a noble attempt by Alaska Airlines' management to meet all the airline's scheduled flights, as per an April 2 Seattle Times report, 150% of pay was offered to pilots to accept extra flights. According to the same report, management admitted to the January expectations of pilots to fulfill the April flight schedule being inaccurate. Alaska Airlines was also noted to be offering double pay to its flight attendants to meet crewing needs for accepting additional missions.

Nonetheless, news broke late on April 3, 2022, via the Seattle TV station KOMO, that a federal mediator will assist in negotiations between Alaska Airlines management and the pilots' union on Tuesday, April 5.

JetBlue is also stranding passengers

A JetBlue Airbus at the Gate - Nose-On
JetBlue had many flights left at the gate this weekend
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

JetBlue also was leaving passengers stranded and jets at the gate. JetBlue's management stated that the issues were due to adverse weather in the US Southeast and air traffic control delay issues. According to FlightAware, the airline on Sunday, April 3, had 33% of its flights were canceled, and another 35% delayed.

Tweeters are understandably upset at JetBlue. One famous former television show host says the issue is also a pilot shortage at JetBlue:

Some social media comments about JetBlue flight cancellations noted the lack of sufficient flight attendants on their flights to meet minimum crewing requirements. The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) recently had to stand up for the flight attendants of JetBlue. In a stern statement, the TWU said, in part,

On March 28, Ed Baklor, Head of JetBlue Customer Care and Programs, issued a statement indicating the operational problems at JetBlue are being caused by flight attendants refusing to accept assignments. This could not be further from the truth.

“It’s time for JetBlue to stop playing the blame game with their flight attendants,” said Gary Peterson, TWU International Vice President and Air Division Director. “Our flight attendants showed up and kept this airline flying during the pandemic. Now it’s time for management to show up for them.”

The statement explained that constant demands for flight attendants to accept additional work plus the "threat of passenger misconduct" by unruly passengers deter JetBlue flight attendants from accepting additional assignments beyond their contract. It's clear that labor relations and climatic turbulence are working together to disrupt flight schedules at JetBlue. Furthermore, industry issues such as passenger conduct and over-scheduling versus available crewing are impacting multiple US airlines.

Southwest Airlines' route network gets frayed

Looking Up At A Southwest Airlines 737-800 Flying in Blue Skies
For Southwest Airlines, there were disruptions to beautiful sights of their 737s flying this weekend.
Photo: AvgeekJoe Productions

Southwest Airlines also had a rough weekend. Weather issues around Florida and other southeastern US states, such as thunderstorms, plus a technical support issue, caused issues with Southwest Airlines' route network. According to USA Today, 520 Saturday flights, or 14% of its operation, and 396 Sunday flights by Southwest Airlines were canceled.

For Southwest Airlines, when around 40-50% of its flights go through Florida weather, delays and canceling flights create a network-wide impact. Modern airlines have airplanes and aircrew that fly two or more flights a day, meaning sufficient resources need to be in the proper position at the schedule's slot. Otherwise, the route network and frequency of flights start to collapse until adequate numbers of airplanes and aircrew return to the proper locations to meet the schedule's needs.

Finally, there are reports that Southwest Airlines also has a pilot shortage:

Other US airlines with cancellations

United-Airlines-Boeing-777-300(ER)--1
Even United Airlines had flights canceled and delayed this weekend, although not as much as others.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Cancellation issues this weekend did go beyond Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and Southwest Airlines. According to FlightAware's cancelation tracker, Spirit Airlines had 222 flights canceled or 27% of its Saturday schedule, with another 280 flights or 34% of total flights being delayed.

Allegiant Air had 87 of its flights, or 21% of its total flights, canceled, while 38% at 118 flights were delayed. Even American Airlines had 12% of its total flights canceled at 364, while 632 or 21% of its total flights were also postponed. United Airlines got off relatively easy with 53 flights or 2% of its total canceled and 528 flights or 26% of its total flights delayed.

Did you ever have a flight cancel on you? If so, can you please share - with civility - the details of how you got home in the comments?

Source: Seattle Times, Flight Aware, KOMO