Partisan Claims About Flight Cancellations Lack Evidence

Southwest Airlines’ flight cancellations fueled partisan claims over the weekend that transportation workers were protesting COVID-19 vaccine requirements and causing the cancellations. But there’s no evidence that workers staged protests. The Federal Aviation Administration, the airline and labor unions have all cited other reasons.

Southwest Airlines cancelled more than 2,500 flights between Friday, Oct. 8 and Tuesday, Oct. 12, the company told us in an email. Several factors led to the cancellations, which we’ll explain below.

Over the weekend, though, social media churned the company’s disarray into criticism of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19...