Etihad from Canada: why a Canadian chose Abu Dhabi over the home carriers, and what the five year plan looks like
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#1 Canadian, Etihad, and I get messages from Canadians who cannot understand why someone would leave Air Canada or WestJet options for the Gulf. Here is the reasoning, and the plan, honestly, because it is a plan and not a forever.
Why not the home carriers
I applied to all of them at 24. Air Canada mainline wanted French I did not have. Rouge offered and I looked at the two tier contract and the reserve years in Toronto and did the maths. WestJet was hiring in Calgary and I am from Halifax. Porter was not what it is now. And I wanted to see the world, not Florida.
Why Etihad specifically
Smaller than the neighbours, which Mohammed has written about and which I confirm: people know your name. The Canada routes (Toronto, and the network beyond) mean home is a bid away. The tax free pay and the accommodation meant that at 25 I was saving more in a month than I had in a year at a Canadian regional. And the flying: 787s and A350s to the whole world, with real layovers.
The plan
Five years. Save a deposit. Get the business course. See sixty countries. Then go home, with a CV that has a Gulf carrier on it, and apply to Air Canada mainline with the experience and the savings and, by then, enough French. That was the plan at 25. I am at year three and it is on track.
What I did not plan for
Liking it more than I expected. Abu Dhabi grew on me in a way Toronto never did. The crew community is closer than anything I had in Canada. And the idea of going back to a Canadian reserve list at 30, from the bottom, has become less attractive as the seniority here has become real. The plan is still five years. It might be seven.
For Canadians considering it
The FBI style clearance is an RCMP one and it is faster than the American version. The tax is simpler than for Americans: you become a non resident for tax purposes if you do it right, and you should talk to an accountant before you leave, not after. The health insurance covers you in the UAE and you need travel insurance for visits home. And the winters: you will not miss them. You will pretend to.
Questions from the Canadians welcome.
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#2 Rouge, and Olivia's maths on the reserve years is the maths I did the other way and stayed. Both work. The 'the plan is five years, it might be seven' line is every Gulf expat I have ever met.
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#3 Air Canada mainline, and I would say to Olivia: come back with the Gulf experience and the French, and you will be a strong candidate, and you will still start at the bottom of the list. That is the honest trade. Some do it. Some stay in Abu Dhabi.
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#4 Etihad, UK, and 'Abu Dhabi grew on me in a way Toronto never did' is the sentence I would say about London. The quiet city gets under your skin. Seven years, probably.
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#5 @joeltoronto the bottom of the list at 30 with a deposit in the bank is a different bottom of the list. That is the whole plan.
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#6 Porter, and Olivia's point that Porter was not what it is now is right. The Canadian market in 2026 has an option that did not exist for her at 24. Canadians reading this today have a different list.
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#7 Air Transat, and the French requirement at mainline being the thing that sent a Halifax girl to Abu Dhabi is a very Canadian story. Learn the French in the Gulf. Come back bilingual. That is a plan I can respect.
