Read this if you're flying to USA this Christmas
If you’re flying to the USA with American Airlines this holiday season, you might want to reconsider your travel plans. Thanks to a system scheduling error, thousands of American Airlines flights in December do not have pilots scheduled to work, the carrier’s pilots union told Reuters.
Because of a glitch in the system that allows pilots to bid for time off based on seniority, more than 15,000 flights between December 17-31 don’t have pilots assigned to them yet, per the Allied Pilots Association union.
"Basically there’s a crisis at American for manning the cockpits", Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, told Reuters.
The pilots were informed on Friday of the issue and American has offered them extra pay to work the affected flights during the busy holiday travel season. However, the union has filed a grievance against the airline’s management saying that the restrictions on overtime pay violated the group’s contract. As of today, the union says they have not resolved the shortage.
BREAKING: American Airlines says computer glitch allowed all pilots to take vacation over Christmas week. Now union says thousands of flights are in jeopardy of cancellation. Americans says they’re offering 1.5x pay for pilots to fill in and expect to resolve the issue.
- Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) November 29, 2017
After a tweet from ABC7’s Sam Sweeney about the pilot shortage went viral on Wednesday, concerned customers who are booked to fly over the holidays on the airline bombarded the airline with questions as to whether their flights would be cancelled.
We're working diligently to address the issue and expect to avoid cancellations this holiday season, Adrienne.
- American Airlines (@AmericanAir) November 29, 2017
The airline responded to one customer, saying that they are "working diligently to address the issue and expect to avoid cancellations this holiday season."
Check your flight details if you're flying to the USA, people.
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