Looking to avoid the disastrous worker shortages that have resulted in thousands of cancelled flights over the last few months, Southwest Airlines is offering some hefty incentives to ensure workers show up for their shifts during the forthcoming holiday weekends.
Last month alone, Southwest had to cancel over 2,000 flights because of work disruptions.
To give workers a little extra motivation, ground operation employees could earn double or even triple pay in some cases, while airborne workers could receive frequent flyer miles worth up to $1,400.
As recently as early October, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly had to do damage control after a weekend of flight-scheduling chaos, denying at the time that a federal vaccine mandate had caused pilots and other workers to walk out.
“I’ve seen speculation on the reasoning,” Southwest CEO Gary Kelly told employees at the time, according to USA Today. “The fact is the Florida weather on Friday and unexpected ATC issues… resulted in delays and cancellations across our network, and it just got us behind.”
The airline has pinned its hopes for a return to dependability on a hiring push, having planned to hire 5,000 workers before the end of 2021 and another 8,000 next year.
Southwest said that, in the event of unforeseen circumstances, passengers would be offered a refund or rebooked onto an alternate flight should problems arise over the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas travel weekends.
Related
