I received a CJO from my interview last week. I'm moving to within 30 min of BWI (which also means 1 HR to PHL and IAD). Based on the way I understand class seniority, a last 4 starting with 9 would be most senior; mine starts with 3. From what I hear, the last few aircraft left to choose from is either the A300 or the B757.

I looked at this months A300 and B757 bid pack. The A300 has lots of BWI turns, D/Hs, and overnights; the B757 has no BWI flying.

All things being equal, and everything subject to change, would you go for a possible faster time to hold a line on the B757 or go for trying to pickup trips where I could sleep in my bed at BWI on the A300?

Thanks for any input.

 

CJO from my FedEx interview that is.

 

The great thing about FedEx is there's something for everyone! The caveat is, that only applies if you are senior enough to hold it!
I personally would rather get a line sooner and deal with a known quantity. Reserve is a crap shoot, you may or may not get trips to destinations you desire and if you don't you've just given up control of your life and gained very little. (I'm talking 1st year pay).

We are about to have a huge system bid (likely this month or next) which will realign staffing in all fleets.

As a wise Captain told me a long time ago, you only have to be junior
here one time. I'd go with the junior airplane as a new hire.Movement is going to be rapid for the next decade at least, so get on the property, lay low until the system bid after you're hired and then choose a seat you'd be comfortable with for a while.

That's my 2 cents.
Good luck to you and welcome aboard.

 

Odds are pretty good there are a couple of bus F/Os sitting on those BWI lines. But you never know, I held my home town after a couple of months last time we were hiring 30 a month. I would tell my favorite nephew if he got hired here or anywhere else, but particularly here; get senior sooner.

 

First, the guys holding BWI and IAD are at about 12-15 years of seniority. There are no lines of PHL. One guy hired a few years ago got a week of IAD layovers in March, but I doubt he gets that consistently. So, there would have to be some other reasons for you to bid the A300 than just an occasional week or sporadic open time score that gets you a layover or three close to home now and then. By the time (loooong time) you might be able to hold those cities consistently, you'll be able to bid off the 757. So, those two decisions don't really even relate to each other.

If you want the quickest QOL bump, 757 is definitely the way to go. If you need to plus up the paycheck, an extra convenient couple of days work here and there out of open time will put you at parity with A300 reserve pay.

A little reality about home layovers (I understand some can make it work - but I think if they were honest, it's not always as good as it sounds on paper). When I was night hub turning, I ended up on the occasional crew with a pilot who lived at the layover city. Some guys sat on those cities for years past when it might have made sense from a purely financial viewpoint, to bid off the aircraft. So, I get the draw of doing that in theory.

I always thought to myself - wow, you must have a seriously special bed to be willing to use up 1-2 hours of your 12-14 hour layover to drive both ways to sleep in it. Life is going on at most family households while you're away on a trip. From my experience, trying to tip-toe past everyone on your way to bed without getting pulled into whatever is going on doesn't always work.

Going east is tough as it is, because it's typical to catch the sunrise as you hit top of descent. Watching the sun come up driving home, smelling the coffee as you walk in, catching up on the family biz and then trying to go sleep for the day doesn't always work for some guys. There’s nothing worse than having something wake you up 3 hours after you lay down and realizing that’s going to be it until you try to nap in a recliner on the turn in about 14 hours.

If you can sleep from 0700-1400/1500 (or later) consistently while you're hub turning, this job can work pretty well. I did it like that and felt great for most weeks. I got so good at it, that I didn't try to nap on the turns. If I had, it would have screwed up my day sleep. I was able to do that by hitting the hotel room before sunrise, blacking it out, minimizing distractions, no TV, using earplugs, etc. When I tried going home (45 min drive), I never got anything close to the same restful sleep I did in the hotel. I paid dearly for it as the week progressed and my sleep deficit built.

Frankly speaking, no one in the family is going to want to interact with most guys anyway by day-3 if they're sacrificing rest to be home with them. So, what's the point?

Anyway - probably more info than you really wanted. I put the stuff you asked about at the beginning in case you're not reading by now.

 

I knew one captain on the 727 that pulled it off.... he built a special room in the basement of his house. No windows, lots of insulation. He bid a pure line to somewhere up in the northeast.

I'm the opposite. There were plenty of nights coming off a long trip that I could have made it home by 4-5 am and I ended up getting a motel room instead. If you have kids, there is no way you're going to sleep good at home unless they are out of the house.

 

Great advice all, I appreciate the responses.


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One other factor you may want to consider. The 75 pays approx 20-25k/year less for doing the exact same thing as the Bus starting with year 2... That's a lot of lost income over a career...

 

But it's a Boeing. That alone should be worth something.

 

No one's suggesting the 75 choice is a career long decision. It's a way gain control of the schedule sooner and get off reserve.

Let's not sugar coat it - the reserve system at FedEx sucks. If you've never experienced anything else, you may not know any better. Someone coming from a system with trip pick-up options, long call, trip bypass and other industry standard practices is going to be in for a rude awakening.

If you're going to move to MEM, bid a WB and deal with reserve. It's manageable for a local guy. If you're commuting and can get off reserve in a few months by bidding 757, that's the way to go. In a few years, when you can hold a line - then you bid the Bus or whatever and start getting the WB pay as a line holder. You go straight to the Bus and though your hourly rate is higher, reserve pay hours are lower and you're spending some of that extra pay on a crash pad and domicile car you probably won't need on the 757.

If you want to try to plus up the yearly earnings, you work two of the 15 days off you have as a 757 line holder and make the same as the guy on A300 reserve with 13 days off. Or, another month you don't - flexibility is a wonderful thing.

757 new hires could decide to go any direction after being with the company a while. They've done the domestic hub turn thing - if they want that at WB pay, they go to the Bus, 767 or even MD-11. International, commute to ANC or bid the 777. If a guy goes straight to the Bus, he's kind of stuck there. Not everyone is going to be willing to do a complete transition course for a lateral move WB F/O to WB F/O just to leave the Bus and fly international. Some might, but a lot of guys will stay put until they can hold a left seat. So, it seems like a new hire going to the 757 keeps a little more flexibility for sensible training opportunities for future flying options.

Another reason to go 757 would be the easy transition to the 767 when the time came to jump to a WB. I think if I was thinking long term, I'd go 767 vs A300 when I wanted WB pay. Transition from 757 would be quicker and easier, the flying in the domestic fleets is basically the same and the 767 fleet is going to continue to grow.