baggage handler

customer service representative

transport driver

cabin leader

caterer

Strategic Aviation

I applied to Strategic Aviation as a university student looking to make some cash for the fall. What I saw appealed to me, flight benefits, $18 an hour and working with Airplanes! From an outsiders perspective this job looks awesome. I’ll have you know that the managment at this place is terrible. As soon as you walk in the building you have to repeatedly ask the managment what is going on, remind them that you’re new here and that you need direction. They dont take iniative or care about their new hires. I expected to work full time for July and August but in reality, I got part time hours for all of July and August when promised a full time contract. The “flight” benefits are non-existent. Simply a marketing ploy to get new hires. You dont pay airport taxes while flying on standby meaning your money or SPOT isnt guaranteed . The workplace environment is decent, the new hires do most of the work and listen to what the supervisors tell them to do. Really not a bad job, save for the managment which is absolutely terrible. Worst managment I have ever dealt with in my life. Filthy breakroom with No AC and limited amount of chairs. I even had to email the managment for not properly tracking my pay or paying me the deposit for the workboots which is required. Completely ridiculous unprofessional workplace. Find another place to work at.

It is a decent job, you work lots outside which in summer is ok. You get to learn lots, and it is fun with a proper crew of coworkers. In winter is hard though, more stressful as you must take care off lots of more equipment and you have several more tasks to complete, but it is still fun when you have a good crew. Management is poor though, they don't have a local mechanic to look after a good portion of the equipment causing it constantly break down, specially in winter. Other problems are the schedules and split shifts set by managers that creates very long not payed breaks, on average you get payed for 2/3 of your shift. Also you must be paying constant attention to your pay stubs as "missing hours" is the standard at least at this base. Overtime is payed at the standard rate only. The base manager is rude, and occasionally harasses their workers, and not only to them, but also to the customers as well. You have the chance to get flight passes, but it grants you the lowest priority passes so you are among the very last ones to get a seat on the plane, the process to get them is a little arbitrary as it depend on your standing with the local base manager, and you still have to pay the taxes and other fees on it, so it is not totally free. As a summary it is a decent second part time job, but nothing else, you cannot make a decent living having this as a primary job unless you constantly work overtime. 

Strategic Aviation hired some of the most amazing employees I have ever had work for me. however the company doesn’t treat them right.

SA worked their employees to their max for minimal pay and benefits. They were given no respect for the amount of work and hours they put into their work. Managers spent more time in their offices or not on site and ignored phone calls leaving staff to fend for themselves in emergencies and other situations. The GM, while trying his best didn’t have the back bone required to stand up to higher management and fight for the employees to get what was needed to safely and effectively manage the operation. Employees regularly worked 15-20 hour days or more to pick up the slack of the others. 

As supervisor we were forced to lie to the client in an attempt to show that we were working to the standards set out by the client. We had to lie to employees and try to find excuses for management’s disorganization. We were underpaid and not supported. Some people became supervisors with little to not experience making them control freaks and got mad when employees would go to other supervisors over them. 

Managers either didn’t attend work and when they did they were no help to us. We didn’t have the resources to support our employees and as a result manly left and continue to leave. 

Ottawa Location Strategic Aviation:
Very poor Management. Never received uniform/work-gear during all 6 months I was there. You get no benefits as a part timer till after 1 year. Asking for vacation pay will be received months after whenever management has the budget for it. Expect management to never answer you till days after, sometimes over a week. At the time I started there was 4 supervisors, but by the time I left, only one supervisor was left. Management is useless and incompetent and do not care a single bit about their workers. Expect your hours to be reduced or changed to the management's desires even after shift bid was determined. Management cheap out on equipment. Strategic Aviation obtain the worst equipment out of all airlines in the ottawa airport, and take months to even start repairs on broken equipment. Whenever you ask about uniforms, pays or anything entitled to you as a worker, management will give you a different excuse every time you go check for an update.

