You make excellent points, I agree with them. I would mention commuting on Purple after flying all day is a little different than being the operating crew who laid around and slept a good bit of the day. That being said, I bid off of a domestic aircraft to an international fleet and personally enjoy the flying more than the hub turning. Day time hub turning gets monotonous but man it’s easy for the most part. Fly to MEM, workout, eat, nap, handle business, fly out. Boring and typically fairly short layovers though.

Dood give it a rest. We know why you left, and based on your reasoning, you didn't seem to be a fit.

Heck of a problem to have! Congrats.

Couple of things:

1. We don't just "sit around" during a hub turn like someone mentioned above. The jumpseat room does in fact have couches with people sitting around, who are jumping out. However, operating crew are usually tucked into their sleep room down the hall way. We have them in all bases.

2. Night flying has a stink to it. Most get used to it and find their rhythm, but some can't cut it and most likely never will. Our international flying here is quite nice, so much so, I'd say it's better than what you'd see at UAL/DL. That international flying and the length the layover does not sound appealing to me. 3-4 years on property can afford one in most instances a pure day-time flying line on a domestic WB.

3. Post the same question in the FedEx for some "opposing" opinions.

I've worked for both. You’ll have a fantastic career either way, so make a decision and don’t look back. Enjoy!

Never heard a single thing about a "bad culture" at FedEx, maybe you are thinking of your app in at UPS?

Ouch! No offense, but you probably won’t find a more unified or laid back pilot group than the IPA. An entertaining thread to follow. I think the OP has great options. In his shoes I would choose United and work in training kingdom, simply because that’s what my neighbor in Monument did and he had a good life. FEDEX would be better financially, but you won’t have the expense of traveling back to Colorado for ski season.:D

Pretty sure he was referring to the company's relationship with the pilots, and not the pilot group itself. I've heard that the IPA had to fight for everything they have. One of my favorite stories is when the IPA fought with the company to get coffee makers in some of your airplanes. I don't remember the exact details, but the gist was the company notoriously didn't want to pay for anything.

I would just follow the crowd. Look at which airline has hired the most pilots from the other airline over a certain period of time (let’s say past 24 months), and then just do what they did. Must be a reason why the traffic only flows in one direction 99% of the time. Saves you all the work of having to figure stuff out 😅

*side note: flying boxes is pure bliss, no other way about it*

Been super happy here for the past 6 years. Zero complaints really. But damn, I do love those ferry flights.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Dozing for dollars or a dollar in regular clothes in my case still sounds a bit better than waiting around in sleep box for the next go or hauling bodies like ground hog day but y’all get paid well for it so there’s that. UA/Purple great opportunities. Someone did mentioned the tools have retired or moved on to the “Purple Toolbox” (777) My UA bud really enjoyed the international box hauling last year in the wide body with the door open, but now he said he’s back in the salt mines. Either way boxes rule people druel is a nice chant but really boxes don’t complain but can kill you and people in the back or up front have done the same. 4 person Crew to 2, that’s next sometime/whenever. Overall, it falls into your specific priorities and you can’t judge your career until 20/20 hindsight has set in. So hopefully you chose wisely and enjoy the ride and arrive at your retirement destination as unscathed as possible. These are great places to be - Well done, carry on!

Another thing to consider is the drastically less block time we do at FX. An average domestic night hub trip on the 75 is about 34hrs of pay and 10hrs of block. Tons of soft time built in that allows lots of extra time at home with the fam.

Night time domestic freight was definitely not for me. Sitting through the sort and then going back out was brutal and I could never adjust. I don’t do South America trips for the same reasons, I don’t recover well. Day time or international freight is a beautiful thing though. Flying passengers is often a PITA. With freight you don’t have to deal with passengers, flight attendants, making PA’s every time there is a bump, etc. They just close the door and you only have to fly the airplane, not deal with drama. Our heavy crews have found out how good freight only flying is and don’t want it to end. If it were possible to transfer my current seniority over to FedEx or UPS and fly daytime domestic or heavy international to Europe or Asia, I’d be gone tomorrow. Being that it’s not, I’ll bid what I want to fly here and be grateful for a pretty good job.

