A glitch in the American Airlines scheduling platform reportedly allowed pilots to drop thousands of trips due to delays and cancellations of Fourth of July travel plans across the country.
CNBC reported on Saturday that more than 12,000 July flights were without a captain, first officer, or both, because pilots were unable to drop assignments due to a glitch in the scheduling platform.
The situation caused uncertainty for passengers and pilots, and now thousands of flights don't have pilots assigned to them, according to Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines captain and spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association. The airline is reportedly suspending the service.
We understand these are important tools for our pilots and are working quickly as possible. As we learn more, we will provide updates throughout the day. American Airlines emailed pilots on Saturday.
American Airlines did not believe that the glitch would have any operational impact, according to a statement to Fox News Digital. The statement said that our pilot trip trading system experienced a technical issue. As a result of this technical glitch, certain trip trading transactions were able to be processed when they shouldn't have been permitted. The vast majority of the affected trips have been restored and we do not anticipate any operational impact because of this issue. The glitch comes as thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled already during the holiday weekend as airlines struggle with staff shortages.
More than 7,100 flights into, out of and across the United States were delayed and another 535 were canceled Friday.
Thousands of flights have been disrupted over the past week, even after carriers cut 15% of the flights they planned for over the peak summer months — June through August — to make the remaining flights more reliable, according to Nicholas Calio, CEO of Airlines for America.