American flight cancellations on the rise: Who is to blame?
American has cancelled at least 570 flights in the past week, frustrating passengers around the country like Senator Marco Rubio who tweeted: "Every American flight I have been on this week has been at least two hours late or cancelled. This one already one hour delayed."
The bankrupt airline cancelled 105 flights Monday, but the company says 76 of those cancellations were pre-planned. Pilot sick leave may be partially to blame– it's up more than 20 percent this year as the airline and the union fight over benefits and working conditions.
OutFront tonight: George Hobica folows the industry as the president of Airfare Watchdog.American flight delays, cancellations soar
American Airlines and its pilots union blamed each other Monday for a surge in flight cancellations and delays tied to contract issues at the bankrupt carrier.
Flight tracking service FlightStats.com says 103 flights were canceled as of midday, the second highest one-day number of cancellations since problems at the airline began on Sept. 16. That brought the total number of flights canceled to 570, or about 3.5% of its total schedule.
Less than half of American's flights have been on time in the past eight days, according to FlightStats.
American, which said last week it would reduce its flights by 1-2% to deal with service problem, took issue with the cancellation number. Spokesman Bruce Hicks said many of Monday's grounded flights were scrubbed in advance.
Erin, do you think it is a little creepy that Dr McNeil's mistress looks a lot like his oldest daughter?