Southwest Airlines pilots lost 20,000 off days. That’s not the scariest problem

Hullo. Thank you for coming and I know why you're here.

You need one more thing to worry about and you thought this might be the place.

So please take a seat and grab a drink, as this might take a little time. You see, you haven't been listening as well as you should, and you're not alone. 

No, that's not my view. It's the view of Southwest Airlines pilots.

Not so long ago, the pilots' union wrote a letter to their new CEO, Robert Jordan. To try and heap pressure upon him, you understand. Oddly, the letter also emerged in the public sphere because it contained truly concerning information.

The pilots warned that they were tired. They said there had been an increase in errors directly correlated to fatigue. They warned that Southwest's operations were poorly managed.

Det var denna fruktansvärda mening: "Fortsatta och avsiktliga brister i hanteringen av vårt nätverk och pilotschemaläggning har förstört vår effektivitet, och nu blir till och med säkerheten ohållbar."

The mere idea of safety being untenable on a plane is the worst idea a customer can hear.

Southwest's pilots surely hoped that their letter would help put so much pressure on Southwest's management that they'd get a new, better and safety-aware — in their view — contract.

Perhaps the letter didn't work well enough. Now the pilots are picketing to heap more public shame on their bosses.

NBC Dallas-Fort Worth erbjuds that 1,000 pilots stood at Dallas's Love Field on Tuesday to offer something less than outright adoration for management.

“Summer of LUV,” read one sign. “Delayed. Rescheduled. Cancelled.” That's not quite the context in which you want your brand mnemonic to appear, is it?

“Our pilots have had to address the fatigue issue with management publicly, which is something that we never want to do,” explained the president of the pilots' union, Capt. Casey Murray.

How, though, can the pilots get you to care (even) more? Well, they tried to make their story more personal.

Murray sa: "Våra piloter har förlorat nästan 20,000 50 lediga dagar under det senaste året, vilket är över XNUMX år som våra piloter har förlorat - ofrivilligt tvingats flyga på lediga dagar."

20,000 days off sounds like a lot. It sounds slightly less when you consider Southwest has around 9,000 pilots. But you're supposed to get the point: “How would you feel if you had to work on your day off? At least twice a year. And in a job where safety really matters.”

Southwest, kanske oavsiktligt, ekade piloternas förlorade femtio år. Flygbolaget funderade: "Southwest Airlines respekterar våra anställdas rättigheter att uttrycka sina åsikter, och vi förväntar oss inga störningar i tjänsten till följd av denna enda demonstration. I 51 år har vi upprätthållit en legendarisk sydvästkultur som hedrar våra värdefulla medarbetare.”

Murray, though, wasn't done.

Han sa: "Vi har sett att vårt företag inte riktigt tar itu med en massa operativa problem. Och det här har pågått i flera år.”

The pilots seem to be saying they've been tired for years. Which should make many shiver about flying safely. No Southwest customer wants to worry that their pilot may not be entirely alert in the cockpit.

What's harder for customers to judge is how serious the issue truly is. What's easier is to be utterly miserable at the current flying experience.

There's money at stake here, of course, as well as a certain (level of) principle. And safety is the lever that the pilots are pulling hard.

They have some power. They know they can wield it. They want the public storm to rise and, thankfully for them, bad weather in much of America is certainly assisting customer unrest along the way.

Men denna rubrik may offer a touch of balance to the whole Southwest Airlines affair: “Southwest Airlines Raises Guidance and Says Travel Bookings Remain Strong.”

Maybe you're just a pawn in the game, dear passenger.