Setspeed

Charlotte is going to newhires in indoc, or within a year to transfer if you don't get it in indoc.

C2078

Absolutely not true!! While I am a UPS pilot and will mostly agree with you as it pertains to UPS, Fedex is a different animal. With Fedex you only have to be junior once, and they have lots of day flying. I see the Fedex bid packages pretty much every month, get it from my close friends I have there, see how much better they are than UPS. The point is… Fedex beats every airline job every day of the week, in almost every aspect. And you state “possibly pension”? Not even close. Try retiring from AA after 20–30 years with a fixed income of $100k+ without even touching your 401k. The Fedex and UPS pensions are very well funded, so unless both go into Chapter 11, it is a game changer. Living in base is also a game changer, but if you ever have to or want to commute, Fedex is unmatched.

C2078

Second and third that suggestion..

450knotOffice

He said possibly a pension at FEDEX. What I take by that is that a pilot hired today at FEDEX MAY have a pension when he retires. Big maybe. Remember, AA and the others all had A and B funds until they were taken away. Never say never in a 20-30 year career.

Also, not everyone loves those schedules at FedEx. I have a good friend over there on the 767 and his schedules would destroy my life. My wife would’ve been gone long ago and my dogs would think I was an intruder every time I came home from another insanely long trip. But hey, he gets more time off between trips. Means nothing if my personal life is destroyed.

To each his/her own.

Single Seat

It also means commuting only once a month. New hires on the international WBs are able hold SLD trips before year 2.

J3nkums

Lol. First of all, most AA CA's I fly with make well North of 100k+ a year without even touching PM/PR. I'm a WB FO and I'm North of 200+k easy.. I'd adjust your numbers a bit. I know the Purple and Brown Koolaid is strong with a handful of you but like others have said... not everyone wants the cargo dog lifestyle. I don't mind flying pax one bit and I've also seen the schedules at both Purple and Brown and they make me a little sick to my stomach. They are both fantastic companies that no doubt would provide a less stressful career during the worst of times but not at the expense of my time with my family or health. Personal choice. Lastly, I don't care how well-funded the pensions are. They will be there until they suddenly are not... 20-30 years is a long time. I never thought the Government pension was ever going to change and now it's a blended system. Time will tell but I'd keep funding that B plan if I were you.

PRS Guitars

I thought the same thing, then realized he was referring to the pension with that number.

Every airline used to have a pension…until they didn’t anymore. My advice to those with pensions is try to forget that you have it, plan for it to be taken. Then if/when it’s taken, you are prepared. It is super sad to fly with someone who was counting on the pension, lost it and now are looking at post retirement jobs to make up for that loss.

C2078

Financial stability of UPS/Fedex is a much different proposition, which directly correlates to the ability to fund the pension. No boom/bust cycles. UPS hasn’t lost money since the early days of it’s existence 115 years ago. Unless you negotiate it away, you cannot get rid of your pension obligations outside of BK. AA, Delta, UAL, all shed their pensions while in BK, AA having filed for BK twice in a 15 year span. How many times have Fedex/UPS filed for BK? Some people are simply oblivious to real world data. So go ahead and push your financial doom and gloom.

I will say, if you are a young guy/gal, with 30+ years of service left, an airline career with a solid 16-18% of DC, and good financial planning, pension becomes less important. If you are older and maybe financially behind, pension is much more appealing. Apart from the financial and job stability that a cargo carrier provides. Plus, good luck being a WB Captain making $325+ hr in your 30’s flying one trip a month at an airline.

In summary, so many options now a days that we never had during the lost decade.

threeighteen

Better long term health at FedEx. We work WAY less at FedEx. Less days, less block hours, more pay, better benefits.

A 2 year FO can get 90 days off in a row using just 2 weeks of vacation. Conflict bidding can knock out your whole schedule for a month if you want an unpaid month off or if you want to just have an open schedule to pick up the trips that work for you.

As long as your raison d'etre doesn't rely on being seen in the CLT airport terminal in a pilot uniform, FedEx is the better choice.

ImSoSuss

Stable for now. Quality is deteriorating big time at Fed Ex. Can never count on a delivery arriving on time anymore and even when it says it is out for delivery you'll get hit with a "Unable to deliver today due to weather" notice even though it is sunny and in the 70s out. I cringe every time I order something and it says it is being sent with FedEx. With Amazon taking on all their own deliverys and going from a mechanical to more computer based world, do you really think package delivery is going to stay at this volume for the next 30 years? Plus single pilot cockpit is going to come to cargo way before it comes to Pax airlines, can you imagine the senority stagnation and furloughing that will happen when that takes place? There is a lot more to consider than just pay and what some bad apples say on APC.