Thanks everyone, I'm taking this all to heart. What are projected upgrade times at the moment? I know that's a speculative figure, but as of now, what's reasonable.

 

To NB captain one year. To WB right seat, yesterday.

FDX has system bids that last upwards of two years. This makes some of us reluctant to move.

 

At a "career carrier", does it really make a difference what the upgrade time is?

All of the benefits of working at a place like FedEx (both pay and QOL) mean you don't need to chase the left seat to make good money, and you certainly don't need the PIC experience in your logbook that may have driven you to consider upgrade time when choosing a regional.

 

What regional are you with now?

 

I am not at a regional, thanks.

 

[QUOTE=Hacker15e;2153253]At a "career carrier", does it really make a difference what the upgrade time is?

Absolutley! Time to upgrade is a direct function of seniority ascension. So whether you prioritize QoL (days off, vacation pref, schedule) or $$, your pace of ascension will dictate not only your QoL, but also your income. You can plug the numbers into a spreadsheet and calculate the difference over any given time span.

Your B fund (401) contribution from the company is 8% of your earnings so 8% of WB Cap, is > 8% NB FO. Over the years this adds up.

 

Upgrade is more of a function of how fast I can be a senior FO. Seattle pilots at Alaska are taking the first available upgrade after 10 years in Anchorage and LAX so they can get the left seat prior to the Virgin merger. I may have had 700 pilots made senior to me overnight. As a new guy, it changes my QOL outlook.

 

All of that notwithstanding, the question was asked by someone who has an invite to a FedEx interview, and was using it as a discriminator in trying to decide if he wanted to go to it or not vs stay at Alaska.

The things you're mentioning (and the root issue of what the upgrade time is) wouldn't even figure into the decision matrix if it were me making that choice. The overall retirements and career progression for someone with 25+ years left to fly at a 121 carrier are a factor, but only if I were considering multiple offers from comparable companies (of which AS and FDX are obviously not). If I were deciding between job offers at AA, UA, DL, and SWA at the same time as FDX, then it would be a relevant part of the discussion, IMHO. Besides, before the 16-01 bid came out, would anyone on property in Memphis have predicted "less than a year on the 757"? Who can possibly predict what it will be next year or 5 years down the road.

To the OP, I say that as a Seattle native who had an app in at AS and would have loved to work there. Don't bother dithering around with irrelevant factors that are uncontrollable and, ultimately, unknown. There's just no comparison -- IMHO, leave for FedEx at earliest opportunity and don't look back.

 

Really?

"I got hired into an RJ with 3400 hours, 2000+ of MTPIC, 22 years after my first logged hour."

Don't worry, you won't lose your fighter pilot man card by not going directly to Delta or FedEx.

 

I used to fly for a regional, yes -- that's what I posted on the other forum. So crafty of you to go find that quote and post it here. Doesn't mean that is what I do now, which is what you asked.

I'm not embarrassed that I flew for a regional for a while. I left the Air Force from a desk job and not current, so it wasn't exactly a surprise. It was actually a good experience, I learned a lot and had fun flying around the domestic system. But, then again, if you are reading stuff I've posted in the past, you'd know that, too.

Do you have a substantive point here? Any other "bombshells" you want to "reveal" based on reading a 10-year public posting history in the forums?