Sabatical from an airline....

Propilot

Well-Known Member
A friend of mine is wondering how a sabatical would work at an airline. She wants to be there for her kids first few years, and is wondering if a mother can take a sabatical from an airline and if so how that would affect seniority....

We are talking about more than leave for childbirth,....more like 5-6 years of leave.


Anyone know?
 
I think a sabbatical can only be a matter of months, not years...if it's years, my bet is that you'd have to reapply. companies can't hold jobs that long.
 
It would depend entirely on the airline's contract. Employers are required to provide only 12 weeks of childcare leave under FMLA. Employers may provide longer, but are not required to do so.
 
You can request leave at any time, but whether or not it's awarded is another story as it depends on the airline, staffing and what's going on at the time.
 
Well, at my company there is an established procedure for taking a sabatical of several years...where the company and the employee both agree on reestablishing the relationship several years down the road. It is outlined in our employee handbook.

Also, I believe one of our upper level management memebers is currently on a several year long sabatical from a major airline.


I think I just answered my own question.
 
that's what i think too cuz i know there isn't anything outlined like that in our company manual.
 
You don't mention specifically what job your friend is looking to do with an airline. Managment? Line pilot? Flight attendant?

If she's looking to be a pilot or flight attendant, it is unrealistic to expect to take 5 years off and then jump right back into her place on the senority list. Most airlines have assorted varities of personal leave, but like Doug said getting a leave approved for just 'personal' reasons can be hard to come by. After that length of time, she'll be most decidedly non-current, and would have to undergo currency training.

Dropping/swapping/selling individual trips is quite common, at least in the flight attendant world. There are some flight attendants who, via swaps, give away or sell (as in pay another flight attendant a token price, like $50-$100) their trips and hardly fly at all. AA became irritated by this, and instituted minimum hours a F/A must fly per year to remain on full-time status and continue to be able to qualify for benefits.
 
I was looking into taking a year off at AMF to finish my degree and they were going to be cool with it. My seniority would freeze, but at least it wouldnt have reset.
At Skywest I am pretty sure one would be fired for even asking about taking a leave of absence to get an advanced degree.
 
Here at PCL, it's FMLA, and that's about it. Anything longer, and you're looking to either join the military or quit.
 
At Skywest I am pretty sure one would be fired for even asking about taking a leave of absence to get an advanced degree.
NO! You can talk about it. You only get fired if you actually try to do it. :)
I know of one person in particular who after years as a loyal employee, Captain, Check Airman, etc. resigned because the company wouldn't give him leave. Kind of stupid when you think about the attrition going on right now at SkyWest, they should be more flexible if they want to keep any quality people.
 
Well, at my company there is an established procedure for taking a sabatical of several years...where the company and the employee both agree on reestablishing the relationship several years down the road. It is outlined in our employee handbook.

Also, I believe one of our upper level management memebers is currently on a several year long sabatical from a major airline.


I think I just answered my own question.

I guess thats one of the advantages we have. Another thing that she could think about is going part time on call. Then she can work when she feels like it.:) I think that it slows your upgrade. If she's already in the metro or upgrading to the metro real soon, it would not be a bad deal to stick around for a while to raise her kid and then move on.
 
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