American Airlines, Pilots Reach Agreement To Avoid Thousands of Cancelled Flights Around Christmas
By Michael Bartiromo, Fox News // December 1, 2017
"In short, if Santa is flying, so is American"
ABOVE VIDEO: American Airlines computer glitch causes holiday pilot shortage.
(FOX NEWS) – American Airlines announced Friday that it had reached an agreement with its pilots union to avoid the cancellation of thousands of flights this holiday season that were left without cockpit crews due to a scheduling error.
“By working together, we can assure customers that among the many stresses of the season, worrying about a canceled flight won’t be one of them,” the airline said in a statement. “In short, if Santa is flying, so is American.”
According to the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the glitch had left more than 15,000 flights without a captain, co-pilot or both between Dec. 17 and Dec. 31 at dozens of airports.
The union blamed a “failure within the pilot schedule bidding system” that allowed too many pilots to request vacation during the same time period.
By Thursday, however, American Airlines had stated that the issue — which it called a clerical error, — was affecting “only a few hundred” flights. The airline further stated that they employ a large number of reserve pilots in December, many of whom will be filling in for “trips that are currently uncovered.”
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