So when you say "very conservative" you really mean, "fly sick and put your passengers at risk."

 

yes, let’s give up an incredible insurance policy that we’ve negotiated for…. no gain at all. very wise

 

it's amazing that the guy with zero skin in the game just can't help himself from telling us what to negotiate. Dude needs a life ref: saililngFUD.

He was a weakling and a company sycophant when he worked here. Nothing has changed in retirement—master of fear, uncertainty and doubt.

 

I’ve worked for airlines that have AA/UA style sick accrual. I did the exact same thing there that I do here - called in sick only when sick, remained out sick until fully well. None of my sick calls ever went unpaid. I challenge you to produce data showing that the average Delta pilot’s annual sick usage exceeds AA and UA’s annual accrual.

Furthermore, an unpaid sick call generates the same premium pay and coverage issues as a paid one. AA and UA pilots essentially have unlimited APDs IF their sick bank is ever exhausted — without silly holiday restrictions 34 days of the year. I don’t want an AA/UA system at DL, but their system is also not far enough behind ours that ours justifies harassment and theirs doesn’t.

It’s not that AA/UA management doesn’t care about sick calls. They simply understand why the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. The old PTC guard that runs DL Flight Ops is completely oblivious to that.

 

As an observer of all the chaos(trip coverage, sickness), it seems to me this is the pilot group trying to force regime change.

Is moving on from JL and RG the answer?

I will say this…..Flight Ops was stable with Dickson and Graham at the helm. For better or worse, whether you liked them or not.

The moment they left, things started wobbling. Putting a non-pilot(JL) in that role was an insult to pilots. Putting in PB made it worse. Politics abound on the 4th floor and there were/are major power struggles up there.

RG is mostly silent behind the scenes. An occasional letter. That’s it. But man this group and especially the MEC despise him.

Bring back Dickson. Right the ship.
Pull him out of retirement.

 

I must be reading SFs posts differently than everyone else. I read it that he's pointing out why the UAL and AAL accrual systems are worse than ours, not that we should switch to it.

 

As much as I don't understand why a retiree wastes so much time on this forum, I have to agree with this take.

 

He’s suggesting that we have higher levels of sick abuse here, justifying management harassment, simply because our accrual system is different.

As usual, he’s supporting a false management narrative with nothing to back it up.

 

It's true. Personal experience.

 

Our system is fantastic especially with how it interfaces with short and long term disability. I have never advocated for any change other than improving what we have.