C2078

Heck, things must be so bad at the airlines that we at Brown had 3 United folks in our last class, United alone, go figure.

manolo1492

​​​​​​In my experience my only regret was not trying to get hired with Fedex sooner. I flew for the regionals for almost 10 years and carrying passengers was all I knew, and for this reason I expected to end up at United or Delta AIRLINES. In the end I ventured out from what I knew and the career path I had expected, I applied and was hired at Atlas which opened my eyes to the cargo world/life. And luckily opened the doors to Fedex. I feel that once you experience the low hassle cargo life when compared to flying passengers for the rest of your career it's a NO BRAINER which route to take, but you don't know what you don't know. Specially if able to get hired by UPS or Fedex where the pay would be equal or better to the legacies, so why not pick the less "stressful" job of the two? I see all those passenger brawl videos lately, it seems to be getting a bit out of control

As a pilot group we block way less than the legacies, but the BLG (line value) is comparable... of course this past 1.5 years has been the exception with many legacy pilots not flying much at all and still getting paid. That was probably the better deal. Schedule flexibility is usually pretty good when we aren't understaffed. I remember dropping my entire line for several months as a newhire during open time/line improvement, times might be different now since we are short it seems. Another GREAT aspect to our schedule flexibility is our vacation, truly the BEST in the industry. We can do so much with it to create conflict and turn 7 days into a month off. Honestly with all the time off I have usually I don't really look forward to vacation like I did back in the regional days. Commute on Fedex is painless and stress free for the most part. As for upgrade, I held 75 captain in MEM right around the 2 year mark. Decided to stay widebody FO instead for QOL. I hope some of this info was helpful

Jman85

Very helpful. Like I said, trying to find out why people leave a legacy for FedEx. That speaks volumes and I want to learn why Fedex is better. If I’m going to switch to the cargo life, I want to know that’s the better switch for my family.

Jman85

Seems like NH classes are made up of mostly legacy pilots. To me, that seals more than volumes. So that’s why I’m trying to learn what makes Fedex so much better. Not asking you to sell me on Fedex. I’m trying to be educated. Everyone says Fedex is awesome and I’d like to know specifics. Someone on here talked about your vacation and being able to make it conflict with so many days to get a lot off. Stuff like that I would have never known. I want to be able to say in a fedex interview that I did some hard research and learned that Fedex really is the best for reasons x, y, z.

opt0712

Again, like a previous poster stated, try jumpseating on us and ask questions. All of our guys would have no problem answering your questions. I commuted on FedEx for nine years learning about this company before I finally got hired. Lots of invaluable information to be had when you actually go out and get the answers you seek.

If you can't jumpseat, then this forum is FULL of various experiences and advice on life at FedEx.

busdriver12

Yes, the schedule at FedEx is amazingly flexible in comparison, as long as your seat is appropriately staffed (and not right around Thanksgiving or Christmas, though I have never worked either of those holidays). It’s kind of tough to drop now, though. Work every day of your life, fine. Get rid of all your trips for two months, fine. Much harder on reserve, but a little bit of seniority, creativity, computer time and you have a ton of flexibility as far as what trips you fly and when. I flew half a schedule for many years when the kids lived at home. No pilot furloughs in our entire history.

I’m retiring at 58, with almost two million miles flown on Delta, and a solid pension of 147K to start. Rarely jumpseat, FedEx usually pays for my tickets to work, sometimes I start/end a trip from home.

I gave up recall at a major after six months at FedEx. Sure, there’s some cargo specific hazards, but it is fantastic to have no flight attendants, and NO PAX. Great people to fly with, easy commuting, never had a single decision as a captain ever questioned, once. No pax with their cellphone cameras. Yes, we are prima donnas and we whine with the best of them, but I wouldn’t trade being a freight dog for any other flying job.👍

FXLAX

Can you explain the $147k pension, especially retiring with a 6% loss?

busdriver12

Sure. We have many different ways to take our pension, and I have chosen the Social Security Leveling option. Since I have over 25 years with the company and my high five, it’s not much of a pension cut for me to retire at 58. The SS leveling option will pay me $147K per year until I turn 67, then it drops down to $108K when they assume social security kicks in (though you can take it whenever you like). The point is to maintain a steady income before and after SS.

There is no survivor benefit option for this plan, and you can choose age 62, 65 or 67 to take the higher benefit. I figure the higher benefit will be more useful to me while I’m paying for a mortgage and retiree health insurance.

FXLAX

That’s good to know. I assume this is covered in the retirement seminar the union puts on every year?

busdriver12

I remember them describing it briefly, but I found out about it while messing around on the FedEx Alight website, putting in different numbers. The Schwab advisors were helpful too, suggesting deferring for a year to increase the pension by about 1K per month. Though it’s not worthwhile to defer unless you’re 60 or older.