I don't think you have a freeze for your first captain upgrade.

DALPA never complains about sick leave abuse. Have you heard DALPA complaining about it? Privately, DALPA guys say the same thing the guys in the CPO's office say "A few guys ruin it for everyone."

And newhire seatlock is only 1 year...

+1. I am curious to see data also. Where did you see it and can you post it? How are younger (Can you also define younger?) FOs abusing sick leave? Taking 99.9 hrs/year and not verifying? The company could have a good faith basis to ask if that is the case......IF they think there is abuse. Are they taking SLOA on holidays? Every 3rd week? If you can share any data I would appreciate it. If it was from In Command maybe you can tell us what you remember?

Maybe it's a communication issue - they feel they get 100 hours no questions asked so they never get a Dr note...which is kind of LEGAL. I, on the other hand, get a note for everything, then bug the sh*t out of the leave Nazis to ensure they validate my SLOA. Delta may try to fix this - and they will end up spending more man-hours policing it and it will cost them more than they think.

Thanks

Here's what I think is being discussed. The company will offer to pay for us to go to a doctor every single time we call in sick. Maybe 50 hours unverified--then mandatory verification. The spin will be "Look, the company will pay every time you're sick!" Obviously a huge concession.

My doctor gets $350 every time I walk in the door. Money isn't a problem for the company. Manning is. We've got to keep on our reps and let them know any change in sick leave (unless to improve it for us) is UNACCEPTABLE.

Any endeavor requiring human participation is "inefficient." We'd be idiots to push the limits of rationality to pad the stock price a cent or two like RA wants.

Or how about we just keep 100 hrs, show them how much THEY are spending on that empire (Verification office) they created....and we use our insurance vs them paying (saves them $, sortof) and then move to a new topic.

I thought you were released from any previous freeze for your first capt upgrade, but got a 2 yr freeze in the new category.

BTW, during a very pleasant (COUGH) meeting with the CP about my MLOA for last year (a whopping 45 days - they had an issue with it)...my SLOA came up. all of which, save maybe 15 hours, was verified...and they still brought it up.

My take is the company doesn't like us using it at ALL.....but the ALPA rep noted that my SLOA was verified and "....next topic?" and that was that.

Incedulous, credibility suffering, duplicitous, et al. I get it. You didn't care for my opinion. And you think I'm carrying water for the company or DALPA or someone. In truth, none of that is close to true. I thought it was super strange that RA mention FO's staying home as an area the company wanted reflief from. How would he know or care about that? He knew that the contract was going to be asked about in Q and A - and he chose to mention that. I don't see it as "off the cuff". I truly don't get that. And because the thread was wading around in this area - I commented. Sorry you don't like my perspective.

We actually agree on sick leave. I don't know why a small pressentage of pilots are going to change the whole system that has been very good IMO. But sick leave usage has increased historically over that last couple of years. And significantly. Guys sick out on the weekends much more than the weekdays. Sick leave usage spikes in April and May as pilots use up their yearly ENTITLEMENT (caps are not for you). Sick leave is an issue because it is being abused. The definition of what is abuse and how much its being abused is a great conversation.

+ the balance of your existing freeze, I believe.

But I think you're asking whether 717 A's are about to start leaving in large numbers? I think many of the guys in the first bases are off their freeze, yes. NYC, I'm guessing not.