I find that I am always getting different answers when it comes to the ESP pension issue to the point that nobody really knows, they just have stock and are hoping.
Unfortunately there is a lot of that (misunderstanding) when it comes to pilots and finances. We need to really read the manuals and if necessary take a financial groundschool.
We do have one whole year's worth of contributions tied up in company stock at any one time. For me that's $64000 that can't be accessed and yes would be lost if there was a catastrophic failure of the airline. For that reason most of us sell available (vested) stock every three or four months and reinvest it in whatever we think is prudent.
In my ten years I have had only three really big years with regards to options payouts, and four or so big profit share cheques (biggest $8300 take-home for a six month period).
That said my T4 usually sits around 200K which is great, but the real benefit of being here is the working conditions themselves, as outlined admirably by the previous posts. Benefits are top notch, vacation and monthly bids are equitable, schedules are extremely flexible due to FliCA, generally the many departments work together well, and bitchiness is not tolerated
by the group.
After leaving Jazz the thing that I found most refreshing was the fact and knowledge that any good thing that happens to WestJet will be a good thing for me, not for the "mainline" which may but probably will not filter some of that downstream. People at other companies like to joke about it but there is a very strong family feel at WestJet and it is great to be part of a group like that.
I met an old Flying Tiger captain who was aging extremely well and he said the secret to his health was the pilot/company relationship during his years of flying the world. He said he would show up for work and they would give him the keys for a 747 which he would take literally all over the world. He felt completely trusted and supported by his company. That's kinda what I'm talkin' about.
