PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of flights alongside the West Coast have been canceled Friday by Alaska Airways, the identical day that off-duty pilots picketed throughout an deadlock in contract negotiations with the airline which have lasted almost three years.
Greater than 100 Alaska Airways flights have been canceled by the airline, together with 66 in Seattle, 20 in Portland, Oregon, 10 in Los Angeles and 7 in San Francisco, in line with the flight monitoring web site flightaware.com. Pilots held a rally and picket line in all these cities, in line with a union web site.
Pilots with the Air Strains Pilots Affiliation additionally protested final week in New York Metropolis outdoors the airline’s Investor Relations Day in a precursor of Friday’s picket. These on the picket line Friday stated they have been off-duty and blamed the cancellations on Alaska.
The cancellations and picketing come as air journey rebounds to pre-pandemic ranges and demand is surging as many Individuals head off on spring break for long-delayed holidays. Pissed off vacationers vented on social media about botched trip plans and reported that there was as much as a 10-hour wait to talk with an airline consultant about rescheduling flights. Many stated they couldn’t fly out for a day or two.
Robyn Dold, of Battle Floor, Washington, had deliberate to fly to Missouri on Friday together with her husband, daughter and son-in-law to attend her father-in-law’s funeral. The household obtained an electronic mail from Alaska at midnight — six hours earlier than they have been to take off — that stated their flight was canceled.
Dold spent hours Friday on maintain with the airline, after which in line at Portland Worldwide Airport, solely to be taught Alaska couldn't get them to the funeral on time — and even to a metropolis inside 10 hours’ driving distance.
“We’d waft if it was a trip, however that is one thing that has a due date that we are able to’t change and it’s heartbreaking,” she stated in a cellphone interview. “My husband is beside himself. His father was his absolute best pal.”
Dold, who was to ship the eulogy, will as an alternative watch the funeral on a one-way livestream together with her husband from dwelling, she stated.
“What I feel actually irritates me essentially the most, truthfully, is that we weren’t given any notification forward of time that this was a chance. We may have made different preparations forward of time,’” stated Dold. “That’s what’s actually disappointing.”
Pilots have been in contract negotiations with the airline for almost three years and the 2 sides are at an deadlock.
The union says Alaska Airways didn't adequately put together for a return to air journey after the pandemic and didn’t take the mandatory steps to retain or appeal to pilots as demand bounced again. Points that also have to be resolved embrace job safety, work guidelines and quality-of-life provisions that present flexibility and cheap schedules, it stated in a press release, and the present pilot contract falls properly behind these at comparable airways in a number of key sections.
Alaska Airways stated Friday that it values its pilots and respects their proper to picket, but it surely additionally wants to barter a deal that permits the airline to take care of progress and profitability. Alaska Airways is working to get better $2.3 billion in losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, it stated in a press release.
The airline stated it at present affords aggressive salaries for its pilots. For instance, an Alaska Airways captain’s common wage is at present $341,000 per yr, the airline stated.
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Related Press videographer Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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