American Asks Pilots to Seek Overtime

American Airlines is asking pilots to volunteer for overtime because the nation’s largest carrier is worried about flight delays during the busy holiday season.

American is asking pilots to add flights -- at premium pay -- if they aren’t already scheduled for the maximum workload of 78 hours a month, set in a contract between the Fort Worth-based carrier and the pilots union.

The airline can change pilots’ schedules to fill its 3,800 daily flights but can’t force them to work more than the contract limit.

The request for volunteers is part of a contract reached last year between American and the Allied Pilots Assn.

Still, members of the union criticized American’s move, which comes after 2,600 pilot layoffs -- they’re called furloughs in the airline industry -- in the last three years.

“It’s just poor judgment on their part,” union spokesman Denis Breslin said. “It doesn’t make our furloughees very happy.”

American spokeswoman Sonja Whitemon said the airline had not used the provision since it was approved but reserved the right to do so during the holidays.

The airline and the union are battling over incidents in which pilots have called in sick but then used their flight benefits to travel. The company, a unit of AMR Corp., fired a pilot last week for allegedly abusing sick leave.