American Cancels Scores of Flights Due to ‘Sickout’

American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights the last three days of the year because of crew shortages caused by a pilots sickout, a spokeswoman said Monday.

The Allied Pilots Assn. has denied that there is any organized job action and has told its members to comply with a federal court order barring a slowdown.

American spokeswoman Mary O’Neill said 267 flights were canceled Monday because of crew shortages. A total of 364 flights were canceled because of insufficient crews over the weekend. Several hundred more flights were canceled because of bad weather.

American, the nation’s largest airline, schedules about 2,300 flights daily worldwide.

The number of flight cancellations jumped dramatically in the last days of the month as reserve pilots completed their allotted flying time. Federal law limits the number of hours that commercial pilots can fly each month.

“We’ve tried to cancel these flights in advance as much as possible and contact these passengers before they leave their homes and hotels,” O’Neill said. “We’re trying to place them on other American flights.”

With the start of a new month today, American will have more reserve crews available.