While unions for flight attendants and ground workers accepted new cost-cutting measures this year,

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AA Bankruptcy , Allied Pilots Union , American Airlines , AMR , bruce hicks , canceled flights , cancelled flights , delayed flights , Flights money exchange business travel , flightstats , maintenance delays , Pilots , sick leave , sick time , Union
DALLAS (AP) — With American Airlines canceling dozens of flights every day, passengers with fall travel plans are confronting money exchange business travel an inconvenient question: money exchange business travel Should they avoid the nation s third-largest carrier because labor strife might cause delays and cancelations?
Several prominent travel gurus say it s too early to book away from American. They say the number of canceled flights is still small and that American can find room on other planes for displaced passengers.
The airline expects to cancel up to 2 percent of its total flights through the end of October because of a dispute with pilots. Even if passengers find other flights, it s a setback for American, which is struggling to reverse years of heavy losses.
American executives believe pilots are calling in sick and crews are slowing operations by filing huge numbers of maintenance reports to punish the company for imposing tough cost-cutting measures as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.
Bruce Hicks, a spokesman for parent company AMR Corp. blamed pilot sick leave, which he said is running 20 percent higher than a year ago. There has also been a significant increase in pilots calling in maintenance requests, often right before scheduled departure, he added.
Hicks said American has enough pilots and until recently had been posting its best on-time numbers in years. He said the airline was contacting passengers and giving them options such as letting them fly standby on earlier flights at no extra charge.
You can be sure it is happening already, said Crandall, who ran American for 13 years when the airline was known for innovations such as its frequent-flier program and for strikes by union employees. Every time the pilots pulled a job action, the public books away.
American has a long history money exchange business travel of poor labor relations. It endured strikes by flight attendants and pilots in the 1990s. Workers accepted pay cuts in 2003 to keep the company out of bankruptcy, then were enraged when hundreds of management employees received bonuses that for a few topped $1 million.
While unions for flight attendants and ground workers accepted new cost-cutting measures this year, the 8,000 members money exchange business travel of the Allied Pilots Association rejected the company s last contract offer. AMR answered by getting a federal bankruptcy judge s permission to impose new pay and work terms on the pilots that include cuts in benefits and more outsourcing of flying to other airlines.
Statistics provided to the union by American show that 564 pilots, or 7.5 percent, money exchange business travel called in sick Tuesday. That s the second-highest rate for the 18th day of each month over the past year, but the sick rate was at least 6 percent in nine other months. It peaked at 9.5 percent in October 2011.
The union blamed this week s cancelations on mechanical delays tied to American money exchange business travel s aging fleet — about 15 years on average, and even higher for the MD-80 planes money exchange business travel that make up the backbone of its domestic fleet. The union also said that American should have rehired more furloughed pilots.
Last September, a federal judge ordered the union for US Airways money exchange business travel pilots to stop disrupting the airline by making money exchange business travel sure flights were late. In 2008, a judge determined that United Airlines pilots carried out illegal sickouts and slowdowns and ordered them to stop.
American s pilot union was fined $45 million after a 1999 sickout over bringing in pilots from a low-cost airline that AMR bought. AMR and the union reached a settlement that reduced money exchange business travel the union s loss.
When people ask, Should I book away from American? I think about whether I d want my mom getting stranded at (the Dallas-Fort airport) because American canceled her flight home, said Tim Winship, who runs travel website FrequentFlier.com. I d tell her to go ahead and book the trip.
George Hobica, founder of airfarewatchdog.com and a frequent flier, predicted that American will soon fix the delays and cancelations. He said he s seen company employees trying extra hard to be nice and to help passengers who are bumped or otherwise inconvenienced.
[...] Airlines is doubling money exchange business travel down on accusations that recent on-time performance issues are pilot related. Is It Time To Avoid American Airlines?With American Airlines canceling dozens of flights every day, passengers with fall travel plans are [...]