Commute to FedEx vs Legacy in base
 

Regional Capt here just trying to learn more.
I hear a lot of people leave legacies for FedEx. I’m curious as to what Fedex has to offer that a legacy doesn’t. Used to be in law enforcement so it doesn’t matter to me whether I carry boxes or passengers. I want to work for a company that takes care of its pilots. I’ve never met an unhappy Fedex pilot but plenty of legacy pilots who have something to say.
So like I said, just trying to learn more and have a company to shoot for. By the time I flow and gain seniority, it’ll be years before being in base for AA. But I hear a lot of Fedex people commute and say it’s no big deal. Thanks for any info.

While I don't commute there are a ton of ways to do it at FedEx. For the domestic stuff you can probably hold lines after a few months where you jumpseat in with the sort in the AM or PM and then fly with the outbound sort. So let's say you are working 2 separate weeks with MEM Night hub turns on the 767... You'd show up at DFW or AFW at around 2130 and jumpseat into MEM. Then you'd fly all week doing hub turns and when you're done you'd probably land in MEM at 2330 and then leave on your jumpseat home at 0330 4 hours later back to DFW. That's when you're junior... As you get more Senior you'd get "Double Deadhead" trips where you'd have the company pay for a ticket out of DFW to something like STL and then you'd hub turn all week. When you're done you'd get a paid ticket home....

The guys doing International on the 777 or the MD also have trips that start and end with deadheads. Those are business class in lie flat seats.... mostly. I think they're supposed to show up and get rest in MEM before they fly longer legs but I'm not 100% sure that actually happens all the time... They could probably describe that better than I could.

Overall I've heard it's very easy here. As a bonus you're never gonna really sweat a jumpseat here as they're mostly completely empty. In my 3 years here I've never flown where the jumpseats were all full and I usually have them empty. You also won't have to deal with sitting with passengers in the middle seat.

Beat advice is to search all the FedEx threads here and gather information. Here's a good starting point:
https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/fedex/127152-fedex-vs-airlines-pro-con.html

I'll throw this out there too... FedEx will also pay to move you into your base when you get hired. Obviously you'd be able to hold MEM but if you really hate MEM you might be able to hold ANC, IND or OAK these days...

If you’re chasing $$ then living in base is what you’ll need to do, pax or cargo. If you’re a QOL guy then the above cargo description is spot on. I’m a QOL commuter and there’s noting better than commuting on FDX. Mine is a one hour flight that is drivable in a pinch but I was a regional guy and greatly prefer it to pax work.

I hate to break it to you but living in base is much better QOL as well... I've never had to sit in a room from 11-4AM hoping for a jumpseat that puts me in my own bed at 5AM... If I want to stay Senior I can cherry pick trips as opposed to needing a double dead head or waiting for some trip that goes through my home town. I'll never need one guy to retire so I can hold that trip. If I want to make more money then I can take first available upgrade and sit at home on Reserve instead of being away from my family in a crash pad. Heck when I'm Senior I may want Reserve anyway depending on how busy we are at the time as I'm gonna get paid to sit at home and scratch my rear...

I get it that some people must live away for whatever reason but living in base will always be a better QOL.... And so is the money.

I definitely agree that nothing beats living in base. I’m just curious what makes Fedex so amazing that people leave a legacy for it.
I know one can get to a wide body faster but for me any pay rate is better than the regionals.

Is the schedule at FedEx more flexible compared to the legacies? I know AA pilots can’t stand their PBS but Delta loves theirs.

Ah, sitting at home on reserve… those were the days. Definitely in the rear for now in my fleet/seat. 125 hours of block in 2020. Just checked my OE experience summary and I have that in 6 months this year. Maybe cause the training letter is emptying my seat, but it’s definitely not the relaxed job it was not so long ago.

The point about living in base is well-received. Having two young boys, I would hate to miss more of their lives than I already do.

