Fdx and UPS have different scales. At FDX, we separate wide body from narrowbody. As someone else said, a majority of our flying at Fedex is widebody.

Are these payscales better than a traditional legacy carrier? If you can get a very high rate for Captain or FO, then I'd say yes. Looking at the airline profiles, it appears that a 15 year captain at UPS makes around $244/hour. This is about the 15 year Fedex widebody captain pay. I work at Fedex and would certainly prefer UPS payrates. Although most of our flying is widebody, we are buying more 757s (also retiring 727s). If we could attain a widebody rate for all flying, of course I'd prefer it.

A single payrate is somewhat cost effective to the company as well. People are less apt to change airplanes for a few bucks of hourly pay which lowers training costs and keeps people working the line instead of training. It also lowers the amount of pilots in the training department to some degree.

So the answer to your question, which system is preferable? It simply depends on what hourly rate you can attain. Most legacy carriers have the highest rate on the large aircraft (747, 777, etc), but how many of these aircraft do you really have on property and how long will it take to get there? At my previous airline, it would take 20-25 years to make that level. Depending on the age when you got hired, you might not ever make it.

I'd guess that if you could successfully negotiate a single payrate (or a two tier like Fedex), that your pay would be somewhere between the high rate (777) and low (probably DC-9). If this is the case, do you find it preferable? I suppose it depends on the seat you are in at the time. A senior widebody captain facing a pay cut might not be too happy, while a junior guy might or might not be.