Concerning staff travel at AC,

You get unlimited passes on AC for you and your family.No limit, no restriction on destinations. Since last year, all you pay for are the taxes levied by the different airport authorities and governments.

For example if you were to go to the U.S , the pass is free but with the taxes it comes out to about 60$ CAD.

Most places in Europe come out to about 100 $ per person and most places in Asia ,from Canada come out to between 100-150$ per person for the round trip.

You also get unlimited amount of Zed tickets on other airlines for you and your family.

Finally you can designate one "BUDDY" who has 10 passes that they can use without you flying with them, so a friend or girlfriend or whoever you want that is not in your family (I have my sister in law).

Boarding is done by seniority and if you are a pilot you can get the jumpseat.

All in all that pretty much sums it up.

There is no question that the AC travel perk is much better than the CX one...sometimes I even hazard to call CX's staff travel plan a perk!:ugh:

So what would be the salary for a Canada based CX pilot, say starting and then let,s say after a few years, cargo and pax pay.

To start your career at CX and immediately be based in NA you would have to be a direct hire Freighter F/O. Canadian bases are scarce and only open when a shortage of pilots occurs and they are targeting Canadians (IE. Vancouver and Toronto bases). Most new hires are offered US bases and therefore paid in US dollars. A freighter F/O new hire US based was about 62K USD and a CDN based F/O was 80K CDN. Add to that 15.5% paid cash or in a Provident fund (RRSP like). These figures are about 2 years old and I did here that recently they got a descent raise.

After 4 years and transferring to the Pax fleet a US based F/O makes about 114K where a CDN F/O makes about 122K. Again add 15.5% to these figures and no raises have been given to the pax fleet in the last few years.

A US based freighter Captain starts at about 120K where a pax Captain US based starts at 182K. A freighter Captain is possible at 3-4 years where a pax Captain will take about 9-10 years.
;)

Interesting that everyone is happily mentioning Command salaries at Cathay without mentioning the 10-20% success rate for command upgrades as opposed to AC (or Qantas or BA etc) who are in the 90% range. With such a low pass rate you would be better using the Cathay F/O payscale for comparison wouldn't you?

Not sure you will be flying the A32X series if you join Air Canada.
But sure you will be flying the heavy metals if you join the Cathay Pacific. POSTED BY KEVIN HO.


So? What's wrong with A320s? You, obviously have no idea how boring the 13-hour flights are.

Very interesting thread... my 32 years at AC have been exceptionally enjoyable. Never worked for CX so can't comment. The things I have appreciated about AC are as follows...

Generally lots of stability, even during CCAA there was never much doubt that things would work out. Lucky never to have been layed off.

I live 30 minutes from YYZ, never enjoyed the thought of commuting, I even hate deadheading!

Same base, YYZ for entire career. Lots of family stability, 3 stable, happy kids, 1 wife :O

Solid, steady career advancement.... 2 years as an oiler, 16 as an f/o, last 14 as the old man. Now 340 Capt flying mainly to HKG of all places. Great place to layover, not sure if I'd want to live there?

Variety of flying has been fantastic.... from layovers in Torbay, Brussels, Barbados, Rome, Quebec City, New York, Honolulu, Thunder Bay, Santiago.. you get the picture. Never got bored because things changed every few years.

Great people here at AC. Even though the CDN merger has caused some problems, individually they are good people to work with.

Although we have some problems living here in the Great White North, like weather and politics... I still have yet to find anything better, especially watching 4 hurricanes steam through Florida last summer.

All and all, I'd do it the same way again given the choice.

Cheers

Hey guys....great entertainment!

I've done a lot of seaching and have sifted through most of the CX posts, but I still have a few unanswered questions concerning CX lifestyle in the States.

My total time is 3200; 2000 turbo prop w/ 500 PIC in turbo prop type.

1. Does my time seem likely to earn an FO slot? Or, do I need turbine time and does it need to be PIC? (I would have to sacrifice QOL to get Jet PIC at my airline.)

2. How long will it take to get LAX? Is there a housing allowance?

3. What's the typical lifestyle for a LAX based pilot, ie trips, days off in a row, vacation...I gotta surf? According to the latest Surfing Mag, I hear they found some waves in China recently! :p

4. How are the trips? 12-15 hrs long?...how much do you bunk up and sleep through the flight? What do you do when you get to your destination...36 hr layover and then back over the pond, or do you fly all over the pacific in Hong Kong time zone?

Thanx in advance to all the CX drivers!

Hey WaveShwacker,

Unfortunately your times are not competitive for DE freighter FO positions, but they are competitive for DE Second Officer positions based in Hong Kong. It would take you at least 4-5 years to get back to the States as a passenger FO.

There is no housing allowance for US based pilots.

Cheers,
and Good luck.