Pilots' Union: Thousands Of Holiday Flights May Not Happen

A pilot's union warned Wednesday that thousands of American Airlines flights over the holidays may not happen because of a scheduling system glitch.

The Allied Pilots Association represents the pilots of American Airlines and is the largest independent pilots' union in the world, according to its website. In a message posted to alliedpilots.org, they revealed a failure within the pilot schedule bidding system:

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.

Today, management issued an update detailing the “significant holes” in the operation and unilaterally invoked a solution for crewing affected flights.

Management’s actions are in direct violation of your contract.

APA has responded by filing a Presidential Grievance (Carey Presidential Grievance No.17-187).

Because management unilaterally created their solution in violation of the contract, neither APA nor the contract can guarantee the promised payment of the premium being offered.

Important to note: By not including APA in developing collaborative solutions to this critical holiday scheduling failure, management’s actions contrast with their handling of previous scheduling failures involving other work groups. This stands in direct opposition to the company mantra of “Validating the Trust” and the stated goal of making culture a competitive advantage. Management’s actions likewise jeopardize any collaborative effort to ensure our passengers have a pilot crew to take them to their important holiday events.

This is a developing story.