Atlantic Canada airport thread - Page 70

q12 · #**1381** Posted **Feb 12, 2019, 9:06 PM**

Rouge is a downgrade not an upgrade.

Moncton, Fredericton and St. John's have joined Charlottetown and Deer lake and are now "rouged"

The Air Canada Rouge A319 has one of the smallest seat pitches in North America (29 inches). They also have no seat-back entertainment system.

Also the Rouge A319's (average age over 20 years old) are far older than the more modern Dash-8 Q400 (Average age 7 years old).

Good new for Halifax though as the only Rouge flight out of Halifax (Halifax-Calgary) is going back to a larger mainline A320 with better seat pitch and seat back entertainment systems with proper business class.

Bishop2047 · #**1382** Posted **Feb 12, 2019, 10:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by q12

Rouge is a downgrade not an upgrade.

Moncton, Fredericton and St. John's have joined Charlottetown and Deer lake and are now "rouged"

The Air Canada Rouge A319 has one of the smallest seat pitches in North America (29 inches). They also have no seat-back entertainment system.

Also the Rouge A319's (average age over 20 years old) are far older than the more modern Dash-8 Q400 (Average age 7 years old).

Good new for Halifax though as the only Rouge flight out of Halifax (Halifax-Calgary) is going back to a larger mainline A320 with better seat pitch and seat back entertainment systems with proper business class.

Im 6,4 and all legs. I haven't been on a plane that had enough leg room....ever. This is however a big increase in seating capacity for those cities, and for that I am grateful.

q12 · #**1383** Posted **Feb 12, 2019, 10:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bishop2047

Im 6,4 and all legs. I haven't been on a plane that had enough leg room....ever. This is however a big increase in seating capacity for those cities, and for that I am grateful.

Have you been on a Rouge A319? It's cramped as per the photo.

Also 5x q400 vs 3x A319 is only 18 total additional seats for Moncton-Toronto so not a big increase.

4x q400 vs 2x A319 is actually a loss of 40 total seats for Fredericton-Toronto.

MonctonRad · #**1384** Posted **Feb 12, 2019, 10:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by q12

Also 5x q400 vs 3x A319 is only 18 total additional seats for Moncton-Toronto so not a big increase.

It’s not as grim as you let on. Moncton will still have one q400 as well as 3x A319 on the route, so the actual increase is about 100 PAX per day.

Having said this though, I was rouged once on a flight from Toronto to San Diego. I was damn near crippled by the time I got off the plane.

q12 · #**1385** Posted **Feb 12, 2019, 10:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

It’s not as grim as you let on. Moncton will still have one q400 as well as 3x A319 on the route, so the actual increase is about 100 PAX per day.

Current summer yqm-yyz 6x q400 = 468 seats

With the Rouge change:

3x rouge A319 = 408
1x q400 = 78
New Total =486

Difference = 18 seats

habskilla · #**1386** Posted **Feb 12, 2019, 10:42 PM**

Friends don't let friends fly Rouge.

Rouge is a HORRIBLE customer experience.

habskilla · #**1387** Posted **Feb 12, 2019, 10:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bishop2047

Im 6,4 and all legs. I haven't been on a plane that had enough leg room....ever. This is however a big increase in seating capacity for those cities, and for that I am grateful.

If you are over 5' 11" stay away from Rouge.

cl812 · #**1388** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 12:49 AM**

Its actually a small increase (of 38) in total seats for Fredericton:

2 x A319 + 1 x Q400 = 350 vs 4 x Q400 = 312

q12 · #**1389** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 1:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cl812

Its actually a small increase (of 38) in total seats for Fredericton:

2 x A319 + 1 x Q400 = 350 vs 4 x Q400 = 312

According to the info posted on the Canadian airport thread:

Quote:

Conversion to Rouge:
YYZ-YFC 2x daily 319 AC1524/6
Express Frequency Removed:
YYZ-YFC 4x daily (conversion to Rouge)

This shows the 4x Q400 are being replaced by just 2x Rouge A319. Therefore a loss of 40 seats daily to yyz.

Once this is live in the airline schedules we will know for sure.

