FedEx to United
 

Has anyone on here left FedEx for United?

Can anyone shed light on possible differences?

Work rules? Payrates? Trip Length? Junior fleet?

Thanks

Start here for work rules:

DALPA contract comparison

Pay rates are on the APC site.

Junior fleets are B737 and A320/319 EWR and SFO.

Trip length is majority 4 day trips, followed by 3, 2 and 1 at 40%, 30%, 20%, 10% levels.

On reserve you could be gone for more than 4 Days.

Biggest differences: we carry mostly people, and we use the sun shade...a lot.

Hog

Funny just met a jumpseater last week who was 6 months United going to FedEx . And guy was jersey local ! However his dad was a long term career guy at FedEx .

What about pay during training? Initial training footprint? Schedule flexibility? Sechedule through first couple years?

Pay during training is 70 - 93 hrs guarantee with per diem the whole period of your training footprint. If you get a break between indoc and Sims or between sims and ioe it will be min guarantee of 70 hrs. If you train straight through it will be 90-93 hrs and per diem nonstop for a solid check. It is more complex than that but that is a very basic layout. Footprint is 2 weeks indoc, 4-6 weeks Sims, 15 days of ioe. If you have days off they fully expect you to be home with fam. You have the hotel the entire time. They pay dry cleaning and any reasonable expense. They really just want you to train and do your job. This is the only airline where I have been at that really takes the stress out of training.

Schedule flexibility is a moving target. Some periods of the year are being run progressively with less people per block hour so dropping trips can be hit or miss. Last summer (17) was a field day and this summer (18) seemed to be much more difficult. The fleet you end up on and staffing are constantly shifting the ability to drop. Be wary of any advice here as what was working a few months ago may not be the case in the near future.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info. What’s current movement like? Ord base opening up at all?

Are you a current FDX pilot?

Yes.............

Update today says expect vacancy bids every month from now through the winter, and at least 40 new hires per month for the foreseeable future.

What is your motivation to leave and what would it take to get you to come here?

FWIW, I was hired by FDX but took the United class date (3 weeks earlier) - and haven't looked back. Both companies have their pro's and con's...

Shoot me a PM, let's chat.

How long have you been at FDX?

Which update is that? I can’t find anything that says that.

August 1, 2018 is last one I see.

I sent you a PM. Take a look.

Two weeks

....Filler....

I made the switch - recently. ZERO regrets!

PM me.

And along those lines, just curious why you’re looking to change. No hate, just haven’t met someone at FDX wanting to go fly pax. Would be interesting to hear your logic. Thanks.

Just me guessing, but not everyone cut out for long haul international flying. He got assigned the 777 and realized being away from mama 10+ days in row won’t cut it. Or got assigned the A300 and the night train won’t cut it. :rolleyes: So why did you apply with FedEx? Because they were hiring?:rolleyes:

I’m guessing from your avatar and handle that you’re not from the regional world. Allow me to summarize that experience:

1) Apply and interview EVERYWHERE.
2) Thank sweet baby Jesus when you get out.
3) Work on getting that ultimate dream job.

For some, step 3 is achieved coincident with step 2 (myself included). I’m not surprised at all that many others keep looking, some in ways that you or I may not understand. His dream job may not be yours.

To each their own.

I’d rather be at FDX than a pax legacy, but that’s just me. I like flying nights and live in domicile.

Where you want to live the flying you want to do should make the decesion for you assuming you have a class date at both airlines.

Butt hurt because someone’s leaving Fedex?
There are so many reasons to fly for United.
1. The guppy
2. The Uber guppy
3. Flight attendants
4. We treat our passenger’s luggage better than we treat doctors.
5. Cleveland base (for now)
I could go on.

You missed a few... FA Drama, drunk passengers, being asked for directions to baggage claim, multiple leg days, TSA, gate agent captains, YouTube social media justice warrior/producers, screaming kids and the ever popular comfort animal.

Those things prevent boredom. Who wants to ski on a bunny slope with no moguls? :D

Fedex, if you live in Memphis, is the best job on the planet. Great opportunity, great compensation, your pay per actual hour of flight time is astronomical, great flexibility with line bidding not PBS, and a variety of flying as long as you can handle mostly night flying.

