If you were scheduled to fly somewhere on American Airlines this past weekend, what we’re about to say might not come as a surprise. According to an article by Ben Schlappig at One Mile at a Time, American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights between Friday and Monday. “The phone hold times to speak to a reservations agent are many hours,” Schlappig wrote, “and I’ve heard of some very long lines at American Airlines customer service desks at airports.”
At a time when air travel is nominally on the rebound, this news comes as a sobering reminder of the challenges still facing airlines around the country — and around the world.
The article notes that one of two reasons was generally cited for the cancelations: either “operational decisions” or “flight crew unavailable.” Schlappig investigated this, and came up with a very plausible theory. “The cancelations seem to primarily be focused on the Boeing 737 fleet, which suggests that the crewing issues are related to pilots rather than flight attendants,” he wrote.
American canceling some of its flights wasn’t just confined to this weekend, either. The company recently announced that it would cut 1% of its flights in July, according to a report at Reuters. In a statement, the airline said that they “feel these schedule adjustments will help ensure we can take good care of our customers and team members and minimize surprises at the airport.”
American plans to make these changes to “flights in markets where we have multiple options for re-accommodation.” Hopefully, that will go more smoothly than this weekend’s alterations to flight schedules around the country.
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