Ok, Roger that --- thank you. :)

Hey now, what's wrong with being from Oshawa?

Air Canada Dreamliner debuts Friday on Nova Scotia flight


I agree that part of the difference in attitudes between WestJet and Air Canada staff may be due to the much more formal "levels of service" approach that Air Canada has and WestJet does not. Porter's image is kind of sardonically pretentious, but in practice Air Canada absolutely comes off as more pretentious because with Porter, everyone gets treated like they're in first class (there is no actual tiered structure IIRC) while with Air Canada, those who are actually in first class are treated as such. Air Canada seems to have a bit of a prestige focus which also translates into the nicer entertainment systems and leading-edge aircraft as mentioned in the article above. That being said, I've never had any truly bad experiences with any Air Canada, WestJet, or Porter. I should note that I'm not the type who expects friendly chit chat or banter from the staff (although I appreciate when it happens). And I don't think I've ever paged the flight attendant to ask for anything. I could see how the differences in attitudes could be more jarring to people who expect to interact with the staff beyond "please place your luggage on the scale" and "here's your 6$ can of beer"... and in some parts of Canada this is culturally prevalent and in others it is not.

air canada is fine for catching a transatlantic flight into montreal or toronto (love that montreal-geneva routing), but for moving around north america it pretty much sucks.

as for pretension, or stuck-upness, it's generally jarring coming from a canadian. we're not france. we're not even argentina. we don't have a long history with that trait, so we don't tend to deliver it with the sort of knowingness that can sometimes make it annoyingly charming.

canada does "open & even-handed" well, which i appreciate because i am canadian and like that life-approach. we're worse at pride, and worse still at hauteur. with these emotions, i find, our insecurities get the better of us and we deliver them with a sharper edge than do the experts. there's always that bitter little giveaway.

I must say, I've never had any problem in my extensive travels using Air Canada. I find their service brisk and highly professional and I sometimes wonder if the problems people perceive aren't a reflection of their own lack of experience in dealing with professional service experiences. :shrug:

I've never personally had an issue with Air Canada, though I know plenty of people who have. Just from some of the stories alone I try my best to avoid flying AC if another option is available. On my last trip I had no option but to fly AC and it was okay for the most part.

WestJet is pretty awesome though; I find their crew to be much peppier. They also go above and beyond for customer service (missed my connecting flight due to a storm delay from NY to Toronto and they put me in a hotel in Toronto overnight, paid for a shuttle to and from, food vouchers galore, and then when it was all said and done they sent a voucher for x dollars off my next flight from St. John's to NY)

Poter has my business when flying to Halifax though. Usually very cheap, very friendly and reliable service, and free beer :tup:

Calgary is on track to break 15 million passengers this year! Woot :D

I've never had a problem with AC. Mind you, I'm there to go from point A to B quickly in a chair that goes super fast, super high in the sky. That is enough to make me happy. I don't expect anything special, unless I paid for the extra service. Although, I can understand why a staff person/attendant might get grumpy. It seem that average traveler is a self-centred ass hole these days.

With that, people who drag in more than one carry-on probably get treated worse. Nobody likes them. They delay take off and hog overhead bin space.

Unless it's baby stuff.

Providing your baby isn't gonna scream for the whole flight.

Where my headphones at?

A lot of people who fly suck. It's beyond me how grown ass adults have trouble following the few rules while flying.

-Turn off all electronic devices to prepare for take off? Jeeze better get out the iPad.

-Seat belt sign is on? May as well get up and use the washroom, and argue with the flight attendants when they tell me to get back in my seat.

-Seat in upright position? Better go ahead and ignore that.

:hell:

^Everything you mention is exponentially worse in most parts of Asia.

'Please remain seated until the plane comes to a complete stop...'

The second the plane hits the tarmac, people are out of their seats and pushing their way to the front of the queue. It's shocking.

Pax YTD growth 2014, some authorities don't post monthly data, just percentage increases. Feel free to correct if you have any added info. I've limited the list to airports with 1000000+ pax.

YYZ: Jan-Mar 8,759,371 (+4.0%), rolling 12 mo: 36,447,871
YVR: Jan-Mar 4,353,130 (+7.5%), rolling 12 mo: 18,275,886
YYC: Jan-Mar 3,594,410 (+7.8%), rolling 12 mo: 14,576,047
YUL: Jan-Mar 3,516,817 (+0.7%), rolling 12 mo: 14,120,468
YEG: Jan-Apr 2,395,856 (+6.0%), rolling 12 mo: 7,118,538
YOW: Jan-Apr 1,548,902 (-1.0%), rolling 12 mo: 4,561,882
YHZ: nothing posted, rolling 12 mo: anyone's guess, 2013: 3,585,864
YWG: Jan-Mar 896,052 (+1.1%), rolling 12 mo: 3,493,352
YTZ: nothing posted, anyone's guess, 2013: approx 2,300,000
YYJ: Jan-Apr 500,242 (+6.4%), rolling 12 mo: 1,586,965
YLW: Jan-Apr 536,429 (+7.7%), rolling 12 mo: 1,541,622
YYT: nothing posted, anyone's guess, 2013: approx 1,500,000
YQB: Jan-Mar (no numbers posted) approx (+4.2%), 2013: 1,403,466
YXE: Jan-Apr (no numbers posted) (+6.5%) 2013: 1,389,900
YMM: Jan-Feb 200,756 (+11.5%), rolling 12 mo: 1,216,077
YQR: Jan-Mar (no numbers posted) (+3.5%), 2013: 1,227,234

I accidentally thought St. John's was YYZ instead of YYT. Good laughs.

Worse than the Weather Network. Watching, in Winnipeg, with friends from there...

Mainland City 1: Ozone level...
Mainland City 2: Smog level...
Mainland City 3: Ozone level...

...

Mainland City 10: Ozone level...

...

St. John's: Inhalable particle warning...

Where?
I've had a completely different experience. I've only seen calm and polite behaviour on all flights during the last decade as I've flown between about 20 cities from Osaka to Dubai.

Solid numbers for YYC. I wonder when 15M will be topped?

Our April ridership was up 9.6%,all other months have been up by between 7.1% and 9.4%... so I would say this year is likely to surpass the 15 million mark.


Even using our lowest monthly growth this year (7.1%), YYC will be at 15 332 515 by year's end. Using our current overall growth this year (8.3%), YYC will be at 15 504 308. Pretty stellar. I wonder if the current terminal can handle it? When is the new terminal coming online?

I think it's October 2015 (unless it's been changed recently)

Huge numbers for the big two western airports, both going at breakneck speeds:

I haven't followed this thread (or topic in general) at all, so excuse me if this has been addressed, but...

Once the new terminal at YYC is opened, is the PAX (is that the right lingo?) expected to jump, or will the existing terminals just get less crowded? ie. Is there a waiting game for the new terminal to open for new airlines / routes to start operation?

It will get less crowded and allow for future growth, but there will be no major jump. Airports don't really jump.

If they didn't build it these 9%+ growth phases would just die out because there would be no gates left to accommodate growth.

Thanks. That's a better way of putting what I was trying to ask...