748, I don't know yor personal situation but I'll pass on my experience with WJ.
I live in YEG and bid YEG overnights and YEG Port pairings - work an average of 15-16 days a month with about 5-7 nights away from home. Haven't missed a family birthday or special event in 7 years. Generally get 90-100% of my days off requests. A very important point to note is that that there is NO seniority in bidding and No reserve - everybody has pretty much the same lifestyle. I've worked three Christmases out of the last seven.
Pretty good variety of flying althought no overseas stuff (yet). Day to day work environment is very good, very positive (and most of us DON'T drink the Koolaid - more like a bunch of people who enjoy doing what they do - our company has a few warts like any other).
As far as pay - things have improved very much over the last couple of years - from what I've seen 3 year FO's are grossing about 100 per year and should top out at about 120k. As a 5 year skipper I make about 160k not including options, which this year will add about 60 k to my income. From what I hear from the training guys, time to upgrade is about 5-6 years based on the current fleet plan. As has been said before, there is no defined pension as such - just the stock purchase program - the company matches you up to 20% of the gross income. This means for me that at retirement (12 years from now) I'll have a very nice chunk in taxes paid money to work with (should generate about 120 - 150k per year income) and the government and pension rules can't tell me what to do with it However directing one's own retirement does take some diligence and discipline, and doesn't work for every one
Having said all that, WJ definitely isn't for everybody - I have some friends a AC who like what they have there and the opportunities to fly a greater variety of equipment and routes.
If you have more questions feel free to PM me and good luck on your choice.
