Some sort of mysterious flu bug must be circulating the in cockpits of Continental flights. The airline has been forced to cancel 24 flights today because too many pilots called in sick.

A rep for the United Continental Voltron, which has, coincidentally, been negotiating a contract with pilots, said that most of the cancelled flights originate out of the Continental hub in Newark, NJ, and that the airline is trying to book passengers on other flights, ones that presumably have pilots to fly them.

The rep wouldn’t say whether or not the airline views the rash of sick calls as an orchestrated “sick out” by pilots and a rep for the Air Line Pilots Association union didn’t return Reuters’ calls… probably because they were out sick too.

Continental cancels 24 flights for pilot sick calls [Reuters]

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