Is FedEx a company that you would be able to "be home for all of the kids' important events" so to speak? I once heard one pilot say that in his 20 year career there, he was able to be home for every major family event; is that true for most pilots?

 

Yesterday yes, today maybe, tomorrow who knows. If you are senior anything is possible, but it is hard to get senior when they hire 50 a year.

 

And nobody has been hired in the last 2 years

 

Today, with little to no growth, that would be very hard. I was hired when you were moving up seniority quickly. I have never been away for X-mas or Thanksgiving but I have left lots of money on the table. It will be a long time before we have that kind of movement again, if ever.

 

I would plan on missing 50% of everything. anything better is cake. disclaimer: i don't work for FDX.

At UPS the schedule is 13-14 days out of 28 if not on reserve. Reserve 15 out of 28. Live in domicile and bid reserve you may be home, may be sent out for over 20 days in a row.

Bid turns at UPS and work from 0300-1200 or 1500-0030 figure in sleeping for 8 hours somewhere but home every day

seniority rules but still have to work within the confines of the business model. And if you are not already hired plan on a decade to get senior in your seat.

 

Live where you want and call in sick to adjust your schedule as necessary so you never miss a family event. That what sick time is for!

 

If you are willing to live in MEM and bid a seat only based on you home quality of life, you have a great chance of being home for any event you want. Either bid around, trade around, or work an AM out and back that morning. If quantity of home time is also key, just work AM out and backs. Home every night. ..from a 17 year commuter who is tired of commuting.

 

That nails it.

To add, it depends upon what you bid, what you fly, and what your priorities are. I think FedEx has had more flexibility than most, at least up until now. It has worked well for both pilots and the company. We could drop almost anything and barely work, or we could pick up tons of extra and work every day of our lives. But it is hard for junior pilots (and sometimes almost everyone) to get off Thanksgiving and Christmas, and if they are undermanned, it can be hard to drop or swap anything. They make it very difficult to move or drop in December. It can be extremely tough to drop or swap on reserve. Life for a junior pilot, especially a commuter, is much harder than the senior pilot who lives in domicile.


However, if you're willing to spend some time on the computer, even junior pilots have a shot at fixing their schedules. For a working mom, right now, I think FedEx has far greater flexibility than many other airlines. But will this last? My spouse works full time, and except for the early years, we never even had to have a babysitter, just swapped and dropped trips as needed. Sometimes, though, you have to make difficult choices. Is it more important to go to one event that just popped up, or to fly the great trip you were so happy to get? It can be hard explaining to people that think you can get any time off, that this great LAX standby trip just came up, and is it worth giving up the $14K for the easy trip, just to attend their luncheon?

 

There are precious few flying jobs where one can "be home for all of the kids important events".

 

I moved to a Collierville, bid reserve, and spend more time at home than I do on the road. When I do get called, more often than not it's an out and back or a 1 day trip. This was especially true when everyone was happily picking up trips.