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Thousands of American Airlines flights during the upcoming holiday season don’t have assigned pilots due to a glitch in the pilot-scheduling system.
The Allied Pilots Association, the union representing American’s pilots, said that the scheduling deficiency was caused by a problem in American’s pilot-bidding system, in which pilots submit their scheduling preferences.
American Airlines said it expects to avoid cancellations during the holiday season though the use of reserve pilots and by paying pilots who pick up designated open trips 150% of their hourly rate.
“We will work with the APA to take care of our pilots and ensure we get our customers to where they need to go over the holidays,” the carrier said.
In a notice to members that it called “Holiday Scheduling Failure,” the APA said American management had “unilaterally invoked a solution for crewing affected flights,” thereby violating its labor contract with pilots.
American declined to answer questions about the cause of the glitch and precisely how many flights are impacted.
Source: travelweekly.com