I don’t necessarily disagree, but there are a multitude of reasons for not moving to Memphis (entrenched ex and kids to name one). Comparing the ease of commuting to FedEx with the unknown and unreliability of a pax in a similar situation is where I’m coming from.

in a perfect world I’d sit reserve and coach the kids in Memphis and still be married, didn’t work out that way. I can’t imagine trying to commute with a pax sched compared to FedEx/UPS.

We are not here to sell you on why to come here. Every NH class lately has guys bailing from their major airline gig. That should speak volumes. Start jumpseating on us and chat with the crews.

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.

​​​​​​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:eek:

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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.👍

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

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.

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

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.

You mean the Schwab advisors that told me we’d be out of our mind to trade our A plan for the VBP, I mean PSPP, I mean 50% (that’s half for those who didn’t know, this is how we’re selling it now) plan?


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Yep. The advisors who are extremely familiar with every aspect of our pension plan.

Smart man to be able to retire from there at 58. Heck, retiring at 60 probably gave you a 5 year longer lifespan than 65 doing hub turns. Avg lifespan of course and having a hobby after life of flight will keep you alive longer no doubt. 58, very impressive, jealous and happy for you. Well done!

Yeah, only reason to stay at a legacy is for the domicile that is your location of choice. You know, you actually WANT to live there and not forced. ANC, IND, MEM, OAK far from Garden spots or at the top of most folks list unless it’s your home town/have family is a logical guess. I would commute on purpose which is still well worth it, but that is just me…

If you live where you want and can hold DDH trips to that town, it’s better QOL than living in domicile actually. Not to mention you don’t have to live in Memphis.

If you're close to 65 and still doing night hubs turns, you're doing it wrong, and it's your own fault.

not necessarily. Senior dudes doing nite hub turns may prefer it because they stay at their respective homes during the week…and (even bigger deal) the weekends. And get to bank the hotel $$$. Different strokes…

Can I ask you what it is you normally fly? Would you commute? Are you a weekends off, QOL, max-pay, or have a preference for international or domestic? This would help me describe an attainable schedule as a 1-4 year pilot. After that, you’re choosing to be junior. In this hiring boom at least.

I would suspect your not wrong at all, definitely a glutton for punishment and die early no doubt. Forget any hub turns for myself. One and done, maybe two legs but be somewhere else enjoying a decent layover. Different strokes is exactly right. Ain’t traveling after 65, can hardly walk now ;)

I live in CLT so hearing that is fantastic.

Currently live in CLT and really like it. The wife and I would entertain IND because she has friends there. She’s a pediatric nurse so we have to be near a city with a kids hospital. Obviously MEM has st. Jude but Levine in IND is her old stomping grounds.
For me it’s all about QOL and time at home. I’m already making more as a regional captain than I did as a cop in FL. So Fedex pay is money I can’t really comprehend. Used to work 7pm to 7am so I’ll take whatever. I’m sure hub night turns gets old but it’s probably better than 4-5 leg days in an RJ.
I figure DHs out of CLT would make commuting very easy. Plus I can get to GSO inside 2 hrs.

From where I’m sitting it sounds like you would be best served, at least initially, by trying to get the 757 in MEM. Many of the east coast DDH trips begin with a MEM-CLT leg and you could connect with the DH, that makes it convenient. GSO is a win for you too. Seniority progression is quickest on the 757, so you would not need to commute long. Live at home in CLT, forget Indy for now, and you’ll be living large. I started on the 757 as a commuter and with some seniority it has really been good. I make decent money without working my tail off and the home city deadheads buy me a few days a month at home, paid. Good luck. Do you have an interview?

Thank you for the insight. Sounds fantastic. I don’t need 76 pay. 75 pay but the rapid seniority for QOL is what I want.
No interview yet. I’ve had a couple Fedex pilots look at my resume and say I’d be a perfect fit. It’s just getting the invite. I have 1 P.E.
So just chipping away at PIC time, maybe add LCA if they’ll take me. Plus studying RST during down time since I hear day 1 is rough.