Off-duty Delta pilots picket outside MSP Airport ahead of busy travel weekend

MINNEAPOLIS -- As flight delays and cancellations plague major airlines, Delta Air Lines pilots are calling on the company to make changes.

Delta pilots marched in an informational picket Thursday outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Their contract talks have stalled and pilots say the airline is overscheduling flights. It's not a strike, but a message to executives as contract negotiations continue and understaffed airports suffer.

WCCO spoke with Captain Eric Hall, who has been a pilot for 25 years. He said Delta pilots have not been making progress on a new contract and he's concerned the issues travelers are dealing with are addressed.

"It's time for the airline to recognize the contribution we have made and taking time away from our families to get our customers safely and reliably to their destinations so it's time for an industry leading contract," Hall said.

The picketing outside of Terminal 1 was one of many happening at Delta hubs all over the country. Pilots are picketing on their days off.

These pilots are calling for four key points: better pay, retirement benefits, job security, but the biggest is scheduling and quality of life. Hall said the problem with these cancellations right now is the airline is scheduling too many flights with staffing.

"The pilots are certainly stepping up to ensure reliable service to our customers," Hall said. "By the fall we will have flown more hours than our busiest two years combined -- 2018 and 2019."

Delta -- one of the nation's largest airlines -- has been dealing with systemwide flight delays and cancellations. The airline announced Tuesday it would offer a travel waiver for the busy Fourth of July weekend. Thrifty Traveler is reporting that hundreds of Delta flights this holiday weekend don't have scheduled pilots.

Traveler Julie Gackstetter got a Delta flight from Madison to MSP on Monday, but she said it was postponed four times. Her Thursday return flight was still on time when we spoke with her.

"It would have been shorter for me to drive here than fly here," Gackstetter said.

Delta's CEO sent an email to customers Thursday, apologizing for the issues.

"We've spent years establishing Delta as the industry leader in reliability, and though the majority of our flights continue to operate on time, this level of disruption and uncertainty is unacceptable," Ed Bastian said.

Back in April, data showed that Delta had the lowest rate of canceled flights of any airline for domestic flights.