Etihad Canadian and American crew: why North Americans choose Abu Dhabi, the tax situation, the Toronto and New York routes and the home visit maths
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#1 Etihad, Canadian, and Joe wrote the Emirates from the US version. Etihad has a smaller North American crew group and the Abu Dhabi choice is a different one. Here it is for the Canadians and Americans comparing.
Why North Americans choose Etihad
The smaller operation and the being known, as every Etihad thread says. The Toronto, New York, Washington, Chicago and Boston routes, which mean the North American crew hold a home route in the bidding more easily than at the giant. And Abu Dhabi as a quieter city for the North Americans who did not want the Dubai noise. Most of us had both offers or applied to both; the ones who chose Etihad chose on size.
The tax situation
For Americans: Joe's thread applies exactly, the FEIE, the FBAR, file every year. For Canadians: the Canadian tax residency question is the one. A Canadian who becomes non resident for tax (severs the residential ties, which the CRA defines) does not pay Canadian tax on the Etihad salary; one who keeps the ties does. Most Canadian crew become non resident and the paperwork is a departure return and a conversation with an accountant who knows it. It is simpler than the US system and still a thing to get right in year one.
The routes
Toronto daily on the 787 or the A350, New York daily, the others less frequent. The North American crew bid them and hold them at mid seniority, and the layover is home for the ones from those cities. Toronto to the family for a night on a 24 hour layover is a real thing for the Canadian crew and the reason several of us stayed past year two.
The home visit maths
The layover home once a month at mid seniority, the staff travel standby for the days off (Toronto is 13 hours, so a three day block), the annual leave ticket. A Canadian at Etihad sees home more than a Canadian at a Canadian airline sees a layover in Europe, which is the strange arithmetic of the Gulf for North Americans.
The culture for North Americans
The hierarchy, the formality, the grooming, the accommodation rules in the first months: Joe's list, exactly. The Etihad version is slightly smaller and slightly more personal. The Canadians, from what I see, adapt faster than the Americans to the formality and slower to the heat.
The honest comparison with home
Air Canada: the French wall, the seniority list, the Canadian pay problem, home. Etihad: no French, promotion in three years, tax free, the Toronto route as the commute. The Canadian crew at Etihad are mostly Anglophones who hit the French wall at home and found the Gulf door, which is a specific story the Canadian threads should know.
For North Americans
Apply to both Gulf carriers, decide on size, sort the tax in year one, bid the home route, and know that the layover in Toronto is the thing that makes the distance work.
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#2 Air Canada Montreal, and 'the Anglophones who hit the French wall and found the Gulf door' is the story I did not know and should have. Olivia has explained where the Canadians who could not pass my language test went. The Toronto route as the commute is the arithmetic.
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#3 Emirates from Chicago, and the Etihad version of the North American choice is the size, as every Etihad thread says. The tax advice is the same for both. The Toronto layover as the commute is something Emirates has too and Olivia is right that Etihad crew hold it earlier.
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#4 WestJet Calgary, and the Canadian tax non residency is the thing every Canadian in the Gulf gets wrong in year one. The departure return and the accountant. Olivia's one paragraph on it is the one Canadian applicants should print.
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#5 Emirates, American, and the Canadians adapting faster to the formality is true and slightly annoying. The Americans adapt to the heat faster, which is a lie I tell myself.
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#6 Etihad, UK, and the North American crew holding the home routes at mid seniority is the Etihad size effect in action. At the giant they would wait years. Here it is three. Olivia's thread is the Etihad pitch for North Americans.
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#7 Air Canada Toronto, and I know two Anglophone colleagues who went to Etihad after failing the French. Both say the Toronto route is why they stayed. The Gulf door for Anglophones is real and it is in Abu Dhabi.
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#8 @emilieyul it is a whole group and we all know each other. The French wall built the Etihad Canadian crew. We should send Air Canada a thank you card.
