Concerns continue to mount over potential travel chaos over the week of Thanksgiving, with airline labor complaints adding to severe weather and the impact of a vaccine mandate for airport security screeners.
Up to 20 million Americans are expected to fly over the next week, and President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration workers, takes effect on Monday.
It has raised concerns that sickouts or suspensions over the mandate could cause huge delays at airport security, with only 60 percent of TSA workers vaccinated at last report.
At the same time, long-suffering airline workers are growing increasingly vocal in their protests over pay and conditions, raising the possibility of organized labor actions impacting the busy travel week.
'Pay us or chaos!' warned flight attendants for American Airlines subsidiary Piedmont, as they walked a picket line outside Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina on Thursday.
Piedmont, a regional carrier wholly owned by American Airlines, told DailyMail.com in a statement that contract negotiations would resume in December.
Up to 20 million Americans are expected to fly over the next week, and a convergence of factors could create a perfect storm for airline chaos (file photo)
'Pay us or chaos!' warned flight attendants for American Airlines subsidiary Piedmont, as they walked a picket line outside Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Thursday
The union representing American Airline customer service agents has launched a petition demanding better treatment 'during the rough holiday season ahead of us'
'We are dedicated to getting a competitive contract negotiated for our more than 350 Piedmont Flight Attendants,' a spokesperson said.
'We have the most professional Flight Service professionals in the industry, and Piedmont is a leader in safety and performance because of their efforts. We are in agreement our team members deserve the best contract and we are committed to delivering that to them. We look forward to getting back to negotiations in December,' the statement added.
Separately, the union representing American Airline customer service agents has launched a petition demanding better treatment 'during the rough holiday season ahead of us,' which has already garnered 20,000 signatures.
The petition alleges that the airline has implemented a 'two-tiered system' providing greater benefits and pay increases over the holidays to plane crew staff than it does to customer agents who face the brunt of customer frustration over flight changes.
'We have dealt with all of the irregular operations, disgruntled and misbehaving passengers, covid pandemic as face to face representatives of our company, additional work loads with a shortage of agents,' commented service agent Kathy Jones on the petition. 'We are tired of feeling like an after thought if thought of at all.'
Meanwhile, the looming vaccine mandate remains the biggest question mark for the busiest travel week of the year.
The TSA insists that the deadline will not result in any shortage of airport screeners, but the union that represents TSA workers has already publicly pleaded with the Biden administration to delay the mandate until after the holiday season.
In a letter to the White House this month, the president of the TSA's union, the American Federation of Government Employees, pointed out that the vaccine deadline for federal employees had already been pushed back to January 4.
TSA screeners, like all federal employees, face a Monday deadline to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19, raising the potential for widespread sickouts and suspensions
Meanwhile two severe weather systems threaten to disrupt Thanksgiving travel
'This double standard has caused confusion and distress among federal employees due to disparate treatment and incongruent deadlines
