Digital Diary at Porter Airlines🛫

Jeramaine Dar

I remember when I first started my course at Seneca—I spent time looking at different airlines and reading about their values, imagining where I could see myself. Porter always stood out to me because of its culture, professionalism, and the way it treats both passengers and staff. Being here now feels surreal, and I’m excited for everything I’ll continue to learn and contribute.

Over the past two months, I’ve had to take in a lot—new information, procedures, and responsibilities. It was a learning curve, but each part helped me understand the job better. All the self-learnings, mistakes, and observations were important lessons that helped me grow at the end of every shift. Each day brought new experiences that made me more confident and excited for what’s ahead in this journey.

I couldn’t believe what I saw in the email. I was walking back to the office after doing a flight at Satellite. While walking, I was checking if I still had any flights left for my shift. I stumbled upon an email titled “Porter Airlines Opportunity.” At first, I was confused, but I opened it right away to see what it said. I froze for about two minutes and started shaking. I was offered a position to join Porter Airlines as a CSR. While walking and reading the email at the same time, I kept telling myself, “I did it.” I immediately called my mom and dad to tell them the news—of course, they were happy and shocked. In my last blog, I mentioned that if Porter opened up any spots, I would apply and continue my career with this airline. Two days later, I became part of it.

I now understand where to apply all the things my professors from Seneca taught us. It has widened my knowledge of how flights are operated by gate agents—how everything should be organized and how to make sure all passengers are ready to board the plane. So far, my soul is choosing this airline. From managers to supervisors to CSRs, they were all amazing and welcoming—all aligned with what my dream job would be. In the future, when Porter Airlines opens spots for CSRs, I would immediately sign in with my résumé—that’s how much I love this airline. Thank you, Porter Airlines, for letting me experience the amazing operations you guys do to make all your passengers happy and safe.

It has been a month since I started my placement at Porter Airlines. So far, it has been amazing. Today (Oct. 19, 2025), I experienced doing US flights. I wasn’t expecting to be able to do US flights because when we had our 2nd-day training at Pearson, they told us only domestic flights. I was very grateful and thankful because I get to experience mostly all the work a Porter CSR would do. I am also getting used on working with Go Now and Agent Dashboard. At first, I was so confused, but I am always with Porter employees who would be there at all times when I needed help. Doing US flights was an amazing experience for me. To this day, I am still thankful and grateful to be a part of Porter, to be one of their Co-op students. This experience will stay with me for the rest of my future career in aviation.

I feel very lucky and grateful because the Porter CSRs are allowing me to gain the best experience at the gate. I can’t wait to pursue Porter further once I’m done with school. The way they treat their employees and passengers — always going above and beyond — is truly exceptional.

It came so fast — three weeks in already! I am still in shock that I get to have this amazing opportunity to do my Coop placement at Porter. (08-10-25) was the day I got my yellow pass! I am so excited to finally get a shift inside the airport, working as a gate agent. I couldn’t wait to experience a lot more and explore what it’s really like to be a part of customer service. Every day I’m learning something new, meeting different people, and seeing how teamwork plays such a big role in creating a smooth travel experience for passengers.

Our 2nd day of training at Pearson International Airport — having to experience this was so, so fun! I still can’t believe I am part of Porter Airlines as a placement student. I feel really excited and blessed that I have the chance to show my strengths and learn more in this amazing airline. Sofiya and Thomas were amazing supervisors, and they were so welcoming and supportive throughout the day. We got to experience how the kiosk works and even helped board passengers on the same day — it was crazy but such a great learning experience! I’m loving the part where I can really show my strengths in an actual airport setting, and it makes me even more motivated to keep learning and improving.

Our first in-person training at Billy Bishop Airport. Being trained by Mr. Kingsley was amazing, focusing more on safety and Porter protocols. It was overwhelming at first, but we needed that to know more about Porter Airlines. We had such a fun day; we got a little tour of where they do the aircraft maintenance, and I couldn’t believe it was happening. The team was super welcoming, and we learned how important communication and teamwork are in keeping everything running smoothly. We also got to see how the ground crew prepares the planes before each flight, which gave us a new appreciation for how much work goes on behind the scenes. It was a long day, but honestly one of the best learning experiences so far.