Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW) 1.0

[YOWhopeful]

Afterthought is the right word. Sitting in YUL waiting for my flight back to YOW (from DFW) with now a 1.5 hour delay������…Have to remember to fly through US hubs

[RomanR27]

Read through the NOTAMs today and appears:

• Runway 07/25 is closed until June 9
• Taxiway E is closed between 07/25 and J until the end of July

So until June 9, runway 32 departures will require backtracking.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by YOWhopeful

Afterthought is the right word. Sitting in YUL waiting for my flight back to YOW (from DFW) with now a 1.5 hour delay������…Have to remember to fly through US hubs

YUL is having really bad gate space issue right now especially during their peak period (i.e., 3-7 pm)

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Bad week to be an A300/310 at YOW

LOL good point.

Today's departure count: 73

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

[MountainView]

May 29 - June 9:

07/25 closed

14/32 will be used for all commercial flights

FlyYOW on twitter - source

[MountainView]

Tomorrow's AC342 is scheduled on an A333

[Tesladom]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

It's a chicken and egg thing. Direct flights are more expensive here because of the low "ridership", so people decide to take the flight elsewhere (either by transfer or driving), but they are more expensive because of the low "ridership". Blow my mind how people lose their minds about having to wait 30 seconds behind a bus once in a while (Orleans Boulevard rebuild at Convent Glen station), but are happy to wait in line 30 minutes at the Tim's Drive-Thru, or take an extra 3 hours to get to their destination to save what, $200? Or waist time and gas to drive to the cheapest gas station and save 3 cents a liter.

Wow! That's harsh!
As someone who regularly travel the extra 1:15minutes (time diff between going from Orleans to YUL vs YOW), I can tell you it boils down to 2 things:
1) Flight availability - If I can fly direct from Montreal, why bother with the hassle, time and risk of missing a connecting flight? Flying to SFO at the end of the month, driving to YUL thanks!
2) Flight costs - Although not always the case, more often the flights are cheaper out of Montreal. I usually travel March break with the kids, I save $500 per person out of YUL

Even YYZ makes sense if you have a family of 4 on a trip, for example let's say you want to go to Cuba at the end of school year with the family, it is $675 for 4* out of YYZ, Cheapest 4* from Ottawa (connecting flight) is $1059.
I don't know about you but $1500+ is a lot of coin for most people.

I would recommend to stop disparaging people for their choices

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by MountainView

Tomorrow's AC342 is scheduled on an A333

Looks like it's been cancelled. EDIT: Replaced by AC2142/2145 on a MAX.

On a separate note, appears for the month of June there is going to be a Rapidair flight on Rouge.

AC1592 2035 YYZ-YOW 2135
AC1593 0700 YOW-YYZ 0803

[Jay31]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

Wow! That's harsh!
As someone who regularly travel the extra 1:15minutes (time diff between going from Orleans to YUL vs YOW), I can tell you it boils down to 2 things:
1) Flight availability - If I can fly direct from Montreal, why bother with the hassle, time and risk of missing a connecting flight? Flying to SFO at the end of the month, driving to YUL thanks!
2) Flight costs - Although not always the case, more often the flights are cheaper out of Montreal. I usually travel March break with the kids, I save $500 per person out of YUL

Even YYZ makes sense if you have a family of 4 on a trip, for example let's say you want to go to Cuba at the end of school year with the family, it is $675 for 4* out of YYZ, Cheapest 4* from Ottawa (connecting flight) is $1059.
I don't know about you but $1500+ is a lot of coin for most people.

I would recommend to stop disparaging people for their choices

People are free to make choices, though I will point out that a connection booked as a single ticket is less risky in getting you to your destination than a long drive in advance. Unless you go down the night before, any delays you encounter that prevent you from making your flight will be on you to buy a new ticket. If the connection doesn't work, the airline will still get you to your destination - possibly even getting you an overnight hotel if necessary. You can also book a slightly longer connection (as I try to...) to ensure that doesn't happen.. that said, I usually don't buy the cheapest plane ticket. I'll pay more for a flexible fare on the routing I want...though I think that makes me unusual.

I know many who would agree with you - and I think it just shows that many in Ottawa will value cost savings over time, convenience and/or comfort. Porter in many ways is the perfect airline to fly out of Ottawa - all economy, mostly uncomfortable Q400s (though new jets look promising), but a bit cheaper than the rest.

[Jay31]

Did this get a mention?: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ot...federal-security-nexus-changes-1.6853454. I was quite disappointed with this... TSA Pre-Check in the US is amazing, and it would have been great to have that here.

The only consolation is that I find Ottawa security staff are at least some of the most friendly security staff I've encountered anywhere (with Pearson having some of the nastiest...).

