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

FORT WORTH, Texas (CNN) -- A federal judge has ordered the American Airlines pilots conducting a sickout that has grounded well over 2,000 flights to return to work.

American, the second-biggest U.S. airline, took its pilots to court to force them to end a work slowdown that is threatening to jam vacation traffic during the long, holiday weekend.

The airline filed a request earlier Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Dallas asking 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."

Judge Kendall asked both parties to talk over their differences during a court recess and seek a solution, but Christopher Chiames, a spokesman for AMR Corp., said the parties did not meet and did not schedule further negotiations.

American's pilots have been calling in sick and refusing to work overtime to protest the airline's continued use of lower-paid pilots at Reno Air, a small, West Coast carrier that was bought by AMR Corp. in December. 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.

During a court session earlier Wednesday, AMR attorney Dee Kelly asked for damages, saying that the airline is losing money every day of the "sickout." After hearing the company's request, Kendall called a 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.

In a court filing, American Airlines management argued that the union's advice to members to stay home if the labor dispute was causing them stress is a sign the union is in effect pushing an illegal sickout.

"Most of our pilots are reporting to work, but those who are not have created an untenable situation," Carty said.

Pilots say American is violating their labor contract, which requires aircraft owned by the airline to be flown by American Air pilots. 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.

The number of cancellations has escalated each day. On Tuesday, more than 800, or 36 percent of American's 2,250 daily flights, were canceled, delaying 73,000 travelers. Today, it was estimated that 40 percent of the flights, or roughly 900, would be canceled.

"Today we have 2,077 pilots on the sick row," airline spokesman John Hotard said.

The airline says pilots have rejected their proposals for integrating Reno pilots into the ranks of American Air pilots.

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

Across the nation, would-be passengers spent hours dozing on terminal carts stuffed with luggage or slumped in their chairs. From Miami to San Francisco, blinking blue letters on airport monitors read "Canceled" beside a long list of destinations.

"If this were to happen in Argentina, they would burn the airport," said Beatriz Chichizola, a native of Buenos Aires who waited for hours Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport.

Mark Smith, a farmer from South Otselic, New York, left nearby Syracuse for a week-long vacation to Aruba and was stranded Tuesday with five friends at Kennedy International Airport in New York.

"They've given us the run-around," he said. "We think the pilots on strike should be fired."

About 75 people waited in line at the American Airlines counter at San Francisco International Airport -- Dorothy Krumper of Flanders, New Jersey, among them. Although her flight to New York was canceled, she was smiling and said the airline's employees treated her well.

"They were very nice. I'm being re-ticketed to United," she said.

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?"

Chris McGinnis, founder of Travel Skills Group, advises passengers not to stand in long ticket lines to book another flight.

"As soon as a flight is delayed or canceled and you need to make alternate reservations, the first thing you should do is go to a pay phone at the airport and call the airlines reservations line or your travel agent and get rebooked on the next flight out," he said.

If you have an electronic ticket, get it changed to a paper ticket to make it easer to get a seat on another airline. And, if you will be stuck in a city overnight, ask the airline if it will pay for one night's hotel stay, experts said.

"American is going to want to make you happy. they may give you drink coupons, meal vouchers, overnight accommodations...," said Kaminski.

Flyers have the right to be accommodated on a flight with another airline, she added.

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.

Kaminski 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.

Reuters Limited contributed to this report.

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