saab: here is some old info that was posted over on another site. I have tried to update it some, to make sure it is still relevant. The bottom line is there are many options at FedEx, most of the pilots here are relatively happy to be here, and some hate the type of flying that others love. As others (and I) have posted in the past on this forum and others, even being at the very bottom of the seniority list and sitting on reserve for several years in the back of the 72, they are happy to be here. Yeah it sucks, but it will get better eventually and there aren't many better options out there.
Many have turned down other opportunities to remain at the bottom of that list in order to wait their turn to get into a window seat at FedEx.
I'll focus on the 72 bid pack for now, because I still think that is where most of the new hires will be for at least a couple of years. Much of the info is relevant to the other aircraft in the MEM domicile, at least domestically. I personally can't speak to the international side of the house, having only done a few trips to Mexico and Canada that were really just part of normal domestic type flying (short layover or out and back).
As far as MEM goes, the 72 is the most junior aircraft, but what you find at FedEx is that there are some VERY senior folks in each seat of the 72 that will ride the aircraft all the way to the boneyard. They like the seniority/or the jet, so they aren't leaving. It is not unusual to move backward in the backseat as the old guys continue to migrate over after 65. I think that will moderate some over the next couple of years.
The 75 is next, the top of the list being VERY senior due to the timing of its introduction and the age change. A lot of old guys went for it and there haven't been many opportunities to get on it. The right seat is about the same as the 72 I think in terms of seniority.
In the right seat, the MD tends to be slightly more junior than the Bus. If you bid for a wide body at the earliest opportunity (100%) you WILL be JUNIOR for a long time. That I don't think will change for at least 10 years.
Again, some guys go for the money as fast as they can (wide body) and some decide after a taste of hub turns and night flying that they will wait it out in the junior seat and enjoy a much better schedule and quality of life.
Anyway, here goes: (old info follows)
MEM is the only crew base for the 727. It is also the main base for the other aircraft, the 75, Bus and MD-10/11s. We have small domiciles in ANC and LAX for the MD-11 and HKG for the 'Bus. The great majority of our pilots are based in MEM.
IND, OAK, EWR and AFW are big sort facilities where a lot of planes "hub turn" through, and a lot of aircraft are based there, but no crews. A lot of lines consist of week on week off pairings that originate from Mem with a DH to an outstation like TYS on Mon morning. Then you go to a hotel until about 9pm, when you fly to IND (or EWR or MEM) (1 or 2 legs), sit around or sleep during the sort, and then fly back to TYS, arrive around 7 am and go to the hotel. You sleep, goof around, head back out at 9 pm and do it again for 4 days. Then you get a DH back to MEM.
There are also week long trips that deadhead from MEM to one of the other sort cities (AFW, IND, OAK, EWR) that have either hotel or airport standbys each night/day, and then deadhead back to MEM Fri night or Sat morning. These go very senior.
There are other types of lines, some that are hard to explain but kind of go back and forth between two outstations on different days, I call those misc lines, and they happen to go pretty senior too. Any trip that avoids MEM will tend to go slightly more senior than a line that goes through MEM (other than the deadhead).
If you live somewhere else you can use your DH money (called deviation bank) to buy tickets from where ever you live to the outstation instead of flying from MEM to the outstation. About 70% of our pilots commute this way. These trips are called hub turn trips.
The other types of trips (domestic) are pm and am out and backs, which actually originate out of MEM. Am trips depart between 2 and 4 am, go out 1 or 2 legs, and come pretty much right back, arriving around 6-8 am. PM out and backs (mostly US mail) depart around 2-4 pm, fly 1 or 2 legs, sit for 3-5 hours (sometimes in a hotel) and then reverse course back into MEM around midnight to 1 am. You do these for 3 or 4 days/nights a week, usually 3 out of 4 weeks a month.
Reserve is either A, B or RSV. A is on call from midnight to noon, B is on call from noon to midnight, and RSV is on call all the time but with 24 hour notice. Report time for A and B is 1.5 hours. On RSV you could commute in after getting assigned a trip and that tends to go fairly senior also. Reserve lines are worth 95% of the average line guarantee. We get 19 days on in a 5 week bid month and 15 days on in a 4 week bid month. Each R day is typically worth about 4.5 hours.
Senior commuters tend to bid the week on/week off lines with the DHs at each end. Some of those have long wknd layovers (48-63 hours) which are great if you live in the layover city. Senior MEM folks tend to go for reserve or the out and back type lines, either am or pm depending on their situation.
I don't commute, but about 70% of our pilots do. From what they tell me FedEx is the most commuter friendly airlines out there. You can reserve company jumpseats up to 21 days in advance (first come first served) and if you have a scheduled trip and are commuting in on a company aircraft you are pay/discipline protected if that flight has a divert or mechanical. That doesn't work if you're coming into MEM for reserve, unless you ask for first fly and already have a trip assignment, so some guys do that for their first R day.
Also, if you are flying on the company scheduled DH to your trip and it is diverted or delayed you are similarly protected. If you "deviate" however (fly a different flight to the trip, say from home to TYS instead of MEM to TYS, or even a different MEM to TYS than the company scheduled), you are NOT pay or discipline protected. If you are jumpseating in off line you aren't protected either, so most guys try to use our flights if they can.
end of old info.
Hopefully some of this is useful, I will try to reread and edit as required in case I have goofed up something that is no longer valid.
Good luck.
FJ