BoilerUP

If your preference is ANC, UPS is probably the better bet all things being equal (which they rarely are) because it will be a growing domicile with.

Even with my SDF-centric attitude (ha!) I’d take the first available class date offered at either company.

Ray Kinsella

Louisville is better than Memphis by far, but if you don't plan on living in base it doesn't matter. I think FDX has better commuting and DH options.

Ray Kinsella

Just sayin. You're not the only one.

G550Guy

Having been in both unions I cannot emphasize enough how true this statement is. I have never seen anything like the IPA, and the depths it goes to support its pilots. ALPA could only dream of having the unity our group does. I like it here at Brown, wouldn’t change it for any other flying job out there. Best of luck.






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Cruisin235

This won’t even be a question once you set foot on the facilities in Memphis and see how much FedEx invests into the airline. They also have the airline culture and pilots are much happier there. UPS is the opposite, seems they don’t like to invest in the airline and the culture isn’t pilot friendly. UPS also has non union pilots, which is a core reason the culture at UPS isn’t up to par with the rest of the majors. You’ll be valued and treated better at FedEx.

FedEx hands down 100 out of 100 times.

3pointlanding

With the shortage of pilots it may not ever happen but FedEx does not furlough, UPS is another story. FedEx is hiring 450 pilots this year and 350/yr for the foreseeable future. The last wo classes all went to the 757/767 but there are new hires getting the 777.

Tokyo

You might consider posting the question in the Fedex forum or the main Cargo forum.

brownie

Ya but mine is way bigger than yours.

Jetjok

I don't think that that was what anyone here was trying to say. TT's original post asked for guys' opinions on the pros and cons of each, and which would you choose if you were lucky enough to have to make that choice.

That said, I'd agree with almost every post in this thread. Guy's were giving their heartfelt opinions. The problem, of course, is that very few guys have actually walked in the shoes of someone in the other airline, in this case, FedEx. Regardless, most of the posts seemed quite right to me. However, almost no one here addressed the toxic atmosphere that has resided at UPS, since its airline division was born, and continues to this day. I didn't see anyone mentioning a phrase you guys seem to use frequently, that of "Expectation - Zero." As well, although I believe that your IPA is a very good union, enjoying virtually total flight crew support, one needs to ask themselves why that is. The answer, obviously, is because your crew force has to fight, tooth and nail, for every little thing it gets. It's been that way since I worked there in 1989, and continues to this day. Conversely, and some of you guys make fun of it, Fred Smith and FedEx, has been generous to its crew dogs. Not so much anymore, but that was the way it was. From sleep facilities, lounges, hotels, deadhead tickets, training, cafeterias, etc, etc. Those perks turned out to be a double edged sword, in that it divided our crew force, where the senior guys held, and continue to hold Fred Smith in the highest regard, while the newer guys (probably) see him as just the CEO of a mega-large organization, whose sole intent is to lower the price of labor, while increasing the company bottom line. That's why the FedEx ALPA is so fractured and diverse, much like our nation is today.

I've been retired from FedEx for 5 years now, so I can't speak for the current situation, other than what we all read here on APC, but I do know that the work environment at FedEx is more relaxed and enjoyable than it is at UPS. If TT gets the chance to select which one he wants to spend the rest of his career at, he's a lucky person. Hopefully he'll make the correct choice, but as many other have said, as I am now, he won't really know until after he finally retires.

Best of luck to him, and to you all, and be safe out there. Dilly, Dilly.

JJ

TacoTuesday

Thank you all for your thoughts and replies so far. It has given me a bit to think about and also given me some other topic to read about for my interview study.

Seem that most big corporations in my experience have their positives and negatives. It is all about the attitude you approach it with. Many of us I am sure have worked jobs for far less pay and much worse places than we are now but somehow we made the best of it. Just goes to show if we ignore the politics and focus on the flying and cold beers at the end of a long day, it isn't all so bad.

I never expected to find a perfect job, and it is evident that UPS and Fedex are far from perfect, however I am excited to see what happens. Like many of you said I think taking the first class offered is generally best practice. Leaving class for one or the other once it has started isn't my style.