American Airlines scrambles to find pilots for '15,000 flights' after allowing too much time off over Christmas

A scheduling glitch has left American Airlines scrambling for pilots over the festive season
AP
Ella Wills30 November 2017

American Airlines is scrambling to find pilots for up to 15,000 flights after handing out too much time off over the Christmas holiday period.

Flights on the world's biggest airline have been left without a captain, co-pilot or both following a major scheduling glitch, according to the pilots' union.

The airline attempted to patch up the problem by offering pilots one and a half times their pay, a union spokesman told the New York Times, but the union has protested the decision.

American Airlines operates flights to London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, meaning Brits travelling to the US for the festive season could be affected by the error.

Thousands of passengers could be affected by the holiday scheduling error
AP

The software error allowed too many pilots to take time off between December 17 and December 31 from nearly a dozen airports, such as Dallas, Chicago and Miami.

Pilots were able to drop flying assignments, which they bid for based on seniority, even when there were no other pilots available for that flight.

Usually such requests would be denied, particularly during busy travel periods.

After thousands of cockpit seats were left empty, pilots were offered one and a half times their pay to cancel their plans and work the shifts.

American said it was working to "avoid cancellations this holiday season".

“We have reserve pilots to help cover flying in December, and we are paying pilots who pick up certain open trips 150 percent of their hourly rate – as much as we are allowed to pay them per the contract,” American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller told Reuters on Wednesday.

But the APA filed a grievance, accusing the airline of violating terms on overtime pay stated in its labour contract.

Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the union, said American was in "crisis".

“I‘m watching a ‘Grinch that stole Christmas’ thing happening. And we don’t want to see that happening for our passengers,” Mr Tajer said.

Nervous customers took to Twitter to share their upset at the news, seeking reassurance from the company as to whether their flights would be cancelled.

American Airlines is not the first to have experienced pilot scheduling issues.

UK airline Ryanair was forced to cancel thousands of flights in September due to a "mess up" over pilots' annual leave cancellation.

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