Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

rocketphish · #1 Posted **Jan 23, 2026, 7:05 PM**

This is a continuation of the closed Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW) 1.0 thread.

Dominion301 · #2 Posted **Jan 23, 2026, 8:07 PM**

@Tesladom, it's because YOW doesn't have the airside connection capabilities like YVR, YUL and YYZ T1 have and YHZ now has for inbound transborder/international to domestic/international.

Connecting pax need to retrieve bags, but instead of wasting time on the 3rd floor re-checking in, there is a shorter process where connecting pax simply drop their bags with an agent at the transfer belt, which is the door to the left of the customs agent. After that, folks just need to go upstairs directly to clear domestic/international security.

Rhb · #3 Posted **Jan 23, 2026, 9:21 PM**

I was on United Airlines website today, and noticed 1 of their 3 flights to ORD in June is mainline. I do believe this is a first for YOW? We had one-offs before.

RomanR27 · #4 Posted **Jan 23, 2026, 10:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhb

I was on United Airlines website today, and noticed 1 of their 3 flights to ORD in June is mainline. I do believe this is a first for YOW? We had one-offs before.

That's pretty cool! Looks to be a 319 loaded for about a month from mid-May until mid-June, with an evening arrival, RON then early morning departure.

Dominion301 · #5 Posted **Jan 24, 2026, 4:53 PM**

Today's departure count: 84

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 18 - record if no cancellations today. Inaugural YOW-MIA today

Today's cancellation count (so far): 5 - all AC to YYZ - plus several yesterday- surely there’s going to be some upgauges to catch up. Is the cold really wreaking havoc at YYZ?

RomanR27 · #6 Posted **Jan 24, 2026, 5:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Today's departure count: 84

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 18 - record if no cancellations today. Inaugural YOW-MIA today

Today's cancellation count (so far): 5 - all AC to YYZ - plus several yesterday- surely there’s going to be some upgauges to catch up. Is the cold really wreaking havoc at YYZ?

The AC app does have a notice saying the extreme cold is causing delays at YYZ and YUL and rebooking fees are waived.

Also 7/10 of the AC flights to YYZ are already cancelled tomorrow including the last five as a snowstorm makes it way through. The first three flights on Monday are also cancelled. So the final AC flight to YYZ leaves at 1020 tomorrow and there won't be another until 0915 on Monday. On Monday there is also a cancellation and a replacement flight on a Jetz aircraft. No upgauges to wide-bodies yet (though I think I see more 321s than usual), but yeah I don't see how they won't need a widebody or two to clear up the mess.

As a spotter alert, the Vegas Golden Knights 737 is due in around 1330-1345ish as they play the Sens tomorrow. Just about to depart YYZ.

Edit: there are now 8/10 YOW-YYZ flights cancelled tomorrow (including the last six) and the first four on Monday. So the 0915 YYZ departure tomorrow is the last one until 1020 on Monday.

RomanR27 · #7 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 2:03 PM**

WestJet has loaded the summer schedule up until June 21. YYZ is indeed staying at 13x weekly so an increase there. YEG is down to daily (13x weekly last summer), YWG is down to 5x weekly (days x23), and YYC is down to 3x daily (I can't remember the exact number but some days last summer had four flights, so this is a reduction).

We'll see once peak summer is loaded if the frequency on some of these routes increase during that time period.

AC889 is full in Y, 14/21 PY and 18/20 J. AC888 is full in both premium cabins.

Dominion301 · #8 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 4:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RomanR27

WestJet has loaded the summer schedule up until June 21. YYZ is indeed staying at 13x weekly so an increase there. YEG is down to daily (13x weekly last summer), YWG is down to 5x weekly (days x23), and YYC is down to 3x daily (I can't remember the exact number but some days last summer had four flights, so this is a reduction).

We'll see once peak summer is loaded if the frequency on some of these routes increase during that time period.

AC889 is full in Y, 14/21 PY and 18/20 J. AC888 is full in both premium cabins.

YYC was 4 daily X26, so this is a net reduction (at least at the start of the summer) of 7x weekly.

Dominion301 · #9 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 4:55 PM**

Today’s departure count: 57

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 13

Today's cancellation count (so far): 26

Interestingly yesterday’s final cancellation count actually ended up dropping to 3, so the two later YYZs ended up going out it appears. No sun flights cancelled so 18 is the new daily high.

Today’s cancellations are thus far to YYZ, YTZ, EWR, BOS, IAD, DCA (airport is closed until tomorrow) YUL and the last departure of the day to YHZ as the storm moves into Atlantic Canada.

