American Airlines triples wages after failure leaves thousands of flights without pilots

American Airlines has agreed to pay its pilots triple their normal rate after a scheduling glitch left thousands of flights understaffed.

The problem with the scheduling program occurred early on Saturday morning and allowed the pilots to switch from commanding flights scheduled by the airline to being done by them.

The number of flights without one or both pilots needed quickly passed the 12,000 mark, according to the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the American pilots union, which employs about 13,000 APA members.

While the triple pay is a one-time gain for American pilots, the airline has also agreed to pay double the standing time for pilots flying on peak days, which often fall during holiday travel periods.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the APA and appreciate their partnership in reaching a speedy resolution to take care of our pilots, our staff and our customers,” the airline said in a statement.

The problem comes as American and other US carriers struggle to deal with a surge in flight cancellations due to staff shortages.

Until now, the entire airline industry has had to cancel thousands of flights in the US due to crew shortages. Often, these cancellations increased over holiday weekends, including Memorial Day, Father’s Day weekend, Juneteenth, and the Independence Day holiday.

There was also a flurry of cancellations during the Christmas and New Year holiday period last year.

The computer glitch caused its own set of problems for America’s largest airline. The FlightAware tracking service showed that nearly 200 US flights, or about 6% of their schedule, were canceled last Wednesday, and more than 800 flights, or about 26% of their scheduled, were delayed.

US spokesman Matt Miller said he did not know the cause of Wednesday’s canceled and delayed flights or how many were caused by scheduling confusion. But Dennis Tajer, an American pilot and union spokesperson, said it was clear the problems stemmed primarily from the failure to schedule.

Tajer added that negotiations between American’s new CEO Robert Isom and the pilots’ union leadership got things back to normal quickly.

“You already had a system under pressure without enough pilots,” Tajer said. “This IT failure would have caused problems for the month of July if nothing had been done. We are optimistic that Mr. Isom will see the value of working with us.”

Ed Sicher, president of the APA, said in a message to members that he hopes this agreement could be a stepping stone to reaching a new labor agreement for American pilots.

The union and airline had been negotiating a new contract since 2019, but efforts to reach a long-term agreement have been hampered by the pandemic. The pilots continue to work under the terms of a 2015 contract that was due to be renegotiated in 2020.