Scamming Hardships

And if you wash you go back to your facility, have a cooling off period before bidding out again

Know someone who hardshipped to a highly desired facility and washed out on flight data/clearance delivery, returned on a Monday and checked out by Friday, had more transfer paperwork in the following Monday.
 
You can see several examples of people getting more than 3 levels on ksn
That's kind of surprising. I'm aware of someone who had one approved (at a Level 5) to Sanford while it was an 8, but upon news of its upgrade, they were told they could no longer so to SFB because it was now 4 levels up instead of 3
 
Know someone who hardshipped to a highly desired facility and washed out on flight data/clearance delivery, returned on a Monday and checked out by Friday, had more transfer paperwork in the following Monday.
Why would they send a hardship to a previous facility? If it was approved, then it was agreed by the FAA that they shouldn’t be there
 
That's kind of surprising. I'm aware of someone who had one approved (at a Level 5) to Sanford while it was an 8, but upon news of its upgrade, they were told they could no longer so to SFB because it was now 4 levels up instead of 3
I imagine it's more of a thing If there are no other facilities close by.
 
Every one heard of the story where someone was allegedly transferred from ZOA to DEN as a trainee because they said they had allergies.

Ive heard this particular story and I can understand why people would assume it was a scam hardship. I'm not testifying to the legitimacy of that one particular case, however, allergies can be much more serious than you might think. My wife developed severe allergies after moving across the country and otc medications are useless. She gets multiple sinus infections every year, constantly has headaches and joint pain and is always miserable, its debilitating in peak season. Her doctor recommended WEEKLY injections, I'm sure you can imagine how much that costs besides the fact that it sucks getting stuck with a needle every week. It's the only thing that helps but if she misses one or two, she's miserable again. She had some regular seasonal allergies before but nothing serious in our region of the country. I haven't hardshipped and am just trying to transfer. Now if this were a controller, you cant even take much if any of that otc medication.
 
Ive heard this particular story and I can understand why people would assume it was a scam hardship. I'm not testifying to the legitimacy of that one particular case, however, allergies can be much more serious than you might think. My wife developed severe allergies after moving across the country and otc medications are useless. She gets multiple sinus infections every year, constantly has headaches and joint pain and is always miserable, its debilitating in peak season. Her doctor recommended WEEKLY injections, I'm sure you can imagine how much that costs besides the fact that it sucks getting stuck with a needle every week. It's the only thing that helps but if she misses one or two, she's miserable again. She had some regular seasonal allergies before but nothing serious in our region of the country. I haven't hardshipped and am just trying to transfer. Now if this were a controller, you cant even take much if any of that otc medication.

I still think an "allergy" hardship is usually a scam. You can also say she needs an emotional support pony to sit on the SWA flight next to me and shit all over their diaper and back it up with some medical opinion from some quack like Maryanne Williamson; but a scam is still a scam by any other name. Some of these things are psychosomatic. Regardless, no amount of splaining is going to disprove that hardships are often abused and annoying as F and not super fair to everyone else; who also want out but aren't fully willing to go all in and win an Oscar to do it.

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I still think an "allergy" hardship is usually a scam. You can also say she needs an emotional support pony to sit on the SWA flight next to me and shit all over their diaper and back it up with some medical opinion from some quack like Maryanne Williamson; but a scam is still a scam by any other name. Some of these things are psychosomatic. Regardless, no amount of splaining is going to disprove that hardships are often abused and annoying as F and not super fair to everyone else; who also want out but aren't fully willing to go all in and win an Oscar to do it.

Yeah I totally get it. Are they being abused? I'm sure. Should they be looked into more? Absolutely they should. But after experiencing something odd like severe allergies firsthand, I stopped presuming that I knew what was going on in people's lives. Partly to avoid embarrassment when it turns out someone does in fact have a legitimate claim. Like telling a mom joke and finding out the person's mom just died.
 
Having been the NATCA NNM Hardship Lead from approximately 2007-2014 I will say that I saw my share of attempts at hardships that did not qualify under A99. Many of them were very "weak" hardship situations at best. If the regional level reps ,for both parties, that review the hardships are doing their jobs there will not be any "hardship scams". Having assisted NATCA members with filing hardships getting medical documentation to support their "conditions" is not as simple as you may think. May treating physicians are very hesitant to sign their name on something that may not be entirely truthful. Then again, there are others that don't mind doing just that.

I always saw my role as the Hardship Lead is to assist members but also to "protect the process" as set forth in A99. One of the toughest jobs is to tell a member "no" that their perceived hardship did not qualify under A99.

As there are several layers of review for hardships in different regions done by both parties, I highly doubt there are many "scams" getting approved. One would need to have all the documentation in order or convince many individuals that it was bona fide. But like anything I'm sure some slip through the cracks.
 
Having been the NATCA NNM Hardship Lead from approximately 2007-2014 I will say that I saw my share of attempts at hardships that did not qualify under A99. Many of them were very "weak" hardship situations at best. If the regional level reps ,for both parties, that review the hardships are doing their jobs there will not be any "hardship scams". Having assisted NATCA members with filing hardships getting medical documentation to support their "conditions" is not as simple as you may think. May treating physicians are very hesitant to sign their name on something that may not be entirely truthful. Then again, there are others that don't mind doing just that.

I always saw my role as the Hardship Lead is to assist members but also to "protect the process" as set forth in A99. One of the toughest jobs is to tell a member "no" that their perceived hardship did not qualify under A99.

As there are several layers of review for hardships in different regions done by both parties, I highly doubt there are many "scams" getting approved. One would need to have all the documentation in order or convince many individuals that it was bona fide. But like anything I'm sure some slip through the cracks.


You must have a some great stories
 
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