Passengers in New York are among the hardest hit by American Airlines flight cancellations

FORT WORTH, Texas (CNN) -- American Airlines went to court Wednesday over a five-day pilots' work slowdown that forced the cancellation of at least 900 more flights on Wednesday.

A request filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas asks Judge Joe Kendall to issue a temporary restraining order to be followed by an injunction against the Allied Pilots Association for engaging in what the airline called "illegal job actions."

"American's reputation for outstanding customer service has been severely tarnished by the APA's actions of the last few days," said American Chairman Donald J. Carty. "Thus, while we regret that we must go to court to resolve this dispute, we will do what has to be done to restore the public's confidence in us."

AMR attorney Dee Kelly asked for damages, saying that the airline is losing money every day of the "sickout." American pilots are barred by federal law from striking over the issue.

After hearing the company's request, Kendall called a two-hour break in the hearing and invited the two sides to talk during that time.

"It doesn't seem to me like a bunch of grown up people with cumulative IQs couldn't sit down and figure this out without disrupting several hundred thousand people," Kendall said.

Pilots are refusing overtime in an effort to force American to settle a pay dispute over pilots for Reno Air, a small carrier recently acquired by American's parent company, AMR Corp. The American pilots say the purchase violates their contract and may cause them to lose assignments and jobs to the Reno Air pilots, who earn about half the $150,000 average annual salary earned by American pilots.

Pilots say American is violating their labor contract, which requires aircraft owned by the airline to be flown by American Air pilots. The airline says pilots have rejected their proposals for integrating Reno pilots into the ranks of American Air pilots.

The airline said earlier it will cancel flights for a sixth consecutive day on Wednesday, expecting at least 906 cancellations, about 40 percent of its total flights, as the work slowdown continues.

"It is quite possible that number could go higher," said Tim Smith, a spokesman for the airline.

An estimated 73,000 passengers were inconvenienced on Tuesday as American, the nation's second-largest airline, canceled 827 flights when more than 2,000 pilots called in sick and others refused to work overtime. Since Saturday, American has canceled more than 2,000 flights.

Talks between American and the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing the pilots, were scheduled to resume Wednesday at 2 p.m. EST in Fort Worth, Texas, following a session on Tuesday that a union representative said yielded no progress, according to the Pilots Association.

The slowdown has affected flights at some of the nation's busiest airports, including American Air hubs in New York, Dallas and Miami.

Carol Kaminski, managing editor for Best Fares, an online discount travel magazine, advised travelers who are booked with American to call before leaving for the airport to find out if their flights are canceled. She also said flyers should "be adamant" about being booked onto another flight with another carrier.

"Don't scream. It's not going to do you any good... but be adamant," she said.

American is referring passengers to its Web site for information about specific flights. When there's no information in the "Actual Flight Information" boxes on the site, that means the flight won't be flown, the airline said. However, mid-day Wednesday (EST), it was impossible to access the page entitled "Is my flight canceled?"

Some carriers are adding flights to accommodate American passengers. For example, Air Jamaica says it will transport anyone scheduled to fly American to the Caribbean island, which primarily affects passengers flying to Kingston and Montego Bay from Miami, with connecting flights from other U.S. cities.

Kaminksi said American was accommodating 90 percent of its domestic travelers on other flights. Although the flyers have no legal right to be reimbursed for their airfare, they do have the right to be accommodated on a flight with another airline, she said.

She also said that the situation with American may not be the last. "Consumers need to expect more of this type of thing with more acquisitions coming up," she said.

Federal law bars American pilots from striking over the issue, but they are allowed to refuse overtime and declare themselves "unfit to fly," pilot lingo for a sickout.

Reuters Limited contributed to this report.

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