Hello to all you FedEx pilots and congrats on your latest agreement passing (I think). I was hoping to pick some of your brains and learn a little more about your decisions that led you to FedEx. Just a couple disclaimers to start.

1.) I really don’t know a lot of about FedEx or its history at all, and in my pursuit of learning from you all about it, I apologize in advance if I make any wrongful assumptions.

2.) I came from the military when I transitioned to the airlines, so I have only been in the 121 world for a couple of years now, so my big picture outlook is narrower than many of yours.

What I have heard from many of the FedEx pilots I’ve come across is that a number of years ago FedEx was the pinnacle of places to work. You’d see pilots leaving from all of the majors in pursuit of flying there. What I have also heard is that things have drastically changed. The overall sentiment I’ve heard now is “don’t come here unless you have no other options” and “the worst mistake I’ve made in my career is leaving X carrier for this” and even a number of pilots who have left the traditional majors, jumped to FedEx, and then jumped back a number of years later. While I’m sure some of these are exaggerated, I’m sure there’s some level of truth to these comments.

This is what I’d like to try and collect some more info on. Right now at my company, things are good… really good. I’m not blind to the fact that things can change in a heart beat or with very little notice. My question to you all is what do you believe was the downfall that led to the sentiment shift? Could you see the writing on the wall early? What were the warning signs? What advice would you offer to a newer pilot to keep an eye out for in the future?

Thank you for any shared insight!