Today AF 327 is on gate 15B, AC 345 on 28 and AC 888 on 17B.

YOWhopeful · #10 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 5:35 PM**

Trying to book business class tickets on AF327 for May departures but some days don’t show them as an option neither on the AF app nor on the website. Is it possible that they are sold out? Do these 77W have fewer business class seats? Would appreciate any enlightenment on your part?

Coho · #11 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 6:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by YOWhopeful

Trying to book business class tickets on AF327 for May departures but some days don’t show them as an option neither on the AF app nor on the website. Is it possible that they are sold out? Do these 77W have fewer business class seats? Would appreciate any enlightenment on your part?

What dates? May 14th appears to be the only day where J is not available for sale but Y is. Admittedly, not sure how many seats you're looking for - I only searched for 1 at a time.

RomanR27 · #12 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 6:39 PM**

Assuming they're sending the high density 77W, that has only 14 J seats compared to 28 on the 772 (but the 77W has over 150 more economy seats)

YOWhopeful · #13 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 6:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Assuming they're sending the high density 77W, that has only 14 J seats compared to 28 on the 772 (but the 77W has over 150 more economy seats)

It was for Thursday May 14. But I understand it must be sold out if there’s only 14 business class seats. Thanks for the info

YOWhopeful · #14 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 6:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coho

What dates? May 14th appears to be the only day where J is not available for sale but Y is. Admittedly, not sure how many seats you're looking for - I only searched for 1 at a time.

For Thursday May 14. RomanR27 thinks it’s probably a 77W with only 14 business class seats

YOWflier · #15 Posted **Jan 25, 2026, 7:37 PM**

The HD 77W has 14J 28PY 430Y seats so that J cabin will sell out pretty quickly.

Dominion301 · #16 Posted **Jan 26, 2026, 12:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Today’s departure count: 57

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 13

Today's cancellation count (so far): 26

Interestingly yesterday’s final cancellation count actually ended up dropping to 3, so the two later YYZs ended up going out it appears. No sun flights cancelled so 18 is the new daily high.

Today’s cancellations are thus far to YYZ, YTZ, EWR, BOS, IAD, DCA (airport is closed until tomorrow) YUL and the last departure of the day to YHZ as the storm moves into Atlantic Canada.

Today AF 327 is on gate 15B, AC 345 on 28 and AC 888 on 17B.

Interestingly for today the cancellation count has dropped to 21 with the departure count increasing to 67.

Anecdotally I heard from someone on one of the HD 77W AF 328 inbounds earlier this month that their flight was 100% full. Perhaps AF made a mistake dropping to 4x weekly during some weeks this winter.

Dominion301 · #17 Posted **Jan 26, 2026, 12:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by YOWflier

The HD 77W has 14J 28PY 430Y seats so that J cabin will sell out pretty quickly.

From 01FEB26 to 30JUN26, there’s now 32 departures scheduled on 77Ws, with a mix of standard and HD birds. Currently in February, only the 13th has a 77W.

No 77Ws in July or August, but it’s probably too soon for any upgauges those months.

RomanR27 · #18 Posted **Jan 26, 2026, 3:30 PM**

@YOWHopeful - I checked and May 14 is indeed only 14 J seats. Crazy that it's sold out that far in advance though. Premium demand must be strong, and obviously so is Y demand if they're throwing 430 seats at it.

YOWflier · #19 Posted **Jan 26, 2026, 3:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Interestingly for today the cancellation count has dropped to 21 with the departure count increasing to 67.

Anecdotally I heard from someone on one of the HD 77W AF 328 inbounds earlier this month that their flight was 100% full. Perhaps AF made a mistake dropping to 4x weekly during some weeks this winter.

Maybe. Sending the 77W has the effect of reducing AFs costs over more seats so they’re clearly doing some revenue optimization here. Whether additional frequency is warranted is anyone’s guess.

YOWhopeful · #20 Posted **Jan 26, 2026, 8:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RomanR27

@YOWHopeful - I checked and May 14 is indeed only 14 J seats. Crazy that it's sold out that far in advance though. Premium demand must be strong, and obviously so is Y demand if they're throwing 430 seats at it.

I ended up changing my travel plans to a May 7 departure. J class pricesare outrageous like $800-1000 more than last year on the AF327 portion of the round trip!
I read somewhere that loads of close to 100% mean an airline is actually losing market share