How long to get YYC base

[Anonymouse]

How many years do you generally have to work for westjet before you can hold YYC?

And do you foresee any time when they will hire directly at the YYC base rather than all new first officers being YYZ based?

[fixnfly]

How many years do you generally have to work for westjet before you can hold YYC?

And do you foresee any time when they will hire directly at the YYC base rather than all new first officers being YYZ based?

Talking to a couple Westjet pilots, apparently there were quite a few yyc based fo positions on their last bid. The timeline to transfer bases from yyz-yyc is only 6 months-1 year although you’ll sit on reserve for a long time and upgrades are over a decade because all the encore pilots will be parachuting above you in seniority. But anything can change, especially with all the expansion planned out of yyc. Even yvr is more junior right now because of the cost of living.

[Canadaflyer46]

It’s a lot quicker than it used to be with getting YYC. Although currently it takes 6 or so years seniority to get off reserve, and YYC upgrades are at around the 15 year mark.

[Gear Jerker]

To be very clear, we don't know all details of the company's plans yet, nor do we know if they will succeed in execution.

^ Disclaimer out of the way now...

IF the Max purchase is for expansion and not replacement, and IF the Sunwing merger increases business and there's a fair settlement in terms of merged seniority, and IF retirements start to occur more frequently in another 5 years or so, and IF the shift to more YYC flying proves to be a profitable decision.... those seniority numbers would move down.

Wow, that's a lot of maybes...

[averageatbest]

To be very clear, we don't know all details of the company's plans yet, nor do we know if they will succeed in execution.

According to the comms that come out from the company, they don't know all of the details of their plans yet either.

[Bluewaffe]

Out of curiosity, how long would it take to get 87 FO/captain then?

[Dronepiper]

Right now, people hired 2 months ago are able to hold 737 FO in yyc.

YYC 787 FO right now is 9-10 years.

YYC 737 Captain is 14 years

YYC 787 Captain?

Also these numbers are also just to hold reserve. Add another 3-5 years to get off reserve completely

[Greasy Greaser]

Getting off reserve in YYC/YVR is around 7 year mark for FOs assuming encore stays on the list (dare I say), from what I've heard and looking into it a bit. Captains are bit longer on reserve, think its 16 or so years for yyc? YVR cant be too far off that either, not entirely sure; too lazy to look that up.

One thing most don't realize is that WJ is going the Swoop way (good job boys) come February 1st. 18 days a month for those on full reserve blocks, seniority bidding for only those on reserve for ONLY days off and the ability of crew schedule to shift your reserve days into days off *cough* grey days *cough*
yes...this is for mainline.
We might actually get rid of LOU 2 (swoop portion of the contract) but it'll just be merged into the WJ one and we'll let them do it, again.

This is all from an MEC email dated back November 16th, 2022.
Hopefully this changes for those on it, but probably won't.

That being said, if you live in your respective base, it's not bad at all I hear with some positives. Commuters...good luck.

[Mrbobmarly111]

Apply to AC or Jazz.

Jazz is CPT as soon as you got the hours.

AC
787 FO In the new hire class or sub one year
777 FO same as above
737 CPT 4 years YYZ/YUL
320 CPT 3.5 years YYZ/YUL
220 CPT 3.5 YYZ/YUL

And remember lots and lots of new fins confirmed arriving in 2024. Thats 320 neos, 220s, 777 freighters and 767 freighters.

Apply and if you dont get a job no worries. Westjet is a good place to work but if you get hired take the spot and dont look back.

In 20 years at AC if you want you can stay a FO and work 10 or less days a month making over 120 000 easy with no overtime. Its a no brainer.

