American Airlines Could Pay $10M Due To Schedule Flap

FORT WORTH, TX — After American Airlines reached a deal late last week to pay pilots double wages for working some short-staffed flights, a prominent airline analyst estimated the company will have to shell out about $10 million to fix the-scheduling mix-up.

American Airlines and the Allied Pilots Association — the union that represents the airline's pilots — agreed in principle to a deal that would allow the airline to maintain a full December schedule and avoid disrupting holiday travel plans. That agreement came after a scheduling glitch granted too many pilots vacation over Christmas and left thousands of flights without pilots.

Pilots were allowed to drop assignments even if no backups were available.

American Airlines declared in a statement that "if Santa is flying, so is American."

"Earlier this week, American Airlines shared that a processing error resulted in some concern as to whether our flights over the December holidays would have adequate pilot staffing," the statement said. "We are pleased to report that together, American and the Allied Pilots Association have put that worry to rest to make sure our flights will operate as scheduled.

On Monday, J.P. Morgan Chase analyst Jamie Baker estimated that American would have to pay about $10 million. American didn't comment immediately.

Baker said the settlement will deflect bad publicity and passenger concern over possible flight cancelations. He's even slightly raising his estimate of American's fourth-quarter earnings per share based on strong ticket demand.

Other analysts are downplaying impact of the mistake too. Helane Becker, of the financial services fir, Cowen & Co, criticized the pilots' union for publicizing the scheduling error.

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