FED EX Life Style Question

[ADG]

How do you like working at Fed Ex?

For those that worked at a Regional, etc., prior to Fed Ex, is it what you expected?

Just exactly how much of the flying is at night?

How many pilots do you think the company will hire?

Thanks for the info and insight into the job.

Sincerely,
ADG

 

[Goose17]

like it

I do like working at FedEx. There is good and bad with all jobs, so here is a little of both:

The Good;

- Lots of flexibility with your schedule. Trip trades, trip drops, swap with other pilots, swap with open time, calling (clicking on) sick etc.

- great vacation system. I only have 2 years under my belt here and I just started a vacation period. I don't work again until the 27th! The senior guys have LOTS of vacation!

- awesome retirement schedule. You will have a large portion coming up for retirement in the not too distant future.

- awesome aircraft. We are mostly a widebody fleet. The aging 727 is our only narrow body.

- lots of day flying for those senior enough to hold it. I was able to hold day only flying after only a couple months of night flying. This is seniority driven and different for all seats/crew positions. The mail contract has pretty much evened out the day and night flying opportunities.

- very commutable. A large majority of FedEx pilots commute. Easy to commute in the day of a trip on FedEx aircraft. More senior commuters can hold double dead head trips and fly out from their home town. This adds no more time away per month.

- security. Lets face it, cargo has proven much more stable than pax airlines.

THE BAD:
- you get to start out flying sideways and serving coffee. In the past, this has been a very short stint for people - some only a few months. For guys like me, we are over 2 years. Others have been longer. It all depends on hiring.

- limited pilot domiciles; MEM, LAX, ANC, Subic Bay. Life is definitely alot easier to live in domicle, especially if you are junior. Memphis may not be the idea home location for some.

- hours; there will always be a lot of back side of the clock flying with overnight freight.

- lack of travel benies; you can jumpseat anywhere, your family must go in a box.



That is some of the things that come to mind. I feel very fortunate to be working here. I know many buds that are furloughed right now. I think with some hiring and a nice new contract, there will be a lot of smiles here.

Goose17

 

[donger]

Goose17

You mentioned having to fly your family in a box, but really, you have nothing for them? ID-90?

If so have you utilized it for travel? How did it work out.

Thanks

 

[100-1/2]

Goose

Who possibly couldn't, absolutlely LOVE MEM, ANC, LAX and with out a doubt SUBIC?!? Why those need to be in the GOOD POINTS! The last time I was in Pubic Bay, we called up tower as "AJAXpibe-pibe (55) wid you on de bisual two-pibe (25)"

100-1/2

Ps - fictious callsigns have been used to protect the innocent

 

[Goose17]

ok, some benies

We do have some flight benies, but not like throwing your family on the airline you fly for.

We have the ID-90 and other "discount" fares available to everyone else. We also have cheap seats on SWA and AirTran. There may be others I don't recall, but I think it is still a good bullet for the down side. However, I have heard horror stories from my pax friends of full airplanes and families sitting in airports all day with young kids.

Goose17

 

[klhoard]

Jumpseat fun

Goose,

I can tell you stories of ME sitting in an airport all day long . . . .

 

[ClearRight]

Anchorage, ALASKA!!

How are the schedules in Anchorage? and how hard/easy is it to get based there?

Are there actually pilots that live in Subic??

 

[PurpleTail]

Clear Right-

The ANC base is strictly a MD11/10 base. There are 262 pilots based in ANC. I am guessing but I would say a little over half live their and the rest commute. ANC use to be easy to commute to but due to 9/11 and a change in flights between MEM-ANC it is a little more challenging. The ANC base goes real junior as far as a widebody aircraft goes. Guys in my class were able to upgrade in 1 yr from the back of the Boeing.

SFS (Subic Bay-a.k.a. FedEx pilot witness protection program base) has 79 pilots and is strictly an Airbus base. It is basicly our Asian sort facility. Depending on your situation it could be a really good place to go kick it for a couple of years, make widebody money (little tax) and have fun throughout Asia. Again, most pilots live there but quit a few commute...even from as far as Savannah, GA. FDX's vacation policy and flexible schedules makes it a great place to work for all different types of pilots.

 

[Tripower455]

You mentioned having to fly your family in a box, but really, you have nothing for them? ID-90?

I work for a pax carrier, and can say, with no reservations whatsoever, that the "free" travel benefits online are highly overrated. Unless you have no time constraints, you will be thankful that you bought a full fare ticket.

ID90 is a complete waste, since you can invariably find POSITIVE SPACE tickets, through regular channels, for less or not too much more than the cost of ID90s. I gave up on the ID90 idea about 6 years ago, when it took my family 4 days to get home from Xmas in NY. Now we buy full fare super savers several months in advance, and over the last 6 years, have broken even on the cost compared to ID90.

The only time my family travels on non rev tickets on my airline is in the summertime, when it doesn't matter if they get there today, tomorrow or next week.

FWIW, our online, dependant nonrev policy is a big PIA, by far the worst I've dealt with (7 pax airlines and my dad was a Pan Am pilot)........

You have to fill out a pass for each LEG of the trip, for EACH passenger, and then get it stamped by your supervisor. It took 12 coupons to get my wife and kids from FLL to ISP and back (1 stop each way) last time, and I had writer's cramp after filling out all those forms. I should've just bought them tickets!

Even Pan Am had employee dependant ID cards for non revving back in the '80's. That, along with picture ID and blank ticket stock would get me anywhere in the world on Pan Am. All my dad had to do was run the non rev coupons through a credit card type of machine with his embossed ID on it (you could do a stack of them in a minute or 2), and I filled in the blanks as I used them.


Fed Ex is a great company, so don't let the lack of online non revving make your decision......Use the money you make there to buy tickets for the family, and lose less hair!

 

[Falconjet]

Non Rev

Donger:

I flew my family from Nashville to San Diego last month on non-rev tickets from SW. You can buy them through the FedEx corporate travel office for $70 plus an 18 dollar handling fee or something. $88 bucks for a ticket that is good for 6 months. We picked flights on Tuesdays that we hoped wouldn't be full and were able to just sneak all 4 of us on the flight over, taking the last 4 seats available. We all sat in different rows and in the middle, but it was cheap. We had a couple of days to play with to get out there so it worked out.

Coming back we all got on another Tues flight that was overbooked but there were enough no shows that we again got the last 4 seats. Again, we had time to spare and we all sat apart, but we got home on our first choice of flights.

Last year we had a tighter schedule for spring break so I jumpseated out and bought regular tickets on SW from Little Rock to Phoenix for the family. It all depends on how much time you have to play with and how well you can handle getting bumped off a flight with your whole family sitting on their bags looking at you like you are the dumbest SOB that ever fell off a turnip truck.

We also get some discounts with NW but as has been stated, if you know well ahead of time when you need to travel the supersavers are just about as good as the discount deal they give us.

Once you are senior enough to get the double deadhead lines you will rack up a lot of FF miles with several carriers that you may be able to parlay into free trips, but that takes a while and I wouldn't try to equate that to having travel benies.

Did anybody mention the reduced shipping rates? Now there is a benny!

FJ

 

[klhoard]

Bennies. . .

You guys forgot to mention all the free coffee, juice, and popcorn !!