SWA pilot rejects FDX

[CaptainMark]

From a JL e-mail...

One pool person from Southwest declined
to come because he was headed for Anchorage. The first 8 Purple Nuggets
started the 22nd and were bubbly and enthusiastic. Always a pleasure to
meet pilots who are elated to be here.







was that u SWA/FO???

 

[StopNTSing]

What's the problem? Sounds like everyone got what they wanted here.

 

[propjob27]

See page 3 or 4 of the FedEX poolie thread.

Might have been this guy:

Dumba$$: "Hello"

KD: "Hello, Mr. Jones, this is KD from Fedex Express, how're you today?"

DA: "Fine, KD, how're you?"

KD: "Great, thanks for asking. The reason I'm calling is that we are happy to offer you a class starting in two weeks on the MD-11, based out of ANC."

DA: "ANC? What?"

KD: "Is that a problem?"

DA: "Ah...well, I was hoping to be based in MEM."

KD: "Well, ANC is where we would like to offer you a FO position."

DA: "KD, I hate to do this, but, I'm going to have to pass on that offer and wait for a MEM slot. I sure do appreciate the call though."

KD: "Ah....OK....well, don't call us, we'll call you when we have a slot available." Click...

There was rumored to be a guy whos wife did not want to move (or have her husband commute) to ANC. If the guy allready had a job waiting for him at Southwest, then that made his decision all the more easy.

Sometimes when you have a very tough choice to make, like FedEX or Southwest, all you need is one thing to happen to make your decision easy.

Location, location, location. Maybe the guy lives in Chicago. So you have one company that says you'll be based in OAK for a couple of months, and after that you'll be riding the train to work in MDW. And the other company says you'll be sitting in a jumpseat from ORD to ANC for 6 hours and 20 minutes everytime you go to work for the next 2 years.

That wouldn't be too tough a choice...

 

[Ty Webb]

I flew with a newhire a few months ago who had offers from SWA and AirTran, and chose AirTran . . . . . probably wouldn't have been my choice, but hey, people make decisions based on many factors, and location/commute/upgrade times matter to different people to a varying degree.


.

 

[CaptainMark]

so it wasn't SWA/FO????........nice choices for that guy though...in today's enviorment...

 

[Whine Lover]

Could be the difference between night and day....The flying I mean.

Personally, I'd rather be unemployed than fly night freight (again).

 

[propjob27]

Personally, I'd rather be unemployed than fly night freight (again).

Thats good, because there are thousands of guys out there flying passengers who got exactly your wish.

 

[CaptainMark]

Could be the difference between night and day....The flying I mean.

Personally, I'd rather be unemployed than fly night freight (again).

you mean you would rather be unemployed that fly for the largest most profitable cargo airline in the world with the best vacation policy, retirement plan and work rules. i guess you don't want to fly widebodies all over the world or even domestically....i guess u don't want to retire a millionaire...and FDX is about 60% dayflying now...you aren't too bright huh?

 

[SWA/FO]

Sorry - I was real close to making the move - but the old lady put the kibosh on it. I'm staying at Southwest Airlines!!!! Anybody want to buy my FEDEX/FO screen name? Its going up onto ebay today!!

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

you mean you would rather be unemployed that fly for the largest most profitable cargo airline in the world with the best vacation policy, retirement plan and work rules. i guess you don't want to fly widebodies all over the world or even domestically....i guess u don't want to retire a millionaire...and FDX is about 60% dayflying now...you aren't too bright huh?

I see your point about the obviously ridiculous unemployed comment.


But an airline career, and life, is about more than the money in the last 5-10 years of your career. I think it is also about getting in on the ground floor and expectations of future advancement. Life at many airlines is kinda rough if you are in the bottom 10% or even 20%. You say FedEx is 60% day flying. That's great if you in the top 60%. How about life for a bottom feeder at FedEx? How are they living? Not a flame, lets compare apples to apples here.

The guy who turned down SWA for Airtran is betting Airtran's growth, on a relative basis, will handily beat SWA's growth. Or he just lives in Atlanta....