Bumping this thread from 2 years ago.

Has anything changed with the new TA? With so many commuters how hard is it to get a trip with deadheads as a junior guy? Reading between the lines, it seems it isn't too hard to get pairings with a DH on one end or another.


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Yes. The change most relevant to this thread is probably that we now can apply a portion of leftover travel funds in one month to overspends in adjacent months.

There are lots of trips with deadheads in every fleet. Domestically it's not hard at all. Now getting consistent deadheads to specific locations, like your home airport is another story. But finding something to get you into the system rather than jumpseating to domicile or being able to commercial straight home from an outstation is very realistic even for new folks. Maybe not every month or in both directions all the time but not once a year either. It may require hawking open time or other massage techniques for personal schedule improvement if you're very junior.

International DHs tend to be more difficult to get when you're junior but not impossible. Usually they'll be the result of some lucky trip trading, other scheduling kung fu or a trip revision rather than holding it outright on the bid.

 

You're single, you can make any commute work. Live where you want to live and try it for a year. You may even decide to live in Memphis.

 

FedEx opened IND to mostly wall off a version of the 76 we were buying. Parts and Pilots not fleet wide compatible.
Whether it'll stay a base, who knows. Depends on the $$. There's pluses and minuses and unfortunately, Mgt is the only team doing the addition.

Plenty of good areas to live in\around Memphis. It's a great opportunity to max out some money, post year 1. Why work that hard for a lower payrate, save the efforts when the raise comes along

 

The really nice thing about Dallas over KC if you plan on doing a lot of DHs, 1 leg to LA, Newark, Denver, Paris, Memphis or Cedar Rapids beats the hell out of two legs for a whole lot of reasons. I used to commute out of Shreveport, getting to Memphis was easy, getting anywhere else was a pain in the a$$.

 

If you deviate and your new flight gets delayed/cancelled do you get all the same protections as if you were on your original deadhead?

 

No not at all. If you are on the scheduled you call and ask how you getting me there. If you are deviating you can lose the trip and pay but as long as you had a reasonable back up plan you won't get in too much trouble.

 

Deviating is just like any other commute. You need to have some SA on the weather and a sound plan with a back-up that will definitely work in practice, not just theory. You may need to leave before the scheduled DH is supposed to leave. On a two day international DH, you may need to leave on day one, travel straight to the final destination and check in a day early. The nice thing about the international flights is that it's unlikely that they will be cancelled like some domestic flights might. The downside is many markets have one flight a day which may require an early departure to ensure back-ups, depending on how the pairing is built.

If one lives in a major airline hub, obviously they will have more flexibility to cut commute days off their trip than someone who lives in a small city with only 3 flights a day to whatever airline's hub they use. Maybe those with infrequent airline service might find it's less stressful to simply commute to MEM to take the scheduled. I would contend that if they're going to do that (which probably means leaving a day early anyway), just leave that same day and go straight to where they need to be. Arguments can be made for either option.

I know there are guys out there with bad stories and some have understandably become a little gun shy. Sometimes when you find out what their plan was it becomes obvious that they rolled the bones and did it to themselves. For every one of those, there's a lot more of us that deviate front, back and mid-trip uneventfully year after year.

Many new guys seem to be getting some really bad advice during indoc. Unfortunately, it's probably coming from MEM locals who never deviate and simply perpetuate this attitude that deviating is so risky and fraught with peril that it's best to never do it. Choosing to wait until off probation to begin deviating may be a valid option for some depending on their circumstances and the DH. Sometimes it's just too damn easy and the risk is minuscule.

To me it's worth the FF miles, airline status, the chance to travel on the Japanese bullet train, take the Chunnel or go through the the Alps on the way to Milan via train. I haven't driven my car the 1 hour it takes to get to the airport in over 10 years. Sometimes I take the train, but 90% of the time it's door to door limo service which is a beautiful thing and cheaper than buying my own gas.

So - for the new folks..... before you take whatever "don't deviate" advice you're getting to heart, try to find out a little more about the person offering it. Where do they live? When did they last deviate? Have they ever missed a trip deviating and if so, what were the circumstances. Put that person's opinion in perspective and pick the brain of other crew members who deviate regularly. It's one of the best things about our schedule for a commuter - don't miss out.

 

This is exactly what appeals to me. My friend and my SO love playing the FF miles game, and never seem to want to use my current non-rev benefits anyway.

Also how do hotels work when deviating? If you have to commute in the day before, are you on your own for hotels? When on a normal trip can you collect the hotel points and get status, etc? I thought I heard you can with the rates Fedex pays for hotel stays.

 

It sounds like maybe you're currently at a company that uses commercial flights to position you also?

On a deviation, we are allowed to check-in 2-days early to any hotel in the city in question. I think most pilots try to use the scheduled hotel on our pairing for convenience but we're not restricted to that one. Any hotel we can find a room in via any normal method is acceptable. The only restriction is that we are limited to the maximum per night rate for that city published by our expense department. As long as we don't exceed that rate, our travel bank funds will cover the hotel. So when I know I'm deviating, I usually call the front desk of our scheduled hotel first and see if they're willing to let me reserve a room at the FedEx crew rate a day early. Just use the crew mastercard we all get and the charge eventually shows up in our list of expenses. Most of our hotels are pretty accommodating as long as they have rooms available. The only one I've had consistent trouble with is the Sheraton in HKG. They usually want to charge us something closer to full price for the extra night. I've been able to find a nearby hotel using Kayak when I deviate in early there.

Getting points for stays is hit or miss. From what I can see, FedEx usually gets a pretty good deal on our hotels, especially domestically, so I don't think the rates they pay factor in too often. It's sporadic enough that I don't pay that much attention. If we check-in a day early, it's pretty common for them to give us credit for that stay since we're paying with a card and then not credit us for the scheduled stay. Our training hotel for non-MEM based crews in MEM gave me credit for the direct billed 50+ nights I stayed during 777 transition (Hilton property). Some seem to be better than others but I'm not sure what luck guys are having these days domestically. Often we get the "your company's paying and it's a crew rate" so no points. Internationally Hilton and Marriott seem to be the only ones I am able to accrue the occasional points for stay with. I should probably ask more consistently. Narita Hilton always says "no" but I think the Shanghai Hilton does.

One annoying restriction is no deviation expenses allowed in the domicile city. So I can't expense my commuter hotel the day before a non-deadhead trip or any ground travel expenses in that city if they're necessary.