Scheduling error just won’t fly
Airline in need of pilots
American Airlines said yesterday that it was working diligently to find pilots for an estimated 15,000plus flights during the peak holiday travel season after a scheduling system snafu gave too many pilots time off during December.
The Allied Pilots Association, a union representing some 15,000 American Airlines pilots, disclosed the scheduling “failure” that left flights — including some from Boston — without assigned pilots.
“Basically there’s a crisis at American for manning the cockpits,” APA spokesman Dennis Tajer said.
In a statement, American said it expects to avoid holiday flight cancellations.
“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,” the airline said. “We will work with the APA to take care of our pilots and ensure we get our customers to where they need to go.”
But the APA said it filed a grievance because American didn’t confer with it before making the premium pay offer, and the staffing solution allegedly violates the pilots’ contract.
American didn’t divulge how many flights were scheduled without a captain, co-pilot or both. The APA put the number at 15,000plus from Dec. 17 to Dec. 31.
But analyst Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, expects the number to be far fewer.
“It’s not a disaster yet,” he said, noting American at any time has more than 1,000 pilots on reserve. “And it’s very possible that some pilots … may opt to go back and take the trips they originally were supposed to fly,” he said.
The pay premium could result in top-paid pilots earning as much as $300 to $350 per hour, according to Harteveldt. “That’s pretty compelling,” he said.