A system scheduling error has left thousands of American Airlines flights in December without scheduled pilots, the carrier's pilots union said as the airline heads into one of the busiest travel periods of the year. The Allied Pilots Association estimated that more than 15,000 flights from Dec. 17 to 31 were affected by a glitch in the system in which pilots bid for time off based on seniority. "Basically there's a crisis at American for manning the cockpits," Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, said on Wednesday. The system error was disclosed to pilots on Friday, the union said. In an email to employees, American had offered pilots the extra pay to work certain flights in the holiday period.

Source: CBC News November 29, 2017 20:11 UTC