Why would anyone want to go to Swoop?

[B73ABC]

I get it guys/girls. I honestly do. And for those that assume I'm out to lunch with reality, well....that goes both ways. It could be argued successfully that your group has.....unwittingly, or not...outmaneuvered itself, and the bag of teal-coloured doo-doo you're potentially going to hold comes as a shock.
Here's the thing though, every single one of you made the choice to join WS when you did for your own personal reasons...as I will make a choice. The fact that global market forces and trends are changing in aviation, among other industry sectors, and your reluctance to embrace it ("Oh our employer wants to start up a defensive deterrent...but by golly it better be with our WACONS") demonstrates a complete lack awareness of your environment. You honestly think union brotherhood and all that hardcore rhetoric from the Eastern, Pan Am, TWA days exist in reality? The industry is changing WestJet people, and your sanctimonious and morally pristine preaching about why I shouldn't work for Swoop is amusing.

I was practically forced, after 9/11 to take my skill-set overseas and keep my family fed and clothed. Sure, I could have stayed home & driven a trailer or worked at Home Depot. Options, right?
Now, myself and several others have an opportunity to return on our own terms. Tell you what....lets trade!! I'll swap my DXB A380 Captain job for a YYZ-based 737 Captain job right now. I'm going to bet I wouldn't get much takers. Why? Choices and options. So here's the thing. I wish you all the best as a group in negotiating the best package for yourselves and your future. As for me, I will make the choice that best suits my family and their future...and mildy resent the campaign of public shaming you've stooped to. I'll be passing a few of you in a terminal in a few short months and hopefully we can be civil.

[Anon1234]

This thread has made me realize we're all a hopeless barrel of monkeys

[RidersRule]

I'll be passing a few of you in a terminal in a few short months and hopefully we can be civil.

Don't count on it. Sorry

[Oldcommercialpilot]

I'll be passing a few of you in a terminal in a few short months and hopefully we can be civil.

If you’re wearing anything pink on your uniform you will get no civility from me. You may be a fellow aviator but you are nothing more than a scab. You’ll be sending a message to the Canadian aviation community that you are knowingly taking jobs & upgrades away from colleagues because you are willing to whore yourself out for 1/2 price to jump the queue. Bravo.

Where do you think those Swoop aircraft are coming from? That’s right, WestJet. So, it’s not like you’ll just be flying the same type, you’ll be flying ACTUAL WestJet tails with the teal crossed out and a big pink Swoop logo slapped over top. Same airplanes, same routes, same maintenance, same managers. Just a different name so that they can re-hire their labour at half price. If knowing all that doesn’t cause you to lose some self-respect then, have at her.

If you are an A380 Captain coming here from Dubai, I hate to say it, but you will stand out like a sore thumb. It will be you and a bunch of 20-something pimple-faced 2000 hour wonders looking for quick upgrades and get out as quickly as they can. Gregg is betting on this pilot shortage to produce a constant turnover of young, semi-experienced pilots that are willing to work for peanuts for the prospect of flying a shiny new jet.

[Anon1234]

I get it guys/girls. I honestly do. And for those that assume I'm out to lunch with reality, well....that goes both ways. It could be argued successfully that your group has.....unwittingly, or not...outmaneuvered itself, and the bag of teal-coloured doo-doo you're potentially going to hold comes as a shock.
Here's the thing though, every single one of you made the choice to join WS when you did for your own personal reasons...as I will make a choice. The fact that global market forces and trends are changing in aviation, among other industry sectors, and your reluctance to embrace it ("Oh our employer wants to start up a defensive deterrent...but by golly it better be with our WACONS") demonstrates a complete lack awareness of your environment. You honestly think union brotherhood and all that hardcore rhetoric from the Eastern, Pan Am, TWA days exist in reality? The industry is changing WestJet people, and your sanctimonious and morally pristine preaching about why I shouldn't work for Swoop is amusing.

I was practically forced, after 9/11 to take my skill-set overseas and keep my family fed and clothed. Sure, I could have stayed home & driven a trailer or worked at Home Depot. Options, right?
Now, myself and several others have an opportunity to return on our own terms. Tell you what....lets trade!! I'll swap my DXB A380 Captain job for a YYZ-based 737 Captain job right now. I'm going to bet I wouldn't get much takers. Why? Choices and options. So here's the thing. I wish you all the best as a group in negotiating the best package for yourselves and your future. As for me, I will make the choice that best suits my family and their future...and mildy resent the campaign of public shaming you've stooped to. I'll be passing a few of you in a terminal in a few short months and hopefully we can be civil.