All of the experience was horrible!
A company that is a total mess and not
Organized at all! 
Nobody to talk with in the beginning and after! you need to run after them to get a respond!
You get 2 weeks training from united via zoom (was the only organized thing I saw there) and after that nobody will help you in real time! Managers will ignore you! You won’t get the benefits even I worked there more than around 5 months!!! Manager even won’t say hi to you and will ignore you. Didn’t get a uniform during almost 5 months of working there! Used my own clothes! They will cut your hours with no advance notice! And complain if you don’t stay whenever they need you!  They will not pay you extra hours. Even not when you are sick !U will need to clock in and out just that they won’t pay you more! They play with your shifts and change them every week. Please love yourself and don’t go to this place!!!! You will be thankful if you will listen to this message I promise!  They except you to do everything with no training: checkin, baggage, gates, and you will be stuck alone with no one to help you. Do yourself a favour and find a different job! 

This job involved 3 hour shifts that were super fast-paced due to tight check-in deadlines. There is no full-time; everyone's part-time, though they're scheduled for almost every day of the week during the summer. Getting time off in any capacity is always a fight and shift swaps were not permitted, despite them being a feature in the scheduling app. The workplace culture among the common CSA was good, but many higher-ups were difficult to deal with. Some leads would take out their stress on their colleagues; would keep changing the plan; and favour some staff over others with role assignments. If you complained, you'd be ignored or even confronted over it. Bad employees were always protected, while good employees were taken advantage of. Best part of the job is the group of friends you quickly develop and maintain. I would say the flight benefits, but they're pathetic and management won't even give you much of a chance to use them. 

Nice environment to work in, and exceptional people to work with, but the management and the way things are handled aren't professional as you'd think. Due to a lack of care from the management, a lot of corrective measures aren't taken in regards to employees sometimes not adhering to YVR or company protocols and/or standards.. There is also preferential treatment by the management team when it comes to handling certain employees over others. If only the superiors and schedulers were more organized and followed the proper procedures in relation to labor relation codes and proper etiquette, would the workplace become more of an effective and productive environment which would in turn, grant the company as a whole, more overall success than where they are today. 

A typical day in the winter, is stressful, In the summer-time, It's awesome. 
I learned literally so much I can't even put it in words.
I have nothing to say about the management side of things. 
The culture changes between each base contracted, some are worse than others. The base I was at was very laid back. I liked it there. Some of the others, not so much.
Hardest part of the job is probably coping with how the safety of a lot of lives, are in your hands, this really only applies to winter operations. But for the most part, this industry does not pay nearly enough to put this on your shoulders. You really have to love the job. I recommend this job if you're at the learning stages of life/just out of high-school, it'll teach you a lot, even a good job after retirement. But if you're looking to support a family, a house hold, or pay a mortgage. 
Get into some type of trade while you can easily.

SA was not a bad place to work but then they started to grow too fast at my location, taking on too many contracts, and the poor training led to high turn over, always been short staffed, and management complaining about delays when we just didn't have the staff necessary.

Often had problems with ground equipment as in not enough and somehow we were expected to turn flights with short staffing and poor equipment.

The local manager was one of the worst managers I have ever encountered, had unrealistic expectations and nobody in power cared, they shoved people out like an assembly line with poor training, and little guidence for new hires.

The pay sucked for the high scost of living.

The job itself was fun, and most of the people I worked with were good, but management and short staffing was horrible, and they simply did not care.

Worked here for a while and I can confidently say that it was the worst time of my life. If you work here you WILL get treated like trash by everyone else who works at YVR because of this company's garbage reputation, and also by your co-workers. Management is braindead, HR can never get your paycheck right or write an email with no typos, and pretty much none of the equipment works properly. Entry-level jobs like this usually are not that enjoyable but this is legit the WORST company I have ever worked for and I dont think it gets worse than this. The one and only benefit is that you get paid a little more than usual for garbage jobs like this one but it is definitely not worth the mental and emotional scarring, aneurysms, and ptsd that you will 100% get from working here. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Baggage handler 51 salaries reported	$19.09 per hour
Customer service representative 11 salaries reported	$17.93 per hour
Transport driver 1 salary reported	$18.85 per hour
Cabin leader 12 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour
Caterer 10 salaries reported	$20.75 per hour

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