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.

snoozing for dollars is awesome......

The other issue I am having is at Delta I’ll retire in the 700s and at AA I believe I’ll retire sub 100.

TORO

that system wide or in domicile.

System wide.


TORO

Best thing ever. I just did a 21 hour duty day, I was on the flight deck for 3 hours.

How much more money and how much of a better contract will you have at 700 with Delta vs 100 with AA? A lot can happen and sub-1,000 anywhere is stellar. Again personally I’d go for better contract and better pay.

Go for the better QOL for YOU. What is better QOL for one is not necessarily the same for someone else. The difference in money is likely not significant between two mainlines, even if it was 20%. I mean, if you’re making $200K a year, how much more does that change your lifestyle? Difference between making wide body and narrow body is more likely approaching that threshold and probably depends how much time you have left and what kind of flying you want to do. Commuting verses not commuting is probably going to be a bigger impact on overall QOL.

Some of us actually like flying ;)
https://tenor.com/bOh9F.gif

Sounds like a OE flight or someone trying to consolidate…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, ICN-China-ANC, CA and FO flew us down so was in the bunk asleep for that leg, slept through most of the loading/unloading, and the CA/other FO took the first half of the ANC leg.

sounds lit if you have WiFi

What’s up with the flow/street hiring rumor going on?

Some trolls just like to stir the pot.

Just fools. The only factual flow information is that envoy is flowing too many per month.

FIFY
filler

Love it when a plan comes together!

100% wrong

Confirmed AA W/O OTS Hiring Trends:
They prefer captains, but do hire junior ones and recent upgrades despite claiming to want significant TPIC.
Attending hiring events or #diversity events is a huge factor for AA.
They like poaching union officers.
They do occasionally award a CJO based on a competing CJO from UA or DAL but it's hit or miss.
Their hires trend older (30+) especially compared to Delta (influencer twink airlines)