pilots

Tag Archives for pilots.

After American Airlines Pilot Sleeps In A Hotel’s Lobby, Pilots Told Not To Fly Without Confirmed Rooms

by Gary Leff on July 28, 2021

Jul 28 2021

Earlier I covered the American Airlines flight attendants who were stuck sleeping at the airport because they weren’t provided a hotel room for their layover. In it, I mentioned that the grievance filed by the flight attendants union indicated pilots were having similar problems with the airline’s accommodations (and ground transportation) providers.

American’s pilots also filed a grievance. While they don’t note pilots sleeping in airports, they do report a pilot sleeping in a hotel lobby because of lack of a room for the night.

American’s Pilot Scheduling System Seems To Be Making Flight Cancellations Worse

by Gary Leff on June 22, 2021

Jun 22 2021

American Airlines has been cancelling hundreds of flights a day for several days. They don’t have enough pilots, especially Boeing 737 pilots, to operate the schedule they published.

However it appears that the system American Airlines uses to try to find pilots to pick up overtime and crew open trips may be standing in the way of getting some of its pilots to cover trips.

American Airlines Operational Meltdown Getting Worse

by Gary Leff on June 20, 2021

Jun 20 2021

On Saturday morning I was first to cover the ongoing issue American Airlines is having mass-cancelling flights. They logged about 125 cancellations on Saturday after a big cancel day on Friday. That’s about five times as many flight cancellations as United Airlines and Delta combined.

Today is worse than yesterday with 176 cancels already. That’s nearly 50% more than Saturday. And there are already about 100 cancels on the books for Monday.

American Airlines Is Cancelling Scores Of Flights Due To Lack Of Pilots

by Gary Leff on June 19, 2021

Jun 19 2021

American Airlines has cancelled over 100 flights already today. The most common reason is ‘flight crew unavailable’. Many other flights show cancelled due to ‘operational decision’ which appears to be giving that flight’s pilots to another aircraft (in other words, also ‘flight crew unavailable’). In contrast, as of this writing United has cancelled eight flights today and Delta has cancelled two.

The issue appears to be concentrated on the Boeing 737 fleet. American’s schedule seems too big for the crew they have available, especially since they’re only midway through the process of bringing inactive pilots back online.

American Airlines Should Spend Government Payroll Subsidies On.. Payroll

by Gary Leff on February 27, 2021

Feb 27 2021

American Airlines is bringing 11 pilots back to work after furlough. They’ll start requalification training on March 2, 2021. All of them have received a WARN Act notice, letting them know they may be re-furloughed at the start of April.

One thing that’s boosted how much money American Airlines keeps for itself out of the second bailout is voluntary leaves. They’ve convinced employees to go on unpaid leaves. Many thought they would collect unemployment, understanding that American would not contest these claims.

JetBlue Pilots Reject Deal For American Airlines Partnership

by Gary Leff on February 16, 2021

Feb 16 2021

Pilots at JetBlue rejected an agreement with the airline that would have allowed them to move forward with their new American Airllines partnership. Ironically it’s probably JetBlue pilots who benefit most from this deal.

20 Years After The Merger, TWA Pilots Lose Lawsuit Against American Airlines (And Their Own Union)

by Gary Leff on February 6, 2021

Feb 06 2021

American Airlines acquired TWA in 2001. And since then former TWA employees have felt like they’ve gotten the short end of the stick. The most recent case involves ex-TWA pilots suing both American Airlines and its pilots union arguing that they conspired to strip these pilots of their senior in the airline’s 2011 bankruptcy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit threw out the suit.

Emirates Pilot Suspended For Refusing To Fly To Israel

by Gary Leff on January 13, 2021

Jan 13 2021

With the recent normalization of relations between Israel and both the U.A.E. and Bahrain, new airline flights have become possible. Dubai-based Emirates now even has a kosher kitchen, a result of its desire to fly Israeli passengers through its hub to the rest of the world.

This requires employees, though, to go along with the flights.

When The FDA Approves A Covid-19 Vaccine, Pilots Won’t Be Able To Take It

by Gary Leff on December 7, 2020

Dec 07 2020

When the FDA gives its initial approval for a Covid-19 it will not be full approval (emergency use) so the FAA will consider its use by pilots separately even if pilots are considered essential or frontline workers for jumping to the head of the queue for access.

United Airlines Will Start Giving Customer Upgrade Seats To Pilots Instead

by Gary Leff on October 7, 2020

Oct 07 2020

JP Morgan’s Jamie Baker writes in an investor note that the deal United Airlines struck with its pilots union to avoid 3000 furloughs includes giving the pilots first class seats that might have gone to customers as upgrades.