Years ago I called in sick around midnight for my pairing that started the next day. I was going down hill fast with a cold, and knew I wasn't fit to fly..I was also on probation since I just started..when I woke up the next day, I had a friend request on facebook that was from a company person, but when I clicked the link to see their profile they must have blocked me since they sent me this request on accident...that being said, I am sure they were looking at my facebook to make sure I was truly sick.

If you can't make it to work and have a family event or something else very important, I always find its better to contact a chief pilot...at my company, they really seem to work with you.

Also, it's never smart to call in sick when you aren't...you never know if you're going to come down with something that will take you out of work for awhile. That cold I mentioned above lasted weeks, and affected my ears so I was out for quite a bit of time. If I would have called out sick a bunch prior to that I would have been completely screwed. All I'm saying is don't put yourself in a bad position down the road when you truly need the sick time. Not worth the stress.