The new CBA changed that. Section N of the FDA LOA allows you to leave without a bid 12 months after your commitment period if you're in an FDA without a maximum service limit.

 

Cool, I missed that. So does that mean if no bids, you can leave HKG after 3 yrs but Eu you would have to wait til 4yr 7 month point?

 

The pilot shall notify his Chief Pilot in writing of the election under this paragraph, which shall include:

a. The selection by the pilot of a non-FDA crew position that a junior pilot is activated in and currently holds; and

b. The pilot’s preferred exit date (i.e., the date upon which the pilot starts ITU training or when the pilot base transfers), which shall not be less than 6 months from the date of the notice. The preferred exit date must be after the completion of the pilot’s commitment period, plus 12 months.

The above deals with HKG or any other FDA that doesn't have a maximum time limit. I believe that if you're in CGN you're stuck until there's a bid or you hit that maximum limit.

 

So just to be clear, would a new hire know before accepting the position and leaving their current job if they would be based outside of the continental US?

 

Pilot7,

The pilots who have successfully completed the interview process will get calls from the recruiting folks offering a class date for an FDA (Foreign Domicile Assignment -- HKG and CGN). It would all be very clear from the initial call. From what I know, and I actually speak from a bit of personal experience on this, FedEx has never "forced" poolies into accepting an FDA, nor ANC for that matter. They will offer the prospective pilot the option to take the known class date for the FDA or ANC, or wait for a MEM class date in the future, which would be awarded in interview order. So, there has always been an option.

The fact that over the years FedEx has chosen to give the option to decline a class date for a non-CONUS assignment, has always spoken very highly to me about the company. There is no need to give the prospective pilot an option, as they will easily fill the FDAs and ANC with new-hires, but they choose to do so. Pretty cool.

Good luck.

 

Awesome. I want to work at this company so bad I can taste it.

 

all true, the only nuance is that the Company can not hire a class of pilots and "make" them go to an FDA (actually in the CBA) so they use this procedure and have a different new hire start date for FDA pilots so that everyone is ok with the plan. I agree that is much better way to do things, they have done the same with ANC but are not required to and could let new hire seat bidding rule the day during BI. The only place they use bidding has been for the lower 48 slots.

 

There has been quite a loss of DAY flying here all of a sudden, possibly due to some problems with the Postal Service, FedEx has enjoyed a very nice piece of that action, but in checking through all of the bid packs today, especially in the airplane I am flying, there is not as much "daytime flying" as we used to have ............... Am seeing this across all other aircraft types. Our own scheduling improvement committee guys made note of it during their comments of the most recent bidpack. I see us flying more and more "night schedules", if you do not like flying back side of the clock, think real hard about this before coming over to FedEx. We have experienced many changes here in our scheduling and expectations from the Company. IMHO, our flight schedules are gradually eroding and we are seeing more push to qualify all pilots here International, which could be a jeopardy event, especially for those on reserve. There was a time when you could bid DOMESTIC lines vs. INTERNATIONAL lines, but that has largely gone away with the advent of recent scheduling changes. You need to talk with someone that is a FedEx pilot, and don't just talk to one person .............. get a better idea by talking to as many as possible. I have three years to go before I can get out of here and believe me, I will be ready for it .............................

 

I've tried to search, but haven't really found any recent info so just a few questions to tag onto this thread.

1. What is a typical reserve schedule like as far as days on/off go? (IE right now I do 6 on 1 off and 5 on 3 off for the most part)

2. How long is the reserve call out time?

3. Once a line holder how long is the typical trip? (4-6 days, or over 10 days)

 

1. ACFT and Domicile dependent, if the acft has 14 day long pairings Reserve will have 14 day strings. SOme of each is available. 15 on in a 28 day month and 19 on in a 36 day month.

2. 1 hour in Mem 2 hours elsewhere. We do have some 24 hour. When you are on they have a 12 hour window.

3. See #1. We have a lttle of everything.