And if you commute FEDEX may be the best place to commute. But commuting long term is a grind. Location can very much determine your best choice.

But if you don’t want to live in Memphis and want to live in ORD, the Northeast, the West Coast, Houston, or Denver, then United just might be a better fit. 2 years approx to get into Denver/ORD/IAH. You will fly more hours yearly, take longer to make Captain or get to a Widebody, deal with way more customers and taxiing in and around terminals, and get to wear that stupid hat in the fall and winter unless it magically disappears like the Captain’s did years ago when he left it on his pension one night. You will fly nights too at UAL on the widebody and the 737.

Full disclosure: Hired both places. Was in Fedex pool over 2 years while at United. No doubt would have gone to Fedex right away. Was my number 1 choice, and would have moved to Memphis. But stayed at UAL and no regrets. Like the mix of flying and living in base and company trajectory is good. But hey I am an airline pilot and so what do I know?

Never understand why some get all butt hurt when a pilot wants to leave company ABC for company XYZ.

I was furloughed from UAL twice....last furlough I had a FEDEX job offer but I could not stand MEMPHIS. I had to leave!

Never looked back...

Good point! A buddy of mine would leave any legacy for FedEx simply because that’s where he wants to live.

BTW, not butt hurt! Could care less who leaves FedEx and why.
My MD11 time was with neither FedEx nor UPS. :cool:

Funny thing about these threads;

While guys get wrapped up in the time off/paycheck/schedule/domicile/“I’m the smartest guy on the planet because I chose A over B” d1ck measuring contest they can’t just STHU and be grateful that pilots have the varied options they do now.

Whereas 15+ years ago and AA/DAL/UAL/AA/USAir/NW was ass over tea kettle/topsy turvey/royally fornicated.

And the guys that simply don’t have a clue or just a short memory would have been begging/pleading to go to work for, in this case, FedEx. Who would NOW be able to hold a WB CA’s seat with a choice of flying. SD trips with front/back end first class DH’s, using deviation bank for commuting, etc.

Especially, well, I don’t know, a junior furloughed pilot hires pre 9/11.....

It’s “just me”, but I think my favorite is “I never wanted to fly boxes so I never applied to FX/UPS”. Heard from pilots that were hired here, with NO TPIC, when FX/UPS had it as a requirement vs. “preferred” and they couldn’t even apply anyway.

I could care less where somebody wants to fly and who they do it for. For me personally I wouldn’t ever want to fly night freight again. If I never have to fly multiple legs into the sort. Sit for three hours and then fly a couple of legs out after having been up all night that would be to soon.

I HATE night freight flying plain and simple. I don’t care if it pays twice as much and has more days off. I don’t ever want to do it again. That was the most miserable flying I ever did.

That’s my take on it. Your mileage may vary.

Wow. Sounds horrible, where the heck was that?! I wouldn’t either. Our worst, most heinous trips at FedEx aren’t even that bad. :eek:

I like working at United. I don't think there is anything better at united than at FedEx with the exception that FedEx has the money and institutional prowess to get robot aircraft 5-10 years before passenger airlines do.

When they start using robot trucks, it’s time to start worrying. How much savings are there when the robot truck plows into a school bus?

Got a Fedex friend in the UAL pool and get can't wait to get out. Hates being tired all the time!! :cool:

ATI back in the DC-8 days. A lot of that flying was UPS charter/over run work. We did some Fed-Ex flying too. The rest of it was in house Burlington Air Express or DHL or Emery.

Everyone is tired unless you're a super senior narrow body pilot flying between 8a and 8p. Oh and I forgot, the rare 777 FO's who never fly and hang on their fishing boats with skinny ones.

“It ain’t your daddy’s FedEx” :D, especially after winning the postal contact.

Ain’t it sure isn’t Joe Sh1t the Ragman’s ACMI operator of old.

Over half of all guppy flying and every widebody trip at UAL has night flying. FYI

Bring back night pay ..............

While i agree it’s a long way off the 2018 FAA reauthorization bill study of single pilot ops was specifically in reference to cargo carriers.

Between that and the fact that 117 has a cargo carve out any sort of single pilot/ autonomous aircraft will 100% start at the cargo carriers.

I’ll take your word for it. But they still do a double poop load of night flying, and that’s enough to keep me away.