Calgary International Airport II

[outoftheice]

Having attended the Calgary Stampede yesterday I have to say that I really hope people from the Airport Authority did the same and took a good, long look at the 'Western Oasis' space at the BMO Centre.

We've discussed in the past about how part of the failure of the call go gate system at YYC was partially due to the fact that the main seating areas in the new terminal had very little 'sense of place' that made them the natural spot people would want to relax and wait for their flight. (The international departure hall suffers from this much worse than the US departure hall). I would argue that the Airport Authority did a much better job creating a sense of place with Banff Hall by the food court, pre-security, with its comfortable lounge chairs and the waterfall and fountain art features than they did with the new terminal seating areas.

What I was absolutely impressed by with the 'Western Oasis' in BMO was how the Calgary Stampede was able to create amazing areas in the SW, NW and NE corners with water and lighting features, public art, stone work and trees and plants. This was all done as a temporary installation in what is essentially a big empty hall with a concrete floor. It made me realize what the Airport Authority could achieve without the need for expensive renovations to the building's structure. Personally I think the addition of water and lighting features surrounded by stone work and some additional vegetation (fake as it may be) would do wonders to changing the vibe in the seating halls and make people much more likely to want to spend time there and the Western Oasis is proof that it can be done relatively easily.

[MalcolmTucker]

[del]

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Lancaster

Cage, do you know which airports have this capability? I don't think I've seen a gate configuration where you can segregate at the counter...

YYZ, LHR, FRA, MUC, and HKG have dual boarding capability on the gates AC normally uses for its 333, 777, 789 aircraft. (I dont know if the 788 doors L1 & L2 are too close together). AC has partial use of 2 or 3 dual bridge gates at YVR. I don't know about YUL since there has been a major expansion since I was last at the airport.

I haven't flown through other airports (like CDG) so I can't comment on whether AC uses dual bridge gates at major global gateways.

[Blader]

Originally Posted by Cage

YYZ, LHR, FRA, MUC, and HKG have dual boarding capability on the gates AC normally uses for its 333, 777, 789 aircraft. (I dont know if the 788 doors L1 & L2 are too close together). AC has partial use of 2 or 3 dual bridge gates at YVR. I don't know about YUL since there has been a major expansion since I was last at the airport.

I haven't flown through other airports (like CDG) so I can't comment on whether AC uses dual bridge gates at major global gateways.

I stand to be corrected, despite numerous embarcations, since it's been a long time. In CDG with the 777W, agents were on the jetway directing passengers to the correct door, when using the usual gate. Once, the aircraft was parked on the tarmac and we took busses. The driver missed the correct route and returned to the gate for the second pass.

[sammyd]

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/13/ca...-air-canada-flight-got-to-sfo-airplanes/

100 feet.

[Tobuz]

A "travel advisory" issued by Westjet on Friday, July 14:

Travelling with a personal electronic device bigger than a smartphone? Here's what you need to know about security.

http://fly.ws/SecurityUpdate

I really fear that this is going to get ugly at YYC thanks to the ITB planners putting "all their eggs into one basket" with CATSA Plus as the supposed godsend for pre-board screening here. And I fear the resulting lack of flexibility is going to mean a much worse experience for those of us who fly frequently and who've invested in NEXUS. (I like Cage's ideas posted upthread, but I'm sadly quite pessimistic on this.)

CATSA and YYC: please, please, please FIX concourse E security for NEXUS users before this gets any worse. Please?

[Cage]

A couple of checkpoint E improvements have been recently completed.

(1) The biggest improvement is repositioning of 1 CATSA Plus lane from D to E. This will make E have capability for up to 5 CATSA Plus lanes.

(2) Additional staff have been called to checkpoint E from D and even C during busy times.

(3) Screening staff that are scanning BPs are better trained to identify Priority lane pax (e.g. travelling first class or have elite status) including WS Plus seated guests. Additionally, at busy times the combination of priority and nexus queues will be funnelled into one lane, with the second lane dedicated to regular pax.

However there are some challenges with checkpoint E.

(1) Remote x-ray viewing room closes between 8:30 and 11am to noon and again after about 2:pm. The x-ray viewing room closure cuts CATSA Plus capacity by 50%. Compensating for loss of capacity, there appears to be times when 3 lanes are open instead of 2, plus additional resources are performing manual and physical searches.

(2) Nexus lane "front of the line" access is not always administered by CATSA officers. For example: the ratio of Nexus line users to non nexus line users is sometimes 4:1; mostly because the CATSA line minder has more empathy for the regular line pax who have been queuing for longer periods.

(3) Domestic to transborder connection pax are an issue for checkpoint E. At the transborder WS departure bank at 10am, connection pax queue can be 20+ people. Connection pax must be given priority over regular line pax. This further slows down regular line processing.

