YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[Canadian74]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Are you sure about those numbers? Is that even possible?

Rouge doesn't have J, which takes up more space. J is 1-1-1 while Rouge Premium Y is 2-2-2.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Are you sure about those numbers? Is that even possible?

As stated above, removal of mainline business class with premium rouge and rouge plus adds a lot of seats. Also, with new slimline seats about 3-4 rows of seats are added.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Cage

As stated above, removal of mainline business class with premium rouge and rouge plus adds a lot of seats. Also, with new slimline seats about 3-4 rows of seats are added.

The domestic business class seats also take up less space than the pods that open up into beds that are used on the mainline 767.

I have only been on the Rogue A319 aircraft in both premium and regular.

Regular Economy is a bit tighter partially due to these new slim seats and partially just do to less spacing. If you have been on Air France or Lufthansa A319 within Europe it is very similar. No inflight product, but they have iPads for rent. Same buy-on-board as Air Canada.

In Premium, again they are doing the same thing they do in Europe (and what WestJet is doing) for their business oriented product where they block the middle seat. In the case of rogue it is rogue coloured pillows and a fancy bow. Maybe a bit more space. The mean and wine/drinks are included and similar to business class on Air Canada. They also include free access to an iPad that access the streaming movies.

The inflight crew wear weird "hip" uniforms. The actually customer service is better than Air Canada mainline.

Rumours are that they plan to take the premium product back to being the domestic business class seats they use on the main Air Canada fleet domestically. That still leaves a lot of room on the 767 for all the extra economy seats.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Canadian74

Rouge doesn't have J, which takes up more space. J is 1-1-1 while Rouge Premium Y is 2-2-2.

When those 767 use to be Canadian and Air Canada configuration in the 1990s it was 1-2-2 or something like that.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by casper

The domestic business class seats also take up less space than the pods that open up into beds that are used on the mainline 767.

I have only been on the Rogue A319 aircraft in both premium and regular.

Regular Economy is a bit tighter partially due to these new slim seats and partially just do to less spacing. If you have been on Air France or Lufthansa A319 within Europe it is very similar. No inflight product, but they have iPads for rent. Same buy-on-board as Air Canada.

In Premium, again they are doing the same thing they do in Europe (and what WestJet is doing) for their business oriented product where they block the middle seat. In the case of rogue it is rogue coloured pillows and a fancy bow. Maybe a bit more space. The mean and wine/drinks are included and similar to business class on Air Canada. They also include free access to an iPad that access the streaming movies.

The inflight crew wear weird "hip" uniforms. The actually customer service is better than Air Canada mainline.

Rumours are that they plan to take the premium product back to being the domestic business class seats they use on the main Air Canada fleet domestically. That still leaves a lot of room on the 767 for all the extra economy seats.

Rouge Y class is a "must avoid" on the 319. If there's an alternative take it.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by Klazu

What a fantastic plane it is. Such a different feeling of space and so quiet during take-off! Even flying in Economy was a breeze in comparison to some of the older places, like 747's, and I loved the 3+3+3 configuration. Entertainment system is well-designed, but I was surprised there still being some lag when using the system. Otherwise the it was a good experience and I hope to be able to fly with 787 soon again.

You loved the 3-3-3?! It's like much tighter than the 3-3-3 found on the 777s. The Dreamliner was really designed for 8 across in a 2-4-2 configuration (though almost every airline has installed the latter 3-3-3 instead).

Take-off is definitely amazing but in-flight it was surprisingly a bit "louder" than I thought.

[Johnny Aussie]

Proud to say I just survived my first Rouge flight!

OK I was in row 1...

Left 50 mins late but only 4:46 flying time so gate contact was only 2 mins late.

7 flights from Hawaii in YVR customs at the same time.