So why not come back join a respectable 703 like Thunder or something and have an enjoyable sunset to your career OR spend the rest of your career resented by your peers. You do you.

[RidersRule]

Anon 1234,

I suspect this is an ego thing. The big A380 skipper could come back, go right seat at WestJet, and in a couple years be making more then a Swoop captain once you add in ESP, profit share, and stock options;non of which are being offered at Swoop.

Me thinks he doesn't want to be the old guy sitting in the right seat. Seen it a million times. He'd rather work 80 hard hours a month making 95 grand a year, this industry is fu€ked.

If flown with the true greats that are up there in years and have been dealt a bad hand some where along the way or just swallow their pride and end up being your co joe to a younger captain. Those are the true skippers of the sky. Passing on their knowledge to help a young buck out with his first left seat job in a jet. Guys like Joe S in YYZ if you know who I'm talking about. Learnt a lot from that guy. Me thinks big A380 skipper could learn a few things as well.

Cheers.

[Noo]

in a couple years

Heh yeah.

[RidersRule]

in a couple years

Heh yeah.

Well thought out response. Can't argue with that

[saltypilot]

Anon 1234,

I suspect this is an ego thing. The big A380 skipper could come back, go right seat at WestJet, and in a couple years be making more then a Swoop captain once you add in ESP, profit share, and stock options;non of which are being offered at Swoop.

Me thinks he doesn't want to be the old guy sitting in the right seat. Seen it a million times. He'd rather work 80 hard hours a month making 95 grand a year, this industry is fu€ked.

If flown with the true greats that are up there in years and have been dealt a bad hand some where along the way or just swallow their pride and end up being your co joe to a younger captain. Those are the true skippers of the sky. Passing on their knowledge to help a young buck out with his first left seat job in a jet. Guys like Joe S in YYZ if you know who I'm talking about. Learnt a lot from that guy. Me thinks big A380 skipper could learn a few things as well.

Cheers.

Hit the nail right on the head brother

[JohnnyHotRocks]

This must be the only profession where experience counts for nothing. Imagine the nerve of a crusty old A380 skipper not wanting to sit right seat to a pimply millennial captain.
Crazy....
Jumping the queue....what a crock

[groundpilot]

I say if "B73ABC" (you couldnt come up with a better handle?!) wants to work making $100K as a skipper before tax, work his old fart ass off flying what I I can only imagine as:

- CARs limit days
- Flying nothing but Abbotsford, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Hamilton
- fly with broke flight attendants who can barely afford bus fare
- while every pilot who see's him in uniform thinks he is a moron and a scab. I couldn't even IMAGINE being on a shuttle bus with a WJ pilot!!

Then let him go for it...Sounds pretty terrible. Maybe he is into wing flying suits too??

[RidersRule]

Ha ha groundpilot,

Bingos got a name oh. You nailed it kid.

[complexintentions]

Again...does anyone seriously think that an expat pilot a) gives a shit if Canadian pilots smile and wave in an airport terminal or b) can possibly be intimidated by anything in the cozy, protected, incestuous Canadian industry after working years in the Middle East and Asia? You truly have no idea. None. The whole "you'd make more at WestJet" argument simply doesn't apply - guess what, an A380 captain at EK isn't looking to get rich moving back to Canada! lol Ego? No, logic. You don't take a right seat if a left is available. Duh.

The only thing that surprises me is that B73ABC even bothers to engage at all. I'd just apply and come take the job if it works for him. Hell, I may do the same myself. If only so I can reap the amusement of observing what passes for seething resentment in Canada.

What's that, anyway? A frosty stare? A sharply-worded letter? Unfriending me on Facebook?

[NewCommercialPilot]

Any word on what ALPA has done to secure those Swoop jobs for WJ mainline pilots? I'm all ears (and not hypoxic, only 10 jumps last 6 months...WingNut). For all the seething resentment out there, exactly who is to blame? And what's your plan to deal with your seething resentment, just carry it around waiting for the moment to unload on your unsympathetic colleague? I'd be careful with that...

To the perspective Swoop pilots, do what is in the best interests of you and your family. Disregard the goons in our ranks. Take the job if it works for you, and hold your head high.

Toodles!

[atphat]

Again...does anyone seriously think that an expat pilot a) gives a shit if Canadian pilots smile and wave in an airport terminal or b) can possibly be intimidated by anything in the cozy, protected, incestuous Canadian industry after working years in the Middle East and Asia? You truly have no idea. None. The whole "you'd make more at WestJet" argument simply doesn't apply - guess what, an A380 captain at EK isn't looking to get rich moving back to Canada! lol Ego? No, logic. You don't take a right seat if a left is available. Duh.

