Bar,
I was out for several days this fall with a sinus infection and went to the Doctor to get it checked out. The Dr.'s note wasn't to specific so I faxed the prescription for the antibiotic along w/the note to the powers to be. I received a call from the CPO's office several days later saying that I needed to go back to the Dr. and get a diagnosis code for my sinus infection in order to have it count as verified. I contacted Contract Admin. and they said it was like playing " whack-a-mole" with the company trying to figure out from one day to the next what was considered acceptable as to verification.

Pretty good 737 rant from a AA pilot:

Airline Pilot Chatter: Why I hate the Boeing 737

"This isn't an Airbus vs. Boeing post, so I'll leave my feelings about Airbus philosophy to your imagination." - yet 5 paragraphs are about Boeing vs Airbus. Must be a union guy.

Huh? APA?

Do not understand your connection.

Ditto same experience here...

The antibiotic prescribed for my sinus infection "could be for anything" and "isn't specific to the illness" is what I got from the verification gatekeepers...

I didn't expect to get the level of runaround I did.

"sick call" signed by the doctor is not a good enough reason for verifying sick leave...
A medication that isn't specific to a single indication isn't sufficient to "verify" sick leave.

It's nor a rumor at all....
This is the new Delta.

Cheers
George

The author has hit on all the 737s quirks. There are no other ones to mention. Ground school is over, time for your checkride.

Johnso,

Several days ago you made a statement about how many times the company has asked people to verify illness after calling in sick.

You produced numbers that were mentioned in an ALPA meeting that showed the numbers having decreased significantly.

Mind reposting those?

The anecdotal instances reported on the old board and this board would seem to greatly contradict the claim.

Please distinguish between good faith basis claims and regular verification. The later seems to have a constant stream of near harassment regarding prescriptions, and what constitutes a description. This then forces the pilot to return to the medical professional to attempt another verification.

Thanks to you and George, I stand corrected. The Company should not be effectively calling people a "liar" when in fact common sense suggests; "if the man went to the Doctor, he is sick." Obviously an antibiotic is a prescription to treat a bacterial infection. Whether contagious fluid is coming out of your nose, or other parts of your anatomy ... what makes travelling and being in a command seat of approximately $5 Billion in liability exposure seem like an idea anyone would want to hit EXECUTE on?

This is harassment, moreover it is dumb, to the point that the Company is wasting more money on investigatory work than it is obligated to pay anyway. It does not take many $70,000 a year staff and $150,000 to $300,000 a year Chiefs to add up to some serious money to administer what appears to be a pointless exercise.

If it happened to me, as a life long loyal Delta employee, I would be offended.

Janwp and George,

Did either of you file an FCR or engage Alpa in regards to harassment? It just seems like they went overboard with you two. If/when I call in sick I don't want to go through the same issues you've both had. I'm not sure I'd be civil with the folks on the other end of the telephone!!!

Further, if it happened to these folk who we know are good guys in an internet sort of way ... what about the much larger number who have not spoken up?

Yeah, please make sure your Reps are aware.