American Airlines, one of the largest airlines, once scrambled to find staff to cover 15,000 flights after a bug in the pilot scheduling system allowed too many pilots to request time off around the holidays. 

Managing PTO requests during the holiday season can be a slippery slope because no one wants to tell an employee that they can’t have the time off to spend time with family. However, the holiday season serves as a very busy time for many businesses and requires appropriate staffing levels to take care of their clients.