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Jay31

People are free to make choices, though I will point out that a connection booked as a single ticket is less risky in getting you to your destination than a long drive in advance. Unless you go down the night before, any delays you encounter that prevent you from making your flight will be on you to buy a new ticket. If the connection doesn't work, the airline will still get you to your destination - possibly even getting you an overnight hotel if necessary. You can also book a slightly longer connection (as I try to...) to ensure that doesn't happen..

Driving to Toronto seems a bit crazy to me though for a family or for certain destinations it can be worth it.

Montreal on the other hand is very convenient. With current schedules much more than connecting to a Montreal-Ottawa flight. What kind of delay do you imagine causes you to miss your flight from Montreal? The airport is before most of the Montreal traffic and you have two freeways to choose from. In Ottawa you've got one road. I've missed connections probably dozens of times and in hundreds of drives to Montreal have never seen a delay that would cause you to miss your flight on that portion of the drive. Sure 5 car pileups happen and there's a few spots where going around would be tough but you're really talking rare bad luck at that point. But yeah sure the flight cost is on you

[fanofYOW]

What really baffles me is not the people driving themselves to Montreal, it’s the people purchasing bus/train tickets because it’s “one less connection” and therefore “less risky”. I’ve even seen bus ads on social media advertising YOW-YUL because starting in YUL means one less plane connection. Ok.… So… then what happens when that bus/train does not get you to YUL in time? The airlines certainly won’t care. At least if you started in YOW and something happens to the YOW-YUL leg, they have to figure it out for you. You may as well count this bus/train service as the connector you were trying to avoid.

[lrt's friend]

A lot of people I know hate connecting flights in Toronto. I prefer direct flights if they are available. They are always much faster to get to your destination.

[YOWflier]

Hey mods can we finally create a new thread to consolidate these off-topic discussions going forward? After a decade-and-a-half of this coming up monthly I think it's time...

People can fill their boots in there while the YOW thread is maintained for goings on at YOW: air/cargo service developments and changes, terminal and YOW lands construction projects, etc.

[Dominion301]

AC for the first time are partnering with Swissport to open a new lounge at YTZ: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ne...shop-toronto-city-airport-831749591.html

Just in time for the suspension of YOW-YTZ over the summer months.

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 72

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1 - the AC 789 to YVR is replaced by a different flight number for the 333 sub today.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

Wow! That's harsh!
As someone who regularly travel the extra 1:15minutes (time diff between going from Orleans to YUL vs YOW), I can tell you it boils down to 2 things:
1) Flight availability - If I can fly direct from Montreal, why bother with the hassle, time and risk of missing a connecting flight? Flying to SFO at the end of the month, driving to YUL thanks!
2) Flight costs - Although not always the case, more often the flights are cheaper out of Montreal. I usually travel March break with the kids, I save $500 per person out of YUL

Even YYZ makes sense if you have a family of 4 on a trip, for example let's say you want to go to Cuba at the end of school year with the family, it is $675 for 4* out of YYZ, Cheapest 4* from Ottawa (connecting flight) is $1059.
I don't know about you but $1500+ is a lot of coin for most people.

I would recommend to stop disparaging people for their choices

I stand by my comment about impatient drivers who won't wait a few seconds behind a bus or someone turning when they're fine lining up at the drive-thru for half an hour.

But yeah, if you're saving $500 per person to drive to another airport, then yeah, that's worth it. You're saving significantly more money than your gas and time might be "worth".

I'd be more inclined to driving to the nearest airport (Montreal) to save $500+ than taking a bus/train or even worse, flight (which often does mean hours waiting for the transfer flight). I likely would not drive to Toronto to catch a flight.

Originally Posted by YOWflier

Hey mods can we finally create a new thread to consolidate these off-topic discussions going forward? After a decade-and-a-half of this coming up monthly I think it's time...

People can fill their boots in there while the YOW thread is maintained for goings on at YOW: air/cargo service developments and changes, terminal and YOW lands construction projects, etc.

Sure, we can do that. Do you have a name suggestion?

[MountainView]

Looks like a second daily YQB is starting after Labour Day in September.

A morning departure AC7750 @ 0630.
The evening departure is also still there (AC7752)

Sept 5 is also when YTZ is slated to re-start with 4x daily.

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Sure, we can do that. Do you have a name suggestion?

Well the more I think of it we already have “Random Discussions” thread down in General. That’s where I’d punt all such chatter if I were in command. If skyscrapers in Kitchener are appropriate for that thread (and they are) then so are airports elsewhere.

Let’s let Ottawa breathe in its main threads.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by YOWflier

Well the more I think of it we already have “Random Discussions” thread down in General. That’s where I’d punt all such chatter if I were in command. If skyscrapers in Kitchener are appropriate for that thread (and they are) then so are airports elsewhere.

Let’s let Ottawa breathe in its main threads.

Your idea of a thread on the nuts and bolts of the airport makes sense but discussions of flights from Ottawa and the like don't seem like they are the same as random discussions. Splitting the thread maybe makes more sense?