To be fair, FMLA for the 5th only would cause the 4-day trip on the 2nd to drop entirely, even though FMLA would only be on the 5th. That would not inhibit picking anything up on the 2nd through the 4th. It would work in the same fashion as an APD for the 5th only with the only real difference being the parameters required to use it in the first place (coverage vs qualifying under the federal statute guidelines).

Years ago I knew of a handful of pilots that were allowed to block their schedules after we had filed and won the grievance barring the blocking of schedules. In every case at the time, there were verifiable threats to the pilot's wellbeing involved. Most, if not all had police reports involved with the issues. The blocking of the schedule was only executed after concurrence from senior flight ops leadership (think Burns and above) and the MEC Chairman, Scheduling Chairman and Contract Admin Chairman. It was no small task to accomplish back then and I have no reason to think that would have changed.

I don't doubt that this pilot has had something terrible impact their life that necessitated the schedule block and the same could be said for qualifying to use the FMLA. It also sounds like they understand it's better to get paid premium pay than single pay in accordance with our PWA.