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What happens when your pilots just don't get along? claims that there are "Do not pair" lists where someone can request not to work with another pilot.

For this reason, co-pilots, or first officers, have a way to quietly avoid flying with a captain they despise.

At the airline I work for, this subversive maneuver is known as “Do Not Pair.”

Here’s how Do Not Pair works:

When a first officer submits electronic bids for the next month’s flight schedule, he must enter the name of the undesirable captain into the computer bidding module.

As the bid is processed, the system makes certain the two pilot names are not paired on the same flight sequences.

Do such "Do not pair" systems exist?

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Andrew Grimm
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    If that article, written by a flight attendant and published by the LA Times, doesn't convince you, what would? – Brythan Jul 22 '17 at 02:13
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    @Brythan a document that is aimed at people in the aviation industry. – Andrew Grimm Jul 22 '17 at 02:14
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    I know there is the green on green rule but that is not the same thing. That's a new FO and a newly promoted captain who *cannot* fly together, whether or not they want to – TangoFoxtrot Jul 22 '17 at 06:18
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    all airlines? only american ones? only the ones mentioned in the article? – Federico Jul 22 '17 at 15:24
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    Is "Do airlines have" asking for every airline? No, some will not have these lists. But what's at stake here? Does it matter to you that some aviation companies try to match pilots who like working together? – BlueWizard Jul 22 '17 at 21:05
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    @BlueWizard This article was cited by a newspaper that I often read. I like to know if the newspaper I read cites dubious newspaper articles or not. – Andrew Grimm Jul 24 '17 at 09:33
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    @BlueWizard It's not about pairing pilots who like each other, it's about not pairing pilots who dislike each other. That might not sound like much of a difference but it's an important distinction, because a bad atmosphere in the cockpit can and has affected safety of flights. – GordonM Jul 24 '17 at 10:23
  • Keep in mind, also, that for putting together a flight crew, the airline doesn't just assign. Basically, attendants and pilots bid/request on flights they want to work for the upcoming months, so if they make a preference known ahead of time, then the airline doesn't have to make more complicated adjustments after the fact if disagreeable pairings decide to decline and assignment or cancels closer to the flight date. – PoloHoleSet Jul 25 '17 at 14:06
  • @GordonM [Southwest 345](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines_Flight_345) is a great example of that. – reirab Aug 04 '17 at 20:11
  • Related question on Aviation.SE: [Do any airlines publish their policy on CRM / Do Not Pair?](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/42284/do-any-airlines-publish-their-policy-on-crm-do-not-pair) – Andrew Grimm Aug 14 '17 at 12:09

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Yes, "do not pair" lists do exist. They were brought in as one of the responses to the crash of Northwest Airlink Flight 5719. The accident was basically a CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) attributable to pilot error, but the attitude of the captain was cited as a major contributory factor. He harassed, brow-beat and bullied his junior first officer to such an extent that he became timid and ceased offering advice or opinion, in violation of accepted CRM rules that state that cockpit crews have to operate as a team.

After the crash it became acknowledged that personality clashes can have a very detrimental effect on CRM, so if there are certain flight crew who have trouble cooperating they can request to not be paired up. The airline is then obliged to try to accommodate those requests not to be paired up. The safe operation of an aircraft requires the crew to operate as a team.

If you don't trust Wikipedia, the National Geographic TV show Air Crash Investigation also covered this flight and its consequences.

The full NTSB report is available online, and cites a breakdown in communication leading to loss of situational awareness as a major factor in the crash (PDF)

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable causes of this accident were the captain's actions that led to a breakdown in crew coordination and the loss of altitude awareness by the flight crew during an unstabilized approach in night instrument meteorological conditions. Contributing to the accident were: The failure of the company management to adequately address the previously identified deficiencies in airmanship and crew resource management of the captain; the failure of the company to identify and correct a widespread, unapproved practice during instrument approach procedures; and the Federal Aviation Administration's inadequate surveillance and oversight of the air carrier.

It should be noted that the NTSB report does not explicitly recommend "do not pair" lists as a remedy against future occurrences, it mostly focuses on improving pilot training, and also on improved illumination on the wings to help pilots spot icing. The Air Crash Investigation episode does say that the report led to airlines adopting do not pair lists as a way of avoiding future incidents like this one.

GordonM
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    It would be more convincing if that NTSB report suggested (or compelled) airline operators to introduce some sort of Do Not Pair list. – Jamiec Jul 24 '17 at 09:25
  • nice answer, I guess the problem with proving the list exists is that with any secret shadow ban style system you are not able to see if you are on it. – daniel Jul 24 '17 at 09:25
  • The Wikipedia article mentions the crash in question, and the causes of the crash, but I couldn't find it mentioning allowing people to not pair up. I have not read the NTSB report, though. – Andrew Grimm Jul 24 '17 at 09:31
  • @AndrewGrimm The mentioned TV show lists do not pair lists as one of the remedies introduced after the accident in its summing up. – GordonM Jul 24 '17 at 10:19
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    I *have* read the report, and if Do Not Pair lists were as a result of this accident, it wasnt a finding nor recommendation of the NTSB.I think you're summizing something which is not true - that bad CRM was responsible for the lists. Its hardly a solution to the problem and in fact could clearly make it worse (when do not pair pairs are inevitably paired due to extraneous circumstances) – Jamiec Jul 24 '17 at 13:36
  • @Jamiec I might have given a misleading impression that the report made a direct recommendation for Do Not Pair lists. As you say, it doesn't. My source for Flight 5719 leading to DNP lists was the episode of Air Crash Investigation, presumably on the initiative of the airlines or by an informal recommendation from the NTSB. I'll try to think up a way to re-word the answer for that. Also, even if Do Not Pair sometimes has to be violated, it seems better to only pair pilots who don't work well together when there's no other option rather than letting them pair up as a matter of routine. – GordonM Jul 27 '17 at 08:59
  • @Jamiec I don't think it's clear that do-not-pairs would inevitably be paired due to outside circumstances, especially in the U.S. The major airlines in the U.S. literally have over ten thousand pilots each. Not pairing a given set of 2 of them can't be that hard. – reirab Aug 04 '17 at 20:15