MUST READ if you're flying American Airlines in the near future

The Crisis Assessment Team has been made aware of the following incident:

Flight Disruptions-American Airlines

Incident Description:

· American Airlines (AA) and American Eagle Airlines (MQ) have cancelled more than 300 flights since September 16, 2012 apparently due an ongoing labor dispute with pilots

· Pilots have increasingly called in sick, leaving the carrier short-staffed, and been filing a higher-than-normal number of maintenance requests, which has taken aircraft out of service and contributed to flight delays

· The union representing AA pilots has denied involvement in the matter

· More flight disruptions will occur over the coming weeks if the airline carries out a plan to reduce its overall flight load by 1-2 percent through October in response to the current situation

· Predicting when and where these cancellations may occur is impossible in advance, although many flights to and from the carrier's main hubs, including Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), have already been affected

· Disruptions have occurred on both domestic and international routes

· American Airlines has posted an advisory for this event

Projected Impact to Travel:

· Possible flight delays/cancellations

What is the Crisis Assessment Team? Source?

Add to that the notices that AA sent to 11,000 employees yesterday noting that the may lose their jobs due to a reorganization in November and December, and you can see it's going to be ugly. American said, however, that they probably will only lay off about 4500 people (in part because of the number of voluntary resignations/retirements) and flight cancellations, but doesn't look great.

What is the Crisis Assessment Team? Source?

It's all over the news. Just go to google and type in "American airlines layoffs and flight cancellations" and you'll get a tons of stories you can read through.

THere is a thread on the Carnival boards about this subject

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1708912

American is in a mess. I would steer clear of this airline until they get things turned around.

Has RCCL bought American Airlines? ....

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g1-i12084-SeatGuru.html

Has RCCL bought American Airlines? ....

 

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g1-i12084-SeatGuru.html

No. Why do you think they have, or would want to? What is the tripadvisor link for?

I am an AA frequent flier (Executive Platinum) and have already been impacted by this twice. On Sunday, I had to be rerouted while trying to get from Kansas City to Washington DC. It was due to a maintenance issue that really should not have been an issue. The flight ended up leaving Kansas City about 6 hours late.

On Tuesday, I noticed my Friday flight back (DFW-MCI) had already been cancelled. Even as the highest level of AA frequent flier, re-booking 3 1/2 days ahead, they couldn't get me out Friday night and instead are putting me up in a hotel and out on Saturday morning. So, this is very real.

Add to that the fact that I am supposed to make the same trip in a few weeks and have already decided not to risk it, cancelled, and re-booked with Frontier.

I'm very loyal to AA, but am not risking it. In reality, a very small percentage of flights is being impacted...but it's still too high in my mind.

No. Why do you think they have, or would want to? What is the tripadvisor link for?

This thread was on the RCCL forum. I was in a creative way pointing out that this has nothing to do in that part of CC. And now, it is moved. The link is to a place where this topic would suit better:)

I have a flight booked at the end of October from Vancouver to Miami on Alaska Airlines and the second leg from LAX to MIA is Alaska Air "operated by" American Airlines. So I assume for that second leg I could be affected by these slowdowns/flight cancellations? Would it be Alaska Air that would try to find space on another flight if indeed there was a cancellation or would I be dealing with AA?

Since apparently insurance won't cover this, I'm thinking I should have a plan B....

Andrea

:( This is not good news. :( We're booked on AA Oct 16 YYZ-DFW-HNL :(

We're leaving (hopefully!) 4 days pre-cruise so I hope that is enough time to get us there, one way or another. My daughter is leaving on same flight #s 2 days later, Oct 18, 2 days before the cruise.

Fingers crossed we all make it to HNL before the ship departs Oct 20th - I don't care so much if we are delayed on our homeward journey :)

:( This is not good news. :( We're booked on AA Oct 16 YYZ-DFW-HNL :(

 

We're leaving (hopefully!) 4 days pre-cruise so I hope that is enough time to get us there, one way or another. My daughter is leaving on same flight #s 2 days later, Oct 18, 2 days before the cruise.

 

Fingers crossed we all make it to HNL before the ship departs Oct 20th - I don't care so much if we are delayed on our homeward journey :)

Still looks like the overwhelming majority of flights aren't being affected. Obviously good idea to keep tabs of flights and any alerts (not just rely on e-mails from AA), and get to the airport early in case there's rerouting. Things may get worse, but at this point it doesn't look like things are a mess yet (a very subjetive term, of course).

Scary!!! We fly COS-DFW-ORD-ROM for our Azamara cruise at the end of Oct. With all the stress of getting the flts with enough time between several months ago (Choice Air) now this to worry about!!!

I am an AA frequent flier (Executive Platinum) and have already been impacted by this twice. On Sunday, I had to be rerouted while trying to get from Kansas City to Washington DC. It was due to a maintenance issue that really should not have been an issue. The flight ended up leaving Kansas City about 6 hours late.

