American Airlines pilots will receive three times their usual pay rate to man thousands of July flights that aviators were able to drop from their schedules because of a software glitch, the carrier’s union said Wednesday.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Allied Pilots Association Board of Directors and the airline reached the agreement days after the weekend glitch mistakenly approved pilots’ requests to drop up to 12,075 trips during the busy summer travel period. The carrier said it added most of the flights back to the pilots’ schedules within hours – a move that the union called a contract violation, the newspaper reported.
The airline said in a statement Wednesday that officials are “pleased to have reached an agreement with the APA and appreciate their partnership in coming to a resolution quickly to take care of our pilots, our team and our customers,” according to CNBC.
Meanwhile, APA Presdent Capt. Ed Sicher said pilots affected by the glitch should fly the reinstated trips now that an agreement is in place, the Journal reported.
The union tweeted that the agreement also ensures “permanent double pay for specific holiday periods.”
The APA Board of Directors has ratified an agreement that provides:
— Allied Pilots (@AlliedPilots) July 6, 2022
• Permanent double pay for specific holiday periods
• Permanent deletion of premium offset for sick hours used in the same month
• Triple pay to pilots who fly a July sequence affected by Saturday’s glitch pic.twitter.com/O1zSNTVnbq
©2022 Cox Media Group
