If you’re really that miserable... leave. Life is too short to be miserable.

I’m guessing you’re not that miserable.

FWIW, the drama queens on this forum aren’t nearly representative of my experience at AA. We have a long ways to go, but this job is infinitely better than my last one (active duty mil). It’s not even close.

American is in “despair”? That’s rich. Room for improvement? Absolutely

Some of the most bitter guys are the clt third listers. They’ve been flying with cranky grandpas their whole time here and they just feed off each other.

Upgrade, go to a wide body, do something besides sit in the right seat in the most senior base and complain.

These are the good times. If you can’t be happy now then you never will be.

Both AA and FedEx have potential trouble on the horizon. I think AA would provide the most stability over the next 20 years of your career however. And if you came to AA now, you would have a ton of pilots beneath you in just a few years. How many would you have beneath you at FedEx?

I have several friends at FedEx and they love their job. I have several friends at AA and they also love their job. Pick whichever one works best for you and your families needs.

Stay at FedEx. American just can’t seem to get it together. Service, product, financials, contract, etc. Latest news is they are considering cutting all China flying permanently except for flights originating in DFW. AA runs from competition like nobody’s business. AA finances are questionable. Tons of retirements but at an airline that is turning into a domestic low cost behemoth. If you want to be the senior guy flying DFW-SEA turns in a 321NEO someday then go to AA. If you want to get paid well to see the world stay at FedEx.

This is another great thing about AA. When you try to point out how much our contract lags behind to half the pilot group they say things like "Quit then, I have squadron buddies that want to be here" and "It's better than active duty"

I agree with you in saying that response gets old after a while. Comparing apples to thorns when comparing active duty military to the airlines and the whole idea of quitting after more than a year or two is unrealistic BUT...

I think you are missing their overarching point when they make that statement. It’s not that we should settle for our current contract and never try and make it better. We should always try and improve on what we have but in the grand scheme of things, life isn’t as bad as we professional complaining pilots make it out to be. You can still be happy with your career and unhappy with your contract.

The problem with our culture (besides the obvious corporate leadership issue) is we refuse to try and look at the positive. We think if we show one bit of job satisfaction it is going to lead us to stagnation and not an ILC. That is not the case. The problem with the current culture is even if the BOD attempts to solve the problem by having a leadership change, we will just start complaining about the new leadership and using them as a scapegoat.

Fly the contract and let the NC convince leadership why an ILC is important to everything including morale. But don’t be the negativity virus that crushes our morale from the inside and spreads to fellow pilots. Happy with life and satisfied with the contract are not mutually exclusive. If they are to you then no contract is probably going to make you happy.


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Well that pretty much takes care of that. Exactly how i feel.

To answer the OPs original question. Lots of pros and cons to either. My opinion is...

Pros for FedEx: You’ll make more money with FedEx and your commute is easier if you have to commute. More international flying.

Pros for AA: You appear to prefer AA bases over FedEx bases. Flying non-rev is still a pro even though people will complain it isn’t (yes you could buy last minute tickets for impromptu trips with all that FedEx money but you probably won’t if you are like my buddies).

Cons: you know better than me about FedEx

Cons to AA: low morale and a less than desirable culture for now. Im still overall pretty happy but a very vocal minority of professional complainers gets a bit old after a while. Not a great contact, also for now. And the biggest con is the financial well being of the company. Lots of low interest debt and lagging profit during a very plentiful time. A economic downturn in the next year or two could be bad for us. Not a sky is falling situation (in my opinion) in which the company goes under or lots of furloughs BUT...I could see stagnation and another bad contract if it happens before the new one is signed.

Simply my opinions. Either way, great option to have in the grand scheme. Good luck!





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Love the “vocal minority of professional complainers”.

True in so many places, and on so many levels. GOOD DAY to you sir! <tips hat>