American Airlines pilots plan protest

Union to picket at airports, client company offices

American Airlines pilots' protest against what they call the carrier's poor performance comes just days after the carrier grounded all 300 of its Boeing MD-80 aircraft for safety reinspections and canceled more than 3,100 flights last week. (Ric Francis/Associated Press)

To call attention to what they say is American Airlines Inc.'s poor performance, hundreds of the carrier's pilots plan to protest today at key airports and some of the airline's shareholders' or corporate clients' headquarters in nine cities - including in Boston at Logan Airport and Fidelity Investments.

The pilots union, Allied Pilots Association, which is in the midst of contract negotiations with American, said it expects 30 to 50 protesters at each site between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Pilots will pass out leaflets urging passengers to share their travel woes at a recently launched website, tellyouraa story.com. The union said the protest will not disrupt flights.

The campaign to stir up public ire has been in the works since February, but comes just days after American grounded all 300 of its Boeing MD-80 aircraft for safety reinspections. As a result, it was forced to cancel more than 3,100 flights last week, inconveniencing 311,500 passengers. The demonstrations also will take place the day before AMR Corp., the airline's parent company, reports first-quarter earnings.

"We've had some management shortcomings over the last week and much longer than that regarding the way they're failing our customers," said pilot Jim Dillard, who has been flying for American for almost 10 years. He said understaffing was partially to blame for American ranking worst among the major network carriers for on-time performance last year and the incorrect implementation of a Federal Aviation Administration safety directive. "They are trying to run the airline on the cheap. It's really starting to show," Dillard said.

American refuted that claim and others by the pilots association, which represents American's 12,000 pilots.

"We've historically paid our employees at or near the top of the airline industry and we continue to do so today," Jeff Brundage, American's senior vice president of human resources, said through a spokeswoman. He added the airline respects employees' rights to demonstrate and distribute information, but was disappointed the union is engaging in "negative tactics such as picketing on the doorstep of a valued customer."

In addition to Boston, protests are scheduled to take place at airports in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C., and on Wall Street, and outside the headquarters of companies such as Anheuser-Busch Corp., Boeing Corp., Citibank Inc., and Tribune Media Services.

Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com.