Originally Posted by Lewbronski

Arguably, Delta also has better sick leave "accrual," esp if you're not a high-time flier. After their fourth year, a Delta pilot gets 125 sick leave credit hours per year.

125 credit hours * 1.149 = 143 TFP of sick time per year. To earn 143 TFP of sick time, a SWA pilot would need to earn 1,430 straight-time TFP in a year, or an average of just under 120 straight TFP/month. Remember, premium time only accrues at the straight-time value.

The first 120 credit hours of their sick time used each year does not require a doctor's note. So, you could argue that only the first 120 hours of a Delta pilots sick time "accrual" is comparable to a SWA pilot's accrual. So, using the same math process as above, that equals 1,379 straight TFP per year, or 115 straight TFP per month that is like a SWA pilot's sick leave in not requiring a doctor's note.

Delta pilots' sick leave bank increases from 50 credit hours the first year up to 270 hours by the 20th year.

For a pilot who just flies their line or doesn't pick up much extra, from the fourth year on, an argument can be made that Delta's sick leave accrual is better than hours. OTOH, I believe their sick leave is use or lose each year. If you're a person that calls in sick very often, that's not a big deal. But if you're a person who rarely calls in sick, then SWA's sick leave program is probably better in your eyes.

And, it could also be argued that even though SWA does not require a doctor's note at all for sick leave usage, you stand a good chance of getting hit with a "wellness check" from a CP or possibly even an attempt at a FFD if you're not keeping the chief pilot in the loop if you're using a bunch of sick leave at SWA.