Halifax Stanfield International Airport Developments

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

A couple of years ago Delta had a great connection to NY through LGA with decent arrival/departure times. I gather that has been discontinued.

Yeah we used to love that flight. Now you can only get to LGA via connection through PHI or YYZ etc. You can still get the direct to JFK, which works fine if you are flying in on a Sat/Sun morning, but if you try and drive out there at rush hour it is a nightmare (90-120 minute cab ride). We were just looking at flights last night to NYC, and were saying that this time we might just suck up the connection and go to LGA again.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by pblaauw

Nope. Althhough, Republic is in bankruptcy protection, I believe, so that particular option might not last much longer.

Different flight. This left LGA around 8PM or 9PM local time and was direct to YHZ.

[q12]

Originally Posted by beyeas

Yeah we used to love that flight. Now you can only get to LGA via connection through PHI or YYZ etc. You can still get the direct to JFK, which works fine if you are flying in on a Sat/Sun morning, but if you try and drive out there at rush hour it is a nightmare (90-120 minute cab ride). We were just looking at flights last night to NYC, and were saying that this time we might just suck up the connection and go to LGA again.

The Westjet Boston flight is code shared with Delta. You could catch the Delta Shuttle from Boston to La Gaurdia if don't want to fly direct to JFK on Delta.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Different flight. This left LGA around 8PM or 9PM local time and was direct to YHZ.

LGA is a dump though - ugh; I can't stand that airport and can't wait for it to be redeveloped. I did that flight last year and being stuck in a terminal that had non-functional AC on a 38 degree day - not fun. I've never stuck to an airplane seat before - that was interesting. The arrival time is very similar to the existing flight from JFK (8-9pm departure from NY; arrival around 11:30-12:00 midnight).

It's the outgoing flight to NY that I think is just way too early. 6am doesn't allow any WJ feeders from YYT (St. John's) or YQY (Sydney) to get to Halifax to feed into the flight. So hopefully they can change the schedule and boost it up as a feeder. I did see the BOS flight was code shared - so that's good.

I tend to take the NYC subway to JFK (E line) since the hotel I stay at is right along the E line by Times Square. So lugging my bag up the stairs is a bit of a pain; but I only have to do it once (going down into the station isn't so bad!).

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

LGA is a dump though - ugh; I can't stand that airport and can't wait for it to be redeveloped.

When I did the Delta flight a couple of years ago, the Delta terminal at LGA was recently redone and I thought it was nice enough. Of course the A/C was working that day...

The worst part of that trip, by far, was arriving at YHZ around midnight and being assigned gate 40 at the far end of the terminal. No jetway, walk on the tarmac in the cold and wind, and lug your bags what felt like 2 miles to Customs without the benefit of moving sidewalks or whatever. Award-winning airport my azz. But hey, they have millions to develop a retail presence out by the highway. Ridiculous.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I tend to take the NYC subway to JFK (E line) since the hotel I stay at is right along the E line by Times Square. So lugging my bag up the stairs is a bit of a pain; but I only have to do it once (going down into the station isn't so bad!).

When I go it is with a pre-schooler in tow, so keeping transit time down and ease of use up is critical! :-) Inevitably we typically are going home on an early evening flight, as we like to fly down early Saturday morning, stay 3 nights, then fly home Tuesday evening.

I have gotten advice way back from New Yorkers that if a cabbie pulls over and asks where you are going, never say JFK, as they will drive away. The lose too much money doing that run in traffic, relative to just stay on Manhattan. One person even said "Hide your bags behind something, hail the cab, don't answer the question about where you are going, put your wife and son in the cab so that they can't drive away, go get your bags, and only after everything is in tell them you are going to JFK" :-)

[q12]

Liquid Assets now open on the departures level, selling exclusively Nova Scotia Wine, Beer, Spirits, Cider.

http://www.facebook.com/hfxstanfield

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by beyeas

When I go it is with a pre-schooler in tow, so keeping transit time down and ease of use up is critical! :-) Inevitably we typically are going home on an early evening flight, as we like to fly down early Saturday morning, stay 3 nights, then fly home Tuesday evening.

I have gotten advice way back from New Yorkers that if a cabbie pulls over and asks where you are going, never say JFK, as they will drive away. The lose too much money doing that run in traffic, relative to just stay on Manhattan. One person even said "Hide your bags behind something, hail the cab, don't answer the question about where you are going, put your wife and son in the cab so that they can't drive away, go get your bags, and only after everything is in tell them you are going to JFK" :-)

I can imagine that would be tough to deal with - I feel for you. It's just me or my partner at this point.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I can imagine that would be tough to deal with - I feel for you. It's just me or my partner at this point.

Amusingly, when I got home from a late meeting yesterday, my wife announced "I just booked us flights to NYC for a family get-away", and she decided this time to do the WJ flights to LGA (via Toronto I think).

