I generally have about 2 minutes of pax/FA contact per workday.

Hi, I'm contrails, nice to meet you. Sure, I'll take a bottle of water and may we get a trashbag please...thanks. No, we layover a bit longer than that, so we'll head downtown. Great, thanks again.

I think I'd enjoy freight but I will also say that I can drop/swap my entire month, not sure if you presumed that to be a thing unique to where you are but I don't think it is.

Both have their pros and cons.

You're making me regret my choice of a legacy pax carrier over FedEx. No pax/flight attendant contact sounds great.

Yep didn’t think of that, I lost my thought process after a few variables

Squirrel!!

That’s good news, thank you for the update. Guess I’m a little off on my numbers. Are you guys experiencing a training backlog? I thought folks were being award 75 CA but waiting a looong time before actually getting there.

No back log. Our bids for equipment only happen about once a year and that training letter will take up the whole year. So lets say your awarded 757 capt on the bid in Febuary but you may not train out until next fall. All the training slots monthly are bid for in seniority order.

So for clarification: #1 at AA/DAL/UAL where you can fly when, what, and where you want for bottom of the list at Fedex flying night hub turns and flying out of Memphis? Just want to be clear thats what you are saying. Have you ever flown pax before? Very little contact. If you hate the terminal and TSA maybe I would get it but even then, #1 for the bottom? I stand by my statement.

BTW, I am a new hire at AA and I have been able to swap/drop my schedule completely around this summer and this is our "peak" season. Amazing the ability to change your schedule here. No weekends in July with only 6 days of flying and I turned around and picked up a 2.5 day trip ( wanted to visit a friend in a layover city) so now I am at 9 days. I am junior, imagine if I was senior (like say #1). They say AA has the worst contract, if this is bad then I cant imagine how good UAL and Delta are for trip trading and dropping. But hey, enjoy FedEx and I will enjoy AA.

When you get senior enough on a w/b you hold trips that guys want. Bam, everything is gone. I've dropped my entire award in months past and replaced it with other flying. If I wanted to I could have dropped to zero.

The top guys are flying about 2.5 trips per month.

Yes, I have flown pax before, and there was plenty of contact with fa's/pax. I was always ending up dealing with pax, walking some old lady to her gate, expected to give directions and have intimate knowledge of every airport, just because I was a person in uniform. People glaring at me for being the last to show (called up on reserve), as if it was my fault the flight was delayed. FA's constantly coming up to the cockpit to chat with the pilots. And nowadays everyone has an iPhone camera on them. This is all fine for someone who is an extrovert and thrives on this....painful for an introvert. If we have an engine failure, smoke and fumes, we don't even make the newspaper. We might not even get an email from the company about it after filing an ASAP report.

I worked 1/2-2/3 a schedule for 18 years at FedEx when my kids were at home. Having the option to drop everything the months you want off, and pick up as much as you want the months you want to work extra is key. I'm glad AA has flexibility now, as back in the day what you were awarded was what you flew. Your hours increases were limited, and options to swap/drop were nil.

If I was a newhire, and I could be one of those Delta 900K+ captains on the first day for the next 30 years, yes, I'd choose that. But in my current situation where lifestyle is key and pay is not, I'd still be the bottom guy at FedEx, since people are moving up quickly, some are still hired into widebody slots. I'm flying widebody daytime deadhead trips with newhires, and it amazes me. However, at some point this is going to all come to an end, and no, I wouldn't want to be the last one hired into the right seat of the 757 for the rest of my career.

I apologize for the thread drift.

Sherp,

AA is a great gig and no one is discrediting this. As one who left the big 3 in late 2016 I can tell you unequivocally that the money and quality of life for me as a cummutter is way better now at FDX. I have been a WB FO from day 1. I upgrade to 757 Capt next year. I am 31 years old so do the math. Its simple math to add up the rates from AA and the rates from FDX and how long you will spend on each at each property. As you said AA is still lacking in its contract. I left one of the passanger ops that you labeled as a better contract place and I am saying my earning over a career are staggeringly diffrent now that im at FDX. Vacation, retirement and hourly rates are some big differences. Also we are almost always on soft time on a trip so a 4 day that pays 24 hours only has a block of less than 10 hours almost always domestically. Lots of 32+ hour overnights or weekend layovers for 2.5 days. A week of vacation with hard line bidding gets you the entire month off at FDX this is not the case with PBS. These are all the things I weighed when I made my choice. Its not a comparison contest im just stating the facts from a perpesctive of a guy who did both sides of the house.

The leaps that artificial intelligence is gaining with 25+ years has me nervous about my career at a passenger carrier. If I were flying freight I would be doubly so.