American Airlines, American Eagle cut hundreds of flights amid pilot sickouts

AP Graphics

(AP) DALLAS — American Airlines and American Eagle say they will cancel 300 flights this week to cope with a high number of pilots reporting sick and an increase in maintenance reports filed by crews.

That's 1.25 percent of the 24,000 flights that were scheduled by the two airlines, which are owned by AMR Corp.

The two airlines had already canceled 249 flights this week by Wednesday afternoon, a flight-tracking service said, suggesting that cancelations might far exceed American's estimate.

AMR said Wednesday that it canceled the flights in advance to avoid inconveniencing passengers. Earlier this week, American said it would cut its schedule through the end of October by up to 2 percent.

American has seen an increase in flight cancelations since early this month, when a federal bankruptcy judge allowed the company to impose new pay and work rules on pilots. The pilots had rejected the company's last contract offer in August.

Each day this week, American has canceled more flights than any U.S. airline, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.

By late Wednesday afternoon, American and Eagle had canceled 73 flights, more than the next five airlines combined. They canceled 104 flights on Tuesday and 72 flights on Monday, FlightAware said.

In a note to operations managers, American said it was telling frequent fliers why it's been experiencing cancelations and delays. It is letting customers fly standby for earlier flights at no extra charge, and giving crews more leeway to hand out light snacks to delayed passengers.

The company said it's also offering overtime and adjusting work schedules for reservations and airport employees, and is moving maintenance crews to where they are needed most.

AMR is trying to slash annual labor costs by about $1 billion as it reorganizes under bankruptcy protection. Eight of its nine union labor groups ratified cost-cutting contracts, with pilots the lone holdout.

[johnlocke2012]

I was one of those unlucky passengers on a flight from Dallas which was scheduled to leave 8:10 pm on September 28. Before boarding the aircraft, there was a delay due to a "maintenance" issue for 20 minutes. Once we boarded the aircraft, the pilot snidely advised there was a wet seat cushion which required attention before departing. 60 minutes later a maintenance person boarded the aircraft and replaced 1 seat cushion on a seat in an empty row in the rear of the aircraft. When the plane landed in Indianapolis at 12:00 am (now September 29) the pilot braked hard and often in an apparent attempt to cause premature brake wear. And to top the experience off, the pilots didn't even wait around to greet the passengers as we departed the plane.

[Think3Times]

It is letting customers fly standby for earlier flights at no extra charge,(and this is generous?) and giving crews more leeway to hand out light snacks to delayed passengers. (oh yay light snacks, you've been waiting for over 3-4 hours? here have a tiny bag of peanuts)

[formerlyluvnut]

I'll drive or just stay home. Family dinners always turn into an argument anyway.

[mgm819]

Management is selfish? The work force is demoralized? Every other work group, union and nonunion employees, made concessions in an effort to ensure the solvency of this company. The actions of 8000 pilots are jeapordizing the employment and livelihood of 80,000 fellow employees. Passengers are flocking to other carriers, and following "travel experts" advice to steer clear of American Airlines. Attention pilots: your actions are not hurting management. Like Gerard Arpey, they will move on to better, higher paying jobs if this company fails. You are hurting customers and fellow employees. It's time for you to get on board, and stop this childish nonsense. As for you, Hockyboy, the pilots were given a contract; a contract that was revised numerous times in hopes of reaching a consensual agreement. It was rejected.

[methow]

You have to blame who is at fault for what happened at a "once proud" airline. Look no further than Tom Horton who forced Arpey out and pushed AA into Chapter 11 with $5 billion in cash for two reasons: 1) to eliminate debt without having to pay creditors and 2) to eliminate labor contracts without having to negotiate them. Horton and company care not one wit about passengers, debtors or employees. Other airlines - Southwest, Delta... have same or higher costs, but they are smart enough to have a business plan that pays the bills and makes a profit. You can NOT blame employees for rejecting a cram-down contract that strips decades of quid-quo-pro bargaining for the simple motive of organizational greed.

[glion240]

Thank God people like mgm819 weren't running the Civil Rights Movement - or any other movement fighting for the rights of people. Grow a backbone, will you. Thankfully some of us still believe in standing up for dignity and respect. You think it's easy to get your pay cut twice in 9 years? What about working 20-22 days in a row, like some flight attendants because of salary cuts? It is obvious the only plight you are concerned with is will your flight leave on time. AA employees breathe air, make mortgage payments and pay college tuition too. They also get foreclosure notices. You should think about that the next time you board a plane. Employees deserve to treated fairly.

[starcorral]

American Airlines employees figure they are owed a better deal than the rest of us. Rather than tighten their belts, they rather squeeze the life out of their employer - as if that would somehow help them. I watched my investment in AMR go from enough to buy a nice car to enough to buy a nice TV. All the while it becme clearer that American Airlines simply can't afford to pay the extortion anymore. I have been flyiong AA exclusively.

American does have a moral crisis, but the employees and unions are the ones who chose to choke the golden goose.

[glion240]

starcorral: OUT OF TOUCH

[Hockeyboy18]

Give your pilots a contact .. You at AMR are a just IDOITS .. If you do not get you act together you will fail .. Hope all of you in Management at the top end up on the streets you selfish pig Bastards ...

[AApilot]

Unfortunately for AMR the sick rate of pilots is lower than historical levels. What one sees here is the expected result of a demoralized work force. Surprised? 11,000 layoff notices go out to mechanics, our maintenance being outsourced to China, lives disrupted. 60 years of job protections thrown out with the ruling of a judge who allows an airline management which lost 10 billion dollars and unabashedly took 300 million in performance bonuses to continue with a restructuring plan doomed to fail. Please, reporters, stop parroting the news releases from AMR and do some real reporting.

[Hockeyboy18]

You tell them... The Honey Badgers are out .. Way to go