Originally Posted by
Kacee
That's UA's pitch. If it were true, you'd expect to see same across all the majors. Yet AA has 11 cancels thus far today compared to 176 for UA.
As ClubORD said, the required pre-testing for a long list of international destinations is likely hitting us, and Delta, harder than AA, B6, etc. when asymptomatic crewmembers test positive.
Also, it's not just positive tests. We are required to report any COVID-like symptoms (fever, cough, congestion, fatigue, etc.) and that report will ground us for at least ten days even if we subsequently test negative. I think a negative test followed by a doctor's report that you are COVID free can get you back to work sooner but the process still takes a few days. December always brings more colds and flu and Thanksgiving gatherings likely increased the rate of spread of COVID and non-COVID illnesses. Now Omicron is spreading even quickly than previous strains.
I've reported symptoms twice, though have never had COVID, and was grounded for 10 days each time. The first time was during my requalification training, so I didn't miss any trips. The second was a cold that resulted in me missing a four-day trip but the cold symptoms alone would have kept me from flying that trip even if there were no COVID restrictions.
It was reported in VFTW that the real cause is the number of religious exemptions from vaccination requirement, particularly among 737 pilots.
That's not helping. We are, and have been, tighter on our 737 CA staffing than on Airbus or 737 FO staffing. This has been quite obvious from the relatively large number of open trips being offered with premium pay on the 737 CA lists.
UAL granted fewer early retirements during the pandemic and displaced crews at a lower rate than our major competitors. This helped reduce the amount of requalification training needed once growth returned and prevented any significant schedule disruptions until now. The training center has been running at full capacity since last May. We have been hiring 45 to 50 new pilots every week since May and are upgrading new Captains as fast as they can be trained.
Originally Posted by
Rock214
United gave no exemptions.
There were around 300 +/- exemptions granted to pilots, spread out over all fleets and both seats. Kirby has said that only six pilots were terminated for being unvaccinated without having an exemption approved. Those granted an exemption are on unpaid leave until the pandemic meaningfully subsides.