We have plenty of pilots here at UAL that are better suited for a freight operation. No PA’s when necessary and walk on/off the plane without even acknowledging our passengers, especially young kids who are still enthralled with flying. I wish we could trade these pilots to UPS/FEDEX for the portion of pilots they have that wanted to fly passengers.

No, I was talking about FX, I’d rather go to UPS if I had to, you know back in the day when 4500 of us were going to be furloughed and the only option on planet earth was to fly boxes. So Yeah… I would have preferred UPS over FX.
Funny how you still have to come to a UAL forum to talk wonders about FX… I don’t see it the other way around.

FedEx to United
 

The only pilots I hear talking about bad culture are the IPA pilots when referring to their treatment from management. You can read their complaints on the FDX forum and probably their forum.

Don’t think I’ll be at the FDX forum any time soon… not interested thank you.
Union talk about management? Yeah, I’ll bet it’ll be pretty friendly…

I’m not sure how a JB to UAL guy would know anything about FedEx culture.

I worked at UAL and now FDX. Our cultures are very similar— like most major airlines. We all have the same kinds of people. 99% good dudes/dudettes. And for the most part, we don’t want to burn the company to the ground.

From talking to buddies at Brown, their pilot/management relationship is very adversarial. Lots of non-seniority list managers, LCA, chief pilots, etc. They fight for everything they have. Their union culture, however, is top notch. It needs to be.

Man I wish you all well at FX trust me when I say that, I have friends there and I want it nothing but success.
I am just saying what I hear from them. FX is just not for everyone, I don’t see the need to come to a UAL forum to advertise FX like it is heavens… believe me when I say they don’t need any help recruiting pilots, it is still a very well sought after pilot career. Just not my cup of tea.
To the OP, when I read his post history looks like he is holding a grudge against UAL. Like I say to my friends at FX, we are hiring and you can still have a decent career at UAL if that’s what you want. Or, you can stay there and be miserable… either way. Good luck!

We aren't advertising, just correcting your misinformation. I'm here making sure 3 of my United buddies that reached out to me are getting correct info on making a decision the OP initially asked about.

Well, based on your post history I don’t think your “United buddies” would take your comments as informative nor positive, you seriously have a grudge, I would recommend applying again and who knows you might get it this time…
Like I said, good luck!

Never wanted to go to United so I never applied. I was brought here by them when they asked about this thread, so I wanted to see what was being said.

Well you also posted this on our announcement of 270 new airplanes.

“Woooo! That narrowbody upgrade!”

So tell me how your United buddies are getting informed… looks totally unsolicited and envious.
You are spending way to much time on UAL forum not to be interested in us. Not a good way to get internal recs I should say.

By staying current on industry news that means I'm envious? They wanted to know widebody upgrade times at FedEx, based on the large order of narrowbody aircraft at United. We all make decisions in this industry based on several factors. They were doing their due diligence. Further, I will spend as much time as I need here to correct your misinformation. You can do the same thing with me to make sure we get it right.

Dude, I still don’t know what misinformation you are talking about… don’t get offended because FX pilots don’t like the culture and want to come here… They are right to feel that way just like you are right if you like it there. I’m sure we have pilots here who dislike our culture, hate the company and want out. That by no means is misinformation, you really need to put things into perspective.
This is just a job, I was just saying what I was told. I have no idea how your company is, thank god I don’t have to find that out.
All I’m saying is I would prefer one or the other if I had to.
So chill out and enjoy the ride, you can’t stop pilots liking or disliking where they work, it’s a plane fact!
You don’t have to make people like FX here that’s not your job! Leave that to management.

Seems like we have reached an impasse. Beers on me!

Ya know....

You’ll not see a lot of UAL guys over on the Fed Ex page posting superfluous BS about Fed Ex. So unless you are an incredibly insecure Fed Ex dude or a total poser its kind of unbelievable that you’re here.

Can you expand on what the FedEx guys have said they don’t like about the culture?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We’ve had a dozen or so UAL folks come over to UPS this year, that’s saying something…

Man I also happen to like who I work for so we have that in common.
Next round on my narrowbody salary! cheers!!!

Maybe the pandemic scared them as they were on the bottom of our list? Will be interesting to see how many stay.

