DALLAS (NewsNation) — Southwest Airlines Pilots Association members plan to stand out in front of company headquarters Thursday to demand a better work environment, including updating its operations to make sure there isn’t another system meltdown like last year.
The pilots will hold an informational picket while Southwest Airlines executives host the company’s “Southwest Airlines’ Culture Connection Event” at headquarters.
According to SWPA, Southwest is losing pilots on a daily basis to competing companies due to better pay and benefits. Pilots are demanding better pay and benefits on the next contract as well as improved operations.
Last year, more than 16,000 flights were canceled after the company’s scheduling system couldn’t bounce back from a winter storm.
Since then, Southwest has worked to update its infrastructure, technology and communication plans to make sure a similar situation doesn’t happen again.
The new changes are leaving some customers cautiously optimistic about flying Southwest for the holidays.
“With Southwest, we’ve seen a pretty comprehensive approach to fixing some of the issues they had last year. They’re working on modernizing their crew scheduling system, they’re hiring and training people to help with de-icing in hubs like Denver that are potentially impacted by winter weather,” David Slotnick, a senior airline business reporter with The Points Guy, said.
Plus, Slotnick said the airline is working to add staff to the places the company was vulnerable last year.
“The airline has been optimistic that it has things under control,” Slotnick said. “They’re gonna have a better year, and they’re not really going to be vulnerable to those kinds of issues again.”
Southwest says negotiations will continue with the pilot’s association and respects the employee’s right to demonstrate. The company just recently finalized a deal with the flight attendants’ union. It expects contract negotiations with the association to be wrapped up sometime next month.