How does Delta's PPT (Paid Personal Time) compare to unionized airlines?

Delta management gives us 56 hours of PPT a year. And this hasn’t changed since 2016!

56 hours only covers about 3-4 rotations, and management treats PPT as the catch-all bucket for sick time hours, personal drops/time, the first seven days of an on-the-job injury (OJI), and covering pay for FMLA.

Delta management arbitrarily determines whether incidents on a plane are covered by PPT or the company, limiting Flight Attendants’ flexibility in using their PPT bank.

We don’t have real sick leave at Delta. Will we be disciplined for one sick call or after five? No one knows. Will this be the time that management disciplines me? Puts me back on “probation”? Or worse, terminate me?

Instead, we are more reliant on Family Medical Leave (FMLA) than most workers and management has used implicit threats in the past to dissuade us from legitimate use of FMLA. Right now, many Flight Attendants are seeing an increased interest from Sedgewick on our FMLA.

We need a clear sick policy and the ability to hold management accountable when they try to shift blame.

Did you know Flight Attendants originally rarely qualified for FMLA due to our unique schedules? Since our hours of work don’t equate to a normal 40 hour work week, it was virtually impossible to meet the minimum work hours originally established under the Family Medical Leave Act. AFA got to work on a legislative solution to correct this injustice.

In 2009, after being deluged by Flight Attendant letters and actions coordinated by AFA, the Senate passed S. 1422 with bi-partisan support - mirroring an earlier adopted House bill - and on December 21, 2009, President Obama signed the FMLA Flight Crew Technical Correction Act into law. Read more.

Additionally, if a Flight Attendant rolls over a certain amount of PPT, it becomes “certified time,” which we could lose upon leaving Delta. Management can withhold earned vacation hours on a technicality, despite most state laws requiring the payout of vacation time. EIG proposed a PPT increase in 2015 but management unilaterally removed PPT from EIG’s “scope.”

Almost every other unionized Flight Attendant group has a separate bank for sick time and additional provisions for personal drops.

Unionized Flight Attendants have much larger sick banks than our max PPT accrual. This is why we need a contract!With a union, we will have a voice on the job to negotiate for stronger PPT — a voice that Delta management can’t take away.

A legally-binding contract could put in writing: