Over the summer, the high gas prices and widespread flight cancellations made many would-be vacationers reconsider their plans. Early in the summer, Father’s Day weekend gave us an example of the problem, since there were thousands of thousands of passengers stranded by flight cancellations.
At least those travelers ultimately reached their destination, except where delays caused passengers to miss a connecting flight and then be stuck overnight in an unfamiliar city. Hundreds of passengers were grounded at the Atlanta airport for more than 24 hours. One mother with an 11-month-old daughter was stranded without infant formula, which had gone with their checked bag to Omaha. The delays and cancellations continued into Monday, when more than 3,000 flights bound for or departing in the U.S. were delayed, while another 370 flights were canceled by 5 p.m. that day. All this came in just one weekend of summer travel.
Media stories fail to report the underlying reasons. The primary cause is not weather or similar routine disruptions, but ripple effects caused by vaccine mandates demanded by the Biden Administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress. The official story from Delta is that “A variety of factors continue to impact our operations, including challenges with air traffic control, weather, and unscheduled absences in some work groups.” Delta may have been the worst offender over Father’s Day weekend, but other airlines have had numerous cancellations at other times this year.
“Unscheduled absences in some work groups” is a euphemism for disruptions caused by vaccine mandates. Public opposition to Biden’s vaccine mandates is hurting his approval rating and harming Democrats’ chances of holding onto control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections. Like many Americans, pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers are saying “no” to vaccine mandates by not showing up for work, leaving travelers stranded at airports. Neither Biden nor any Democrat has been willing to admit, that just a few months from perhaps the biggest election of our lifetime, their vaccine mandates were a mistake.
