Calgary International Airport II

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by Cage

I just finished the YYC Pre-Advanced Trials this morning.

First impressions, big F-WWOW speechless. I was a kid in the candy shop the whole time.

Got to trial the international to domestic connections process; it is everything I hoped for and more. Easily capable of pulling 45 minute connections from USA or Europe using One Stop Security. The connections desk is going to kill off international traffic from the rest of Prairies and is competitive on a large scale with YVR. A YVR traveller willing to complete a cheap one stop connection through YYC to Asia or Europe now has possibilities.

YYZ to Asia is within reach as well. I know a fewYYZ based AC Super Elites that prefer one stop over the nonstop from YYZ as it breaks up the journey. Previously YYC was out of the question because of the poor connections process and antiquated facilities. That's gone. The new connections process is way better than comparable experiences at YYZ and YVR.

Welcome to the big leagues YYC.

Wow sounds like quite the facility! Can't wait to try it out myself

Could you explain this comment in bold in a bit more detail? I am ignorant to how airline economics work and why airlines would be attract to YYC over other airports apart from general capacity, landing slots, passenger catchment etc.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Cage

I just finished the YYC Pre-Advanced Trials this morning.


The connections desk is going to kill off international traffic from the rest of Prairies and is competitive on a large scale with YVR. A YVR traveller willing to complete a cheap one stop connection through YYC to Asia or Europe now has possibilities.
Welcome to the big leagues YYC.

YEG has a flight to LHR, I believe. YWG has nothing at all overseas, anyway.
Nevertheless, nice to see western Canadian airports (YVR and YYC) muscling up as a balance to YYZ hegemony.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

YEG has a flight to LHR, I believe. YWG has nothing at all overseas, anyway.
Nevertheless, nice to see western Canadian airports (YVR and YYC) muscling up as a balance to YYZ hegemony.

YEG has WestJet to LGW, KLM to AMS, and Icelandair to KEF.

YWG has WestJet to LGW.

[hoboman27]

Originally Posted by Bureaudog

Also did the trials today, and it all looks very nice. However, I can foresee some issues with:
- CATSA's new xray scanner - the belt automatically moves the bin, so if a traveller has two bins it will cause significant anxiety as the only spot for their first bin is on the auto-conveyor.
- CBSA hall is poorly laid out and difficult to navigate. Even dropping the act of being a 95 year old woman, I had a hard time knowing where to go, although it wasn't helped by the ambassadors who likely need some more uptraining.
- Long walking! The Link cars look like they will ease this quite a bit.
- Definitely not designed for anything but call-to-gate. This morning the 'boarding' was to occur at 1030, but the announcement that it started at 1005 never reached me up at the lounge-around area. Hopefully also just a training issue.

Yeah the PA system definitely needs work, especially with Transborder and International under the same roof, PA addresses can get mixed up I find.

Employees needs more training. The call to gate thing causes people to stand by the boarding area due to limited seating, people are not used to wondering around an airport like a shopping mall. Some signs aren't up yet. Didn't get to see what the connection process looks like. You remember the flight you boarded on?

Originally Posted by Cage

I just finished the YYC Pre-Advanced Trials this morning.

First impressions, big F-WWOW speechless. I was a kid in the candy shop the whole time.

Got to trial the international to domestic connections process; it is everything I hoped for and more. Easily capable of pulling 45 minute connections from USA or Europe using One Stop Security. The connections desk is going to kill off international traffic from the rest of Prairies and is competitive on a large scale with YVR. A YVR traveller willing to complete a cheap one stop connection through YYC to Asia or Europe now has possibilities.

YYZ to Asia is within reach as well. I know a fewYYZ based AC Super Elites that prefer one stop over the nonstop from YYZ as it breaks up the journey. Previously YYC was out of the question because of the poor connections process and antiquated facilities. That's gone. The new connections process is way better than comparable experiences at YYZ and YVR.

Welcome to the big leagues YYC.

Cage, seems like you did connections, did you get to ride one of those little carts?

[CrossedTheTracks]

Originally Posted by hoboman27

Yeah the PA system definitely needs work, especially with Transborder and International under the same roof, PA addresses can get mixed up I find.

What do they have for visual announcements with "call to gate"? I have a (modest) hearing disability, and most PA announcements in most airports turn to mush, I can't understand anything they're saying. Hopefully some decent signage is there...

[hoboman27]

Originally Posted by CrossedTheTracks

What do they have for visual announcements with "call to gate"? I have a (modest) hearing disability, and most PA announcements in most airports turn to mush, I can't understand anything they're saying. Hopefully some decent signage is there...

In the central waitng area for shopping and restaurants, there's massive monitors that displays the flight and gate information, and in the same area are employees staffed behind the counters to direct passengers. You'll also find smaller FIDS screens else where in the terminal, by the gate boarding area especially.

Originally Posted by Bigtime

YWG has WestJet to LGW.

Rumour time. YWG-LGW is in big trouble.

[jmt18325]

I wouldn't doubt it.

[Bigtime]

Oh I believe it, just wanted to correct that as of right now YWG does have a Europe flight.

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by Acey

Rumour time. YWG-LGW is in big trouble.

That's too bad if true. I hoped that flight would stick around. Surely the 767 issues don't help any of WS's long haul ops.

