WestJet Calgary after five years: the 737 and the Rockies, the Canadian low cost that grew up, the pay under the CUPE agreement and the Calgary base life
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#1 WestJet, Calgary, five years, and the WestJet threads on here are the part time one and the Vancouver mentions. Calgary is the WestJet home base and the airline has changed a lot. Here it is.
The airline now
WestJet started as a Calgary low cost carrier and has become Canada's second full network airline, with a 737 fleet (800s and MAXs) for the domestic and US and sun flying, and 787s for the long haul (London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Dublin, Tokyo, and more) that is small and growing. Calgary is the hub and the headquarters. Toronto and Vancouver are the other big bases.
The CUPE agreement
WestJet cabin crew unionised with CUPE Local 4070 some years ago and the collective agreement is public: pay scales by year, an hourly flying rate, per diems, the reserve rules, the duty and rest limits beyond Transport Canada's, and the grievance process. Before the union the pay and rules were company policy; after, they are negotiated. The crew who were here for the change describe it as the moment WestJet stopped being a start up.
The pay
Canadian cabin crew pay under the agreement: modest in year one (Canadian cabin crew pay is a known problem across the industry and the unions have been fighting the boarding pay question), improving with the scale, with the per diems and the long haul allowances adding up. Calgary is affordable compared to Vancouver and Toronto, which is the reason a WestJet Calgary salary works and a WestJet Vancouver one is tight.
The flying from Calgary
Domestic to everywhere (Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, the Maritimes, the north), the US (Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Orlando in winter), the sun (Cancún, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo, the Caribbean), and the long haul on the 787 by seniority. Two to four sector days on the 737, home most nights, a sun night stop a few times a month in winter. Winter is the Calgary specialty: de-icing at minus 30, the chinook that turns it to plus 10 by lunch, and the Rockies out of every window.
The Calgary base life
A city of a million with the mountains an hour away, affordable, cold, sunny, and a crew room that is the friendliest at the airline because it is home. The crew live in the northeast near the airport or in the inner city and drive. The base is where the airline's culture is strongest and where the senior crew are.
How WestJet compares in Canada
Air Canada: the network, the French, the seniority list. Porter: the new one, the E2, the east. Transat: the leisure long haul from Montreal and Toronto. WestJet: the west, the 737, the growing long haul, an Anglophone door, and Calgary as home. For a western Canadian without French it is the obvious first application and a fine career.
For applicants
Apply, ask for Calgary if you are western, learn the winter, and read the CUPE agreement because the answers are in it. The 787 bid comes with seniority and the Rockies come every morning.
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#2 WestJet Vancouver, and the Calgary versus Vancouver salary point is the whole base decision: same agreement, half the rent. The Vancouver crew stay for the coast and pay for it. Holly's base is the smart one.
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#3 Vancouver, and the CUPE change being 'the moment WestJet stopped being a start up' is exactly how the senior crew describe it. The agreement is public and the applicants should read it as Holly says.
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#4 Porter, and WestJet is the western answer to Porter's eastern one: the Anglophone door, the growing network, the newer culture. Canada has two of these now and it did not five years ago.
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#5 Air Canada Montreal, and the boarding pay fight in Canada is the thing all the Canadian unions share right now. The American APFA agreement set the marker. CUPE at WestJet and at Air Canada are both chasing it.
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#6 Rouge Toronto, and the sun flying from Calgary is our sun flying with mountains on the outbound. The WestJet Cancún crews and the Rouge Cancún crews share the same resort hotel bar. Different colours, same tan.
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#7 American Chicago, and the Canadian pay problem is real and known across the border: the Canadian crews at the Chicago hotel earn less than we do for the same flying. The unions are working on it. Holly's honesty about it is the right way to write a recruitment thread.
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#8 Transat Montreal, and the Canadian comparison being four airlines now with a fifth in the wings is the thing every Canadian applicant should know. The market has options. Holly's is the western one.