Bishop2047 · #**1390** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 2:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by q12

According to the info posted on the Canadian airport thread:

This shows the 4x Q400 are being replaced by just 2x Rouge A319. Therefore a loss of 40 seats daily to yyz.

Once this is live in the airline schedules we will know for sure.

To be fair I believe earlier in the day there was still a q400 in the post. now those have been removed from the post. Unless AC is totally getting out of the q400 line I can't see them removed entirely from the east coasts airports. I also can't see them reducing capacity while all the airports are boasting record passenger numbers. Though I would surely welcome more flights from west jet, porter and other airlines.

MonctonRad · #**1391** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 3:00 AM**

It does make one wonder what Air Canada is doing with their Q400's..........

One thing's for sure, Air Canada isn't putting the Airbus A319's on their Maritime routes out of the goodness of their heart. This is a strategic deployment of their assets, nothing more and nothing less.

Airports like Moncton and Freddy will gain a little prestige by the return of regularly scheduled jet service to their facilities. On the other hand frequency of service will take a little hit and, as previously mentioned, Rouge has an uncomfortably tight seat pitch making passengers feel like sardines. At least the flight to Toronto will be quicker........

I wonder if this is a permanent deployment, or is Rouge just repositioning assets so that the A319's travel to the Maritimes in the summertime and then to sun destinations in the winter. If so, the Q400's might return to the schedule in the fall.

magee_b · #**1392** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 5:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by q12

According to the info posted on the Canadian airport thread:

This shows the 4x Q400 are being replaced by just 2x Rouge A319. Therefore a loss of 40 seats daily to yyz.

Once this is live in the airline schedules we will know for sure.

Yeah - the 1 Q400 was still in the schedule when I posted. I see it's gone now.

magee_b · #**1393** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 5:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bishop2047

^

That is a lot more seating too.

As someone who flies out of Fredericton frequently, I would welcome a bigger plane. Just need those renovations to speed up. A little disappointed to see nothing added to or changing with SJ.

Was also hoping to see some changes to YSJ. AC is adding a 4th daily flight to YYZ the schedule, but that's something they add for the summer the last few years - so nothing really new

Good to keep in mind that the YSJ runway reconstruction is scheduled to start this year, so there might be some limitations.

Fischbob · #**1394** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 3:01 PM**

For once I'm glad YSJ got overlooked - I prefer to see higher frequency on the turboprops/CRJs over fewer flights on larger equipment. I wouldn't have been too thrilled about having to fly Rouge either.

That being said, we have yet to find out whether the A319s will impact fares at all in Moncton/Freddy. Will AC pass the savings resulting from needing fewer pilots/crew per person on to passengers or will they just pocket the difference?

JHikka · #**1395** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 4:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by habskilla

Friends don't let friends fly Rouge.

Rouge is a HORRIBLE customer experience.

Any domestic AC flight is horrible in general. I'll only fly AC if it's international.

I don't get how people can fly AC if WJ/Porter are options.

D3nZ · #**1396** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 4:50 PM**

The only way I could fly with Rouge was to get a business class upgrade. Considering I'm 6'2" fitting in the Rouge coach seats was not even an option and the costumer service was one of the worsts I've ever seen (and I work in costumer service).

Flew with them only once and it was a red eye from Vegas to Montréal. Flight arrived late which caused me to miss my connection to Fredericton and then was subsequently bumped the next 2 following flights as they were overbooked (they even gave vouchers to people who gave their seats, but I wasn't allowed to get a voucher as it was a plane delay). They had sent my baggage on the first flight (which is a big no no in their airline industry since 9/11) I arrived home a full 36 hours after scheduled arrival and missed a way of work. I got nothing in return for meals, no paid hotel, no voucher.

People, Rouge is NOT an upgrade.

MonctonRad · #**1397** Posted **Feb 13, 2019, 4:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHikka

Any domestic AC flight is horrible in general. I'll only fly AC if it's international.

I don't get how people can fly AC if WJ/Porter are options.

That's my general rule too.

- If I'm flying to Ottawa or Toronto, I'll fly Porter.
- If I'm making connections to western Canada, I fly WestJet.
- If I'm making connections to the US or overseas, then I will fly Air Canada.