Originally Posted by Chowdah

This is a very misunderstood part of the contract. You get four days for a ”critical illness” (surgery, injury, cancer diagnosis, etc), and four additional days for a death. However, if the person has already died, you only have four days.

An example would be: (god forbid) your dad gets hurt in a motorcycle accident. you call the chief pilot office and say you need four days off to be with your critically ill father and you need positive space for yourself and wife/kids, while however, enroute your dad passes away. You are now entitled to four more days. It is true that you only get essentially eight total days for the specific family members listed in the UPA, and that you have to be intelligent. But they are paid, and the CPO will throw their full weight behind you. One caveat is that once a person has died, you only get four days. The contract reads it is four days per event. The company/Labor relations views a critical illness and death as two separate events. Ask me how I know.

This is one of those black-and-white sections of the contract where most human beings are very glad to offer support, because it helps another pilot, generates goodwill, and costs them nothing.