[pacman007]

Greasy greaser, you said that Westjet might get rid of LOU2 the swoop stuff….. if that happens what will they do with the pilots? Will there be a rebid compmay wide? Or will you have capt out of seniority? Interesting that’s for sure

[Greasy Greaser]

Greasy greaser, you said that Westjet might get rid of LOU2 the swoop stuff….. if that happens what will they do with the pilots? Will there be a rebid compmay wide? Or will you have capt out of seniority? Interesting that’s for sure

It will be interesting and nobody knows the answer for sure right now, no matter what anyone says.
Swoop pilots ARE WestJet pilots, it has been made clear by both company and union multiple times. Worst case Ontario, they just get merged in wherever they sit in seniority as if nothing happened. (think Rouge and AC)

Ill put money down, no rebid will happen and might be for the best. It would be too many people on both sides shuffling around, would cost a pretty penny which would probably take away gains for our pilot group if expenses were spent on a rebid. Might not be "fair" but nothing is, there is always going to be a sore group no matter what happens.

The only thing that seems to be a certainty, none of this will probably happen until/if Sunwing gets approved for us and see what will happen to them first.

[Canadaflyer46]

There are pilots holding the left seat TEN years out of seniority. If we get pay parity across the board I bet my bottom dollar there will be a rebid. Although right now many of us aren’t sure if there will be a ‘WestJet group’ around for a lot longer at this rate.

[Greasy Greaser]

I know we're off topic here from the original question but still pertains to the Westjet group I guess.

A full rebid, no way it happens, 737 captains at Westjet aren't going to be able to bump 787 FOs out IF they wanted.
YYZ peeps won't be bumping more junior YYC caps/fos and vice versa, Encore flows aren't bumping junior 737 fos out of any base, all will wait for open spots and be awarded by seniority/PSB.
You get what I'm saying, many more examples.

Now, I could see a 'sidebid' or downbid, whatever you want to call it; Swoop gets parity (lol), PSB comes out and more senior FOs, YEG/YHM base guys and gals can bid over if they want, current Swoop captains might get bumped simply because there won't be enough captain spots for everyone and they either go right seat or into WJ into open positions if they wanted but that's it, no company wide rebid, if you're YVR/YYC/YYZ base and someone wants your spot...too bad for them, you're safe, they can wait for an open spot even if they are more senior, its how more than most airlines in the world work.

If the sidebid or whatever is what you meant, then we're probably on the same page, but I hear too many people talk about company wide rebid with bumping all over which would decimate us a pilot group. Now some of those people are/were encore recently and didn't flow initially so take that as you will.

None of this really matters right now tbh. Complete utter shit show like you said is upon us and Sunwing will probably be the deciding factor for merge/parity talk if it gets approved.

[co-joe]

If you end up doing a full rebid and top to bottom shuffle, that would be the time to move away from socialized bidding and adopt a seniority based system like the rest of the industry. Your FO pay is decent enough at the top end that I could see a lot of people staying in their seats, gaining a much better schedule and lifestyle and reducing the massive number of training events of a full shuffle, where everyone senior automatically has to bid left seat and everybody junior has to be downgraded. Just a though.

[elite]

Rebid, sidebid, mybid or whatever else a few may fancy is another fantasy that cannot happen as it will be an arbitrary decision to the detriment of a group of members, not to mention there can be “no bump, no flush” during mergers.

[pacman007]

I don’t think your union would allow a Capt 10 years out of seniority, my guess would be a 737 rebid. All swoop pilots would be in a position they can actually hold. If you want to be on the “list” you must hold the position you can hold on the list.

[Greasy Greaser]

We are going the seniority bidding route. Come February 1st about 300 or so pilots at WestJet will be bidding GDOs by seniority and working 18 days a month LOL. Swoop is also seniority bidding I believe, people just generally lie to themselves here by saying it'll never happen. So about one fifth of pilots in our group are seniority while the rest aren't, definitely not a gong show here at the moment.

Both company and our union have let things happen that should not have happen, so I wouldn't bank on the 'right thing' being done by either group to be honest.

[Maritimer]

At this rate WJ won't be around long enough for this question to matter

[Canadaflyer46]

Greasy greaser, you said that Westjet might get rid of LOU2 the swoop stuff….. if that happens what will they do with the pilots? Will there be a rebid compmay wide? Or will you have capt out of seniority? Interesting that’s for sure

ALPA email today confirms they are pursuing a full rebid once they capture Swoop and WestJet pay parity.

[TheLastonetoknow]

How will this affect new hires?