An exasperated pilot instructed his passengers to “call your senator” as airlines continue to be hit with massive delays sparked by the historic government shutdown.
In the video posted to TikTok on Sunday, the unnamed Southwest Airlines pilot appeared outside the cockpit to level with passengers during what user gapster27 described as nothing short of a travel nightmare: “TSA took 2 hours… flight was delayed 2 hours… And now we will be sitting on the runway for 2 hours.”
“I don’t really care what your political persuasion is, but you should really call your senator,” the pilot said. “Because, I’ll tell ya, this is costing the airlines millions of dollars.”
He went on to describe that he had a six-hour delay out of Houston the day before, “and the weather was perfect!”
He added: “It was because the air traffic controllers aren’t getting paid.”
Read the pilot’s speech in full below:
I don’t really care what your political persuasion is, but you should really call your senator. Because, I’ll tell ya, this is costing the airlines millions of dollars. And just think of 30 airplanes with one engine running. It’s gonna take us at least 90 minutes to take off. So it’s frustrating. It’s really frustrating for me. Because right now, it’s gonna cost about two hours of our lives on the ground before we even take off, spend all that gas, all that money, and it just rolls into the rest of the system. So right now, we’re at a 4 percent reduction in flight capacity. Next week, we go to 10. Last night, I had a six-hour delay in Houston, and the weather was perfect! It’s because the air traffic controllers aren’t getting paid. So it’s a weekend.
On Monday morning, President Donald Trump unleashed on air traffic controllers who have taken time off during the government shutdown in a Truth Social rant, declaring he is “NOT HAPPY” with them.
As tensions mount at airports across America, there appears to be hope on the horizon, as eight senators have crossed party lines to join Republicans on a possible shutdown-ending deal.
The post WATCH: Exasperated Pilot Urges Flight Passengers to ‘Call Your Senator’ Amid Shutdown Delays first appeared on Mediaite.
