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Post by Name Omitted on Sept 18, 2013 15:45:13 GMT -8
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Sept 21, 2013 21:33:25 GMT -8
Well I am back from our trip to Cuba. I said I would give a report on Sunwing Airlines and all I have to say about this airline is. DONT FLY SUNWING unless you have to. We had to cause it was a package deal which I think is the only way as Sunwing is a Charter Airline. Our flight out was fine it was delayed like an hour cause two people ended up getting off cause they were sick and another person had a anxiety attack and dident want to fly so that wasent Sunwing's fault. The flight back we knew was delayed even before we took off from Vancouver cause the person sitting next to us told us and we should of got an email about it but never did. We were suppose to leave Santa Maria at 5:10pm arriving in Vancouver at 9:10pm but was delayed till 9:50pm arriving YVR 1:50am so we knew that and were expecting that up until 15 mins before we were suppose to take the bus to the airport from the resort then we find out it is delayed again out of Santa Maria and we wouldent be leaving till 2:05am arriving in Vancouver 6:00am and losing out most of our night at the hotel we had booked because we expected to be in at 9:10pm orginally. I just dont know how an airline can keep delaying flights like this for no reason. And what ticked me off was two other Sunwing flights from Santa Maria that day left on time and the one flight to Montreal left when we were orginally suppose to leave so it's like they gave our time to the Montreal flight which annoyed me. I mean the service was good got a meal both ways and movies. Champagne on the way down and a hot towel, lol. Sunwing would be fine if they dident delay their flights all the time. Alot of annoyed people on the way home that night. One guy really got annoyed during the flight home cause he wanted to stretch out cause there were empty seats behind us at the back but the flight attendants wouldent let him cause they were reserved for them and two other flight attendants that werent actually on the job but flying back to Canada. Crazy long night coming home!
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Post by compdude787 on Jan 29, 2014 17:14:26 GMT -8
Boeing has just recently painted a 747-8F in a special livery honoring the Seahawks. More info here.
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Post by dofd on Feb 3, 2014 20:53:04 GMT -8
Boeing has just recently painted a 747-8F in a special livery honoring the Seahawks. More info here. I don't think this has been posted yet. It is N770BA's test flight track on Jan 30. link
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 13, 2014 14:38:18 GMT -8
If you like float planes, Victoria is THE place to be. Lots of action with planes landing and taking off almost continuously during the day. I love the sound of the turboprops spooling up! The floatplane dock in Victoria's Inner Harbour - quite a few planes there Where else but in Victoria do you get this variety of craft sharing the waterway? Here we have two float planes and an amphibious "Hippo" passing each other in The Inner Harbour. Not seen are the countless "pickle boats" bustling back and forth. Kenmore Air's "Evening Magazine" theme plane, a show that can be watched on King 5 weekday nights after the news
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Post by Starsteward on Aug 14, 2014 11:16:33 GMT -8
If you like float planes, Victoria is THE place to be. Lots of action with planes landing and taking off almost continuously during the day. I love the sound of the turboprops spooling up! The floatplane dock in Victoria's Inner Harbour - quite a few planes there Where else but in Victoria do you get this variety of craft sharing the waterway? Here we have two float planes and an amphibious "Hippo" passing each other in The Inner Harbour. Not seen are the countless "pickle boats" bustling back and forth. Kenmore Air's "Evening Magazine" theme plane, a show that can be watched on King 5 weekday nights after the news Very nice shot of the Vancouver Whitecaps livery on one of the planes. I wonder what KING 5 news was digging around for in Victoria?
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 14, 2014 11:32:58 GMT -8
Very nice shot of the Vancouver Whitecaps livery on one of the planes. I wonder what KING 5 news was digging around for in Victoria? King 5 was not there digging around. That plane belongs to Kenmore Air, and is one of their "theme" planes. This particular one is used to advertise King 5's "Evening Magazine" program, which airs on weekdays at 7:30pm. I'm sure this plane was on a regularly scheduled passenger flight.
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Post by Starsteward on Aug 14, 2014 11:44:08 GMT -8
Darn it! And here I thought there was some scandalous intrigue of an International nature going on that the folks at KING 5 had discovered.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 6, 2014 16:41:06 GMT -8
Here's a song with some DHC-2 Beaver history.
