(CBS) – Thousands of American Airlines flights set to depart during the holiday season have no pilot scheduled to fly the aircraft, the Allied Pilots Association announced Wednesday.
The union called it a “scheduling failure.”
“On Friday, management disclosed a failure within the pilot schedule bidding system. As a result, thousands of flights currently do not have pilots assigned to fly them during the upcoming critical holiday period,” the union stated.
A glitch in the scheduling system that allows employees to request time off based on seniority was responsible for the shortage of pilots for flights from Dec. 17-31, Reuters reported.
American Airlines has reportedly offered pilots extra pay to work certain flights in the busy holiday travel period.
However, the union filed a grievance, stating “management unilaterally created their solution in violation of the contract.”
“Management’s actions likewise jeopardize any collaborative effort to ensure our passengers have a pilot crew to take them to their important holiday events,” union officials stated.
American Airlines is the largest U.S. carrier.
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, Bloomberg News reports.
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2BmwNq8
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