My issue with FedEx and UPS is all the night flying.

Leaning towards passenger flying.

What makes FedEx better than Delta?

thank you for the reply btw!


TORO

That's a myth. It is like 50/50 day night. Maybe 40/60 at the worst. Between early mornings, late nights, red eyes, and international all nighters what percentage is day time flying at the passenger carriers.

Why FDX when he can drive to the UPS MIA base?

This. Also if you want to do international, you’re going to be back side of the clock one direction or the other anyway. Plus no pax or FAs to deal with.

MIA base for UPS is an obvious plus if you can make that drive, but have to really be able to tighten the belt for a year and pay back that captain bonus payment.

I know a guy who left year 5 at SWA to go to UPS. Driving to MIA for UPS would be a peak career move.

All of my friends at FedEx love the job. Year 2+ pay is awesome. No FAs and no passengers and you’ll make a ton of money. You can fly day trips relatively quick.

Delta and United seem to be the best of the passenger flying jobs. SWA is great too, just a 6-7 year upgrade and the flying/trips are efficient (read: can be grueling). Bonus is that positive space commuting seems to not be going anywhere so who cares if you’re within a 3 hour drive to MIA.

AA seems like the worst legacy to work for and arguably has worse quality of life than the LCCs. My friends there say it’s just a big extension of their Eagle WO regional. And who cares about the bonus. There will be plenty to of opportunities for premium flying as everyone is short staffed. Few months of green slips at Delta even on year 1 pay and you’ve already made that back.

Thank you for taking your time and writing this post. It definitely puts things into perspective.

We had a discussion as a family and my kids right away pointed at Delta so I guess the decision was made for me. 😅

To all who took their time and reply. Thank you! I appreciate you!


TORO

SWA and JetBlue have MCO bases (even if you may never be a captain in that base, you can live well at the top of the FO list) then it becomes a much harder choice. Delta is pretty commuter friendly with their positive space both ways. SWA is very not commuter friendly for a number of reasons (so you may choose to never upgrade because of that). UPS and AA offer drivable deals but 3+ hours driving every week each way will get old really quick like a 45 minute flight commute would. Not sure United would be anything good for you if you don't want to move... They have no SE bases so all your options are a relatively long flight and I just don't see anything setting them so far apart from the others to deal with that. FedEx pays a mint but also tends to send its pilots to the grave very soon after retiring, and well Memphis.

Nonsense.

AA/UA/DL only fly their widebodies at daytime?

If you are worried about night flying at Fedex, well, bid for daytime flying. Problem solved.

Why do 25 y/o ACMI guys look like extras on The Walking Dead? Why do they still look like that on the hotel van in the morning after presumably at least 10 hrs of rest? It may be exaggerated somewhat but cargo is obviously harder on the body than flying pax around.

No it isn't harder. It's much easier. I've never been more relaxed and well rested at work than I have been here.

It might be different for other fleets, but the 747 is essentially a flight deck with a comfortable RV stuck behind it. Without bunks etc things may be different.