Originally Posted by KC10 FATboy (Post 2590091)

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. :eek:

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.

Originally Posted by Chub (Post 3180122)

Is the ALPA FDX retirement crystal ball the best place to get estimated retirement numbers? The numbers I’m seeing are a bit off from the numbers below, but that could probably be chalked up to hiring and early retirements since 2018. Are there any other sources for these retirement numbers? I didn’t see anything on PFC. Thanks,

Chub

Originally Posted by Yuko (Post 3184649)

How far out from your separation date or terminal leave date are mil folks being called for an interview?

Originally Posted by PurpleToolBox (Post 2580783)

Let's be honest about FedEx.

FedEx haa the WORST reserve system in the airline industry. If you are junior, it really really sucks. Everyday of reserve is a "short call" day which means you must be in Memphis (or your base). And if you are senior enough to get the one or two R24 lines, they'll probably call you into Memphis to sit hotel standby. Speaking of, FDX has hotel and airport standbys. Meaning, if you're not already in Memphis or base, they'll put you in hotels or make you sit at the airport. I think most of the majors got rid of that crap a long time ago. Somehow those airlines flying thousands of flights a day manage with their much better reserve system, but not FDX. For example, there's only a handful of 777 departures a day, but they'll have 30 people sitting short calls in Memphis. Why? And don't let a bunch of FDX pilots who were military wonders who haven't worked anywhere else tell you how great it is because they don't know what they don't know. Many regional pilots have better reserve systems/scheduling systems. And make no mistake, the senior bubbas aren't ever going to fix it because, "what will we have to give up to fix it? You choose to be junior."

The pay scales are also screwed up. FDX has neither the ALPA standard higher pay rates for the increased size of the airplane, or single pay rates like its main competitor UPS. Instead you have narrow body pay for 757 and wide body pay for everything else. So if you ever get stuck on or bid to the 757, just know that the industry has left you behind and you're either on the worst 757 pay scale as compared to the majors, or tied for it. BUT, you're most likely flying night hub turns which after a week of those is a real kick in the pants.

But but but but, some people will be quick to say that the 777 has some bennies built into the contact for the long flights over 8 and 12 hours. Yes, it does. However, it isn't enough to significantly change your W2 at the end of the year. Since the 777 has extremely little extra flying, you fly what you can hold, basic bid line guarantee, and there's little chances of working extra and making extra. Senior or hard working 757FOs can earn a lot more than the average 777FO. Yes, it's true.

Wait a second, you just said 757 pay scales suck. Yes, they do. And under certain ideal conditions and circumstances, some senior 757FOs can make bank but its going to fail your marriage or take a couple years off the end of your life doing it. Choose wisely.

There are little gotchas in the contract. For example, if you are removed from a trip, unlike the rest of the airline industry where you have guarantee pay and you go home, at FDX you get to play the substitution game. Seriously, you have to see this disaster of a schematic chart to figure out how/what you should do if you fall into substitution hell. If you look at that ridiculous chart, you'll see acronyms like RAT ... good luck ever finding that defined. (Shhhhh... it stands for reassignment trip). You have to read the contact and read between the lines to figure out that RAT is never defined anywhere.

Which comes to my next point. The union is damn near broken. As a new hire, unlike other unions out there, the union WILL NOT teach you anything about the contract. Contract education is nonexistent. This leads to problems for new hires because some of the language hasn't been implemented yet -- even after all this time. As a new hire, you utilize the new language not realizing it isn't active yet which can end with you in trouble with the company or in debt to them. The current contract seems like a contract with a band-aids on top of band-aids to fix the problems. However, if you haven't been around for the past two or three contracts, a lot of it doesn't make sense because you don't understand how it got that way.

So, unlike other unions, there are no educational contract videos. There's no powerpoint presentations. Yes, you can call into the main office and ask a contract question, good luck having them actually tell you the correct information. I know I'm on an epic rant here but that's the darn truth! I've had the company tell me better information than the union has. And if you ask someone about the contract, you'll probably get a "Call your sponsor!" response. As if those exist today.:rolleyes:

Bidding for vacancies. FDX has the most complicated vacancy bidding system in the airline industry. We thought we were getting small monthly bids. No. Instead we still have large system bids. After being awarded a position, you then bid monthly on when you want to go to training. This system is overly complicated and means that you really have no idea when you might be going to training.

I can go on and on, but the grass isn't necessarily greener here at FedEx anymore. This isn't your late 90s early 2000s FedEx. The majors are back on their feet, they're earning as much if not more than FedEx. And they have profit sharing, FedEx employees and pilots do not. For example, in 2017, Delta Air Line employees shared $1.1 billion dollars in profit sharing.

Something to think about that they don't tell you at the FedEx meet and greet.

Originally Posted by screamin jet (Post 3198723)

If you're for real, you should leave you miserable SOB! There! Good day, whiner.

Originally Posted by FXLAX (Post 3198756)

I believe that it’s the “whiner” or as I like to call it, the complainer, that helps us make things better. If there was never any discontent, things would remain the same for eternity.