(4) Other than the early morning departure bank (6-8am); CATSA has challenges with regular line queue times. WS departure banks (as mentioned above) have a bigger pain points than regular line processes. This is especially true during days when families are more apt to travel (e.g. Fridays & Saturdays). AC and US legacy airline departure banks appear to attract a more seasoned traveller that can be processed faster.

(5) Despite Matt Larocque (CATSA spokesperson) assertions, its generally not possible for a single traveller to divest ahead of families. The reason is the CATSA officers are providing families of three or two with the full area of four divest stations. For example: there is a family of three immediately ahead of a single pax. The family will get full use of all four divest stations while the screener tells the single pax to wait. However in the initial CATSA propaganda for CATSA Plus, the single pax should be provided 1 divest station to get through ahead of the family if they can divest faster.

[Alexcaban]

Originally Posted by Cage

YYZ, LHR, FRA, MUC, and HKG have dual boarding capability on the gates AC normally uses for its 333, 777, 789 aircraft. (I dont know if the 788 doors L1 & L2 are too close together). AC has partial use of 2 or 3 dual bridge gates at YVR. I don't know about YUL since there has been a major expansion since I was last at the airport.

I haven't flown through other airports (like CDG) so I can't comment on whether AC uses dual bridge gates at major global gateways.

At YUL gate 51, 52, 55 and 63 have two bridges. AC uses both for A333, 788, 789, 77W. Same goes with other airlines as well.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by Cage

YYZ, LHR, FRA, MUC, and HKG have dual boarding capability on the gates AC normally uses for its 333, 777, 789 aircraft. (I dont know if the 788 doors L1 & L2 are too close together). AC has partial use of 2 or 3 dual bridge gates at YVR. I don't know about YUL since there has been a major expansion since I was last at the airport.

I haven't flown through other airports (like CDG) so I can't comment on whether AC uses dual bridge gates at major global gateways.

Most gates at PVG are dual bridge (except the 380 gates which are triple bridge). However, sometimes they'll only use one bridge even if a double bridge is available.

[Tobuz]

NEW AIRLINE!

Frontier Airlines just announced a major service expansion from their Denver hub, including YYC.

Press release here: https://www.flyfrontier.com/news/

And press coverage in USA Today is here: usat.ly/2uw3amk

(The USA Today article seems to indicate that Calgary is a resumption of a previous service for YYC?? I don't recall them having scheduled service here before.)

[Tobuz]

... and interesting to see that other affected airports have announced the new routes, but - so far- radio silence from YYC.

Hmmm.

Here's part of the fanfare at DEN earlier this morning, where it's naturally a very big deal:

[lubicon]

I want to say Frontier served YYC very briefly back in the mid 2000's and then suspended service (??)

[MalcolmTucker]

[del]

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Tobuz

(The USA Today article seems to indicate that Calgary is a resumption of a previous service for YYC?? I don't recall them having scheduled service here before.)

Frontier around 2007-2008 had DEN-YYC operated by CR7 aircraft. the flights were last flight in, first flight out with the aircraft RON in YYC. There were many times when the flights had 0 pax. During times when both sides of the pairing had 0 pax, the flights were cancelled.

This will likely push UA to operate both a 6am and 8:30am departure on mainline equipment.

[DoubleK]

Oooooh this is exciting news!!!!

I wonder how much YYC-DEN-PHX will cost vs WJ direct...

[Tobuz]

I'm happy to see any new service, but I don't share your excitement!

Keep in mind that Frontier (1) has awful, Rouge-style leg room (although they were smart enough to lock the seat recline) and (2) charges for absolutely everything.

Even for carry-on bags ... which I think is a first for airlines serving YYC.

As is often the case with ULCCs, the initial fare looks appealing -- but the savings tend to decrease quickly once you add up all of the fees.

[DoubleK]

My folks have a place in Phoenix, so I travel fairly light.

I'm exactly the type of traveller that can take advantage of a ULCC offering. While a direct flight is much preferable from a elapsed time perspective, I can probably handle the lack of seat pitch if the trip is split into two legs.

I've kept a spreadsheet that tracks how much I spend on flights to Phoenix going back to 2010. It averages $450 and with fares between $320 and $580 all in.

The outcome I'm expecting is WJ to be aggressive in their pricing, but will definitely give Frontier a shot.

EDIT: Bah, no DEN-PHX

[MalcolmTucker]

[del]

[DoubleK]

I see it now. I didn't see that destination listed at the link, but that's only the 'sale' destinations. Definitely see it on the route map.

Mesa is actually better for me. And way cheaper for rental cars vs Sky Harbor.

[yyc_engineer]

This is a weird route announcement.

I flew on Frontier back in August 2007. YYC-DEN-MCO for CAD $340 return all-in (including 2 checked bags). Was on an E-170 jet (operated by Republic Airways) with a late morning (11:20) departure and return into YYC just before midnight (23:55).

Wonder why WestJet has never flown to Denver? Seems there would be more market than some of their US routes (ie. Dallas DFW)