I can't say I agree with most of you that believe being junior at Fedex is worse than being junior at an airline. I've done both, and have flown at a couple of large airlines. We are out of 4.A.2.b. so if someone wants to bid a lot of carryover, so be it. We still get a monthly guarantee like at any decent airline. It's not like they don't have to work more to earn that extra cash. I think I'll pass and spend some time at home. Both airlines that I worked for used a cap system. I prefer our system by a longshot, but I like to work harder in some months and less in others. I guess we all have our preferences.

Our contract is about as good as it gets these days. Not by substantial gains, but by substantial losses at legacy carriers. Being junior at any airline has its drawbacks and Fedex is no different. We also have a very large percentage of widebody flying. In more normal times, it doesn't take that long to move up to a widebody. We certainly aren't in a normal period now, with Age 65 and a slow economy halting any upward movement. In my previous airline, it would take 10-12 years to make the right seat of a widebody.

One thing that does suck at Fedex is the time that we fly. It is an unfortunate part of our business model. And junior guys get stuck with a lot of it, but in reality, even pretty senior folks fly nights as well. I don't know, but I think being junior here is manageable, and the pay and benefits are much better than anyone else these days (with the possible exception of UPS).