[SFUVancouver]

Late last night I finished a three week, 16 flight, 78,800 km odyssey of business trips. I have been thoroughly enjoying the novelty of not being in an airplane seat today. Permit me to indulge for a moment as I list my itinerary:

YVR-HKG Cathay B773ER
HKG-JNB Cathay B773ER
JNB-HKG Cathay B773ER
HKG-YVR Cathay B773ER

YVR-DEN United CRJ-700
DEN-YVR United CRJ-700

YVR-YEG Westjet B736
YEG-YVR Westjet B738

YVR-LAX Westjet B738
LAX-SYD Qantas A388
SYD-TSV Jetstar A320
TSV-CNS Qantas Link Dash-8
CNS-OOL Jetstar A320
OOL-SYD Qantas B739
SYD-LAX Qantas B744
LAX-YVR Alaskan B738

Nothing but problems with Qantas. They lost my luggage, and eventually found it and reunited it with me two days later, but I had to buy new business clothes for the meeting for which I was in Townsville. Every single one of their flights was late and one was cancelled outright. To make matters worse, it was a 6:30am flight that was cancelled for which my colleague and I had to be up at 3:30am. Their SYD-LAX B744 was broken and we all had a 3 hour delay and half the plane missed their connections. En route, Quantas first said that I would be on a Westjet codeshare back to YVR but upon landing at LAX they said, nope, you're on Alaskan. I check in at Alaskan, they take my bag, they issue me a boarding pass, but during boarding they pull me aside because there's no actual ticket associated with the boarding pass. Everyone agrees it was strange and that Qantas screwed up, but they wouldn't let me on board the Alaskan flight until they were about to pull my bag and Qantas confirmed that I was a paying customer and someone just missed a step.

Anyway, it was such a pleasure to pull into YVR and know that I'm home safe. This year I've also earned my way from nothing to One World Sapphire as up this trip, so that's a definite plus for my travels in the new year.

Thought the A388 was an interesting aircraft. I was in the back and on the lower level as part of the steerage class ticket holders, but the airplane itself was brand new and quite nice. The Qantas economy seats were particularly impressive, with carbon-fiber seatbacks that presumably save a bit of weight and let them be a bit thinner, so the legroom and seat width were quite comfortable. The plane was a bit more quiet than a B744, but arguably on par with the B773ER. It's strange to be sitting there, looking at the ceiling, knowing that there's a whole other level to the plane.

Qantas updated their 744 fleet to the current B777 interior standard and use the same seats and entertainment system as their A388 fleet, so it's both brand new on the interior and comfortably familiar to the B773ER fleet that I have done most of my international flights on.

[Hourglass]

^^
That's some pretty heavy flying. Hope you were at or near the front of the plane...

I think my worst travel sequence was HKG-GUM-SFO-EWR-YVR-HKG over the space of 96 hours.

[Klazu]

Good to have you back, SFUVancouver! Nice report as well.

[SFUVancouver]

Thanks Klazu. It's good to be back. I thoroughly enjoyed my travels, airline hiccups aside, and the two international trips were in support of projects for which I am the project manager, so I felt a sense of ownership and purpose whilst travelling. As an airplane geek, it was pretty exciting to spend some time in LAX, JNB, HKG, and SYD and see the world's most modern wide-body long haul fleets in action. I went from having never seen an A388 in person to seeing them outnumber B744s (I saw a couple B748s, too!) at the major airports and even flying in one, all in one series of business trips.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Nothing but problems with Qantas. They lost my luggage, and eventually found it and reunited it with me two days later, but I had to buy new business clothes for the meeting for which I was in Townsville.

I hope you make a claim to Qantas directly for this. Just a bit of a tip, wait until you receive your oneworld Emerald status and then make a submission for compensation. From personal experiences as a Star Alliance Gold and former Skyteam Elite Plus, your status does have a lot of weight and airlines generally treat elites of partner carriers really well. I've also submitted claims in oneworld carriers, British Airways and Cathay Pacific, with no issue or question. I'm certain you will get at least a more reasonable compensation back along with potentially a voucher of sorts for future travel. And if you are not satisfied, push for your rights (though your compensation amount cannot be more than what the airline can compensate under the Montréal Convention).

Bare in mind though, I think any airline will have luggage issues so I wouldn't judge Qantas too much on this (even though luggage issues seem to be a very common critical element of airline customer service).

