Gunter

The company has always trained for vacancies in seniority order for the seat being trained for.

Since there is no verbiage indicating excess training shouldn't respect seniority in the same way it looks, IMHO, defensible to follow the same rule during the excess. I think it's totally up to the company as to which seat gets trained first. After all, you have to train 727 FO's to push current 727 FO's down to SO. Doesn't that make sense? You placed your bet and the roulette wheel in training didn't do you any favors. Did anyone tell you it was anything but a guess as to which would be trained first?

But I'm not a real lawyer, I only play one on APC.

gderek

So very true. How does an interview two weeks apart and 150 numbers senior sound. And all with less experience. I would have gladly jumped those 150 numbers to endure all of the "pain" ConnorP seems to be referring to.

Now with that said, i feel bad for all of those guys since they have to go back to training to go backwards. That really sucks.

MaydayMark

Careful ... I said the same thing in an earlier posting and guys jumped down my throat? Not sure exactly why???

pool is cool

Um, it was an extremely good deal to be hired into the right seat of the MD11. To say any different is just ridiculous! To skip the panel and all the stupid hazing crap we go through is an incredible bonus. To go right to $140/hr after 1 year, unbelievable. Brutal? the commute at FedEx is the easiest in the airline industry. We can book our jumpseats 2 weeks out. I have many friends who commute to and from Alaska that do not have that luxury. The 2 nuggets that I interviewed with were both at regional airlines before they were at JetBlue and AirTran. My resume' was lacking nothing. I had 3 type ratings, thousands of hours of PIC turbine, Glass, HGS, RNP/RNAV/CatIII approaches. I was even living in ANC at the time of my interview. It all had to do with who you knew and more importantly who's a$$ your sponsor was willing to kiss on your behalf. By the way, another guy in my interview group was a 747 Captain with heavy, glass and international experience. Gee, if that's what they were looking for, why didn't he get offered ANC? Curious. "I'll choose QOL over $"? Give me a break. Spend 3 years on the panel making less than $100/hr then tell me what you think about QOL. By the time the nuggets get to the panel, they will all be on 3rd year pay, over $100/hr. I'm still not making what I was as a CRJ Captain at my last job. The entire purple nugget program was BS. Anyone hired by FedEx should be able to pass any training program for any airplane we have, or they should not be hired at FedEx.

DLax85

Couldn't the more senior PN have used the same bidding strategy the more junior PN used to delay his departure from ANC?

Isn't this exactly what happened when some more junior (perhaps more astute) Capt's who were excessed on the last few rounds of excess bids figured out they could bid to 777 FO vs. Airbus or MD-11 FO, and thus maximize their remaining time in their Capt seat?

These bidding strategies were fully available to those pilots who were more senior --- but they chose not to utilize them.

I am surprised at how many folks are not paying attention during all of these reindeer games --- and then critize the more junior guy with his ear to the ground.

MeXC

<<It all had to do with who you knew and more importantly who's a$$ your sponsor was willing to kiss on your behalf.>>

Uh, no it didn't and most "all or nothing" arguments fall into the same category. Again, I'll agree with you that the selection process was not implemented in the advertised fashion, but remarks like the above do indeed make you sound bitter.

MaxKts

This isn't a "Vacancy" Bid


Funny how you left out the part of my post showing how the "verbage" is different:

Sec 24
D. Training/Activation Procedures
1. Except as provided in Section 24.D.2., D.3. and D.4. (below), required training for a crew position shall be scheduled by system seniority, senior first, for that crew position.

3. Training Due To Excess
a. Pilots involuntarily excessed from a crew status shall be scheduled for training in reverse seniority order. Application of this paragraph shall not trigger passover pay for the involuntarily excessed pilots.

Sec 24.D.3.a does not use the "verbiage" crew position

Does it need to be any clearer that the "verbiage" is different?

I think it is up to the Contract to decide.

Doesn't matter if it makes sense. How many times does the company tell us we have to "live by the contract" even when it doesn't make sense?

My bet was on being excessed per the Contract and not on when I might go to training.

No comment

Gunter

I'll retort more on your suppositions and assumptions later but you did, indeed, bet on when you would be excessed. No way around that one.

When a contract doesn't specifically say what you specifically think it infers, it usually doesn't.

So you have a law degree, do you? Contract law I take it?

pool is cool

Of course, I'm bitter. I just don't agree with the philosophy of the PN program. I don't think just because someone flew a heavy with glass internationally, that he or she is more qualified to fly the MD11 out of ANC. Like I said, anyone hired at FedEx should be able to succeed in any training program we have, or they should not be here. At this level, it should'nt matter what you flew in the past.

RedeyeAV8r

Don't worry about it. BTW, The "majority" of the PN's did not have Heavy INTL experience. Remember the former SCP had a policy not to hire Furloughed Pilots from any Major Airlines. At the time I believe there were furloughed WB FO from UAL, DAL and AA. I believe for a short time under JL, Fedex's hiring policy went as far to say they wouldn't hire a active pilot from one of the Majors, which still baffles me. I think that policy was finally changed.

Lets not harbor any ill will to any individual pilot on this. Who can blame anyone for wanting or accepting a job at any Major carrier , let alone FedEx and getting hired directly into an INTL widebody FO seat! Good for them. I would have jumped at that opportunity in a NY second.

MGT is responsible for hiring the way they do, not us nor the Union.
MGT still hasn't quite figured out that if they want the most senior and most experienced Pilot on for a specific seat or route structure (i.e. INTL) then they need to structure the pay differently.
Generally if a seat/base pays more it will go more senior.