Where do FedEx feeder pilots sit MEM sort?

A-300F4-622R said:
I make quite good money and have quite a good QOL. So the jokes on YOU.
Click to expand...

Good for you, nobody cares.

Life isn't a competition to see who can die with the biggest bank account. Seeing my kids every night is far more important to me than the chance to sit in the left seat of a widebody.



BTW if you want to compare household income with a full time CFI, you might be in for a shock.
 
avalanche said:
Honest question: what's the value of going to a FedEx feeder v. regional airlines if someones has close to 2000tt? Is the pay better? Is upgrade faster?
Click to expand...
As many have already said, better pay to start, "home" every night. It would be great if you could get based somewhere near what you're actually from, but this takes a certain amount of luck.

Other QOL issues to consider is how much travel you'd like to do in your off time. I'm at a UPS feeder and it's hard to string together enough time to actually go anywhere stateside, let alone overseas. My understanding is regional guys can do this a lot easier.

USMCmech said:
That's assuming that its possible to go directly from C208 feeder to mainline, and 99% of the time it's not. There is a long painful detour that has absolutely no guarantee of success.

For a guy in his late 30s with a family, sacrificing it all to chase the airline pilot dream just isn't worth it. Flying an ATR 4 nights a week isn't a bad gig if you like living in Lubbock TX on 70 a year.
Click to expand...

Yea, but who wants to live in Texas? :biggrin: As you mentioned there are some golden handcuff issues for some. For others with some flexibility? Who knows..... As for painful detours, I've been contemplating some routes that would avoid the regionals but still have a path to bigger and better. We'll see.

That said, for as much as it seems to be the JC bloodsport to trash the regionals, there are others here that have a little more balanced view of them. The better regionals anyway.....

A-300F4-622R said:
What kinds of differences are you seeing?
Click to expand...
I'm talking about the difference in pay and QOL between UPS pilots and UPS feeder pilots.

UAL747400 said:
FedEx, from what I understand, doesn't dump their feeder companies at the drop of a hat like UPS does. So you've got stability as well.
Click to expand...

A-300F4-622R said:
That's why their costs are higher. FedEx should play them off one another like mainline does with the regionals. That would lower costs.
Click to expand...

USMCmech said:
FedEx isn't stupid. They know that if you want a consistent reliable operation, you have to pay for quality personnel.

Most of their feeder pilots are former UPS feeder pilots. The ones that can do the job consistently and safely cut their teeth at Martinaire or Ameriflight, and then transferred to Barron or Empire. UPS has eaten the cost of training 5 pilots to get that one professional, and the chaos that ensued when those wannabe freight dogs couldn't cut the mustard.
Click to expand...

Well, believe it or not there's some guys at Key Lime that have been here over 10 years. So we seem to be doing pretty good on the stability part. It is true that at the lower end of the seniority list most guys are here to get their time and get out, and hiring as of late has been a little hit and miss. This past week has been a little crazy because we've had one pilot leave, another get injured, and another go on vacation so the CP and DO have been flying a lot lately.

A-300F4-622R said:
Uhhh... UPS doesn't eat the cost of anything feeder related. If the feeder pilots of their contracted feeders vote with their feet, then that's a cost the feeder has to deal with. Now, if we get a flow through for our feeders, that would change things.
Click to expand...
If UPS instituted something like that (how about a guaranteed interview if one gets 2,000 MTPIC at a feeder?) I predict that the pilot retention at their feeders would be much better.

USMCmech said:
Not directly, but the costs of pilot turnover are passed along to UPS though the feeder's contracts.
Click to expand...
Eh..... if a UPS feeder increases their costs too much they're going to get underbid and loose a route.... So it's in the feeder's best interest to hire wisely to keep training costs as low as possible. The problem lies in long term retention, and having to be the low bidder all the time reduces the money/benefits/QOL you could throw at your long term pilots, therefore hurting retention.

Of course all this is a drop in the bucket compared to what UPS does to themselves. The amount of money wasted because of decisions made in Louisville is truely mind boggling. Nothing like chartering a Falcon to fly freight when it would have been faster to throw the boxes in a truck.
Click to expand...
Eh, given their profits year after year I'll give their management the benefit of the doubt, and this coming from a guy that has recently flown loads as few as ten pounds. As long as the check clears it's not my problem.

A-300F4-622R said:
Actually I did. And I'm in it ONLY for the money. And I make quite good money and have quite a good QOL. So the jokes on YOU.

OBTW, I fly the slowest and ugliest jet in our fleet.
Click to expand...
UAL747400 said:
Good for you. It's painfully obvious that that is irrelevant to everyone in this thread. So why are you in here?
Click to expand...
USMCmech said:
Good for you, nobody cares.
Click to expand...
ZapBrannigan said:
Do you boys want to borrow my tape measure?
Click to expand...
lol......

I think it's funny that on this board we're so willing to trash our own employers for pay and QOL issues and yet when someone comes along who has actually achieved what many of us started out to do a lot of us are quick to dismiss them at a moment's notice because we don't like the guy. A300 is even doubly strange in that he's not a fan of flying recreationally on his off time, so he's even more suspect to the JC crowd.

Said another way, we're all so

show-me-the-money.jpg


but as soon as someone comes along that has actually gotten the money shown to them we're

burn-the-witch-burn-witch-kill-monty-python-demotivational-poster-1223816026.jpg


Just an observation.....
 
I agree with your premise TallFlyer but A-300F4-622R posts don't have a shred of tact. He basically comes on here and knocks everyone that is "beneath" him and has to remind everyone how much they wish they were in his shoes.

He got very lucky in his career and ended up in what today is considered one of the best gigs around in terms of financial well being. But if his attitude is what results from getting that type of gig I'd be damned if I'd want to turn out being like that.
 
What he fails to realize is that UPS used to be crap company the rejects would go to who didn't make it through the interview at United in the 80s. A slice of humble pie for him (if he really does work at UPS*)

*which i doubt
 
UPS didn't start the airline in house until 88. Prior to the they used subcontractors flying UPS branded aircraft.
 
Skåning said:
What he fails to realize is that UPS used to be crap company the rejects would go to who didn't make it through the interview at United in the 80s. A slice of humble pie for him (if he really does work at UPS*)

*which i doubt
Click to expand...


Or... Maybe he was hired after UPS became the highly sought after airline it is now. I've heard he's been hired at two major airlines. How many airlines have hired you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top