NoHaz

You've been assigned a trip when it becomes a problem so wouldn't you be protected on A reserve? They aren't going to even know if you late and aren't assigned a trip.

busdriver12

This is the OP's original post. Let's get back to that.

FXLAX

Your post bring up some questions for me. These aren’t rhetorical. I’m honestly trying to understand what you wrote. I may be misunderstanding.

Would you be protected if you were not first fly and assigned a trip and it meets the timing provisions?

Are there no protections for using sick leave?

How many letters in your file become a concern to you? After how many letters in your file would it change your commuting plan?

If the weather really sucks and there is a huge need for pilots and CRS can not care less when you arrive, will you still get a letter in your file?

FXDX

New thread started folks, PLEASE take the jumpseat discussion over to it.

Thanks

KC10 FATboy

1. Hiring started back in 2011 with approximately 20 per month. But I don't see the significance of when hiring ramped up to a pilot candidate looking to come to FedEx. Can you further explain what you are asking or wanting to know?

2. FedEx isn't going to hire 30-40 per month indefinitely. Management cited a growing economy and business model as to why they expect to hire 400-450 this year. Mandatory Age 65 retirements will ensure we hire each year unless the business model shrinks. Here are those numbers.

2019 :92
2020 :144
2021 :165
2022 :193
2023 :219
2024 :225
2025 :215
2026 :242
2027 :210
2028 :211
2029 :193
2030 :171
2031 :181
2032 :183
2033 :194
2034 :205
2035 :173
2036 :148
2037 :108
2038 :118
2039 :115
2040 :79
2041 :79
2042 :85
2043 :70
2044 :56
2045 :66
2046 :58
2047 :51
2048 :28
2049 :15
2050 :6
2051 :6
2052 :4
2053 :2
2054 :1
2055 :2

3. Most pilots wait until Age 65 instead of retiring early. There are some early birds who elect to retire earlier but they're not the norm.I don't have any firm data on this except what I observe from the retirement postings on our internal website.

4. As others have said, our reserve rules suck. Don't listen to the new hire wonders who were given 777s right out of BI and who claim how wonderful reserve life is. New hires going to the 777 is probably a thing of the past considering how the new Section 24 Vacancy language works. 777 reserve is a lot different than the other fleets because you rarely get used. However, that isn't the case on the other fleets, especially the 757 and 767, where new hires are most likely to go to.

To be off reserve, you need to be about 70 percent or higher. You may still get reserve lines during the secondary process. That is a new feature of the new contract.

5. We still have long drawn out system bids. We thought the latest contract fixed this but it didn't. There has only been one system bid using the new contract so everyone is still learning the ins and outs.

If you are in your seat for less than 24 months, you can not lateral bid (wide body to wide body) or down bid (wide body to 757). This does not apply to the foreign domiciles. If you accept a wide body position during BI, you're going to be there for two years before you can bid. The only exception to this would be if there's a shrinkage of your current fleet and you accept to move to another category in which your seniority can hold.

6. Yes I think most people are happy at FedEx. However, there is a lot of growing anti-FDX ALPA sentiment following the last contract. Contract negotiations are a two way street. If the pilots don't hold the line (not fly draft, not sell back vacation, don't accept advance volunteer, not take the scheduled deadhead out of Memphis), the union isn't going to be very effective in getting what they want. A lot of the perceived wins in our last contract have turned into failures. Many are just waking up to this news. Those who are senior have their golden parachutes and are headed off to retirement with big paychecks in hand.

I tell people to choose which airline is going to give you the best quality of life. Money isn't everything. Passenger airline pay has achieved parity with FedEx and is exceeding in many cases.

Living in base significantly increases your quality of life while expanding your paycheck if you volunteer for extra flying. As the other thread suggests, commuting to Memphis isn't as easy as it was when Northwest had a major hub in Memphis. Unless you spend an extra day in Memphis after a trip, you'll be commuting back home at 1-6am in the morning. Trust me, deadheading and trying to sleep in the back of the excessively cold 757 sucks greatly. The jumpseat policy only offers protection for certain trips (mostly domestic); you may be required to commute in to your hub earlier than expected.

