On a go-forward basis, airlines could confront staffing issues by curtailing their future schedules. In extremis, make all tickets available on a same-day basis only.
Of course, that won’t work for the mlions of already-booked reservations that, in many cases, were purchased six months ago. Those simply will have to work their way out of the system…
Is there a lesson here? “Be careful what you ask for” comes to mind.