- yes, the song is an Irish Rovers rip-off, but that's ok
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Post by Starsteward on Sept 7, 2014 13:25:01 GMT -8
Here's a song with some DHC-2 Beaver history. - yes, the song is an Irish Rovers rip-off, but that's ok Very cool, funny and entertaining Mr. Horn Had me chuckling all the way through the video, great job!
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Post by northwesterner on Sept 8, 2014 22:47:15 GMT -8
Southwest has a new livery, the most drastic change they have ever made in their history. I'm not sure what I think of it yet. Part of me likes the boldness of the colours. The other part of me thinks it looks like a box of Crayons threw up. I don't think I hate it, though. www.airliners.net/photo/Southwest-Airlines/Boeing-737-8H4/2498585/L/photo courtesy of Airliners.net In my efforts to find a place to live that 1) was on a direct transit route to Arizona State University running more frequently than every 30 minutes and 2) wasn't a fleebag craphole, I 3) settled for an apartment directly under the flightpath to one of the runways at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. So... with Southwest being the #2 carrier at PHX, I'll be sure to look up and see if I can spot this bird. They usually get newly painted planes into rotation pretty quickly.
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Oct 5, 2014 15:18:51 GMT -8
Air Canada rouge is horrible. Would not want to fly them again. The plane was way to hot and there was hardly any legroom on that plane A319! We had more legroom on our short flight from Van to Vic on the Dash 8 Q400 than that A319 Air Canada Rouge plane! Crazy! It was a long day travelling home yesterday but we made it an enjoyed a free night at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport thanks to Air Canada!
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Post by Kahloke on Oct 6, 2014 8:17:29 GMT -8
Air Canada rouge is horrible. Would not want to fly them again. The plane was way to hot and there was hardly any legroom on that plane A319! We had more legroom on our short flight from Van to Vic on the Dash 8 Q400 than that A319 Air Canada Rouge plane! Crazy! It was a long day travelling home yesterday but we made it an enjoyed a free night at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport thanks to Air Canada! So they were delayed out of LAX, but it sounds like they did right by you in putting you up in a room at the Fairmont YVR, and from what I understand, that's a pretty nice hotel. I'm curious as to what the seat pitch is on AC's A319's. We flew on Virgin America's A319s to/and from Washington DC a couple summers ago, and I did not find the seats to be horribly cramped. No, the legroom wasn't generous, but no worse than a 737. Seat pitch, and configuration, is one of those things that is determined by individual airlines, however, so that's why I'm curious about AC's configuration for that particular aircraft. On another note, next time you go to LA, consider Alaska Airlines. A short flight from Victoria (YYJ) to Seattle (SEA) on a Horizon Q400, then transfer to a mainline 737 from SEA to LAX, most likely a 737-800 series, and I think you may be pleased by the experience. Alaska is a good airline.
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Post by Kahloke on Oct 6, 2014 9:05:26 GMT -8
As a follow-up to my last post, I just did a little research into seats on various airlines, courtesy of seatguru.com. BTW - this is a MUST "go-to" site the next time you fly anywhere on a commercial flight. It tells you which seats are good and bad, per plane, per airline. Anyway, I compared a few airlines against the aircraft Karl says he flew on:
Air Canada Rouge Airbus A319 (what Karl flew on) seat pitch (distance between rows): 29" seat width: 18"
Air Canada (mainline) Airbus A319 seat pitch: 31-35" seat width: 17.8"
Virgin America Airbus A319 seat pitch: 32" seat width: 17.7"
JetBlue Airbus A320 seat pitch: 34" seat width: 17.8"
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700, 800, & 900 seat pitch: 32" seat width: 17"
WestJet Boeing 737-700, & 800 seat pitch: 31-33" seat width: 18.5"
So, Karl was right. AC's Rouge product is pretty cramped between the rows, but the seat width appears to be fairly generous, at least compared with the airlines in this list. AC's mainline product is quite a bit better for seating comfort. I may try JetBlue next summer when we fly out to Boston. A 34" seat pitch seems pretty good. This little comparison also shows that Alaska Airlines is also a bit stingy with the seat dimensions on their 737 aircraft, especially when compared to WestJet's generous accommodations, although I have never been uncomfortable on an Alaska Airlines plane.
