I'm envious. That was not my experience last summer. Both times, the Duty Pilot just told me that I was legal for it. No support. None.

My experience with this (twice in the last 12 months) was 180 out. Total support from duty pilot and system worked well. As far as “being on the radar”, I don’t care if my name is in bright lights with a red carpet leading to the CPO, I’ll call in fatigued when appropriate.

I think I would chalk that up to a bad experience/Duty Pilot, Crown. The recent DALPA MEC podcast has gone out our their way to say the experience is zero threat, and there is zero tracking (there isn't really a mechanism, according to APLA).

If you are fatigued, please call it.

This. Fatigue reports are de-identified.

You said, "I'm fatigued." And his response was, "it's legal?" I've called in a few times during a legal rotation and I've never gotten any flack or pushback.

I’ve called in several times (2 over the last 3 months most recently), never had pushback.

Quite frankly the last time I called in I didn’t need an extension, it was just a long day with crappy sleep and the hour delay in the second flight was just too much for me. What can I say, I’m a wuss.

Don’t call the DP looking for justification, you have nothing to prove to them and they are not the judge. Their only job is to acknowledge and process your UNfit/Fatigue status. If a DP gives you pushback I’d say “I understand you don’t agree, I am still calling in fatigued.” I would certainly note the DP pushback in the report to ensure the FAA gets eyes on it.

LOA 20-03 passed by 93 votes....not my definition of overwhelmingly

This. They are facilitating downstream changes that will happen so you can get the rest you need. Don’t ask them anything, tell them. Tell them you’re done and when you’ll be rested again to be safe to fly.

That said, I’ve had nothing but excellent support from the Duty Pilots when I’ve had to call fatigued or not extending.

In my humble opinion, this is the biggest difference between my employer (U) and Delta, wrt fatigue calls. There shouldn’t have to be a “conversation” with anybody in order not to extend. Acars message comes across and says pretty please, you type back “unable to extend” and it’s done. All the pairing modifications happen automatically without speaking to a soul. If Delta keeps the current process in place, there will always be a certain percentage of pilots who feel like they’re being sent to the principal’s office and will extend just to avoid it. Yes it’s wrong headed and weak, but we all know it’s true. Remove the required conversation with a human from the “unable to extend” process.

I called in fatigued last year before I even checked in for my trip because I didn't sleep well due to sick kids. Absolutely no push back. The duty pilot just told me to fill out the report and the company would determine if I would be paid out of my sick bank. He was very understanding and gave me no problems. Fatigued is fatigued no matter what the cause. You or 100% pay protected even if it has to come out of your sick bank. Never feel like you have to fly fatigued.