I completely disagree.

AMS was brought about because a very few guys felt like they should have nearly every holiday off in addition to calling in sick several other times times per year. The chronic offenders.

I'm talking about a handful of guys who should have been dealt with as individuals. Instead, we get the knee jerk broad brush so prevalent at every airline that I've ever been associated with. Most of the retirees I speak with are leaving with idiotic amounts of sick leave.

99 percent of the guys are not the problem. If a guy calls in sick ONCE a year because he has to make a family event, is he the reason we have AMS? I think not.

I have never had a problem using my "earned" sick leave. Ever.....
Been doing this now for 24 years....no issues. None...

Ahem...lived a pretty healthy lifestyle with a lot of nutritional and workout maintenance. Still do. Worked when healthy, called in sick when sick. Left with 1200+ hours.

Unless one is exceedingly unhealthy, there's no practical way of recovering the allocated time without risking a policy violation and possible termination.

If it is a big issue to enough pilots, you guys need to trade the allocation for dollars, or extra time off as an optional contractual issue.

Congrats, you've been very lucky and seem to have plucked the brass ring from the healthy gene pool. Others aren't so. I broke an arm a few years ago. 6 weeks of SL, gone. That's roughly 2 years of SL accrual.

I was involved in a hit and run a few years ago. 7 weeks of SL, gone. Another two years of accrual.

A friend tore his knee up at the gym. He's now on LTD.
Another has serious back issues. He's also on LTD. And of course, you burn ALL your sick time before you go on LTD. A quick look at the current Seniority is a real eye opener. There are hundreds of guys out on LTD.

If I never call in sick again, I won't have 600 hours at retirement. And I have optical issues which prevent me from seeing that ever occurring.

One surgery or major health issue and you blow almost 5 years of accumulation. You were fortunate and the exception to the norm. Consider yourself lucky. Not all of us are that lucky.

The chances of someone being fired for calling in sick is somewhere between zero and none. AMS is solely to pick off the low hanging fruit of those afraid of a phone call from the flight office.

I guess a lot depends on what the definition of sick is. FAA prohibits? Of course. Unsafe? Of course. A minor condition that could get worse or is just now getting better? A pain, minor injury, sniffles. From those I see flying, opinions vary, and that's where the choices are made on sick calls.

Ding Ding Ding!
We have a winner!

1200+ hours of an earned benefit with an easily computed dollar value. Can you imagine an executive at any American company agreeing to an employment contract that states that they will not be able to monetize that asset upon their departure from the company? That they will simply have to forfeit it without some sort of equal offset?

Careful there you Anti-Marvin! We're just lucky to have a job!!!