CHICAGO — If you or a loved one are flying American over the holidays, you’ll want to hear this.

More than 15,000 flights through American Airlines are without pilots.

A computer glitch allowed the majority of their pilots to have Christmas week off.

The pilots were just notified about this on Black Friday.

That’s right, American Airline pilots received an email explaining they need more pilots for flights from December 17 through December 31.

Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year to fly.

“We have lots during the holiday season. Anytime, starting around the fourteenth of December, it gets very busy with people flying for the holidays,” said Michele Boyd, president of Signal Travel & Tour.

With a recent computer glitch, American Airlines is trying to fill more than 15,000 pilot seats for flights during the week of Christmas.

Boyd says not to worry just yet.

“So they’re obviously working on it. They will probably combine some flights if possible and they will notify people with any changes in their schedule,” said Boyd.

American Airlines is offering pilots 150-percent of their normal hourly pay to work during the holidays, in exchange for their vacation days.

A spokesperson from the airlines made a statement to Fox News saying: “We are working through this to make sure we take care of our pilots and get our customers to where they need to go over the holidays.”

Boyd says give the airlines about two weeks to straighten things out. She also reminds those flying for the holidays to always keep an eye on your flights.

“Always check to make sure that your flight is going as scheduled. That they are having. If you’ve done your own arrangements and not through like our company, we would notify you if the schedule changes. There are flight number changes, time changes so you need to keep abreast of that if you’ve made your own arrangements,” said Boyd.

Travel Agent says the airlines will protect all clients booked on cancelled flights, since the mistake was their fault.

It could be a few weeks before we know if the airlines receive enough pilots to cover the needed flights.

American Airlines does not fly out of South Bend International Airport, but Michiana people who use Chicago airports could run into a problem.

Source: WSBT