Data sample: During the past 3 months at purple every single new hire class had a mix of pilots from United, AA, and Delta Airlines. Maybe the pandemic is still scaring them our way 🤷🏼‍♂️, if so keep them coming! we need all the qualified bodies we can get 👍

I didn’t say anything about union talk. I’m referring the the UPS pilots’ treatment from their management…not good from what I can tell. But maybe I’m wrong about that, IDK? But that’s certainly not the issue at FDX, IMO. Not that it’s 100% roses. Just don’t confuse general complaints (we can complain with the best of airline pilots also) with bad culture.

Well, considering they most likely resigned, that would be really stupid and most likely won’t get rehired.

Hired at United, quit to go to UPS, stay a short period of time, attempt to get rehired at United 😳.

It’s happened at FDX before and is in the process of happening now…

Cargo ain't for everybody...even at the two leading express integrators. The pay is good, the retirement is good, the health benefits are good...but there's absolutely no denying the shiftwork nature of the job relative to a major/legacy carrier.

There really shouldn't be any shame in somebody saying "I prefer one segment of industry for another".

We're fortunate to be in a position TODAY, unlike 12 months ago, where people have options.

While definitely not the best culture, you make it sound like it is a total nightmare. It has gotten much better through the years, not Southwest happy happy better, but better nonetheless as old school managers have retired. One thing I have found about UPS vs Fedex… at UPS you know the knife is coming straight at you, and you are prepared (as can be)… at Fedex, you are being pat on the back for a nice job, stroking your ego, while the knife is coming as well, just more subtle. There is a reason the Fedex CBA passes with just over 50% of the vote while UPS passed with 95%. The IPA membership has to be strong to deal with UPS. Nothing gets handed for free, even little things like blankets on long haul flights sometimes is a fight. But like any job, you show up, do it to the best of your ability, and go home without any issues.

Back on point, living in base is priceless!! I have friends at both UPS and Fedex who literally almost never sleep in a Hotel bed. I don’t know how senior you have to be at United to hold that type of schedule, if they exist (out and backs), but I imagine very senior in DEN. Still, driving to work makes this job completely different.

Don’t let the night flying scare you, Fedex has a lot of day flying, lots. And international flying is also vast. The beauty with Fedex is you don’t have to be extremely senior to hold a decent schedule in a WB. I have multiple friends at Fedex who avoid virtually all night flying (as FO). The bad part is it will take some time as a new Captain to hold the same schedules you had as a FO (unless you bypass a long time). 75 Captain is almost exclusively night flying (from the last bid pack I saw).

If I were already at United, living in base, I would stay. If I were looking to get hired now, I would take first one that calls. I do think United is the most comparable to Fedex due to amount of WB aircraft. Delta and American are the incredible WB shrinking airlines, wouldn’t touch them.

Also, pay attention to not just living in base, that is huge, but also benefits, ie medical, disability, retirement, ability to adjust your schedule, vacation flexibility, etc. For example, Fedex has one of the best, if not the best vacation rules of any carrier. And because they still have hard lines, you can still conflict bid. United has PBS.

It’s Corporate America. Please, do any of you think your employers love you.
You’re just a cog in the wheel, making the boys at the top money.

I will say FedEx & UPS pay, pension & scope is much better than any other company flying jets.
None of the pax carriers have an A Plan anymore.
( which is awesome! $132,000/yr plus your 401k contributions)
The pax carriers have more day flying.
The freight dogs have more international flying.

Do your job, go home & enjoy life.

Data sample: During the past 3 months at united every single new hire class had a mix of pilots from FedEx, AA, and Delta Airlines. Maybe the QOL is still scaring them our way 🤷🏼‍♂️, if so keep them coming! we need all the qualified bodies we can get 👍

fixed applies for all

I second that at FedEx. Steady stream from UAL DAL AA SW and even UPS filling new hire classes.

I know for a fact this is incorrect. None of the above applied to multiple classes. Maybe you meant Atlas, Skywest, and Envoy. Good try through


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wrong.
Personally know this is incorrect.

Why lie?
DL, FedEx UPS pilots are not leaving to join United.
Not so say United is a bad place, but the others are not bad either.