American Airlines Pilots Forced To Sleep In Airports—Union Blasts Management As “Completely Unprepared” For Meltdown

American Airlines pilots have joined flight attendants in revealing they were forced to sleep in airports during last week’s meltdown, with their union blasting management as “completely unprepared,” despite clear warnings ahead of the storm.

As American Airlines cancelled nearly 10,000 flights during last week’s winter storm – a meltdown that was far deeper and that went on far longer than at any other airline, Chief Operating Officer David Seymour went public to argue that the airline’s technology worked, they recovered well, and they didn’t lose track of any of their crew. According to Seymour, no one was stuck sleeping in airports and they were able to stay in touch with front line employees to pair them with flights.

This despite his own CEO’s admission last Thursday that “throughout the rest of our system, some of our crewmembers didn’t have a place to stay last night.” Indeed, I’ve written about:

• Flight attendants sleeping in airports
  
• Unable to connect with crew scheduling, and being hung up on after about 12 hours on hold
  
• While the airline didn’t realize they hadn’t received their legally mandated overnight rest, so flights were cancelling with planes and pilots waiting and the wrong crew scheduled to work.

The plight of flight attendants during the storm was well documented. But the President of the airline’s pilot’s union lays out that the same thing was happening to his group, too. (HT: @JonNYC)

American Airlines pilots are in the midst of their annual meeting in Dallas, and the union president’s opening remarks earlier in the week laid this out:

For several days prior to Winter Storm Fern, forecasts warned of snow and ice blanketing the southern half of the country. The storm hit exactly as predicted — yet somehow the company was still caught completely unprepared.

As a result of management’s lack of preparation and ability to respond to events on the ground, our members were stranded away from their homes, slept in airports, and tried to get guidance from the Company only to be left on hold for five, six, seven hours or more, if they were able to make contact at all. …

[At company headquarters] crippling operational breakdowns are characterized as “another day in the life of the airline.

He calls out the airline’s financial performance, and how it hurts pilot pay – Delta is paying more profit sharing to pilots than what American Airlines earned in total last year.

The company under this management team appears to lack the tools, creativity, leadership, and willpower to return American to prominence among its peers.

…As I noted in my message last week, the lack of profit for our airline directly impacts our members. It creates a significant disparity in take-home pay while delivering substantial cost savings to management. By comparison, Delta will pay more than $500 million in profit sharing to their pilots this year — more than American’s full-year earnings.

At this meeting, pilots will consider whether to call for the removal of airline CEO Robert Isom. And the union President ended by relaying that he’s informed the officers of the airline that the group “stands ready to step into the role of ensuring the future of this airline.” Of course, leadership of the pilot group itself has not been without chaos.