Originally Posted by
hawkerpilot05
The reason I asked only was I was curious if it was covered under your plan. Our union tends to compare our pay/benefits to yours. This is an issue that has come to light recently as the FAA is doing more medical Holds versus outright denials. In fact, our PAC that works with yours was instrumental to get the FAA to change the outright denial for anything that is not right on a medical, to include improper paperwork. So it is a good thing except for us as our Loss of Medical program only covers outright denials and not Holds and we are unable to use PTO days. However, it has been a continuous issue for us as it is quite a shock to all of a sudden to go on unpaid leave when on a hold and untol our union published this, very few people knew about this until it happened to them. Our union's benefit committee chair agrees it stinks and we are trying to get it changed, but he added that it is not unheard of in out industry and made mention that Southwest Airlines hnow has the same policy. I was shocked if this was true and was only asking. He could very well be wrong, I don't know any better. Not knowing anyone at SWA, I thought I would ask. He said SWAPA sent out a notice earlier this year about this policy which is why I asked. Nothing nefarious, I was just curious.
The only thing SWAPA sent out was about the proposed increase in mandatory deferrals (holds? I don't know) and then the FAA backtracking on it and keeping it as is. I would recommend you call our benefits folks. They will be able to tell you a real answer. Clearly nobody here has had a hold put on their medical. The way our contract reads, you won't get loss of license unless your medical is denied or the insurer agrees it would be denied. Not sure how that plays into this scenario. Unpaid leave isn't a thing here unless you are dumb enough (or unlucky enough) to operate on zero sick bank, which a few pilots do.