They don't "put" you anywhere, New hires bid their planes, have for some time now . I have two friends that have ended up in mia as new hires in the last few months. They are on reserve but flying lots of senior south America trips. Go figure?

if they were hired in the last few months they are not on reserve. Reserve in MIA goes fairly senior.

Let us know what your decision turns out to be - helps others in a similar position weight their own decision.

Been thinking a little about this the last few days: 31 yrs old...I’d be jumping to one of the big 5 without hesitation.

Are you saying if you were 31 you’d bail for the big 5 and if so which ones?

Delta, UPS, FedEx, United, AA?
Hella.

If I had been middle 30’s I would of not come to UPS when I did a few years ago. You have enough time to narrow the gap financially as it relates to the pension. Don’t get me wrong, UPS is a very good job, simply people have different reasons.

Curious what your biggest reason is. QOL, style of flying, fatigue?

The first couple of years are pretty hard here, IF night hub flying is not your thing. While we do have some flexibility to change our schedule, it is not nearly as good as most other comparable jobs. For example, we cannot do a straight drop, period. You can post on the trip board, but there are other negative consequences.

The general consensus is our schedules have continued to deteriorate with time as the company has gotten more efficient. But then again, you hear the Delta, United and AA folks complaining as well. The grass is not always greener, but, even when junior, you can avoid night flying (for the most part) at the above mentioned places.

Again, as it relates to night flying, people say you only have to be junior once. The problem is you have to bypass YEARS to be able to hold some day flying as a Captain. Granted you are still making good money in the right seat, but the difference is over $100k per year. So you have to choose, whereas at the pax carriers, your QOL is crap as a junior Captain but due to nature of the business, it’s not like you will be back to doing night hub turns.

And some folks actually like dealing with people. So I think schedules is the biggest factor, otherwise our CBA is good, benefits excellent.

Thanks for the insight, I’ll be 33 this year and two years in and commuting at Alaska. I’m hoping to hear something in the next year or two otherwise I don’t know if it makes sense to leave after that point.

Sounds like you really hate night flying. Is there a reason you came to UPS? Just took first available? Didnt know it was mostly night flying?

I'm just curious. I dont often hear guys come to UPS and then get upset they have to fly at night. Kind of comes with the territory...