I'll enlarge on the Big 3 widebody discussion. I don't believe any of the Big 3 have more than 20% of their flying in WB seats. And, it seems more and more of their international flying is being outsource to their codeshare partners, so that number is only going to go down.
Also, the WB left seats at the Big 3 go extremely senior. If you were hired on the leading edge of the current hiring binge and you were in your 20's, you might have a shot at more than 10 years flying WB left seat at a Big 3 company.
Contrast all of that with Fedex. Over 80% of our flying is in WB seats. And with so many folks hired directly into the MD, 76, and 77 there are literally hundreds of folks here who will spend their entire career in a Fedex WB seat. A large percentage of our WB flying isn't international flying, but you'll still get paid WB pay. And, anyone hired in the last 5 years, hopefully, should be able to get into a WB left seat within 5-7 years, and remain in a WB left seat for the remainder of a 20+ year career.
Everyone always concentrates on which airline has the highest pay, but they forget that there are only a select few at the Big 3 who will ever get to see that high pay rate for any length of time. I suggest you think about the long-term career earnings impact of all of the Fedex WB flying available before you jump ship.

 

We need a hundred or so new hires to put in apps to the big 3. Doing so would generate PRIA records requests to FDX. I suspect that would greatly influence our next contract knowing people were leaving to go to FDX.

 

This action by alot of pilots in 98 is only thing that saved us after the parking lot debacle.

 

PRIA record requests only get generated once a person is hired. Applying doesn’t trigger them, sorry to burst your bubble, but creative thinking.

 

Well crap ... and I meant Legacy carriers not FDX obviously.

I guess we have to encourage all of our very junior new hires to start jumping ship then. The grass is definitely greener.

 

Yeah, I read it.. Confusing is an understatement. One line says "this paragraph shall not permit a new hire pilot to change his initial crew status." and the next line says . "If a new hire pilot changes his initial crew position ", well which one is it? Also, filling positions from the "System Bid" is misleading also... and new hires are able to bid for whatever they want, but the plane they want just may not be offered for their class, so another misleading loophole...

 

I encourage you to share your thoughts on Sec 24 with your reps when the time comes. I have shared multiple times that it is my opinion we have the most restrictive and punitive system bidding language in the industry.

 

When was the last FedEx furlough?

 

[QUOTE=frddrvr;2958534]Soliciting advice from an anonymous Internet forum might be nuts but here it goes.

I’m relatively new here and consider myself extremely fortunate to be part of the team. FedEx was always my #1 choice but some of that shine is starting to wear off after seeing behind the curtain. That being said, I’m considering brushing off the resume with all of this doom and gloom.

I’m less than 1yr on property and don’t know what I don’t know. The majority of my buddies fly for the UAL/Delta/AA/SWA and truly think I’m nuts staying on board FedEx’s sinking ship. I don’t have many buddies here to steer me straight with an honest long term perspective of flying for FedEx. I haven’t been a fan of the night hub turns but I’m told day flying is doable with a bit of seniority. Does it really get better? So what is the true story? Are we at the bottom of a normal business cycle or do we have our collective heads in the sand? I hope I’m wrong but the headwinds of change don’t look favorable.

I’m fortunate to likely have a long career ahead of me and live within driving distance to big domiciles for the other major carriers. Flying purple tails have always been my dream so I can’t believe I’m even considering walking away from the best flying job in the world. Have I lost my mind?

Ok man, here it is ............ There are major problems with the passenger carriers, TSA every day, crowded airport terminals and hyped up piece of junk passengers that want a piece of you if they got a bad landing. WHY in this world would you want to leave now ??? Don't be myopic about this kind of thing, this is your chance to get some seniority and enjoy the fruits of your labor dude !!! I started out here as a B727 Flight Engineer, worked my way off that position in about 18 months and when the flying seat came available as an FO was so happy !!! The schedules will always be something to reckon with but you are not going to be junior here for long, keep that in mind. Typically the company in the past has put out these so called warning letters and memos because they have to tell the investors something, rumors all over the place, just keep your position and work on realizing how lucky you are to be in this place, it will get better !!!

 

At this point, it would definitely be a very bad idea to leave FedEx for another carrier. The Corona virus is absolutely going to affect world GDP and airline demand, and being at the bottom of a list somewhere like United is NOT the place to be in that circumstance.