It is really the bogus staffing levels we have here. Captains are scheduled the max with min days off and are unstacked where they don’t get their preferences. As a result, they tend to call out sick if they have a sincere personal reason (anniversary, kid’s birthday, brother’s wedding).

If someone wants to be a captain here, they need to be willing to give up a personal life until they have 10 years of seniority to hold the schedule they want in order to go to United.