1SmokyBoi

Hello,

Air Force guy with lots of time left on his commitment here, just looking for some information to keep in mind down the road.

What are some some pros and cons to FedEx vs a normal airline to consider if I wind up lucky enough to get a choice? Since a lot of it is subjective I'll include what my family and I will likely be looking for by then.

How much time at home/schedule stability does one get with FedEx vs the airlines?

We're looking pretty heavily into living in the Denver or LA areas once I get out, although it wouldn't be a deal breaker to live somewhere else. How well do those places mesh with working for FedEx?

How does the day-to-day job (i.e., trip types, lengths of trips, number and duration of sorties, work rules, etc.) compare to the airlines?

How do upgrade opportunities, be it to the left seat or to a cooler jet, compare to the airlines?

How do the pay and benefits compare?

Any other nuggets of wisdom that you have?

I don't know very many people in cargo at the moment so any information helps. Thank you!

FrankTheTank

Less block
Less weekend and no holiday flying
Living anywhere is doable
Schedules vary from a few days to all your days in a row for reserve. Line flying can be one day to all in a row.
All of our airplanes are cool

C2078

Oh boy, you call an A300 cool? 😳

CandlerKid

Keep in mind a large chunk who answer these kind of questions (on any airline thread) have only worked at that airline. Ask your buds the pros and cons of each different airline where they work and you’ll figure out what works best for you and your family. Also, you’ll stop caring about coolness of planes and start caring about pay rate and QOL instead real quick!

FrankTheTank

Yup.........

1SmokyBoi

Not familiar with the term "block."

Some more questions I have: how does commuting work with y'all since there's a lot of night flying and otherwise oddball show times? Also, on the subject of lines, how senior does one have to be to have a reasonable amount of schedule control/how long would a new guy expect to be doing reserve?

1SmokyBoi

I fly what is arguably the least cool jet in the Air Force so everything FedEx has is much sexier. And by "cooler" jets I meant going from narrowbody to widebody.

abides

Sleeps 6, wide body pay, relatively jr upgrades... what’s not cool about that?

C2078

Slow, flies low, gets run over by almost every Boeing, breaks a lot, crappy domestic flying, hmmmm.

BoilerUP

Breaks a lot? A300 is far more reliable than the 757 and Mostly Domestic.

Everybody hates on the Bus until they need a jumpseat. And speaking of jumpseaters, they and the loo aren’t in the cockpit like the Boeings and bags never need to go in the belly.

Other than that it sucks, senior people should definitely bid a much cooler airplane.