Question for FedEx/UPS/ABX Cargo guys

[PositionandHold]

What are your travel benefits? With passenger carriers, pilots + family have the opportunity to hop on flights anywhere the carrier flies (AFAIK). Do you cargo guys simply not have this perk?

I don't know much about Cargo ops.


Adam

 

[PositionandHold]

bump.........

 

[erichartmann]

What are your travel benefits? With passenger carriers, pilots + family have the opportunity to hop on flights anywhere the carrier flies (AFAIK). Do you cargo guys simply not have this perk?

I don't know much about Cargo ops.


Adam

Travel benefits? Who cares? When I want to go somewhere by air I don't want to stand around waiting to see if I'm going to get a seat or my watch my wife and family get bumped. I buy tickets. I make enough money to afford it. :beer:

 

[PositionandHold]

Travel benefits? Who cares? When I want to go somewhere by air I don't want to stand around waiting to see if I'm going to get a seat or my watch my wife and family get bumped. I buy tickets. I make enough money to afford it. :beer:

Well I was just wondering. And I'll take it from your answer that you don't get these benefits? It's a great perk, that you and your fam. can fly first class anywhere in the world. That's expensive, even with a FedEx salary. I thought maybe you guys would hitch rides on the few seats that are in the airplanes (if any)--like I said, I'm pretty clueless about Cargo flying.

 

[abxaviator]

When we were part of Airborne we had pass priveleges on several carriers, now just Delta. We pay $100 or so per ticket (stby, of course). Of course traveling on passes as a family rules out First Class as non-rev kids are not allowed in front even for employees (at least that's how it was at Continental) and without kids you're still lucky to get a front seat.

 

[erichartmann]

Well I was just wondering. And I'll take it from your answer that you don't get these benefits? It's a great perk, that you and your fam. can fly first class anywhere in the world. That's expensive, even with a FedEx salary. I thought maybe you guys would hitch rides on the few seats that are in the airplanes (if any)--like I said, I'm pretty clueless about Cargo flying.

As someone else noted we have benefits on Delta. Bottom line is carriers have figured out that flying empty seats is not a good deal. They do their best to eliminate them by canceling flights and reshuffling schedules. Planes are full or nearly so. By the time you pay a couple on nights in a hotel after you've been bumped you might as well have bought the ticket. So, who cares? I can ride free, but my family cannot, so I buy tickets. I don't want to spend half my vacation trying to get to or from (or both) whereever I wanted to go. Nor do I want to waste the time allowing for the probability of being bumped a few times.

 

[Sluggo_63]

FedEx

What are your travel benefits? With passenger carriers, pilots + family have the opportunity to hop on flights anywhere the carrier flies (AFAIK). Do you cargo guys simply not have this perk?

I don't know much about Cargo ops.


Adam

We have ID 90s on many carriers.

$25 tickets on JB one way
$88 RT on Southwest

There are others, but I can't think of them. This applies to the whole immediate family. I've used the SW tickets before. Not bad, but still standby. The worst part is the SW tix are non-refundable, so if you don't use them, you're still out the money. The ID 90s are pretty much worthless IMO.

 

[seefive]

FedEx also has id90 on continental and america west. american charges by the distance traveled. dallas to santa barbara was $125 roundtrip.

 

[GoABX]

More than once I have travelled with just the wife on standby and have have had to wait for 10-15 flights to get out or back. and that is just one leg and not all the way to destination. You are the absolute last on the standby list and continually get bumped further to the bottom as even the janitor's cousin's neighbor's gay life partner jumps in front of you. Having been burned, probably won't do it again.

With only a week or two off, burning 2-3 days on each end can kill a vacation. Plus after buying the extra hotel rooms you could have bought the ticket. It's probably not worth it unless you have A LOT of time, going somewhere very expensive, can go point to point and avoid the hubs, or doing a one legger international but not intra-national.

Buy the ticket...at least until airlines start charging what they are worth. (Note: It's is cheaper to fly to Europe today than it was 20-30 years ago...in inflated dollars!)