The only thing that surprises me is that B73ABC even bothers to engage at all. I'd just apply and come take the job if it works for him. Hell, I may do the same myself. If only so I can reap the amusement of observing what passes for seething resentment in Canada.

What's that, anyway? A frosty stare? A sharply-worded letter? Unfriending me on Facebook?

I know. It’s just a big joke to you. Not so much of a joke to the WJ folk. Stay overseas. Nothing worse than some dbag expat enjoying the degradation of the Canadian industry cause it somehow justified his decision to leave. Why are you even on this site? Because you have a Canadian passport?

[altiplano]

The only thing that surprises me is that B73ABC even bothers to engage at all. I'd just apply and come take the job if it works for him. Hell, I may do the same myself. If only so I can reap the amusement of observing what passes for seething resentment in Canada.

You are contradicting yourself...

"I wouldn't even bother to engage" "I'll just bring my smug ass over and take your job"

Yet here you are "engaging"...

I'd be surprised if it was just "frosty stares"...

In other industries, some might start by slashing tires and go from there...

[groundpilot]

Again...does anyone seriously think that an expat pilot a) gives a shit if Canadian pilots smile and wave in an airport terminal or b) can possibly be intimidated by anything in the cozy, protected, incestuous Canadian industry after working years in the Middle East and Asia? You truly have no idea. None. The whole "you'd make more at WestJet" argument simply doesn't apply - guess what, an A380 captain at EK isn't looking to get rich moving back to Canada! lol Ego? No, logic. You don't take a right seat if a left is available. Duh.

The only thing that surprises me is that B73ABC even bothers to engage at all. I'd just apply and come take the job if it works for him. Hell, I may do the same myself. If only so I can reap the amusement of observing what passes for seething resentment in Canada.

What's that, anyway? A frosty stare? A sharply-worded letter? Unfriending me on Facebook?

You have had some good posts in the past but with this...you're an embarrassment

[Mostly Harmless]

Tell you what....lets trade!! I'll swap my DXB A380 Captain job for a YYZ-based 737 Captain job right now.

If you can arrange that, I'm in. I'm not chasing metal as the A380 doesn't do much for me but I could stand an adventure, see more of the world and retire much sooner if I so choose. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me... if it can be arranged.

I'm not as mad as others... but I am disappointed in the current executive at WJ. I used to like the engagement and availability of the executive and pilots. All those guys are gone now. We have standard issue corporate clones. But I digress... You said you wouldn't get many takers, I could use to shovel a little less snow.

For all the seething resentment out there, exactly who is to blame? And what's your plan to deal with your seething resentment, just carry it around waiting for the moment to unload on your unsympathetic colleague? I'd be careful with that...

You seem to be carrying a lot of seething resentment, so what's your plan? Just curious. I have no attachment to your answer or it's outcome.

[GRK2]

Again...does anyone seriously think that an expat pilot a) gives a shit if Canadian pilots smile and wave in an airport terminal or b) can possibly be intimidated by anything in the cozy, protected, incestuous Canadian industry after working years in the Middle East and Asia? You truly have no idea. None. The whole "you'd make more at WestJet" argument simply doesn't apply - guess what, an A380 captain at EK isn't looking to get rich moving back to Canada! lol Ego? No, logic. You don't take a right seat if a left is available. Duh.

The only thing that surprises me is that B73ABC even bothers to engage at all. I'd just apply and come take the job if it works for him. Hell, I may do the same myself. If only so I can reap the amusement of observing what passes for seething resentment in Canada.

What's that, anyway? A frosty stare? A sharply-worded letter? Unfriending me on Facebook?

IRONY:
ˈʌɪrəni
noun
the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
"‘Don't go overboard with the gratitude,’ he rejoined with heavy irony"
synonyms: sarcasm, sardonicism, dryness, causticity, sharpness, acerbity, acid, bitterness, trenchancy, mordancy, cynicism; More
a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.
plural noun: ironies

It seems that quite a few of you manage to miss (by miles in more than a few cases) the clear irony in CI's post.

[dialdriver]

The only thing that surprises me is that B73ABC even bothers to engage at all. I'd just apply and come take the job if it works for him. Hell, I may do the same myself. If only so I can reap the amusement of observing what passes for seething resentment in Canada.

You are contradicting yourself...

"I wouldn't even bother to engage" "I'll just bring my smug ass over and take your job"

Yet here you are "engaging"...

I'd be surprised if it was just "frosty stares"...

In other industries, some might start by slashing tires and go from there...

Please clarify something for me: You're an airline pilot making threats, in writing, on a public forum? Is that correct?