 

On Tuesday, I noticed my Friday flight back (DFW-MCI) had already been cancelled. Even as the highest level of AA frequent flier, re-booking 3 1/2 days ahead, they couldn't get me out Friday night and instead are putting me up in a hotel and out on Saturday morning. So, this is very real.

 

Add to that the fact that I am supposed to make the same trip in a few weeks and have already decided not to risk it, cancelled, and re-booked with Frontier.

 

I'm very loyal to AA, but am not risking it. In reality, a very small percentage of flights is being impacted...but it's still too high in my mind.

So far, none of our flights have been impacted. And most of the havoc is at DFW. Non DFW connecting flights shouldn't be impacted too badly.

The pilots are a bunch of sniveling babies and I do not feel the least bit sorry for them. They are causing havoc because they are BELIEVING the crap USAPA (US Air's own pilot union) is putting out. This is the same kind of job action that US Air/AmWest competing unions participated in in 2011, causing havoc at US Air with scheduling and cancellations. I don't believe a word the unions say about they have nothing to do with it. They have EVERYTHING to do with it.

This is also the same competing union crap that hooked the America West pilots to back the merger who found themselves on the VERY short end of the stick when the merger between US and AmWest was completed. This is still being fought out in the courts with various injunctions and lawsuits. Now the Teamsters are trying to get involved. US Air's union (USAPA) is ONLY looking out for US Air pilots (the "East" pilots) and everyone else can go hang. AmWest pilots ended up at the bottom of the barrel in many respects.

We will keep our full schedule of AA flights (most transcons out of LA to JFK). Our NYC to MCI flights may get a little iffy. We'll deal-we're in the transportation business where NOTHING is ever for certain.

So far, none of our flights have been impacted. And most of the havoc is at DFW. Non DFW connecting flights shouldn't be impacted too badly.

 

The pilots are a bunch of sniveling babies and I do not feel the least bit sorry for them. They are causing havoc because they are BELIEVING the crap USAPA (US Air's own pilot union) is putting out. This is the same kind of job action that US Air/AmWest competing unions participated in in 2011, causing havoc at US Air with scheduling and cancellations. I don't believe a word the unions say about they have nothing to do with it. They have EVERYTHING to do with it.

 

This is also the same competing union crap that hooked the America West pilots to back the merger who found themselves on the VERY short end of the stick when the merger between US and AmWest was completed. This is still being fought out in the courts with various injunctions and lawsuits. Now the Teamsters are trying to get involved. US Air's union (USAPA) is ONLY looking out for US Air pilots (the "East" pilots) and everyone else can go hang. AmWest pilots ended up at the bottom of the barrel in many respects.

 

We will keep our full schedule of AA flights (most transcons out of LA to JFK). Our NYC to MCI flights may get a little iffy. We'll deal-we're in the transportation business where NOTHING is ever for certain.

the pilots are in a very good bargaining position right right now. there's a worldwide shortage of them.

Still looks like the overwhelming majority of flights aren't being affected. Obviously good idea to keep tabs of flights and any alerts (not just rely on e-mails from AA), and get to the airport early in case there's rerouting. Things may get worse, but at this point it doesn't look like things are a mess yet (a very subjetive term, of course).

Checking the flights daily on aa.com ;)

We are on the 6:59am from YYZ so will be at the airport by 4am-4:30am. With a 45 min drive from home to airport, if we have to be there much earlier we may as well go the night before :eek: , but will that be a benefit :confused:

the pilots are in a very good bargaining position right right now. there's a worldwide shortage of them.

Only overseas. A lot of USA pilots, with all the mergers and capacity reduction, are hard pressed to maintain their jobs at previous levels (and I don't mean just money-I mean actually having a job).

There are a lot of USA pilots flying for foreign airlines now just because they were edged out of their USA jobs. My part time neighbor, furloughed in the United merger, flies for Gulf Air.

The AA pilots put themselves in a very crappy position with this action. If they help take down AA and force the merger with US Air, they will have put themselves in the same bottom of the barrel spot as the AmWest pilots did. Oh, what fools they were.

And what so many seem to miss in all the rah, rah for the pilots-AA was the ONLY airline up until now who did not shuffle off their pension funding liability to the US government. What will happen now with the bankruptcy is yet to be seen. But the other airlines who filed bankruptcy divested BILLIONS in under/unfunded pension liability during bankruptcy and put that obligation squarely on the shoulders of the US taxpayer. Doug Parker, CEO of US Air, knows full well just how valuable dumping those employee pensions onto US taxpayers is. He was brought in as CFO when AmWest was negotiating it's way out of bankruptcy.

Then he oversaw the merger of AmWest and US Air. US Air was in bankruptcy when the merger talks began. And a large part of those merger talks were DUMP all pension liability to the government.

Anyone who roots for the pilots/FA/other union employees and encourages a merger between US Air and AA might as well just send money to those employees. Their pensions will be coming out of YOUR taxpayer dollars.

