American Airlines pilots union rejects holiday bonuses, demands permanent schedule changes

The American Airlines pilots union has rejected the company’s offer of holiday bonuses, demanding more permanent schedule changes. 

“The APA Board of Directors unanimously rejected a Letter of Agreement that offered incentive pay for peak-period days around the holidays,” the Allied Pilots Association (APA) said in a statement Tuesday. “The Board concluded that meaningful permanent improvements in a new contract must remain APA’s focus.”

APA’s board of directors voted against the proposed premium pay of at least 150 percent and double pay for picking up open holiday trips, saying that it wants more permanent changes on how the airline carrier builds its schedule.

The APA Board of Directors unanimously rejected a Letter of Agreement that offered incentive pay for peak-period days around the holidays. The Board concluded that meaningful permanent improvements in a new contract must remain APA’s focus. Read more at https://t.co/CR04iZ2alt. pic.twitter.com/NcirozHc9z

— Allied Pilots (@AlliedPilots) November 10, 2021

The pilots union has also complained that the airline schedules too many flights, leaving little margin for error and shared difficulty in dropping or picking up trips, according to CNBC.

Furthermore, the APA has alleged that crew members face a lack of hotel rooms and transportation during summer schedules, CNBC reported. 

American Airlines has reached deals with flight attendants, paying 150 percent more to those who make trips between Nov. 23 and Nov. 29 and Dec. 22 and Jan. 2, as well as those who have a perfect attendance record through mid-November and January. 

American Airlines, which employs more than 100,000 workers, is also offering $1,000 bonuses to ramp workers, mechanics, dispatchers and staff at various owned subsidiary airlines. 

American Airlines’s senior vice president of flight operations Kimbell Stone told CNBC the airline is “disappointed” in the union’s rejection of its proposal. 

“But we will continue to look for opportunities to work with APA to support you during the holidays, as well as explore our options to maximize availability of existing premiums” under the collective bargaining agreement,” Stone said in a written statement. 

American Airlines had canceled more than 2,000 flights in the past two months due to bad weather and staffing shortages, CNBC noted.