I'd like for it to not be true also. Potential YEG cut to LGW also possible. We'll have to see how the winter goes in terms of 767 performance because no doubt that will be a factor.

[jmt18325]

Westjet is learning that Air Canada know what they're doing long haul.

[jmt18325]

The frequency is too low and the aircraft too big for YWG.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

The frequency is too low and the aircraft too big for YWG.

Same issues YEG had with Air Transat. Aircraft were just too big to fill.

Perhaps WS will just go daily on both YYC-LGW and YVR-LGW.

[MalcolmTucker]

As KEF's capacity problems ease with more remote stands before they start more major expansion plans (the airlines to there run as a pulse network, not a traditional hub & spoke with departures throughout the day, so they needed more gates even though utilization is relatively low), and new 737Maxs come on stream, hopefully they will be able to fill an important role from markets too small to support multiple wide bodies (or even one) a day.

[jmt18325]

I know this isn't the Winnipeg forum, but what I really wish YWG had was an early morning to YYZ on AC so that you could catch the morning flight to LHR.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

I know this isn't the Winnipeg forum, but what I really wish YWG had was an early morning to YYZ on AC so that you could catch the morning flight to LHR.

Departure time out of YWG would need to be 4:30am and CATSA pre-board security is not open at that time. The airport would need to open at 3am to accommodate the request.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

I read that YVR doesn't have a sterile corridor for OSS ops.

YYZ does, don't know what the hold up is to implement OSS.

YUL also has a sterile corridor. So they have the potential to implement OSS as well.

Nonetheless, nice to see the new international terminal at YYC nearing full ops.....

YVR sterile corridor for OSS purposes is hindered by the location of the CBSA fine payment cashier and CBSA secondary inspection. A sterile corridor was created back this spring but the last piece is to relocate the two CBSA functions to the other side of the baggage hall.

YYZ sterile corridor for OSS purposes was constructed in May to July this summer.

YUL also had to complete some renovations to handle OSS and other types of connections in a segregated process from other arrivals.

All four of the major airports (YYZ, YUL, YVR, and YYC) have undergone renovations (or new construction in YYC instance) to handle connections. Additionally CBSA is introducing new processes for both OSS and other connections (for example connecting pax at the four largest inbound international airports will have their bags checked through to destination).

By next summer, I expect all four airports to have OSS processes fully operational.

I have also recently learned that CBSA is adjusting their policies and procedures to split their air travel world in two. There will be one set of rules for the four largest airports and standard rule set will remain at all other centers. The most controversial part of the CBSA initiatives is that no other airports will be invited to the dance.

Undoubtedly splitting the world into the haves and the have nots will not make our friends to the north very happy. The raccoons in down town Toronto will be equally unhappy with this development.

Once the CBSA world is divided, expect some other protocols to follow in quick succession. Transit With Out Visa is a lot easier to implement if restricted to a small number of locations.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Bureaudog

Also did the trials today, and it all looks very nice. However, I can foresee some issues with:

(1) CATSA's new xray scanner - the belt automatically moves the bin, so if a traveller has two bins it will cause significant anxiety as the only spot for their first bin is on the auto-conveyor.

(2) CBSA hall is poorly laid out and difficult to navigate. Even dropping the act of being a 95 year old woman, I had a hard time knowing where to go, although it wasn't helped by the ambassadors who likely need some more uptraining.

(3) Long walking! The Link cars look like they will ease this quite a bit.

(4) Definitely not designed for anything but call-to-gate. This morning the 'boarding' was to occur at 1030, but the announcement that it started at 1005 never reached me up at the lounge-around area. Hopefully also just a training issue.

(1) I put similar comments to this statement within the free form portion of the feedback portion of the website. Also, you can send the comments to YYC Airport through the same email used to communicate the trials. PM me if you don't have this email address.

(2) Agreed CBSA primary inspection hall is difficult to navigate and signage was poorly laid out. This was another of my concerns raised in the feedback website. The good news is that the airport has hired many customer care ambassadors to handle the traffic. Once the frequent travelers have been through the process a few times the process will become second nature. It also doesn't help that the comparative hall in the old terminal could only handle two processes (regular inspection and Nexus) while the new hall handles at least six distinct processes (Calgary arriving regular, Calgary arriving Nexus, International to Domestic connections, International to USA connections, International to International connections, OSS connections, and more).

(3) Link cars will only be used for the D/E Link terminus station in the new terminal. Regular old fashion golf carts will be used for the interstitial corridor. This will remain the purview of the White Hatters.

(4) Call to gate will be sorted in short order. As noted above, there are many FIDS screens throughout the terminal. Call-to-gate is used at a lot of international airports. There are numerous options in the retail areas to keep people amused.

The long corridor to USA departures will dissuade people from waiting quietly at the gate for long periods of time. LHR T2 and T5 had the problem of people preferring to wait at the gate with a good book. However in LHR experience, the problem was that people did not believe there was no seating area on the remote concourses, despite numerous warnings about both the length of the walk and the lack of services at the satellite terminal. In YYC instance, pax will be able to look down the hallway to see what limited services are ahead.

[Takeoff]

Great to see things mostly work at the new terminal, but for the next two to three years I dont see it being used much.