Earn bonus Aeroplan miles on select Air Canada flights out of Calgary

On January 26th Air Canada launched their latest Aeroplan flight bonus promotion and we Calgarians can take advantage of all of the offers if you connect to other AC flights. In this post however I only wanted to highlight the direct routes out of YYC that you can earn the bonus Aeroplan miles on:

Calgary - Vancouver
Earn Double Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round trip, or two one-way flight segments, on scheduled flights operated by Air Canada and Jazz

Calgary - Tokyo
7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you complete two eligible round trips, or four one-way flight segments, on the scheduled flights operated by Air Canada. Plus, you earn an extra 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every additional eligible round trip or two one-way flight segments

Calgary - London/Frankfurt
5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you complete two eligible round trips, or four one-way flight segments, on scheduled flights operated by Air Canada. Plus, you earn an extra 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every additional eligible round trip or two one-way flight segments.

All of the offers run until April 30, 2011 and require registration prior to flying. For full details and registration links for all of the Aeroplan flight offers please visit Rewards Canada's Aeroplan page

Lufthansa Summer 2011 schedule for YYC

Lufthansa will be decreasing capacity on its YYC-FRA route for summer 2011 in comparison to summer 2010. The flight will be reduced to 6x weekly service although this is an increase from the 5x weekly for the current winter season.Luf

Source: Airline Route Updates

I Fly Calgary to Kahului, Maui: 'The Three Amigos'

Wow, I can't believe it has been well over a year since I wrote my last I Fly Calgary trip report. In fact I haven't been posting as much as I would like to in general on I Fly Calgary as the travel rewards and oil & gas industries have been keeping me very busy. I am going to make a conscious effort to try to do more on I Fly Calgary even though 2011 is shaping up to be even busier then 2010.

For the third year in a row my family has decided to vacation on the beautiful beaches of Maui. Each year we have added one more day to vacation and this year was no exception. The biggest difference this year is that we got both the outbound and inbound flights on Air Canada's direct non-stop flights between YYC and OGG. 2010 saw us go via Vancouver on WestJet to Maui but we did grab the AC direct flight back. For our family of four (kids 7 and 5), getting non-stop flights is typically a priority even though connecting flights can mean more elite qualifying miles and segments (I should try to practice what I preach) and the lack of a new interior with IFE due to AC's use of 'The Three Amigos' on the route

If you are wondering what  'the Three Amigos' are, they are three Boeing 767-300s that Air Canada acquired and did not refurbish the interiors during their XM project that saw new interiors and seat back IFE installed on almost all of the AC fleet. 'The Three Amigos' moniker seems to stem from one of the planes originally being built for Spanair (Fin 687)

On our way to OGG!

As we awaited my family and I prayed to the substitution gods that one we would some how luck out and have one of the XMed 767 subbed in for our flight. As we board the aircraft luck would not be on our side, I see the old school business class seats and know we have one of 'The Three Amigos' The flight out to OGG left YYC pretty much on time with the wheels leaving the ground 15 minutes after the posted departure time and arriving at the gate in OGG six hours and thirty six minutes later.  The flight was uneventful with very little turbulence although it was quite cool to see another AC' 767 from YVR heading to Honolulu fly up to us, make a bit of a right turn and stay just ahead and a little below our aircraft for most of the route. Entertainment wise we had Flight Attendants apologizing for someone forgetting to load new movies onto to plane for the overhead projection system, so we were stuck watching 'One Fine Day' and 'The Matrix'. Overall service was good throughout the flight from the cabin crew, and is consistent with what I have experienced from AC over the past year.

Once on the island, we hopped into our minivan from Budget (my parents came along this year so we needed a vehicle my family loves to hate) and drove the forty minutes to the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas. The Ocean Resort Villas are great for families as you have an awesome hotel resort style complex with condo type rooms that have kitchens and a washer/dryer. As much as I would like to book the resort through Starwood to earn Starpoints and get a commission, you just can't get rates as good as the third party booking company we used called Maui Hawaii Vacations.  If you choose to use them be sure to ask for Naomi if you book by phone.

Fast forward 9 days and a great vacation that included Snorkeling, Whale Watching, tons of food, pool and beach time was over. After dropping our rental off we get to AC's check in counters around 5:30pm (departure is 7:55pm) with a small line up ahead of us. Check in was almost a breeze except for one of our bags being 4lbs overweight, blame it on all the Honolulu Cookie Co. cookies and Maui Jelly Factory Jellies and Jams (oh and one mustard). Luckily we had enough room in our carry on luggage to move 4lbs out. The check-in agent said that normally he would let it go but they were being audited so he had to comply with AC's rules. Once again, we were blessed with one of 'The Three Amigos' for our flight home. This time the flight home was quite rough turbulence wise for a good portion of the flight that delayed the just about to start in-flight service for well over an hour. This meant that the hot items from the buy-on-board service were free as they sat in the ovens for the period of turbulence. This time for entertainment they had one new movie 'Life as We Know It' and once again 'The Matrix'. The flight arrived into Calgary 10 minutes late but with no other flights arriving from the U.S. or elsewhere at 5am customs was a breeze and we didn't have to wait too long to get our luggage.

