Statement from Southwest Flight Attendants on Midway Flight Delays

[Omaha Steve]

N E W S R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release January 3, 2014

Contact: Jamie Horwitz

202/549-4921 [email protected]

Attention aviation, business, labor, Chicago and Dallas-based reporters

Statement by Audrey Stone

President of TWU Local 556 Representing 11,000 Flight Attendants at Southwest Airlines on Lengthy Flight Delays at Chicago’s Midway International Airport

I’m very proud of our flight attendants who did everything possible to make yesterday’s flight delays at Midway manageable for thousands of passengers.

Severe weather and a shortage of ground personnel in Chicago, some of whom could not safely get to the airport, forced the delay of many flights, despite management’s efforts to bring in additional staff from other locations not affected by the storm.

Many of our passengers and crews waited hours in cities such as San Diego and Salt Lake City before taking to the skies. In some cases, when they landed at Midway they were told they were 24th in line for a gate. Some flights were held for four hours on the tarmac in Chicago

Once the plane is released by the ground crews and the pilots are locked in the cockpit, it’s the flight attendants who are left with the responsibility of comforting customers who never expected nor should expect such delays like they endured yesterday.

It is part of the Southwest culture that flight attendants and management find ways to make the flying experience better. We understand that we do not have any control over weather, but we want to ensure that all steps are taken to minimize the impact of bad weather on our flight attendants and our customers. This week, our union will be at the bargaining table with management and we will look for solutions to improve the experience and recovery of the operation when we are faced with a similar situation in the future.

TWU Local 556 represents 11,000 flight attendants at Southwest Airlines. The Transport Workers Union of America represents 200,000 workers and retirees, primarily in commercial aviation, public transportation and passenger railroads and is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

[longship]

1. Fucking good for them.

R&K

On edit: Midway is an awesome airport.

It's like flying into LaGuardia in New York. Small and more personal. O'Hare is horrible. As is Kennedy in New York. As is LAX. My worst experiences in air travel were at LAX and O'Hare. I've only flown into Kennedy once. It took me a huge taxi fare to get where I wanted to go. At LaGuardia it was a bus and a subway ride, at the time less than a dollar.