Originally Posted by
Lewbronski
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.
That's why I said Delta's is better. You accrue more and as for the second part of the first paragraph I quoted: it's better for both people who use it and pretty much irrelevant for people who don't.
It's irrelevant because if you don't use it here, you don't care that it's in there unless you have a STD/LTD/LOL issue. And at Delta, they have a plan to protect you for STD/LTD/LOL, so you don't need to stockpile your sick bank.
As for the doctor's note, if you read the details of their contract, it's not very onerous. You just need a note from a doctor. My ears (and my doctor friends inform me this is 100% for all pilots) are permanently swollen because of the number of pressure cycles we have. Get sick? Just say your ears were really hurting and hard to clear. I've used this to great effect at former airlines that had "draconian" doctor's note policies.
In terms of the pain in the butt for having to go to the doctor, if your call triggers a doctor's note, the company will pull your next trip out of their bank to get you to go to the doctor to do it.
Sure, not as great as simply having ~310 sick trips per year, but leaps and bounds better than our policy.