Overall, the trip was great, the flights were good and once again YYC served me well. I have flown AC quite a bit over the past year and have no complaints as I like their service, and their planes (even 'The Three Amigos'). I look forward to my next flight out of YYC and telling you about it. Until then, its Adios Amigos!

WestJet and Delta ink interline agreement

WestJet announced yesterday that they have signed an interline agreement with Atlanta based Delta Airlines. The agreement went into effect immediately allowing WestJet and Delta customers to purchase connecting flights on one ticket, receive boarding passes for all segments at their first check-in, and tag bags through to their final destination. Currently it will allow connections between WestJet and Delta in over 25 cities in Canada and the U.S.. At the moment passengers must book via Delta booking channels to get the interline flights on both airlines.

This move makes a lot of sense for WestJet even though they already have an agreement in place with American Airlines. Why? As we have stated in the past Delta serves the most cities in Canada after Air Canada and WestJet and Delta's SkyTeam alliance is the second largest alliance in Canada after Star Alliance (solely because of Air Canada) The majority of the Canadian cities covered by Delta are served by WestJet as well, more so then American Airlines and allows for many more connections to be made across Canada rather then only 4 or 5 major cities.

Source: WestJet Press Release

Air Canada increases Calgary-Tokyo flights, plans year round service

Air Canada has announced that they will be increasing service on the non-stop Calgary-Tokyo route to 5x weekly as of March 26. There are also plans to make the route operate year round subject to approvals in Japan. According to Air Canada the demand has been strong for business and leisure travelers as well as for cargo. The flights will continue to be operated with a Boeing 767-300ER.

Source: Air Canada

WestJet adds Orange County flights from Calgary

WestJet announced today that they will offer direct non-stop flights between Calgary and Orange County, California. The summer seasonal service will be daily and is slated to start on June 13. WestJet will also be offering flights to Orange County from Vancouver. For those who are not aware, Orange County's John Wayne Airport is close to Anaheim (Disneyland), Knots Berry Farm and the beach cities of Southern California.

Flight timings
Calgary-Orange County Dep 930 Arr 1149
Orange County-Calgary Dep 1230 Arr 1635

Source: WestJet

November Passenger Stats

The positive growth continues at YYC as November 2010 was the best November ever for the airport

Percentage wise, November 2010 was the best month yet this past year for growth over 2009 with an overall increase of 7.8%. Domestic travel saw its best gains to date in 2010 with a 10.2% increase over 2009 while transborder traffic was the only sector that was down albeit only slightly, with a decrease of 0.9%. International traffic growth continued once again in November although unlike the previous six months it was only single digit growth at 8.1%. Overall, 963,943 passengers used the airport in November.

November 2010
Domestic: 697,271
Transborder: 183,051
International: 83,621

Source: YYC.com

YYC.com mobile site

The Calgary Airport Authority now has a mobile version of the YYC.com site for users accessing the website via their cell phones. The simplified site provides all the necessary and same information as the main website however with less graphics and formatting to fit the small screens of most web enabled phones.

You can access the site at yyc.com/mobile

WestJet confirms 757 lease for Alberta-Hawaii flights

If you have read some other forums or blogs you may have heard rumors that WestJet was planning to lease a 757 to operate their Alberta-Hawaii flights. I did not want to post anything here until it was confirmed and WestJet has made it official via a press release today that they will be leasing a North American Airlines 757 from Feb 12 - Apr 30, 2011 to provide the much needed capacity for their flights out of Calgary and Edmonton. Last season was WestJet's first running flights from our city to Hawaii directly but the flights were weight restricted to ensure WestJet's 737's could reach Hawaii. This move will allow WestJet to seat 193 passengers per flight which is close to double of what they offered last season.

Source: WestJet

Air Canada drops second LHR flight for summer season

This is a further reduction from previous years when YYC saw double daily service to LHR that went down to five times per week and now is totally gone for the 2011 summer season. However to make up some of the capacity loss the single daily flight will be flown with a Boeing 777-300ER as of June 1, 2011.  Overall though 467 seats per week are lost according to Johnny Aussie on Skyscraper pages.

Source: Skyscraper Pages and Airline Route Updates

October Passenger Stats

Once again we see another month with positive growth for YYC with all three sectors seeing an increase in traffic over October 2009

October 2010 saw decent growth with an overall increase in passengers of 2.7% over the same month last year. Domestic travel was up 0.7% compared to 2009 and transborder traffic was also up a marginal 0.2%. The year long trend for International traffic seeing large growth was repeated this past October with a whopping  28.0% increase over 2009. Overall, 1,036,969 passengers used the airport in October.

October 2010
Domestic: 735,639
Transborder: 200,678
International: 100,652

Source: YYC.com

YYC Airport Improvement Fee to jump to $25

As of March 1, 2011 the Airport Improvement Fee at YYC will go up to $25 from the current $22. At $25, Calgary will be matching Toronto and Montreal in charging the highest AIF in Canada. The increase is required to fund the expansion project that is underway which includes the new N-S runways and the new International Concourse.

Source: Calgary Sun