Fewer United Flights Canceled After Tentative Pact With Pilots

United Airlines canceled fewer flights Sunday after reaching a tentative labor pact with its pilots, but it could be some time before schedules are totally back to normal.

Chicago-based United and the Air Line Pilots Assn., which represents 10,000 of the carrier’s pilots, reached a tentative pact late Saturday after more than a year and a half of protracted talks and ahead of the Labor Day holiday this weekend. The pilots’ union master executive council will meet next week to consider the tentative deal.

Flight cancellations, which averaged 190 per day in August, dropped to 47 by midday Sunday, a United spokesman said. Of those, 22 were because crews were unavailable, 21 were for mechanical reasons and four were due to the weather.

United’s pilots have been working without a contract since April, and many have refused to work overtime, leading to thousands of flight delays and cancellations throughout the airline’s network and frustrating travelers during the peak summer travel months.

Even after the tentative deal, it is still a matter of individual choice whether pilots will work overtime, said a pilot union spokeswoman.