Aviate Question
 

I got sick on a recent trip and called out sick during the middle of it. I was throwing up, had chills and weak energy so I know I did the right thing. I know however there is a stipulation in AVIATE that proclaims you cannot call out sick within two hours of a scheduled event. Any thoughts on if you think this is going to be a problem for the review board? If so, do you think I should contact Aviate about it?

Thanks

I just hope someone from the FAA reads this post. Aviate is a joke.

Bruh. If you're sick, you're sick. Your health comes first. Aviate and the rules they demand is borderline illegal in my opinion, and WAY too strict. Don't worry about it and move on with your life. There will be plenty of options out there when you meet the aviate requirements.

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Ooooo, you better believe that's a paddlin'

United will probably not look facvorably on that. The good news? You're totally available for hire with Delta and American at any time. Don't sweat it and keep building your time.

Taking a look at the APG, it says this:

3. Dependability. Participants are expected to maintain the same dependability standards as United’s own pilots, meaning no documented and unexcused occurrences of any of the following, unless such occurrences are considered Approved Leave(14):
a. sick call over a company-recognized holiday;
b. failure to operate an assigned flight or event without notice;
c. notification of sick leave less than two hours prior to a scheduled event;
d. sick call impacting an assigned training event;
e. failure of the Participant to be contactable when required;
f. sick call prior to, or following, a scheduled vacation; and
g. greater than four absences in a rolling 12-month period(15).

14 For purposes of this Section A, “Approved Leave” shall mean leaves of absence covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or other legally protected leaves of absence.
15 For purposes of this Section A, if a Participant is absent from an assigned flight with multiple legs, the entire assigned flight will count as one absence, instead of an absence per leg of the assigned flight.
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My guess would be that under the most strict interpretation, calling out sick less than two hours prior to a flight in the middle of a trip still violates (c) and would not qualify for "Approved Leave" as defined by footnote 14. However, what I have noticed anecdotally as a former UAX pilot is that the Board of Review kind of varies their strictness based off United's hiring needs at the moment. From 2022 to mid-to-late-2023 when they were hiring like gangbusters, I never heard of anybody having any issues with getting their class date. At the beginning of 2024 when things really started tightening up, I heard more stories of "I called out sick four Thanksgivings ago and now they won't let me flow". I feel like they really do treat Aviate just like another form of street hiring where they tweak the bar depending on how competitive hiring mins are on the outside

Do you actually think this acceptable? Couldnt get T-Day off so you call in sick instead? No United doesnt want that kind of pilot. Or any airline for that matter.

Calling out just because you couldn’t get it off is not acceptable but there are plenty of people who get legitimately sick during holidays. Especially in the winters with lots of family around.

Yes and there is usually a company procedure to prove with a doctors note (in person or virtual) that it was a legitimate sick call. United isnt going to not flow someone becase they were legitimatly sick. Those who dont flow becase of that are faking illness.