Originally Posted by Herkflyr

I don't think you really believe a single syllable of what you just posted. "The worst flu season" (true by the way) just happens to explain all the surge in sick calls? Good luck trying to claim that to some neutral mediator if such a thing ever came about.

Pilots tend to call in sick more when there isn't a disincentive, and we call in less when there is.

Example (I've been here awhile). After BK and all that mess, we negotiated huge concessions, to include a major change to our sick policy. It was a complex system and no one really understood it. But as my rep explained to me it ended up like this.

1. If you only called in sick once or twice a year, you would notice no change.

2. If you had a significant illness, injury, etc that had you out for weeks or more, you would indeed take a pay hit, but even that could be made up with a "rapid recharge" or some such slogan.

3. If you were the kind of pilot who called in sick once every month or two just because (insert reason), you would see a very big hit to your earnings.

Guess what? Sick leave declined a lot.

The system thankfully didn't last that long. Profitability returned, and a couple of years later, our negotiators wisely negotiated a return to, and even improvements to, our original sick leave system that we enjoy today.

"Shockingly" sick leave went right back to where it had been, traditionally.

"Flu season?" Please.