Toronto Star

American Airlines scrambles to staff holiday-rush flights

Airline is offering a boost to usual wages after error gave too many pilots time off

- MARY SCHLANGENS­TEIN

DALLAS— American Airlines is working to resolve a scheduling fault that gave time off to too many pilots in December, leaving some flights without enough crew during the holiday rush.

The glitch is causing staffing shortages on thousands of flights next month, the Allied Pilots Associatio­n (APA) — the union representi­ng the carrier’s aviators — said in a message to its members. American Airlines spokespers­on Matt Miller declined to quantify the potential number of flights involved, saying the airline expects to correct the problem and avoid cancellati­ons.

“We are working through this to make sure we take care of our pilots and get our customers to where they need to go over the holidays,” he said.

Miller said American is offering pilots 150 per cent of their normal hourly wage to pick up some of the flights — the top rate laid out in their contract. The APA has filed a grievance, saying the proposed solution violates its labour contract. The union wants input with American Airlines to find a solution that will motivate pilots to give up vacation they’ve already been granted after years of working over the holidays, said Dennis Tajer, an APA spokespers­on.

“This is certainly not routine,” Tajer said. “This is a crisis right now, and in that crisis, they’ve gone solo.”

The glitch caused the scheduling system to show that American had ample staffing for some planned flights when it actually didn’t, Miller said. American Airlines has made adjustment­s to the system and expects it to operate smoothly from now on. Flights that are scheduled without a captain, first officer — or both — originate from Dallas-Fort Worth Internatio­nal, American’s largest hub, as well as airports in Boston, Miami, New York, Philadelph­ia, Salt Lake City and Charlotte, N.C., according to a company memo to the union.

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