An American Airlines pilot says making passengers get off a plane after boarding is 'so embarrassing' and he 'absolutely hates' it

• An AA pilot said he was told to put passengers on the planes even though he was about to run out of time.

• He told Insider that they don't want to do this to their passengers, but they can't.

• The pilot said that covering trips has become like a game of whacka-mole because of the policy.

Thousands of people have their flights canceled and their luggage lost because of the chaos at the airport. Some passengers had to leave the plane after boarding.

An American Airlines pilot who has been with the airline for 23 years told Insider that he hates doing this to his passengers.

Insider has confirmed that the captain works for AA.

He said that pilots are still told to board even though they are about to run out of work. "They told us 'I'm sure it will work out', trying to pressure us into extending our duty day, so we board and time out, then deplane the passengers."

He said that he was sitting in his left seat for 20 minutes before pushing back from the gate and being pulled off the plane.

He said that he has been with AA for 23 years and has never seen anything like this before. When we get close to timing out, we've tried to tell AA this won't work.

The FAA regulates pilots' duty time and only allows it to be extended when a pilot chooses to do so, according to an American Airlines spokesman.

A passenger on an AA flight told Insider that she had to leave the plane because the pilots ran out of time.

In an email to Insider, the AA pilot said he was sad and that his passengers deserved better.

He said that pilots at other airlines felt the same way. Why are we out? It's like a game of whack-a-mole when you cover a trip here.

'A perfect scheduling program ... until there's a glitch'

The captain told Insider that pilots have been unhappy since a new scheduling system was bought in.

"That's fine and good until there's a glitch, whether it be maintenance, weather, air traffic congestion or something else," he said. Most of the time, the company pressures us to extend our duty day. My days are already long so I refuse.

He said that pilots take a lot of flak.

All of our duty days and maximum flight times were extended in the name of safety, after the airlines complained to Congress. I have never worked harder in my entire career since these changes.

He thinks it's a good trip if he can get in on time to have dinner before he has to report for duty.

Business Insider has an article on it.