[Large Cat]

IMPORTANT AIRPORT UPDATE:

After flying Westjet a few days ago, I can confirm that Westjet Encore is now offering complementary wine and beer to economy passengers on all flights.

I assume this is to compete with Porter.

[moosejaw]

Originally Posted by Large Cat

IMPORTANT AIRPORT UPDATE:

After flying Westjet a few days ago, I can confirm that Westjet Encore is now offering complementary wine and beer to economy passengers on all flights.

I assume this is to compete with Porter.

i flew westjet this afternoon
Im surprised their satellite service only works in Canada which was the last half hour of the the flight. kind of sucks they only had four channels in US airspace

[nname]

I know its years away, but GE (TransAsia Airways) planned to operate YVR-TPE route as early as 2019 using A330-800neo.

(source in Chinese)

[excel]

Originally Posted by nname

I know its years away, but GE (TransAsia Airways) planned to operate YVR-TPE route as early as 2019 using A330-800neo.

(source in Chinese)

Google Translate:

TransAsia Airways Group (6702) today (24) announced that for the future long-range aviation network layout to prepare, ordered four A330-800 neo new machine type, to become Asia's first one delivered this type of aircraft carriers, the first expected in 2018 since the fourth quarter may have cross-machine; on the other hand, re-Wu, general manager of Shanghai Airlines Chan said, Ming (2015) is expected in the first two quarters flight Guam, Tinian, right after his American Airlines, once the new machine in place, 2019 is expected to be completed by the target flight intercontinental routes.

To expand the business for the future operation of the kinetic energy and intercontinental routes to prepare (23) days of the Board to resume service yesterday by A330neo purchase plan, the new purchase four A330-800neo aircraft, the new machine the fastest since 2018 in the fourth quarter to pay machine, this section is Airbus aircraft this year launch of the new fuel-efficient environmentally friendly models.

American Airlines has recently re-apply for a tourist charter application Tinian, is expected to commence in the second half of next year, Fleming liter stated that the fight with the United States, operating flight qualification is the company's existing operational goals.
As to whether the new machine before the first post mining machine hire American way flight? Fleming liter respond reservations, only jokes "confidential," but "it is possible."
Shanghai student Wu further stated that the new fleet after joining can direct to Los Angeles, Chicago and even Vancouver, Canada, is expected to be completed by the 2019 target.
Switchboard resume service currently reaches 22 teams, respectively A330-300 2 架, A320 5 架, A321 6 架, ATR-72 9 frame, is expected next year and the introduction of two A330-300, so that the number of teams increased to 24 switchboard, continued inject growth momentum; new TransAsia Airways chief executive, said Chen Xinde, ATR and Airbus aircraft are in Europe, and strive to fleet and maintenance simplistic.

[Hot Rod]

too bad it's not Kaohsiung-YVR. We have so many TPE-Yvr options that it isn't as sexy to have another enter the market as it would be to get a new city pair from that country.

Kaohsiung is Taiwan's second city just as Vancouver is Canada's; it would be a nice pairing route akin to the other second city pairs we have (Osaka-Yvr, Frankfurt-Yvr, Chicago-Yvr, Guangzhou-Yvr) and desire (Melbourne-Yvr, Rio-Yvr).

[excel]

delete

[Klazu]

First Airbus A350 was delivered to Qatar Airways yesterday. When do you think we begin to see some A350 action on YVR and by which airline will it be? Suspecting Lufthansa to be among the first to fly a A350 to YVR in a couple of years...

[Genauso]

Originally Posted by Klazu

First Airbus A350 was delivered to Qatar Airways yesterday. When do you think we begin to see some A350 action on YVR and by which airline will it be? Suspecting Lufthansa to be among the first to fly a A350 to YVR in a couple of years...

For those who are interested, a video overview of the A350XWB's features.
• Video Link

According to Wikipedia its' direct competitors are the Boeing 777 & 787. There are lots of improvements to reduce the cost to the airline, and still improve the passenger experience.

Given that Airbus hasn't been much of a factor in the market during the A380 era, the renewed competition to sell/lease aircraft at lower prices and lower oil prices could make for passenger friendly prices that would do uncertain things to YVR's potential market.