Only overseas. A lot of USA pilots, with all the mergers and capacity reduction, are hard pressed to maintain their jobs at previous levels (and I don't mean just money-I mean actually having a job).

 

There are a lot of USA pilots flying for foreign airlines now just because they were edged out of their USA jobs. My part time neighbor, furloughed in the United merger, flies for Gulf Air.

 

The AA pilots put themselves in a very crappy position with this action. If they help take down AA and force the merger with US Air, they will have put themselves in the same bottom of the barrel spot as the AmWest pilots did. Oh, what fools they were.

 

And what so many seem to miss in all the rah, rah for the pilots-AA was the ONLY airline up until now who did not shuffle off their pension funding liability to the US government. What will happen now with the bankruptcy is yet to be seen. But the other airlines who filed bankruptcy divested BILLIONS in under/unfunded pension liability during bankruptcy and put that obligation squarely on the shoulders of the US taxpayer. Doug Parker, CEO of US Air, knows full well just how valuable dumping those employee pensions onto US taxpayers is. He was brought in as CFO when AmWest was negotiating it's way out of bankruptcy.

 

Then he oversaw the merger of AmWest and US Air. US Air was in bankruptcy when the merger talks began. And a large part of those merger talks were DUMP all pension liability to the government.

 

Anyone who roots for the pilots/FA/other union employees and encourages a merger between US Air and AA might as well just send money to those employees. Their pensions will be coming out of YOUR taxpayer dollars.

GreAt Am I agree with you. The pilots dont seem to realize is that if AA gives up the pension, the Pension Benifit Guarantee Corp, will only pay the upper limit of about $48k per yea. These people currently count on $150k plus retirement package. I say let the pilots join the 47%.

This is exactly why allow myself always at least 1 day at the port of departure when I fly in. Things would need to go extremely bad before I'd miss the cruise. However, this bothers me a little bit to read, as I have a domestic connection with AA coming from a TATL flight with BA. Fingers crossed, not just for me, but for everyone involved and specially my colleagues at AA. Wouldn't want to go through the thing they are now...

I am SO glad I'm not flying right now and have no plans to in the near future. If I hadn't changed jobs earlier this month, I'd be in Zurich right now on business and DH would be scheduled to meet me in Paris in late October, with both of us then flying home together on AA. Fortunately, DH was booked using miles and it was easily undone.

I was reading a Frequent Flyer board this AM and one person reported that the "mechanical" that delayed his flight was a burnt-out light bulb in the cockpit. I've said it before in these situations and I'll say it again: I was once with small, struggling consulting firm. Our compensation went from salaried to a % of what we billed and collected from client work. In my case, there was a max that was less than my old salary. They did keep the benefits. I suppose that, given the significant change in my compensation I could have taken it out on the clients- being late with projects, not returning calls, etc. If I had, I would have been canned and would have deserved it. Instead, all of us worked twice as hard to keep and satisfy the clients we had.

Oh, yeah, I just remembered. We didn't have a union.:rolleyes:

Just went to AA.com to check flight pricing. They have pulled all flights except for 3 leaving from LAX to DFW and from DFW to San Juan on Dec 1st. I'm already booked but my flight and all those before and after mine are gone. I called and the agent @ AA and she said that my flights have not been canceled and that she could see the other flights. I tried Expedia and they don't show there either. They aren't available for anyone to book. I'm scared. Anyone have any insight?

My bet is they closed the bookings on the flight because it will be full (most likely overbooked) because they cancelled the other flights. So they need to get everyone to the destination with less flights. So, be well on time for checking in or you might ending in getting bumped of the flight. She could probably see the flights because they still exist in the computer, although they are just fictive right now.

Just off the phone with AA re: current booking for Oct. asked 2 q's

When will the flights effected by the 2% cutback publizied be "announced" or travelers notified- answer: unknow, they are still working on Sept. cancels. Second q- how does the "pecking list" work for canceled flights for passengers getting re-accomodated- answer, none, no order given, which I think their computer really must have an order to it. Did not get a do not worry we wil get you to your destination. Have been having a migraine over our Cruise next month, if we don't get there we don't go, cannot board other than start (Quebec). Think I may need to bite the bullet and re-book, another airlines , orig was using FF miles first class. Will stew for 24 more hrs. before making decision!

They are going to lose a lot of customer this week. As they are already in a hard financial situation, things might not turn out in a good way for them. I don't think flight from major airports are going to be hit tremendously, but indeed less big might become a problem. DFW, MSP, PHX just to name a few.

This might turn out 2 ways. Either they lose a lot of their flyers and it's all going down hill from here. Or they struggle through it and will come out as a stronger, more service focused airline (which they will need to stand up against all the bad publicity now).

At this moment, I am not too worried about my JFK-FLL flight, but my outbound FLL-ORD flight is baring me some concerns although both are major AA airports...

I'm trying not too think about it too much. Untill I get an e-mail, I'm going to assume everything's all roses and moonshine.