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Nick
Voyager
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Oct 6, 2014 9:56:00 GMT -8
As a follow-up to my last post, I just did a little research into seats on various airlines, courtesy of seatguru.com. BTW - this is a MUST "go-to" site the next time you fly anywhere on a commercial flight. It tells you which seats are good and bad, per plane, per airline. Anyway, I compared a few airlines against the aircraft Karl says he flew on: Air Canada Rouge Airbus A319 (what Karl flew on) seat pitch (distance between rows): 29" seat width: 18" Air Canada (mainline) Airbus A319seat pitch: 31-35" seat width: 17.8" Virgin America Airbus A319seat pitch: 32" seat width: 17.7" JetBlue Airbus A320seat pitch: 34" seat width: 17.8" Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700, 800, & 900seat pitch: 32" seat width: 17" WestJet Boeing 737-700, & 800seat pitch: 31-33" seat width: 18.5" So, Karl was right. AC's Rouge product is pretty cramped between the rows, but the seat width appears to be fairly generous, at least compared with the airlines in this list. AC's mainline product is quite a bit better for seating comfort. I may try JetBlue next summer when we fly out to Boston. A 34" seat pitch seems pretty good. This little comparison also shows that Alaska Airlines is also a bit stingy with the seat dimensions on their 737 aircraft, especially when compared to WestJet's generous accommodations, although I have never been uncomfortable on an Alaska Airlines plane. AC Rouge is a discount brand specifically for holiday destinations. It's used primarily for all inclusive vacations and packaged tours, where the bottom line price is the most important to the consumer. I don't think it can be fairly compared to other mainline airlines, a better comparison would be to something like SunWing.
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Oct 6, 2014 10:07:49 GMT -8
Well we flew with air miles so we had limited choice this trip. Yes the Fairmont Vancouver Airport is really nice hotel. Would of loved to have spent more time there but we really only had like 7 hours there and that with changing from the earlier flight to the later one. One thing I found weird on Air Canada Rouge Airbus was that we were in row 14 which was about 8 or 9 rows back from the front of the plane. So why would it be row 14 then and not row 8 or 9?? You see what I am saying? The first few rows were business class but still our row really was less than 14 from the front of the plane. Does anyone really know how they go about numbering the rows and lettering the seats?? Like why on a Dash or or when it's 2 seats isle then 2 seats why it goes A C D F?? Why wouldent it be A B C D? You see what I am saying?
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Post by Mike C on Oct 6, 2014 11:19:06 GMT -8
AC Rouge is a discount brand specifically for holiday destinations. It's used primarily for all inclusive vacations and packaged tours, where the bottom line price is the most important to the consumer. I don't think it can be fairly compared to other mainline airlines, a better comparison would be to something like SunWing. I did a cost comparison of a one-way flight from Los Angeles to Vancouver for Saturday, January 17th. I felt that this was far enough in the future to give an unbiased look at prices, while not so far as to be offering excessive early-booking discounts. This is to see how AC Rouge compares to more mainline carriers, with more legroom. Air Canada Rouge:Starting price $116 (0745 departure) WestJet:Starting price $92 (1135 departure) Alaska Airlines:Starting price $133 (0955 departure) Sunwing Airlines:Does not fly to Los Angeles United Airlines:Starting price $121 (0600 departure, 35 minute connection in San Francisco) Allegiant
Starting price $93 (flies into Bellingham, flight for January 16th, since flights are not daily - 1445 departure) The inherent problem I have with AC Rouge on routes like YVR-LAX, is the fact that there is no alternative mainline AC service, especially on a route that is also used for those traveling on business, or commuting. I personally like flying on Air Canada, since I feel that the on board, in-flight experience is better than most airlines, specifically WestJet (better clientele, better on board entertainment, etc). That positive in-flight experience has effectively been removed on AC Rouge. And when one evaluates travel between LAX and Vancouver and see that Rouge is priced competitively with mainline carriers, the informed traveler is more likely to go where their dollar is valued most (in this case, WestJet). So what we have here is a self-titled discount carrier that is, in reality, priced as a mainline carrier.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 6, 2014 11:45:12 GMT -8
AC Rouge is a discount brand specifically for holiday destinations. It's used primarily for all inclusive vacations and packaged tours, where the bottom line price is the most important to the consumer. I don't think it can be fairly compared to other mainline airlines, a better comparison would be to something like SunWing. I think I remember reading something on this forum about SunWing and delayed Cuba flights. That story, and Karl's more recent story, have reinforced to me the importance of buying for quality, not for price. Or at least to know what level of quality you are buying, and then to take responsibility for the risks associated with your purchase choice. (ie. don't be a "Discount-Buyer Whiner") You can get burned on the higher-end stuff too, but I think that risk is lower. For my own travel (mainly hotels) I've bought quality and have generally been happy with it, and I've sometimes bought for price and understood that deal. You usually get what you pay for, and that includes the various risks. ---------- I like Mileage Photo's comment about the different airline clientelle, and how that impacts the in-flight experience. I suppose an AC flight that is mainly for business travellers is a lot nicer than a flight full of tired and grumpy vacation travellers. For me, the issues of "when to travel" (weekday vs weekend) and how I travel make a big difference for my enjoyment.
