Originally Posted by
BobbyLeeSwagger
+1. How do you guys handle a sick FA? Some of you might remember the big issue in-flight management had with pilots calling in sick for their FAs back in 2015-16. The pilots were told by the CP office to stop and call them instead if they had a problem, not crew scheduling because we are not in the chain of command to call in sick for them.. Most had big problems with that.. Destination safety anyone? Anyway.
So I guess now the question is how far do you really want escalate the situation? Often we don't find out that they are sick until later and they most likely will not want you to say anything. Many will downplay their sickness and say they're alright. Or can't afford to lose their job... Etc.
Obviously you can't be spineless out there, if you are uncomfortable you shouldn't block out, but I guess I'm asking where you draw the line, because the FAs have forced you to draw it for them by showing up to work sick...
Thoughts?
I had one flight attendant that got sick in the middle of the trip. She was on the fence about calling in sick when we got to LAX, and I said she should. Fortunately (or unfortunately) her sickness got bad enough that it was obvious for her to call in sick, and she did. Other than that, I never had any issues with sick FAs during my time at CPZ.
If I was in a hypothetical scenario where I'd have a sick FA who doesn't want to call in sick, I'd want to have a conversation with them about that and find out what's going on. I'd imagine over the course of the conversation I'd be able to first evaluate the scenario, make up my own mind about their fitness for duty, and then be able to convince them to my way of thinking if I needed to (usually by trying to lead them down the path of "well, in the event of a rapid depressurization, will you be able to perform your job duties properly, or assist in the event of an evacuation?").