Southwest Airlines Has Meltdown In Denver, Declares Emergency

There is a rough travel period in the US at the moment. We are seeing record numbers of travelers around the holidays and we are also seeing some of the worst winter storms in years. Thousands of flights have been canceled, but nothing compares to Southwest Airlines in Denver.

Southwest declares “state of operational emergency”

Southwest Airlines has declared a state of operational emergency at the Denver airport. It began late on December 21. The airline doesn't have enough rampers, which is causing a lot of problems.

An unusual number of absences were reported in a memo to employees. The airline declared a state of operational emergency because it has an obligation to its customers and employees to run the operation safely.

What does this mean?

• Employees alleging illness will be required to provide a doctor’s note on the first day they return to work, indicating when the doctor was seen, and confirming that the employee was unable to work on the days of the claimed illness; telemedicine appointments don’t qualify, and failure to comply with these requirements will be considered insubordination, and will lead to termination
• The company is denying any requests for personal absence, and ramp employees will be required to work their usual shifts; failure to comply will also result in termination
• The company will apply mandatory overtime, regardless of an employee’s status; if an employee refuses to work overtime, they’ll also be terminated

Just how bad is Southwest’s operational performance?

At the moment, Southwest is not functioning well. The airline canceled 32% of its flights on December 23, 2022. Only a small percentage of flights operated on time. It was really bad. They don't look as bad as yesterday, but things didn't look better the day before.

There wasn't enough ground staff to help with the flight so it returned to Tampa on December 22 The flight was almost four hours long. It was really bad.

My take on Southwest’s operational challenges

Southwest seems to be struggling more in Denver than in other parts of the country due to the bad weather. You wonder what is going on in Denver and not other stations.

Southwest needs to run a reliable operation, but this memo makes me feel cruel. For an airline that talks about how important its employees are, that is even more true. Southwest executives say the strategy is to take care of employees and then have them take care of customers.

This situation is specific to it.

• If someone just has a common cold, there’s not really a need to go to a doctor, so to force someone to go to a doctor’s office to get a note is ridiculous, especially when telemedicine is excluded (trying to discredit telemedicine seems like a bizarre move)
• The pandemic should have taught us that we should stay home if we’re not feeling well, to help protect others; Southwest is encouraging sick people to come to work here
• Threatening to terminate anyone who requires a last minute personal absence is awful; so if you have a family members who is suddenly ill or dying, you’ll have to decide between spending time with them and keeping your job

Bottom line

The situation at Southwest Airlines in Denver is worse than anything else. A state of emergency has been declared by the airline and they are threatening to fire employees. If they call in sick but don't get a doctor's note from an in-person visit, or if they need to take a personal absence, this is also included.

What do you think about Southwest Airlines? Is anyone caught up in this mess?