Omicron virus and unruly passengers deter U.S. airline staff from holiday overtime

U.S. airline cabin crew, pilots and support staff are reluctant to work overtime during the holiday travel season despite being lured with hefty financial incentives because of the growing fear of contracting COVID-19 and the prospect of dealing with unruly passengers, three airline unions said.

That reluctance, combined with bad weather and tight staffing at pandemic-battered airlines, led to massive flight cancellations over the past week, the unions said. The issues will likely result in more strain in the weeks ahead as the spread of the Omicron variant accelerates, reported reuter.com.

“We have negotiated holiday incentives to help with operational challenges, but there’s only so far you can stretch people,” Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), representing 50,000 flight attendants at 17 airlines, said in a statement.

In the months leading up to the holidays, airlines were wooing employees to ensure solid staffing, after furloughing or laying off thousands over the last 18 months as the pandemic crippled the industry.

The airline sector is also feeling added pressure as employment numbers still trail pre-pandemic levels, but the total hours worked by fewer staff has almost fully rebounded.

The industry was hopeful that staff would pick up overtime to fly a record number of passengers since the pandemic began, according to the AFA.

But the fast-spreading Omicron variant, which is leading to unprecedented COVID-19 cases in the U.S., has caused staff to re-think workloads. On Thursday, over 1,200 flights were canceled within, into, or out of the United States as of 3:29 p.m. ET, data from flight-tracking website FlightAware.com showed.

United Airlines said the nationwide spike in Omicron cases has had a direct impact on its operations. Southwest Airlines Co said it had yet to see any impact on its operations.

JetBlue Airways Corp said it was cutting its schedule through Jan. 13 by about 1,280 flights due to crew members getting sick.

Delta Air Lines Inc said incentive pay is being offered to flight crews but did not elaborate further.

American Airlines Group Inc, Alaska Air Group Inc, Spirit Airlines Inc, Skywest Inc and Hawaiian Holdings Inc did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Thursday that an increasing number of agency employees had tested positive for COVID-19.

“To maintain safety, traffic volume at some facilities could be reduced, which might result in delays during busy periods,” an FAA spokesperson said.

Violent skirmishes between passengers and flight crew have also hit a record high this year, prompting U.S. regulators to crack down harder. The FAA in early November said it had referred more than three dozen unruly passengers to the FBI for potential criminal prosecution.

The Air Line Pilot’s Association, Int’l representing Delta pilots said resolving scheduling issues will be a priority when the union returns to contract negotiations with the airline in January 2022.