Do cargo pilots get any sort of benefit like free airfare? If not, what are the advantages of flying for a cargo operation?

Depends on which one you work for. Some have reduced fare agreements.
Main benefits for me, have been stability, and security--many freight companies make profits year in, and year out. And then there is the glamour thing LOL.

Mike

Don't forget... boxes don't complain either!

None, aspire to fly with United. That is as stupid a question as FedEx or UPS guy have you ever wanted to fly for an airline before?

Positives?

Most cases you get weekends off… ranging between 2 and 4 days… not bad.

Depending on the length of the weekend layover, your company may commercial you home. Or you and your crew can rent a car with a good airline discount and have a mini vacation… a lot better than sitting in your hotel room.

No passengers.

No Flight attendants… You normally stay at hotels with other airline crews... so you can play with their toys instead of you own… if that’s what you want.

There will always be the need for cargo flying.

Let’s see... down side?

Some airlines may not provide catering… big deal... anyway, the food usually sucks. You stop off at the market on the way to the jet and pick a sandwich or a salad which will hold you to the sort. If your plane has an oven, you can even pick up a hot meal.

All night flying… so what… you usually get directs and the majority of the thunderstorms have cooled down… oh yeah… no passengers or flight attendants getting sick from the turbulence.

Sleep deprivation… either you get accustomed to night flying or you don’t… but you learn to deal with it.

Your passenger airline may sell to another company... thus not guarantying a seat position on the seniority list with the acquiring airline.

Your airline can close it's doors... but life's a gamble.

Whether pax or cargo... have another profession to fall back on in case your airline goes bust, you don't make it through your medical, or you just plain had enough flying.

That is the stupidest question to ask freight people. But I guess free airfare with a 50% pay cut over 4 years and furloughs facing you...oh an bankruptcy filings. NO I think you should fly for a "REAL" airline.

I don't know your background, but I came from the military and was a lost ball in high weeds when it came to assessing which company to work for when I went prospecting for an airline job. I had no idea how volatile the pax airline industry could be so I went with the first major that hired me. Had I looked at the economics more carefully it would have been clear that cargo had a much brighter and more stable future, not to mention a MUCH more profitable history. The reasons are many, but one of the big ones is the enormous investment required to even get into this business. UPS started almost a century ago with a couple of trucks delivering small packages and has slowly expanded since then almost entirely on reinvested profits to become what it is today-a debt-free cash cow that generates a billion in profit every quarter. UPS started out as a trucking company that added an airline 20 years ago to expand into the overnight market Fed Ex proved was profitable. Fed Ex began as an airline focusing on the overnight letter market and later added a trucking company to expand its small package ground operation. The two companies have arrived at essentially the same place from opposite directions. The vastly different cultures at UPS and Fed Ex can be explained by their corporate histories. There is a culture of resentment and outright hatred for the pilots at UPS that goes way beyond standard management/labor friction. Fed Ex began as an airline so it doesn't have the institutional spite against its pilots that UPS does.

I would suggest that you do your best to get hired at Fed Ex.

I don't entirely agree with your post. Yes, they MIGHT hate us in management because we are pilots. However, I have heard from numerous boards that the OTHER EMPLOYEES resent the pilots at FedEx. Whats worse? When it comes down to the brass tacks and there is a strike, do you care about what managment thinks of you or is employee support more important? In the end the contract is what its all about. Nothing against FedEx, they are a strong company, but give me the support of the other unions.

Nice answer for to 16 y/o kid asking an honest (aliebiet naive) question. What a class act.

Management has the warped perception that pilots work about 60 hours a month, ergo overpaid for the amount of work performed. As long as you have an airline, management, and pilots, that battle line will always be drawn in the sand.