westjet question???

[YOWFLYER]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum, so mind my ignorance is this question has been asked in the past.

Is it possible to live in Ottawa and commute to YYZ WJ base?

Could someone also explain or send a link to WJ starting pay. I have heard and read various different things but it seems as though all the answers I am getting are anywhere from 42k - 55k depending on stock options....etc...???

Thanks again for your time.

[Rotten Apple #1]

Straight out of the horse's mouth from a Crew Chat yesterday, the Big Bawana running the morning show stressed that it was important for "more experienced" (my words) WJ'ers to accurately pass on information to new hires when answering questions, so:

The commute to the YYZ 'PORT' (Important you understand the concept) would be easy; the loads are not restrictive for standby travel on that city-pair. That being said, it's not likely you'd see a lot of flying out of YYZ as things stand now, because there's a vast imbalance between F/Os (too many) and Captains (not enough) at that 'PORT".

Plan on the YOW-YYC commute for the foreseeable future.

That being said, the online shift trade (drop and/or pick-up) at WJ is quite handy at rearranging parts of your schedule (to optimize your commuter needs) following it's issuance on the 20th of each month.

[C-MNOP]

To answer the second part of your question. First year pay is $40,000, but can be a little confusing. When you are hired it will be explained to you in greater detail. There are four ways of being compensated here at Westjet. Salary, Profit Sharing( which has been pretty good the last couple of years), ESOP...Employee Share Option Program, and Stock Options. The first two are pretty basic, the last two are a little more complicated but basically you will have to make a couple of decisions when your hired as to which direction you want to go. You can take more in your pocket today and less in return in the future, or less today and hopefully more in the future.

Since you will be commuting, you will have to find a place to stay during your groundschool on your own dollar. If you know guys here ask them if you can crash a their place. Save up as much as you can before you come here because the first two years can be a little draining on the old bank account. Good luck.....hopefully you'll get on. You will love it here, we are all one big happy family.

[YOWFLYER]

thanks for your input and answers guys, much appreciated!!!

[neophyte]

Hey JD,

Is there any talk of limiting the number of porters at a given port, or limiting the maximum ratio of CA:FO (or FO:CA) a port can have? ie. 1:6, 1:10.

Cheers,

Neo

[Four1oh]

no need. Crew planning makes a port sched with the total number of crews they can make. If there's a ratio problem, the high end just won't get as many pairings/month as the rest.

[WJ700]

There is a redeye from YYC to YOW so you can usually get home after your last late flight. You can also get YOW overnights as we have a lot. The general feeling I get from the two commuters I know in YOW (one Captain and one FO) is that they find it quite doable. I'm sure that late redeye home can be a bit of a ballbuster though and if you get any of the storms like last winter, it can be an issue as well.

[CanadaEH]

That red-eye is seasonal. It's gone during the winter schedule and the latest direct YYC-YOW flight you can catch departs YYC at 1810.