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Post by northwesterner on Oct 6, 2014 11:52:40 GMT -8
The inherent problem I have with AC Rouge on routes like YVR-LAX, is the fact that there is no alternative mainline AC service, especially on a route that is also used for those traveling on business, or commuting. I personally like flying on Air Canada, since I feel that the on board, in-flight experience is better than most airlines, specifically WestJet (better clientele, better on board entertainment, etc). That positive in-flight experience has effectively been removed on AC Rouge. And when one evaluates travel between LAX and Vancouver and see that Rouge is priced competitively with mainline carriers, the informed traveler is more likely to go where their dollar is valued most (in this case, WestJet). So what we have here is a self-titled discount carrier that is, in reality, priced as a mainline carrier. This is the same problem faced by United with TED and Delta with Song when they tried them out about a decade ago. Business travelers and others with a choice found that a route they regularly travel is now operated only as part of the airline-within-an-airline. And these customers are NOT the ones who are interested in a no-frills experience. They want the opportunity to upgrade to first class, whether with an instrument, or miles. They want a little more service, and little more legroom. And they have chosen to place their loyalty with a certain large airline to get those perks. And then, they show up to fly IAD-LAS for business on United, and its a TED airplane with no first class. Ultimately this is not a winning strategy for Air Canada.
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Nick
Voyager
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Oct 6, 2014 12:03:10 GMT -8
I didn't realize AC didn't have any mainline YVR-LAX flights. That does surprise me. My experience with AC is almost entirely domestic, and I've always been happy with my experience. Much happier with AC than with Westjet.
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Oct 6, 2014 13:27:09 GMT -8
Honestly I do like Westjet more than Air Canada. They are a great airline. Yes they do funny and goofy things on Westjet but their employees are happy and always friendly and I dont mind that. Mind you I havent flown much with Air Canada but it's not the plane so much that was the issue just the lack or organization and communication which was the issue between the employees and customers. Mechanical problems happen I know that. The interior of this specific plane was nice. But the legroom and the fact that it was too warm onboard and lack of air was an issue. I think they also were giving out complimentary snacks which is usually part of the onboard menu which was a nice thing to do.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 29, 2014 8:29:24 GMT -8
HeliJet is likely coming to Nanaimo: - downtown Vancouver, to Nanaimo's cruise-ship facility area. Here's a news release from Nanaimo Port Authority. From HEREI think this is good news, with solid established players using existing facilities. For context, the typical Helijet fare for Vancouver-to-Victoria a range of $157 to $275, depending on peak time. Yes this is pricy, and yes there is a market for it.
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Post by Mike C on Nov 7, 2014 12:33:47 GMT -8
Sounds like an Air Canada Express Q400 (Dash-8) had a little incident last night in Edmonton. The plane was enroute from Calgary to Grand Prairie. The tire deflated upon takeoff from Calgary, and diverted to Edmonton for inspection. Upon landing in Edmonton, the landing gear on the right side of the plane collapsed. More from the Airliners forum: www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6223923/
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Post by Mike C on Feb 9, 2015 22:37:27 GMT -8
I believe Rouge already does this on their flights. Hope they have usb ports somewhere so you can recharge your device. My experience indicates that they have a standard 120v wall outlet-style plug at most seats. I poked around on the seating plans for the A319 when I flew to LA about a month back, and it looked like rows in the aft of the plane were not equipped. Punishment for cheaping-out! Hahaha.
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Post by westernflyer on Jul 5, 2015 13:06:50 GMT -8
As a reaction to the current drought and wildfire situation in BC a change.org petition has been started regarding the Martin Mars water bombers. "petitioning Premier of British Columbia Christy Clark Contract the Martin Mars Waterbombers for 5 more years to protect BC effective immediately!" As of 2pm July 5 there are over 8 000 supporters.
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