A sick kid would not require you to miss an entire long trip... you call in well when your kid is well, and you could be used for a portion of the remainder.

I submit that one should not be required to be in the top 25% of a category to ensure they can make important once-in-a-lifetime events like a kid's graduation.

It is indeed difficult to compare my job with a daily worker. In most cases, they have few or no replacements and their work goes undone in their absence. Here at Delta, each category has hundreds of other pilots who can fill one's shoes on any given day... and often with almost no notice. Sure, there's a price to be paid for such flexibility. We're also making record, eye-watering profits, our skillset is in high demand, and we are rather well-organized labor.

In my opinion, your low bar is (luckily) lower than the company average. It sounds like you are content with what you have. Please don't do any union work.

Call in sick for the birth. Then look south of the Mason-Dixon Line at a critical time. If you pass out or throw up (not that uncommon) then you have a verifiable sick occurrence.

Or you can call in fatigued because you have been up worrying about your wife and child.

Wait isn't mental health coverage included in sick?

Some was TIC but I'm sure there are ways to use your benefits craftily and fully legally.

[QUOTE=TED74;2406031]"A sick kid would not require you to miss an entire long trip... you call in well when your kid is well, and you could be used for a portion of the remainder."

Contractually impossible if not unworkable if the contract were amended.

"I submit that one should not be required to be in the top 25% of a category to ensure they can make important once-in-a-lifetime events like a kid's graduation."

You missed the entire point of this line! If you make a reasonable effort to bid life events off you will never miss one at Delta. They will drop what is needed if you can't bid it off or drop the trip. If not you may find the CP's office less cooperative than you like.

While I agree that you should be allowed to call in sick for the birth of a child, it's not going to take a genius to do the math when you some day add your kids to travelnet or insurance. Of course proving you weren't sick would likely be impossible on the company's part; nor do I think they'd actually pursue this if you're not a habitual "abuser", but the suspicious sick leave might be put into your personnel folder and used against you at some later date for some unknown or unrelated reason. I also admit I have zero inside information and that last statement could be 100% tinfoil-hat-speak. Just mathematically speaking, there has to be some % of people who are legitimately sick the day their child is born :).

I lined up all my ducks this past May: full annual sick bank about to go back to Delta, LAST trip in May, trip was with an LCA that hadn't been bought, and the trip butted up against vacation. Pretty much every indicator of sick leave abuse known to Delta, but that morning when I was supposed to report I felt terrible and unfit to fly. I thought long and hard about toughing it out and just going to work to spare even the appearance of flaunting the policy. I did the right thing and called in sick but was worried that I'd be interrogated at a later date due to all the indicators but it's now been almost 3 months and nothing materialized. Obviously not the same situation, but perhaps some anecdotal evidence that the company isn't on a witch hunt just trying to find every possible case where somebody called in sick when there are obvious markers of sick leave "abuse".

My wife being in labor with our child would not have me in a mental state to where I am fit to fly.... period. I would have no issues saying I am sick for that.

Eggggzactly!!!! What part of "unfit for duty" are some of you unclear on? A sick call or vacation is the only right move in my opinion. If you're fortunate enough to not care about the money and it gives you a warm fuzzy, then fine, call the CPO or use an APD.

OP is on probation. I'd avoid calling in sick. The company has made this a sensitive issue - don't get in front of someone's crosshairs. It's not worth your career (worst case) for a few hundred bucks.

They've already though of that, and what they've came up with is horrifying to say the least. They're contemplating forcing the issue with notes from a mental health professional. Yeah. Think about that for a second. Sure, you might get paid for that trip, but then what? You have a mental health unfit to fly report in your jacket. Maybe more than one. Now what?

Its not something we want to press to test. They're so desperate they might actually follow through too. What really sucks is that they nuke our health insurance to the point where out of pocket costs for a kid are often the better part of a crisp Salmon P Chase note. Then to actually be there for it, you might have to drop a similar amount on top of it.

At least all that makes us super competitive and the most desired lift provider in all the JV's though. :rolleyes:

Do you have a source for the claim that the company is contemplating requiring a note from a mental health professional for calling in sick during wife's delivery?

Can you cite any examples of a pilot being hassled for calling in sick when wife went into labor?

Can you describe the payments you've have to make, and under which of the medical plan options they were required, for the birth of your child?

[QUOTE=Karnak;2406705]Heard it directly, while I was with quite a few other pilots, from a fairly high up 4th floor type who is still in his current position. I can tell by the tone of your post that you don't believe me, and that's fine. Pursue it yourself high enough and I have zero doubt that you won't come across the same answer.

To be clear, it wasn't a matter of this being kicked around trying to decide if its a policy or not. The (hypothetical) question was asked, and that was the answer. Go get a note. But its a mental health issue. Yep, go get a note if you want to use it for paid sick leave.

Again, I don't want you to take my word for it. I want you to pursue it, well into the VP levels. You will get the same response unless the individual in question has been reeducated for the benefit of labor, contrary to the biggest "religious issue" cost item they have next to our salaries. Thats doubtful though.

I don't know of anyone dumb enough to call in physically well but emotionally sick/mentally stressed for it. Do you? Care to wonder why that is?


How much did it used to cost to have a kid, with minor to possibly moderate (but nothing massive) complications "back in the day"? Heck, even a garden variety flawless experience for that matter.

How about today?

How about at SWA?

My "source" for this are people who have had kids under current plans that said it cost them many thousands of dollars out of pocket to do so. Maybe they are liars, I don't know. I guess I should have called them out on it and made them provide me proof. Move along now, nothing to see here, its just a $50 copay, nothing more. :rolleyes: