Air Canada question

[TravelGal]

Any thoughts on long-haul travel on AC? As in Vancouver to Beijng?

They sure are cheap ..........

But I'm afraid I'll get what I pay for. :yuck:

[Dirty Sanchez]

flown overseas on air canada before without issue. one time on a flight back from france I was bumped up to first class. that ruled.

[Mr. Vengeance]

Any thoughts on long-haul travel on AC? As in Vancouver to Beijng?

They sure are cheap ..........

But I'm afraid I'll get what I pay for. :yuck:

My wife took the Vancouver to Beijing flight a year ago. The flight was fine (long) but she missed her connector to Bangkok and had to overnight in China, without her luggage, (which Air Canada lost).

She made it to Thailand the next day, her luggage arrived three days later.

She wrote a note to Air Canada, and they gave her enough reward points for a free flight. I think losing luggage, etc. is the exception, not the rule. I've never had a bad experience with AC. If it's cheap, I'd book it. :thumbup:

[oddlycalm]

My AC experience isn't recent, but it was all positive and the folks that report to me still use them when it makes sense. As one of them is close to Windsor and our headquarters isn't far from Vancouver it does come up. I don't have a single horror story to tell.

oc

[devilmaster]

I have no transoceanic experience, but I took alot of AC flights all over Canada and never had a major problem with them.

[Audi_A4]

Air Canada is fine, they have become a discount airline cutting serivces etc but dont worry about it. bring a pillow and something to read.

[WickerBill]

www.seatguru.com

Avoid the red, try to avoid the yellow.

[TravelGal]

Thanks WB. I look at it sometimes but 28 years of experience have taught me most of what it says. As in, don't sit by the toilets or the catering. Not to mention that many airlines have so many different seat configurations that seatguru is not always correct even though they break it down by model.

Case in point, clients going to Australia. I call the Qantas people direct (not reservations but the airport people). They tell me that on the two aircraft currently in service on the route I'm asking about, there are 3 of the rear rows (2, not 3, on the side). Seatguru shows 4 rear rows. Client wanted two back but not two from the toilets so she was out of luck because 3 rows made it impossible to accommodate both criteria.

I particularly liked OC's "I don't have a single horror story to tell." :D That is worth noting in this day and age. Overall, AC sounds like a possibility.

Over the day, I began to look more carefully at China Eastern. It's nonstop to Shanghai, our first stop, from here, which would be a definite plus. Return from Beijing is a change in Shanghai but we think having the long segment last is also a plus.

I'm not going to start a separate thread but if anyone has any stories--good or horror on that one, please let me know!

[cameraman]

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/air_can.htm

About 60 different reports on flying Air Canada.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.

It is a pretty good web site, it cover just about every airline and airport on the planet.

Including China Eastern Airlines
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/c_eastrn.htm

[TravelGal]

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/air_can.htm

About 60 different reports on flying Air Canada.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.

It is a pretty good web site, it cover just about every airline and airport on the planet.

Including China Eastern Airlines
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/c_eastrn.htm

Yowzers. The reviews of China Eastern are depressing. They are ALL for the UK to Australia via Shanghai though. I'll call the airline to see if they are using the same aircraft on the LAX/SHA service. The problem with AC is that it leaves here at 7:45 am. That means getting up at 3 am to begin a very long journey. Wouldn't mind avoiding that.

[mapguy]

There is a good chance that you'll be in one of these. AC starts taking delivery of the new 777-300ER this month.

http://images1.jetphotos.net/images/img2/p/PAEPICTP2543CFITLsm.jpg.55345.jpg

[Wheel-Nut]

Air Canada pilot training video.

http://users.skynet.be/fa926657/files/emergency.swf

[Gnam]

CEA pilot: Everything's under control. Situation: normal.

Tower: What happened?

CEA Pilot: Had an slight [engine] malfunction, but everything's perfectly alright now. We're fine, we're all fine, here now, thank you. How are you?

[/Solo]

[TravelGal]

Don't I wish I'd be in one of those new AC planes! It's not showing it yet in my displays. Maybe because they have not been received yet??

Anyhoot, I took the idea of looking at ratings websites to heart and could not find one single good or kind word about China Eastern. One of the reasons I love my business is that I'm learning all the time in addition to keep up my usual specialties.

Sooooooooo, I've decided that Air Canada is in my future unless I come upon something different by tomorrow.

Thanks guys. I owe ya.

[Ankf00]

could not find one single good or kind word about China Eastern.

sheesh, where's your sense of adventure?

[TorontoWorker]

Can't wait until AC get's the 787's either. My daughters boyfriend's father has the Toronto (YYZ) - Sao Paulo (GRU) route on old 767's so they are really looking forward to the dreamliner. (They should look forward to them - their pensions paid for them!) Sarcastic mode to OFF...


Here's a quote from AC's CEO's message to shareholders in the current AC annual report:

<snip>
New widebody fleet

Beginning in March, we will begin replacing our 10 A340-300s and some of our oldest Boeing 767s with a combination of Boeing 777-300ER and 777-200LR twin-engine aircraft. The 777s have a lower cost per available seat-mile than both of our four-engine A340 models – up to 26 per cent lower – and can fly further with a full payload. Two engines versus four mean better fuel efficiency and less maintenance expense. When substituting a 349-seat 777-300ER for an A340-300 we gain 63 seats and several tonnes of freight capacity. Our 777s will have the same Executive First suite with a lie-flat bed being installed throughout the widebody fleet. Every passenger in the economy cabin will have the same personal in-seat video system being installed fleet-wide – and we intend to charge for premium content. The 777-300ER is destined for our busiest, most profitable markets like London, Frankfurt and Tokyo where we can sell the extra seats and cargo space and charge top dollar for the suites. The 270-seat 777-200LR will take over very long distance routes like Toronto-Hong Kong and do it at a 12 per cent lower seat-mile cost. And the best is yet to come: the Boeing 787s being delivered from 2010 on will be 30 per cent more cost-effective to operate than the 218-seat 767s they replace. <snip>

Don't like the comment, "we intend to charge premium content" for the in-seat videos!!

[TravelGal]

sheesh, where's your sense of adventure?

Been thinking about answering this for 2 months Ankf00. It's alive and well, thank you. :cool:

We decided to go for China Eastern in spite of all the awful stuff we read on the internet. Got back yesterday. Two perfect flights. Good seats. Decent food. On time to the minute. Entertainment is poor but on a long haul flight, I'd rather read or sleep anyway. Perhaps dismaying to others but limited beverage service also. They have beer but it's a closely guarded secret. Otherwise you get a small glass of warm coke or sprite. Since everyone is allowed to bring their own water onboard, it didn't matter too much.

The price is definitely right. I'd fly them again. But don't tell anyone because then you'll make it harder for me to find cheap seats.

[SteveH]

How was China?

Was this orignally planned to catch the CC race?

[mapguy]

Was this orignally planned to catch the CC race?

Dude, that was cold.

[SteveH]

Dude, that was cold.

:D

[Dirty Sanchez]

How was China?

Was this orignally planned to catch the CC race?ROR

[JT265]

How was China?

Was this orignally planned to catch the CC race?

You're mean. :yuck:

SRSLY, is visiting like their food? Do you wanna go back for seconds an hour or two after leaving? :p



:D

[ferrarigod]

www.seatguru.com

Avoid the red, try to avoid the yellow.

yellow isn't always bad. in fact all extra legroom areas on an exit row are yellow. or yellow/green. if there are 2 exit rows one right behind the other, never get the first row. you get extra leg room, but zero seat recline. never sit in front of any exit row, dat es teh suk.

[Wabbit]

I'll be experiencing Air Canada in six weeks. Hopefully it will be decent. Only a 90 minute flight, though.

[JT265]

I'll be experiencing Air Canada in six weeks. Hopefully it will be decent. Only a 90 minute flight, though.

I've done a goodly part of the world on AC, they're about as good as any major carrier. They left me stranded at Heathrow one night after British Airways was late arriving from Frankfurt. (although my luggage made it to Pearson as scheduled). BA spent a fortune on us that night and AC put us on their morning flight to Toronto and our luggage was waiting for us. Overall not too bad.

[TravelGal]

I've been fighting jetlag but I need to answer before this falls off the grid.

First of all, lol, yes SteveH et al, it originally was planned to coincide with the CC race in Zhuhai. I found a tour the ended in Hong Kong on what would have been the Thursday before the race. I figured, since I'd been to HKG before TravelGuy and I would just skip out on that part of the tour and go to Zhuhai.

As time went on, I got a weird feeling about it and abandoned that idea. The next week the rumors started about cancellation. Cue Twilight Zone music. ;)

As for the trip, it was great. A real revelation. I was amazed at China. Progressing so much more quickly than the Americans' image of it. Except for the pollution part, which really is still a mess. I can't imagine running in that air in Beijing for the Olympics.

One final airline comment. The SeatGuru map was completely wrong for China Eastern for our aircraft. Must be a fluke. They had the same Airbus "numbers" as the plane but they showed a much smaller aircraft. We were very pleasantly surprised when we got on the plane that row 40 was NOT at the back!

[Wabbit]

If you book an Air Canada flight and the plane is a CRJ (Bombardier 100/200), just say no. That is one tiny jet with no leg room. Even the turbo props I've been on had more room.

We were one hour late leaving Seattle due to the previous flight being late. We were one hour late leaving Calgary due to an instrument issue. The pilot said it was due to the plane being towed between gates. BS! The plane had just landed and I watched everyone get off the plane.

Next warning. They use Metric Minutes as well. The pilot says they will have the instrument fixed in 3 minutes. 15 minutes later, one of them is fixed and it will be another 2-3 minutes. 15 minutes later, it's fixed, then we have to wait another 2-3 minutes for the ground crew to come back. 15 minutes later, we get a ground crew. Does anyone know how to convert metric time?

Don't think I'll fly Air Canada again if I can avoid it.