Southwest and other airlines have not released statistics on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths among flight crews. However, vaccinated people who have breakthrough infections are much less likely to get severely sick or die. "Out of respect for the family, we do not have additional information to share."ĬOVID-19 vaccines are highly effective, but they’re not 100% effective in preventing infection. A small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated will still get COVID-19 if they're exposed to the virus that causes it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We are heartbroken over the loss of our Southwest employee," King said in a statement. Shepperson's mother said the airline reached out to her, and Hildreth said Southwest contacted her after Shepperson's death and pulled her from a work trip, so she could fly home to Las Vegas Wednesday. Southwest spokesman Brandy King confirmed a Las Vegas-based employee died Tuesday but declined to provide details. "I didn't have time to really even acknowledge what is going on. "It hurt me so bad because it was just so quick," Dawn Shepperson said.
Shepperson, 36, was fully vaccinated, his mother and Hildreth said. He loved to fly and took every precaution, wearing a mask, constantly washing his hands, sanitizing surfaces and wiping everything down in hotel rooms, Hildreth said. He was on a ventilator and died early Tuesday, his mother, Dawn Shepperson, told USA TODAY. Maurice "Reggie" Shepperson, a native New Yorker whose brightly colored pants earned him the nickname Skittles during training in 2014, tested positive for the coronavirus in early July and had been fighting it in a hospital for a month, according to Marcia Hildreth, a Southwest flight attendant who called him her best friend.
With flight attendants already spread too thin, unions want to see schedule reductions, not more flight added, since there are not enough flight attendants to work them.Stop adding additional pairings into the system.With staffing limited and pressure high, flight attendants feel compelled to come in even if they are feeling ill.
#SWA FLIGHT ATTENDANT VERIFICATION#
Southwest has been operating under a self-imposed state of emergency since the pandemic began, which limits the ability for flight attendants to call in sick (it is much more difficult because additional verification is required and employees face sanction for too many sick days).Immediately terminate Southwest’s use of “Emergency Sick Call Procedures”.In order to remedy the grievances, the union is calling for a number of concrete steps: And all of us are trying to keep the jobs we love, keep our Customers happy, and keep our carrier in the air. Many of us are making choices that can have grave impact to our jobs, our Customers and our Company.
Some of us – far too many of us – are sick. TWU Local 556, which represents 15,000 Southwest flight attendants, sent a letter to Southwest CEO Gary Kelly outlining a number of grievances:įlight Attendants are weary, exhausted, frustrated and forgotten. At Breaking Point, Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants Claim To Be “Weary, Exhausted, Frustrated and Forgotten” Southwest Airlines flight attendants claim they have reached a “breaking point” and are asking Southwest to stop using “emergency” grounds to deny benefits and increase workloads.
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