Dropping trips at FedEx?

[FCPhotography]

Is it easy to drop trips at FedEx? Say, dropping one 4 day trip a month?

Thanks.

 

[Falconjet]

Dropping TRIPS is easy, as long as there is sufficient reserve coverage. Trading trips is even easier, again assuming sufficient reserve coverage.

What is sufficient reserve coverage? Only the skeds computer knows for sure.

There aren't too many 4 day trips in the Boeing, even some of the week on/week off lines are comprised of 5 1 day trips all stacked together. That makes it even easier to drop a day at a time or trade into a different trip one day at a time.

Trading trips is a skill that you will most likely get very proficient at working at FedEx. It is fun and good for you!

FJ

PS: You can drop ALL of your trips if there is sufficient reserve coverage, and when a seat is really fat you can even drop all of your reserve days. Don't get paid much that way but you can get a lot of time off. After dropping reserve you can then pick up trips if there are any in open time (but if there was a bunch of open time available the computer probably wouldn't have let you drop them in the first place), but you can't trade reserve for trips.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Hey, you guys are in contract negotiations.....no talking about the good things at FedEx....Shhhhhh.

 

[CaptainMark]

yeah..fedex sucks..stop spreading the good info...it's awful here..ssshhhh!!!!

 

[CaptainMark]

Hey Falconjet...GOTCHA!!!!

 

[Falconjet]

Just giving out info, not the farm.

The big key of course, which I guess wasn't stressed enough, was if there were sufficient reserves and how to determine that. I think management knows what our trip trade system is like.

Point well taken.

FJ

 

[CaptainMark]

Falconjet is 100% correct...sufficient reserves are the key

 

[AlbieF15]

From Fall 04-Spring 05 dropping trips on 727 F/O Seat was almost impossible. Manning was tight and reserves were getting abused. This tight spot was a result of a lot of guys moving over to the rapidly growing widebody fleet and not enough guys training into the FO slot. The fact we didn't hire for 18 months didn't help... I flew Christmas that year, and some LCAs were getting drafted into the RIGHT seat of the 727 to cover trips.

I was out for almost 3 months due to back surgery in May, and once I got back in late July I had to BUMP guys while on reserve trying to get my 3 landings within 90 days. It was like I came back to work at a different company. Dropping trips has been easy, but for guys wanting to pick up extra work there aren't many trips in open time.

I have no idea how the MOAB will affect us, but if we suddenly are training guys off the Boeing rapidly we might have a short term dip in availablity again, and dropping trips may again get tough. So--we'll see what happens. Someone once told me MGT would rather have a shortage of 727 FOs vice MD 11 FOs, but I don't know if that is really the case or not. However, we have seen that FedEx will hire into the right seat of the 727, so it wouldn't surprise me to see a huge exodus off the seat on the next bid and a follow on wave of new hires going straight in to the 727 FO job.

And like FJ said--if it doesn't start to lighten up a bit here I'm going to get my training records and go apply to SWA and Airtran.