Recently, Memphis fell to #3 from #2 as the Most Dangerous City in America so you have that going for you. LOL If you are not used to living in a high crime high poverty location you will be in for a big surprise. Even those who are willing to commute back and forth from Collierville, TN (45 minute drive minimum) aren't exempt from the crime. Crime is spilling over into Germantown and Collierville. Collerville has seen an increase in armed robberies as well as a couple of hold ups at Kroger's. Mud Island which was once thought to be geographically isolated from the problems of Memphis has seen crime spike over the past year. There were a few armed robberies, lots of theft, and a murder in the coveted Harbortown section. We also had a pilot shot driving to work during the day who was supposedly involved in a road rage incident.

We fly a lot at night. Our day flying goes senior. Even if you have day reserve lines, they'll call you out of reserve and build a pairing which has you flying night hub turns. In other words, a day reserve line doesn't protect you from flying nights. This is probably the worst part about the job. If you can hold days, your life is great but the day trips have very long Memphis hub sits. This is good if you live around Memphis and can go home for a few hours but it sucks hanging around the AOC all day. You do get all you can eat and drink popcorn, coffee, juices and lemonade. The Memphis AOC cafeteria is downright disgusting. The Indy buffeteria (yes they call it that) is awesome.

In short, yes I think most people are happy here but the latest contract was two steps backwards and the crew force is getting grumpy about ALPA.

PILOTGUY

"But wait!! There's more!".....more about commuter policy.

A lot of good reading here. I am appreciative of the information, especially about emailing before indoc, as VHHH is the only domicile I am interested in.

On mention of the people who commute from the Philippines, did they lose the housing allowance because they are "shown" as commuters?? Couldn't one live in Hong Kong and "visit" the Philippines on off days?

Adlerdriver

Sure. Good idea - ask the pilots who lost their jobs doing that how it worked out.

Albief15

If you take the enhanced package, which includes the housing allowance, tax equalization, etc you are expected to make Hong Kong your "center of gravity". If you do a thread search, you'll find some info about the "Hong Kong 4", or 4 pilots terminated for perceived abuse of the housing allowance. Many more pilots were investigated, and some settled with the company at great expense. Since then, several pilots have elected to live outside Hong Kong and have chosen to forfeit their allowances and are handling their own taxes. (In the process, they preserve their foreign tax exemption, but are responsible for all foreign taxes). Trying to "straddle" the position is going to get you clobbered. Take the package, and move to HK....or don't take it and commute from whatever place suits your fancy. People have been subpoenaed for things they have posted on APC, and job offers have been rescinded for things posted online. The company has in the past reviewed various sites including Facebook.

One thing that you need to consider is the bidpack is always evolving. For years, there weren't many long (more than 7 day) trips when HK was an airbus base. When they swapped over to the 75/76, they did start creating a bunch of single departure lines. We had some folks from Europe and the US decide to give it a try and they made it work for a couple years. Lately, the trips have been broken up, and the lines are 2, 3, or 4 departures a month with about 14-15 days off a month. With 2-3 days between some of the trips you will spend a lot of unproductive time between trips in HK or waste a lot of time commuting for very little time at home. Not sure of all the reasons, but the result is the trips here are much less commutable than even six months ago.

Additionally, you asking "what do people do?" in Hong Kong as far as their travel, etc. After the company fired pilots here, many pilots simply don't discuss private lives, even with coworkers. Nobody asks their coworkers how many days they spent anywhere . They damn sure won't go into specifics on a public board, and based on the past events I don't blame them. Not pointing this out to complain, just want you to understand why you might only have deafening silence as a reply.

PILOTGUY

Ah ha. Scratch that idea. This is exactly why I asked, and obviously (now) not something to attempt. Thank you.

I will look into that to read up on it.

Thanks also for the trip info. I knew in the past that HKG had some of the best flying FDX offered, according to a few FDX pilots I know.

lpcunity

Can some please provide an example of the new hire training footprint? Are there gaps in between Indoc and sim to go home to the family? Are new hires eligible for jumpsest privileges to make the trip home? I know most new hires are going to be assigned the 757. What would be the average training length until finished with OE and released? I appreciate the info.
Thank you.