Those who have booked travel over the forthcoming holiday period with American Airlines Inc. may not make it to their destination.

It was disclosed today that the airline suffered a “system scheduling error” that has left thousands of scheduled flights without pilots to fly them.

The glitch in American Airlines’ employee scheduling system involved the system saying the airline had a surplus of staff for the holiday period allowing pilots to schedule time away from work, whereas the actual situation was that the airline was short of pilots. According to Bloomberg, the number is not insignificant either, with more than 15,000 flights lacking pilots to fly them Dec. 17 to 31.

Flights that lack either a scheduled captain, first officer or both are said to originate from a number of specific airports, including Dallas-Fort Worth International, American Airlines’ hub, as well as airports in Boston, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City and Charlotte, North Carolina.

American responded to the reports, saying that they have reserve pilots to help them cover the flights and that they were also offering pilots who had previously scheduled leave 150 percent of their usual hourly rate to pick up certain “open trips,” which is a polite way of saying planes lack pilots to fly them.

Computer errors are not new in the airline business. Examples in the past include Delta Air Lines Inc. blaming a system “glitch” when it accidentally offered ultralow fares in 2013, while United Airlines Inc. was forced to ground planes in January due to computer issues, the latest in a serious of information technology issues for the company.

Ticketing systems, often shared between airlines, are also prone to issues. Amadeus Altea software, which is used by 125 airlines worldwide, crashed in September.

Picture: skinnylawyer/Flickr