According to several news outlets, a reported 15,000 American Airlines flights during the busy holiday travel season do not currently have pilots assigned to them.
The issue was apparently caused by a computer glitch with the scheduling system which allowed too many pilots to book time off between December 17 and 31, 2017. The glitch showed that flights were covered when in actuality, they were not.
The Dallas News has reported that American Airlines is offering their pilots 150 percent of their regular hourly pay to fly the planes, but flights are in jeopardy of being cancelled as the union has stated that this solution would violate their labor agreement.
“Flights that are scheduled without a captain, first officer or both originate from Dallas-Fort Worth International, American’s largest hub, and airports in Boston, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, and Charlotte, North Carolina, according to a company memo to the union.”
American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said:
“We are working through this to make sure we take care of our pilots and get our customers to where they need to go over the holidays.”
We’ll keep you posted as we hear any updates on the situation, but if you’re flying via American Airlines during the holidays, you may want to keep close tabs on your flight status.
News Source: Dallas News
Image Source: American Airlines
