Three legs through the night, regional airline level domestic hotels, non existing commuter clauses on cml js, less days off than pax, frequent circadian flip flops, crappy catering, few domiciles, poor schedule trade flexibility etc. etc.

No… UPS is definitely not universally better qol than pax carriers. If you can find a niche that works for you it can be good. Research it well if you have to make that choice.

 

I’ve talked to several UPSers lately who are encouraging their kids to pursue the pax carriers instead of UPS.

 

Quote from a UPS Captain the other day, “I work at UPS so my kids don’t have to!”

 

And seniority doesn't give you better schedules, just more time away from the BS.
Ask yourself....the last 10 years of your career, would you want to be a widebody captain flying passengers to nice destinations in Asia or Europe 3 times a months and having 24hr layovers at this cities? Or do you want to be a widebody captain flying to Europe layover 12 hours a night and do that 2 weeks out of the month? SDF-ONT possibly at night?we are talking you will be a 60-67 year old dude.
I'm guessing you would enjoy going into work in the first option. A lot of people here suffer from Stockholm syndrome or have never worked under Part 117 rest rules.
Yeah the money is great, health insurance is superb and yes there is a pension, but at what cost? Walking on eggshells anytime you are at work.

Don't get me started on the credit cap....yeah you are limited not by the FAA but by a contractual limit so the company keeps hiring people.....Defending quality of life while at work here is delusional, meanwhile at Delta you can do 130+ hours credit with 14 days of work.....
Rant over.

 

I encouraged my kids to other professions…worked out beautifully

 

IMO Senior schedules at UPS are great…but some would complain about 25 days off a month. One person’s trash is another’s treasure…once you find your delight it almost isn’t work anymore.

I never understood the ones that take the upgrade right away then complain about being junior. smh

 

If you're doing that, you're on the Z and you chose it deliberately.

The schedules do suck, but that particular flavor of suck is by choice only. And the European and Asian destinations with 24+ hour layovers pretty well describes flying on the 74, albeit there will be a LOT of them.

 

My advice to prospective applicants: come here for the job stability and if it truly complements your situation (e.g. SDF area resident).

 

We have a pension, but am starting to believe it is their goal to prematurely kill you with some of the worst rosters in the world to prevent paying

 

This is pretty solid advice. If you can live in base I believe it makes this a totally different job. The pilots, IPA and the stability makes this a great job IMO. If it wasn’t for these 3 things idk if I’d still be here after looking at some of my former peers who went to other places. Finding your niche is also key. I can handle nights like a champ since I’ll sleep 6-8hrs straight during the day. The issue is coming home and taking 2 days to recover so for me days is better. I’m also not fond of being gone more than 4-5 days. This is coming from someone without kids. Someone with kids may not have the luxury of sleeping the day away when they get home from a trip to recover.

The complaints above are valid. People look at me crazy when I tell them I worked harder here than I did at the regionals under 117. It seems like hotels are starting to get better thanks to the hotel committee. Trying to get the crazy schedules under control is going to be a battle royale. The company has had their taste of efficiency and love it. The money they’ll throw at us won’t compare to what they’re saving with the “optimizer”.