Stan446

Better leave now to grab the UAL captain spot.

threeighteen

Pretty crazy to think that someone can leave FedEx now for UAL and within less than 2 years they will be making more than a topped out MD-11 captain, assuming both TAs pass.

pwdrhound

I really feel sorry for you guys that got duped into coming here in the last couple of years. The COVID years were a once in a lifetime outlier that sucked a lot of guys in. I've been here for almost two and a half decades and have seen our QOL continually degrade with each contract. Seniority has offset this for the most part but I can tell you that I'm not flying any better trips now than I was 10 years ago. The older I get, the harder this job is on the body. When was the last time you have seen an obituary posted of a Fedex pilot/retiree passing in their 70s, 80s or 90s? It's usually guys in their 60s. I have voted NO on each of the past 4 contracts here including this one. I really view this phase in FDX history as a fundamental change, one for the worse from a pilot perspective. With the shift from air to ground in the Fedex DRIVE initiative, I firmly believe this airline is headed to a staffing level comparable to UPS of around 4500 pilots in 5-6 years from now when it's all said and done. Why would we need any more than UPS? We are in the same exact business delivering the same exact product. With that said, I'm been here too long to change so I'm going down with the ship. I truly hope the guys with long careers ahead them and not a lot invested here can find greener pastures. It's an amazing time in the airline industry right now, just not here unfortunately...

Stan446

Duped? Really? You are saying that pilots can't research and decide which company they want to work for but came to FedEx because they were fooled? Hiring cycles change and so do the good and bad times at all airlines. So now that there maybe a down turn its jump ship and FedEx sucks? You do know we had new hires right into the 777? In your career thats never happened. And if you've been here 25yrs, you've seen the pilot group stagnate at 2,000 with a bid once every six years or so. 60 captains was a huge bid. Now with 1,000 guys retiring in the next decade this is a terrible place? How soon you forget what FedEx used to be. Stagnation was a way of life for years, now its not. But it seems one dip in the flying for FedEx and its a crappy place to be.

NotMrNiceGuy

“Had” being the operative word.

And who cares now? Nobody cares how much the aircraft weighs. They care how much the aircraft pays. Now our 777 pays 6% more than the legacy 757. And the legacies you can be 757 Captain in a little more than a year. It’ll take you more than 15 years to be a 777 Captain at FedEx.

P8Bubba

No, not duped. But it is impossible to see behind the curtain until you are here. Understanding reserve rules, how the bids and training work, etc. Clicking through APC clearly isn't a good indicator of any airline since its the same angry guys yelling at each other. So yeah, when an interview team tells guys "we plan on hiring 70 a month for the foreseeable future", I think most people considering FedEx took them at their word and still planned on 5-7 year WB upgrade times. Silly of them? Maybe. But most probably understood that could change, but were fine with that since we were still at the top of the pay scale and have always pattern bargained with the legacies. Now that the big 3 have not only stepped up pay rates, but also improved new hire pay, training pay, reserve rules, commuting rules, etc while we sit here and at best push a stale TA with the biggest QOL improvement being R-16...

Not to mention the poor fools that bid 77F on the 2021 bid, still night hub turning on the 75 while a 9xxx new hire sits in ITU for the triple. And now the possibility of people being stagnated and stuck on secondary lines that come out 5 (maybe now 6, whooo!) days before the bid month for potentially 5+ years for the "most commutable job in the industry (barf). I understand why some people don't want to commute into Memphis and stare at a crash pad ceiling during the day and wake up at 2am dodging bullets and cars on 240 to go get their car broken into while they fly an out and back.

Laughing_Jakal

At some point, you’re whining…. Go…go to Delta and alleviate the manning problem…..You’ll be junior there too! I think you’ll have unrealistic expectations and be disappointed there too. With their current hiring, you may neve4 see a 777 or A350 depending on your age.

pinseeker

Yeah, I agree that getting your info from APC isn't the best idea. However, there were people like myself who were saying in 2016 and beyond that coming here because of the fast upgrades and making $300k+ your second year wasn't a good idea because that wasn't a real reflection of what most pilots experience here.

As far as us having the best pay rates and always pattern bargaining off of the legacies, well, that just isn't true. In 1999, Delta's top rate was $250/hr while ours was $183/hr. In 2004, before Delta got bankruptcy relief, their top rate was $319/hr while ours was $206/hr. We didn't get ahead, the legacies had it taken from them. We kept the lead through 2012, but the legacies caught up again, going from a rate of $185/hr while ours was $225/hr (or $248/hr for the A380) to passing us in 2014 with their $262/hr rate vs our $260/hr rate, not including their profit sharing. If we had truly been pattern bargaining, our percentage increase should have matched theirs. It wouldn't have taken us until 2019 to surpass their 2004 rate. I know pattern bargaining is the phrase of the day, but saying that we always pattern bargained off of the legacies simply isn't true.

My guess is most came here because they only heard what they wanted to hear.

Yuko

We do not have a manning problem. It is all manufactured. Can you say when we should see 4.a.2b then c?

How about, are our present loads higher when compared to the last non-CoVID year (2019)?

When will the economic hardship by the apocalyptic recession arrive (most economists point to a soft landing…thanks Jerome)?

When should the 700-800 expect furloughs?

If we truly have a manning problem our solution would not be a tiered retirement bump AND to raise NH pay by ~60%

What we do have before us: is a perfect manning situation for substandard concessionary TA that intends to slowly decrease the pilot population thru regular rate of retirements, while efficiencies kick in and third party lift can pick up the slack as the MSL gets smaller. This is a work harder for less qol (and pay in some instances) proposal.

Let’s stand strong in the last few days!

NO to depress wages
NO to throwing under the bus the 300 retirees that will see no retirement A plan bump
NO to Union busting pension scheme
NO to less pay for more work
NO to cheaper scope

what time is it! NO is the time!

Laughing_Jakal

Do you read the Sig notes? Have you seen the block hour chart put out by them? It’s pretty clear based on what flying is out there and buy ups. If you have read the SIG Notes, are you accusing them of lying? What proof do you have that they are either lying or incompetent?