Pima looks cool, might take an hour to look at. D-M, can you even look at the graveyard? That's why I would want to go, but for a week? Yeah, they have golf, I guessed originally that Palm Springs would be the destination based on that, maybe Tucson is a fair bit cheaper. I can't imagine how expensive Flair gets when you pay for your clubs to go lol.

I always felt like AZ was where western Canadian snowbirds went. My parents drove to AZ for the winter 8 or 9 years ago and that was what he found, most people in their trailer park were from the west. But that was RVing, so it makes sense for west to go west and east to go east.

You used to be able to tour the boneyard a couple of years ago on a bus booked through Pima. I went - it was pretty cool.

Alas, a quick Googling shows the Air Force has suspended the tour for the time being.

Mostly, I view Tuscon as a smaller and cheaper Phoenix - a base to enjoy decent weather in the winter while touring the Southwest, especially for snowbirds.

Here's my little update upon my return 2 days ago. We flew HAM-DUB on Ryanair and then DUB-YYZ-YEG a week later.

Dublin airport is "working" again after horror stories. Check-in and security was fast. No issues. The YYZ-DUB-YYZ AC 800/801 route was delayed for the last two weeks so I expected a delay although our flight was coming in after a LHR-YYZ run with adequate time at YYZ so maybe it would be better. The plane arrived a half hour late but departed 2 hours late! The 777 was 100% full. The captain came on stating that AC "has a new ground handling company in Dublin and they are experiencing growing pains". He was honest and sincere which was great but I was curious about the detail. Did the "outside" company help in not providing passengers with compensation? In any case we arrived late into YYZ but we had an original 4 hour connection so it worked out well actually.

We also almost ran into the Canadian Customs random slow down of off boarding passengers but they changed their mind at the gate and we deplaned normally. We would have been off the plane first anyways as people with connections were prioritized. Canada customs was a joke though. Two people were working out of I dunno 10 stations. What was great is that we finally experienced connecting to our local flight without picking up our luggage, putting it back on a connection belt, leaving the secure area and then going through security again. I see Canada has moved away from the stone age here as this existed in Europe years ago and I mean I never remember picking up my bags until the final destination ever. This was a pleasant surprise. My understanding is that you can do this if you're connecting on the same airline like AC and this is possible at YYZ, YUL and YVR. Perhaps this works for Star Alliance airlines as well but I am not sure. I don't know if WS has this setup at YYZ T3 or at YYC.

FYI for anyone wanting to visit Ireland. Very expensive accommodation due to the influx of Ukrainian refugees and the fact that the Irish government is paying hotels and air bnb's a lot of cash to house them. We stayed with friends but our last night was in Dublin before our flight and it was pricey for an airport hotel. A beautiful country but book early.

The connection without having to pickup bags has been in place in Toronto nd Vancouver for several years. Well before COVID. It is/was based on country of departure. I liked it.

Perhaps you're right. My last connecting flight into YYZ was with LO then AC so perhaps the "connection without having to pickup bags" wasn't an option.

I’m pretty sure YYZ T3 still has the connection belt. It probably doesn’t have the space to do it the T1 way.

Terminal 3 is a mess for international connections. Even for domestic to US your dropped into the same queue as passengers departing from Toronto.

Air Canada has managed to end up with a state of the art and smother process at YYZ. WestJet has for years been relegated to the mess that is T3. Surprising they even tried to make a go of building a hub out in Toronto.

WS updated the winter schedule in the OAG yesterday. Mostly looked up the 787 routes.

YYC-LHR
YYC-CUN
YYC-PVR
YYC-OGG
YYC-HNL

YYZ-YYC
YYZ-CUN

Last winter, they ran a 787 on YVR-OGG, but that doesn’t appear to the case this winter?

Aeroroutes posted Westjet's summer 2023 international operations. Looks like they are not flying any international routes out of YHZ next summer? Maybe they will load them later, but they loaded these routes so not sure what the deal is:

WestJet recently filed preliminary schedule for European service during Northern summer 2023 season, effective from 30APR23-01MAY23. As of 05AUG22, following routes are available for reservation.

Calgary – Dublin eff 07MAY23 2 weekly 787-9 (3 from 10JUN23)
Calgary – London Gatwick eff 30APR23 5 weekly 787-9
Calgary – London Heathrow eff 01MAY23 4 weekly 787-9 (7 weekly scheduled until 29APR23)
Calgary – Paris CDG eff 26MAR23 3 weekly 787-9 (4 from 14APR23, 5 from 13JUN23)
Calgary – Rome eff 06MAY23 1 weekly 787-9 (2 from 25MAY23, 3 from 07JUN23)
Toronto – Dublin eff 14MAY23 4 weekly 737 MAX 8 (7 weekly from 01JUN23)
Toronto – Edinburgh eff 01JUN23 3 weekly 737 MAX 8
Toronto – Glasgow eff 19MAY23 4 weekly 737 MAX 8
Vancouver – London Gatwick eff 30APR23 1 daily 787-9

Highlighted in previous post, the airline during the week of 26JUL22 removed Toronto – London Gatwick route in Northern summer 2023 season. Further changes to preliminary operation can be expected in the next few months.

I think it makes more sense for Calgary- London Gatwick LGW on WestJet to operate 3-4x weekly similar to like their doing this Summer 2022 instead of 5 weekly,as with 1x daily to London LHR on WS & Air Canada is enough capacity for UK next Summer from YYC.

But will see what changes they make as it gets closer to next Summer.

Thanks for the update & not too surprising most WestJet 787 flights this upcoming winter is centred around Calgary YYC & along with some service for Toronto YYZ still too.

Looks like Air Canada has received is 40th & final Boeing 737 Max8 plane delivery.

On August 6th, Air Canada took delivery of its 40th and final Boeing 737 MAX from an order originally placed in 2014. The original order was for 61 aircraft but the pandemic prompted the Canadian carrier to trim its commitment to the narrowbody. With this Boeing order complete, the airline will be looking ahead to complete its remaining A220 deliveries and its yet-to-begin A321XLR order.

https://simpleflying.com/air-canada-...737-max-8/amp/

WS currently runs YYC-LGW 5x weekly on Sun / Mon / Wed / Thu and Friday along with 4x weekly to LHR.

Which is exactly what’s currently scheduled in S23.

1. Um, where else would they go? Like, really?

2. Toronto T3 might not be that fantastic a connection hub, but there is so much origin-and-departure traffic there that connecting traffic has to be a minority. Westjet’s relative footprint east of Pearson is pretty minimal. Atlanta it is not.

3. Westjet has always tried to push traffic more west to Calgary within reason. They’re running K/W, London (ON), and St. John’s flights to YYC instead of via YYZ.

Absolutely it is, as Florida is the tawdry flame for aged Quebecois..

They should have been putting pressure on the airport authority to bring in same level of service to T3 as T1 gets.

T1 has its problem areas (e.g., where AC operates regional jets to the US), but nothing like T3.

T3 could have been updated and had similar experience to T1, however the airport authority did not do it and WestJet did not put sufficient pressure on them to make it work.

Yup driving straight south staying in your time zone till its warm and sunny.

Looks like WestJet is cutting Edmonton YEG- Yellowknife YZF route for this upcoming Fall/Winter season mostly starting after September 9 & but WS plans to operate few weekly YEG-YZF flights during Christmas Holidays on select days December 23, 26, 30 & January 2 2023).

Also Air Canada YEG - YZF remains (seasonal) too, as last flight is end of September 2022.

Although Canadian North still has daily flights on YEG- YZF this fall/winter on the Boeing 737 plane.

I'm sure 5T are thrilled to hear this.