Commuting

[learcapt]

Hello everyone. Is it possible to commute from Ontario while working for WestJet?

Thanks.

[Smitty]

You can commute from anywhere you want. We already have several Pilots and Flight Attendants that commute from Ontario.

[McDoo the Irish Navigator]

I will expand on my colleague's statement and say we have hundreds of pilots and flight attendants commuting from Ontario,

[neophyte]

I will elaborate on my colleague's statements and state that there are under 50 pilots (4 capt/37 fo) and over a hundred FAs "porting" and commuting out of YYZ.

Neo

[Four1oh]

I will further add to my previous compadre's assertion by submitting that we also have commuters from YOW, YHM, YXU, YQT, and probably other Ontario WJ destinations that aren't coming to my mind at the moment!

[WJ700]

YKF....

[GARRETT]

Any YQQ commuters out there? If so, how easy is it to do? Have you ever had to drive to YYJ or YVR to catch a ride to YYC? How close is YQQ to getting port status?

[learcapt]

Thank you everyone. Is there an avergae to the number of days most trips out of YYC entail? You can always PM me.

[Four1oh]

Everything from 1-5 days. You can bid for preferences and usually get them. If you want 4 or 5 day pairings, you won't have any troubles.

[learcapt]

Thank you

[scopiton]

any westjetter from YUL ?

[rightseatwonder]

non.

[scopiton]

hard to believe, not you, but hard to believe there is no pilots living in YUL working for westjet.
but if you say so... stil, hard to believe...

[sanjet]

What about reserve days? You can port lets say out of YOW but can you stay in YOW on your reserve days?

[The Fish]

There is no reserve for pilots at WJ, you do your 80 odd hours and that's it.

[DeltaHotel]

I would love to fly for WestJet !
Im out of YUL ... would they allow me to commute to YYZ ?

[Jastapilot]

There is a port in YYZ so you might get the odd pairing there, but for the most part you'd be commuting to YYC, and no, there'd be no problem commuting out of anywhere you live, just show up for work.

[tire kicker]

Anyone on here commute from yyt if so how do you find it, how many days do you get home a month PM me if you like too..

[Westward_Bound]

Excuse my potential ignorance, but I'm new. So how does the commute work? I'm in YVR, so if I wanted to commute, do I have to catch a flight to YYC the night before I work, stay there for my days on, then catch a flight back after my last day of work?

Do most pilots do the 4 on 3 off type thing? If so, that would really only give you 1 full day off, since your first and last day would be spent waiting for a seat?

What would happend if you didn't catch the last flight?

If someone could just run me thru the typical YVR commute please.

Thanks

[flystraightin]

Excuse my potential ignorance, but I'm new. So how does the commute work? I'm in YVR, so if I wanted to commute, do I have to catch a flight to YYC the night before I work, stay there for my days on, then catch a flight back after my last day of work?

Do most pilots do the 4 on 3 off type thing? If so, that would really only give you 1 full day off, since your first and last day would be spent waiting for a seat?

What would happend if you didn't catch the last flight?

If someone could just run me thru the typical YVR commute please.

Thanks

Just a heads up, I'm NOT a pilot. Rather a cpl student working pt for WestJet, not as a pilot, but hopefully someday.

From what I understand, you're completely on your own for getting to work. Bottom line: make check-in time for your flight. With YVR it's not that bad, you have the option to port from YVR which gives you a chance of having your pairings start and finish in Vancouver. If you choose to commute, you have 15 or so flights on us, plus the jumpseat on AC or Jazz.

First off, don't call it a "4 on 3 off thing." It's hardly that. Pairings are (usually, maybe always?) 4 days. You work 75-80 hrs per month. Technically this could be 4-1-4 depending on what you bid on or trade for.

If you commute and your pairing starts before the first YVR flight arrives in YYC, you will have to sleep in the airport (my personal fave ), pay for a crashpad, or rent a hotel and travel the night before on your own time. You might try to bid on a commutable line from YYC that allows you to connect from YVR the same day. If you get stuck, you get stuck. During the holiday season, I'd imagine this can get very stressful.

The only reason I have a vague idea of how this works, is because it will potentially be my own situation in a few years.

I'd also like to hear from some of the YVR porters on their QOL and how commuting is working for them.

Thanks

[SMP]

Anyone on here commute from yyt if so how do you find it, how many days do you get home a month PM me if you like too..

I commute from YYT and I have enjoyed being home so far...Days at home are 13-14 in a non vacation month and up to as many as 19-20 in a vacation month. Factor in YYT overnights and some months are even better.

Feel free to post any other questions, I'll try to answer them.

SMP

[RFN]

How is the YWG port working out?
What is the breakdown of Capts to F/Os there, and are any of those F/Os close to a left seat?

How many pairings have check in times late enough in the day to fly out the day of, so as to skip the crashpad?

Thanks!!

[SMP]

How is the YWG port working out?
What is the breakdown of Capts to F/Os there, and are any of those F/Os close to a left seat?

How many pairings have check in times late enough in the day to fly out the day of, so as to skip the crashpad?

Thanks!!

Approx ratio is 3:1 F/Os to Capts. There may be a few F/Os near the left seat, however the upgrades have slowed and I wouldn't expect a significant change to that ratio in the near future.

There are plenty of pairings that have pairing CI times that allow commute in on the day of, especially when you consider that the first flight from YWG arrives before 0800 YYC.

SMP

[RFN]

Thanks there SMP!

Would you hazard a guess as to how many pairings a month would port out of YWG?

[highlander]

As a YWG porter and commuter I will add my 2 cents:

1) As far as the port flying, I have noticed the number of hours nearly double since September. However, I believe this was due to the fact we gained a few more captains.

2) At first glance this might look amazing i.e 200 hours versus 430 hours (just an example) But, how these hours are blocked into pairings can be something totally different. It appears that in April for example, there were over 400 hours. However, I would guess that maybe we had 20-30(probably on the high side) pairings....I'd have to actually count them. This would include one days worth 4.5 hours to 5 days worth 29 hours.

3) Commuting- I have yet to meet someone that did LIKE commuting. I don't enjoy it but I do it for various reasons. I find that the YWG commute is not difficult but you can't get careless. Give yourself a couple of flights at least to get out to YYC. Maybe more during crazy times.

4) Stay tuned....we have a new aggreement coming out that has a proposed section on commuting to work...hopefully providing more guidance.