International flying at FDX / UPS

[GE CF34-3B1]

For those FDX and UPS pilots on this forum who might know...

Where do you fly internationally in Europe and South America? I realize that you do the typical London, Paris, Frankfurt. But what other interesting countries do you go to?

Please tell me about the layovers and what they are like.

 

[Dizel8]

Well, the layovers are always in warm places unless you like deep powder skiing, then they are in cool places. Most of the time is spent having fun, wining,dining and later in the evening lots of "fun" with the F/A's.

We now return to your regularily scheduled program.

 

[General Lee]

.....

 

[UPSFO]

I really don't understand the sarcastic reply. You ask a valid question.

This overview is from the perspective a 757/767 crewmember. The Airbus, MD and 747 guys see variations of this.

Most of the eastbound trips start out of Sdf, Phl and Ewr. You will operate or DH on company/Commercial the day before your first flight to Phl or Ewr. From there you'll fly to Paris (CDG), Cgn (Cologne), Ema (East Midland, UK), or Standstead (Cambridge, UK). All have at least a 24 hour layover. The IROs sometimes see multiple crossing over the Atlantic between the US and European gateways. Others may see some inter-europe flying. The layovers tend to be around 12-15 hours in cities like Olso, Valencia, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Barcelona, Malmo, or Stolkhom. Your longer layovers are in Cgn, Cdg, Ema and Stn. Anywhere from 2 to 4 days. A few of the Cgn trips continue on to Dubai or commercial to Mumbia, India.

The Mexico trips are short. You leave from Sdf to Mex/Mmy through Iah/Aus. You "dayover" for about 10 hours then return to Sdf through Iah/Aus. Some of the trips layover in Iah then have you going to Sna the next day before returning to (Sdf) Hooterville. I've also continued from Sdf onto Ewr for a layover before proceeding to Anc for a 36 hour layover then back to Sdf.

The Canadian trips are similar in sked to the domestic trips. You go to work at 9 or 10 pm. Fly into the sort and back to the hotel by 4 or 5am. You do this Mon night thru Fri night. Layover in Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. Some trips have long weekend layovers (72 hours).

The trips to the West normally start by operating or DH to Anc. A 24 layover then onto Tpe(Taipei), Kix(Osaka), Icn(Korea), Pvg (Shanghai), Nrt (Narita). You may go on to Clarke (Philipines) for inter-asia flying to Singapore and Malaysia. You may also continue west to Mumbia (India) and Dubai(UAE).

We'll start seeing lots more China flying in the next bid. One of the lines I saw had a 172 hour layover in China! Great shopping over there and many have visited the Great Wall.

I've seen a mix of domestic in there occassionally.

Hope this overview helps.

 

[GE CF34-3B1]

Regarding your Europe trips:

You said that you normally get deadheaded to SDF, PHL, or EWR, and then cross the pond from there. What time do you normally leave out of those hubs to fly across the atlantic, and what time to you arrive? What time do you leave Europe to fly back to the US? Does it the mirror the same times as the pax carriers flying over the atlantic?

So once over in Europe, do you only fly around Europe at night? Much like the domestic scheds in the US?

 

[UPSFO]

Q: What time do you normally leave out of those hubs to fly across the Atlantic, and what time to you arrive?

A: We usually depart between 8 and 10am and arrive about 8 hours later. The Intl 757/767 is domiciled in SDF so we don't deadhead to SDF.

Q: What time do you leave Europe to fly back to the US?

A; Several departure times. 2-4am more common but 6am out Cdg or 8pm out of UK is normal. Usually about 8-9 hours block. These trips are usually the hardest on my body. I can normally stay on east coast time until this leg. Flying midnights in Europe usually gets me to bed by 11pm east coast time.

Q: Does it the mirror the same times as the pax carriers flying over the Atlantic?

A: No. We're normally on opposite tracks. Almost exclusively, we're flying random routes.

 

[Purpledog]

Where do you fly internationally in Europe and South America?

Every country over there basically. Front and back DH's to CDG, Milan, etc... Too many to list. Long layovers plus a lot of standby in Paris. Sorry I'm vague but there are a lot of flights. Most of what I generalized is the Bus flying. The 11 is a whole diff story. We service most industrialized countries on the planet.