Travelers have been left wondering what to do, as American Airlines (AA) threatens to sue its pilots for what it said were frivolous maintenance requests and other tactics meant to delay flights. The pilots say they are not intentionally creating delays; but rather, addressing potentially dangerous maintenance problems. Delays and flight cancellations have spiked.
Denise Lynn, American Airlines senior vice president of people, wrote a letter to the pilots on Sept. 26 in which she said, “The conduct at issue is inflicting economic damage on the Company; it is frustrating and alienating our customers; and it is driving unnecessary work and significant stress for other employees.”
According to Lynn, pilots are causing delays by taxiing slowly on runways, devising circuitous routes, filing complex maintenance requests at the last minute, and performing unnecessary checks on aircraft. She asked the union to denounce the “unlawful” actions and apply discipline against any pilots who engage in it.
The airline is bankrupt, and has voided a 1983 contract with the pilots. The Dallas Morning News reported that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane on Sept. 4 rejected the pilot union’s request to block the airline from freezing pensions and changing health benefits.
A group of 130 pilots near retirement said in court papers that they will be “be irreparably harmed by the Debtors’ failure to comply with their contractual and statutory obligations to negotiate with them over the proposed modifications to existing benefit programs that will adversely affect pilots hired prior to Nov. 1, 1983.”
There is no official labor action, sickout, or slowdown, and the two parties are not yet negotiating.
Allied Pilots Union President Keith Wilson said that the airline has skimped on maintenance to a dangerous extent because of its financial troubles. “The list of unresolved maintenance issues grows every day on each of the aging aircraft we operate, and we can’t ignore serious maintenance issues that could easily turn into safety risks. Our pilots will not compromise safety, ever.”
Wilson did not address Lynn’s accusations of slow taxiing or circuitous routing. He listed examples of potentially dangerous issues pilots had reported recently, including brake problems, warning system failures, and fuel leaks.
With the pilots and the airline at an impasse, some are warning travelers to avoid the carrier. Kate Hanni, executive director of FlyersRights.org, sent an email to members that states, “Given the number of flight cancellations, coupled with AA’s (American Airlines’) bankruptcy proceedings and other critical issues, FlyersRights.org is recommending you book your flights on other air carriers.”
Hanni wrote that an airline normally has about 100 delayed flights each day, but American Airlines had 547 delayed flights on Sept. 22. “So far in September, the on-time arrival rate has dropped to 54 percent from 74 percent in August.”
Nearly 1,600 airline mechanics, service workers, and clerks have accepted early retirement incentives. The airline will release final numbers on Monday, after a 5-day period during which participants can change their minds. Layoffs will be fewer than the 4,000 first announced because so many workers plan to leave voluntarily. The departures will be staggered into 2013, according to the airline.
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