[J81]

Originally Posted by Colin May

Fredericton had 12 charter flights a week to the oil patch, now it has ZERO.

Fredericton never had any charters out west. Moncton had around 14/wk though.

[Liam17]

Do any of you wonder why Air Canada never gets 737s? I know that they ordered a few recently, except you'd think that they would have gotten some before. They are the most successful airliner in the world.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by Liam17

Do any of you wonder why Air Canada never gets 737s? I know that they ordered a few recently, except you'd think that they would have gotten some before. They are the most successful airliner in the world.

I don't think Mulroney is in this forum to answer that question

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Liam17

Do any of you wonder why Air Canada never gets 737s? I know that they ordered a few recently, except you'd think that they would have gotten some before. They are the most successful airliner in the world.

They seem to be enthralled with Airbus aircraft. Personally I have never liked any Airbus I have ever ridden in.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by beyeas

I don't think Mulroney is in this forum to answer that question

He did well on that deal; I can't understand why the Canadian government can't sue him to recover the 2.1 million that Mulroney settled for in his libel suit. I think this could only happen in Canada - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_affair

[Liam17]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

They seem to be enthralled with Airbus aircraft. Personally I have never liked any Airbus I have ever ridden in.

I agree. I recently rode on an A320 and it felt like it was made out of paper mache

[ManWithTheMug]

The A380 is a pretty nice ride.

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by Liam17

Do any of you wonder why Air Canada never gets 737s? I know that they ordered a few recently, except you'd think that they would have gotten some before. They are the most successful airliner in the world.

Air Canada has 61 737MAXs on order, 28 MAX9 and 33 of the shorter MAX8. The 737MAX's are proving far less popular than the improved and re-engined A320NEO's which are proving to be better performers all around.

The 737 have never been seen as more comfortable than the A320 series, the cabins are narrower resulting in, typically, narrower seats and aisles. From a pilots perspective, the 737 has terrible cockpit ergonomics as it's basically the same layout as the 1950's era 707's. From a performance perspective the stretch 737-900 is proving to be a dog compared to the A321, it's short gear, combined with it's long fuselage is resulting in horrible runway performance among other things. The 737MAX was Boeing's quick response to Airbus's A320NEO which are outselling the MAX by a huge margin ( 4510 vs 2831 ). Air Canada likely got a smokin' deal on the MAXs or they'd likely have stayed with Airbus.

If you've ever ridden on one of Westjet's 737's for more than 3 hours vs. one of AC's A321's you'd quickly see the difference, as a very experienced transcon flier I've experienced the difference first-hand many times. Personally I'm very disappointed with AC's choice to go with 737MAX's vs A320NEO which most blue-chip airlines have chosen for their fleet-renewal including the likes of Delta, American, Lufthansa, JetBlue, British Airways and many more.

[Liam17]

Originally Posted by connect2source

Air Canada has 61 737MAXs on order, 28 MAX9 and 33 of the shorter MAX8. The 737MAX's are proving far less popular than the improved and re-engined A320NEO's which are proving to be better performers all around.

The 737 have never been seen as more comfortable than the A320 series, the cabins are narrower resulting in, typically, narrower seats and aisles. From a pilots perspective, the 737 has terrible cockpit ergonomics as it's basically the same layout as the 1950's era 707's. From a performance perspective the stretch 737-900 is proving to be a dog compared to the A321, it's short gear, combined with it's long fuselage is resulting in horrible runway performance among other things. The 737MAX was Boeing's quick response to Airbus's A320NEO which are outselling the MAX by a huge margin ( 4510 vs 2831 ). Air Canada likely got a smokin' deal on the MAXs or they'd likely have stayed with Airbus.

If you've ever ridden on one of Westjet's 737's for more than 3 hours vs. one of AC's A321's you'd quickly see the difference, as a very experienced transcon flier I've experienced the difference first-hand many times. Personally I'm very disappointed with AC's choice to go with 737MAX's vs A320NEO which most blue-chip airlines have chosen for their fleet-renewal including the likes of Delta, American, Lufthansa, JetBlue, British Airways and many more.

I forgot all about the uncomfortable long hauls on 737s. I flew direct from Halifax to Orlando with westjet, and it got cramped after a while. I also forgot about the huge competition between th 737MAX and the A320NEO. I can't say I have ever ridden on one of those.

[Liam17]

Originally Posted by ManWithTheMug

The A380 is a pretty nice ride.

I completely agree.

[J81]

The cabin comfort level of any narrow body aircraft is based on the configuration of the cabin. ACs Rouge A319s are awful just the same as Sunwings 737s. On the other hand Deltas 737-800s are comfortable just like Lufthansas A321! Its completely dependent on the airline and not the type of aircraft. Excluding regional aircraft of course because we all know how cramped those are.