Quote:
Originally Posted by FTv3
So it appears you have convinced yourself on paper it’s a justified move. Yet, inside you aren’t quite as sure, hence the post here?
You specified your only real motivation for jumping to UPS is to live in domicile, yet life isn’t bad commuting to ATL. As far as commuting goes, it doesn’t get much easier than yours. Your math on this seems accurate but you’d really have to look at your TAFH (H=home) flying at Brown in base vs. commuting at DAL to have a useful comparison. And don’t forget that at UPS you’re gunna come home and be useless for a day or two sometimes. Just the nature of the beast with the hours we fly here but you should factor that in too as lost time. Also, you’re going to trade 6 yrs of seniority to start over, be on probation again (some potential risk there) for $45/hr, losing travel bennys, a fair chance you might not even get louisville right off the bat and have an even worse commute (ONT, ANC, MIA). Even getting SDF, I can tell you the days of guys sitting reserve at home not getting called out are probably over for good - don’t expect to have overly incredible amounts of time at home, especially being junior.
Taking another leap, I wonder if you’re minimizing the difference in corporate cultures too much. Yeah, I’ve argued for years in these threads that UPS is tolerable but it’s still somewhat of miserable place to work. The open lack of integrity gets harder to swallow by the year not to mention the difference in safety culture between the two companies. The contract we have is awesome but the people we work for put a big stain on whatever joy we might get out of it. Just make sure you know what you’re getting into.
The back side of the clock flying we do is also something to factor in - there’s a lot of it and it all sucks no matter how good you get at dealing with it. Yes, you can find good day flying especially living in domicile but youre gunna give up a lot of flexibility to hold those schedules and are still only 1 revision away from the night flying. Even international is starting to go downhill with 24hr layovers plaguing the bid package and utter chaos for anything that touches Asia these days. FYI - There’s tons of info in these threads with lots of specifics. Search night flying, UPS schedules or look at posts by me under FTFF username.
Overall, I’d say it’s not worth it. Maybe if you only had a year or 2 at Delta or a crappy commute, or have a personal situation demanding more time in SDF you could argue otherwise. At best it’s a lateral move that requires a setback. Not sure if this helps but I have a little over 6 years here; though a little reluctant about doing it, I’d trade places with you if I could. Last, consider these 2 time honored platitudes: “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” and, “No balls, no glory.”
Good luck with you decision. Hope some of this info helps.
OP, I disagree with FTv here, and most of his post.
I have a few friends that started here and bailed for FedEX and UPS when they went UNA. I have one friend who bailed to FedEX after 7 years here.
You've analyzed the pros and cons. No need to rehash. For the length of your career you'll do better at UPS. No doubt. Truly a show up, fly, go home type outfit. No pax, no FA's, no gate agents, no JV's, no regional DCI affiliations and you get IPA vs ALPA.
Since you seek validation - got to UPS and don't look back.
Today
AIRLINE
