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PITTSTON TWP. — Due to a scheduling glitch, there were no pilots assigned to fly thousands of American Airlines flights over a two-week holiday stretch, from Dec. 17-31.
But Carl Beardsley, executive director at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, doesn’t expect any impact on local travelers.
American Airlines is one of three carriers with flights into and out of the local airport. Once it became aware of the pilot problem, the company started working to avoid flight cancellations and has made significant progress.
“We are being told to expect business as usual,” said Beardsley.
American says only a few hundred of its late December flights remain without pilots, according to an Associated Press story. A spokesman said Thursday that pilots were picking up extra flights and the airline had more on-call pilots in December than during other months. He said American has not canceled any December flights.
The AP story said the pilots’ union estimated more than 15,000 flights lacked a captain, co-pilot or both when a problem was discovered in the company’s scheduling system. Pilots were allowed to take vacation days in the last two weeks of December even if there wasn’t another pilot available to operate the flight.
American declined to say how many flights were affected, but it has not disputed the union’s figures. The airline has about 15,000 pilots and roughly 200,000 flights scheduled during December.
Beardsley said the local airport has had minimum calls about the problem, which has gained wide media attention.
“American is working to remedy the situation,” Beardsley said. “Through their efforts, they have whittled it down to only a few hundred impacted flights out of the 200,000 flights American is expected to operate during the month of December. They continue to work to address the remaining impacted flights prior to Dec. 17.”
Meanwhile, AAA Mid-Atlantic is offering tips for local travelers who have American flights scheduled from mid to late December:
• American has not provided details on which specific flights are impacted. If travelers have flights booked with the airline within the Dec. 17-31 time frame, they should reach out to American for information. Until then, it’s a waiting game.
• If travelers have purchased travel insurance on an impacted flight, they should review their policies to better understand their coverage. Travel insurance is designed to offer protection against sudden and unforeseen events. Typically, travelers must have purchased the insurance prior to an event to receive benefits.
• If travelers booked the flight with a travel agent, they should reach out to the agent to remain informed and for assistance with any itinerary changes.