Originally Posted by
TED74
What fool sat at home for free? The unpaid leavers I have heard about made as much or more on unemployment + federal aid as they would have staying at work. They also reduced their personal exposure to the virus. All Delta did was shift their cost burden to the taxpayer. To think those folks would have canceled cost-nuetral time at home because a few pilots took a significant pay cut for the same seems pretty ridiculous to me. I don't think that was Management's calculus, and if it was, they totally missed the boat.
I'll speculate that many took voluntary leave -- possibly moreso on the FA side -- because the schools were all closing and there was a genuine concern for child care. Whether it was foolish or not depends on how taking the leave affect each family individually. Some might be relieved to have zero obligation to the company for what was supposed to be a short time; you know, "just flatten the Curve!"
A5S