May 2011 Passenger Statistics

YYC continued to see improved passenger numbers in May 2011 albeit not with not as great of growth as seen in April. Overall May saw increase of 1.6% over the same month last year.

All three sectors saw growth over 2010 with domestic traffic growing by 1.6%, transborder by 0.9% and International by 2.4%.

May  2011
Domestic: 747,609
Transborder: 2196,644
International: 103,356

Source: YYC.com

Air Canada cutting Calgary-Punta Cana but Thomas Cook is adding it

From Airline Route Updates, it appears that Air Canada's winter service to Punta Cana is being canceled. According to this post on SSP, Thomas Cook Canada (operated by Jazz) will introduce the route for the upcoming winter season. Thomas Cook is also adding service between Calgary and Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Molson Brewhouse opens at Calgary International

Just caught this on the YYC website as I have not been in Concourse D for a little while. Looks like we have another option for food/drinks when past security with the opening of the Molson Brewhouse. Apparently the place will showcase Molson's beers (but of course!) and feature pub favorites such as Beer Battered Fish n’ Chips, Mac n’ Cheese Dark, and Sausage with Peppers & Onions. It looks like it is also open for breakfast according to the press release.

If any of our readers have tried it out please feel free to comment below on the food, drinks and service!

Source: YYC

Diners Club Cardholders gain access to YYC Servisair Lounges

Back in March I had mentioned on Rewards Canada that Diners Club had expanded their lounge access program (this is the program where you use your Diners Club card not the Priority Pass that also comes with the card) and now they have expanded it even further. In March the total number of lounges you could access with your Diners Club card was just 350 and that has now grown to over 400. Of particular interest to us Canadians is the expansion of the program to include more lounges in Canada. After the first expansion only the KLM Crown Lounge in Toronto was participating but now there is access to lounges in Calgary (2),  Montreal, Quebec City and Winnipeg. A quick glance at the list of lounges shows a large increase in the  amount of lounges one can access south of the border.

This card keeps getting stronger after a bit of a lull when it was being pawned off by Citibank and we here at Rewards Canada can only anxiously await its return to the general public. Meanwhile us current cardholders can sit back and relax..... in one of the many more lounges now available. And I may just have to get supplementary cards for my kids to avoid the guest fee seeing we would be using the lounges enough to make it worthwhile.

Here are the specifics on the Calgary lounges that are participating, for a list of all the lounges please see here:

Calgary International Airport – Calgary, Canada
Lounge Name	Chinook Lounge
Lounge Location	Concourse D
Telephone	403 221 1506
Fax	N/A
Hours Open	6:00 am - 9:00 pm daily Closed : Dec 25, Jan 01 & 02
Languages Spoken	English
Entry Conditions	Cardmembers must present their Diners Club card. Maximum 3 hour stay. Dress code applies (no shorts, baseball caps or football shirts allowed). Non-smoking.
Amenities Offered	Air conditioning, Disabled access, Flight monitor, Newspapers, Magazines, Conference facilities, Internet, Wi-Fi, Telephone, TV, Snacks, Soft Drinks and Alcoholic beverages.
Fees	Cardmembers please check with your issuer for terms and conditions of lounge access. Children under 2 years are admitted free. Guest fee - US $27.

Calgary International Airport – Calgary, Canada
Lounge Name	Rocky Mountain Lounge
Lounge Location	Concourse C
Telephone	403 221 1534
Fax	N/A
Hours Open	6:00 am - 9:00 pm daily Closed : Dec 25, Jan 01 & 02
Languages Spoken	English
Entry Conditions	Cardmembers must present their Diners Club card. Maximum 3 hour stay. Dress code applies (no shorts, baseball caps or football shirts allowed). Non-smoking.
Amenities Offered	Air conditioning, Disabled access, Flight monitor, Newspapers, Magazines, Conference facilities, Internet, Wi-Fi, Telephone, TV, Snacks, Soft Drinks and Alcoholic beverages.
Fees	Cardmembers please check with your issuer for terms and conditions of lounge access. Children under 2 years are admitted free. Guest fee - US $27.

Fast Track to Delta Elite Status

Alright Delta flyers in YYC, here are couple of fast track to Elite Status offers that I have up on the RewardsCanada.ca/FrequentFlyerBonuses.com sites. Note that these are targeted offers so they may or may not work for you. You can try to register and it will let you know if the promotion works for you or not. Both offers run until December 31, 11

Offer #1
Earn Platinum Medallion Status when you fly just three paid round-trip domestic flights or two paid round-trip international flights on Delta. Register Online (Registration is required)

Offer #2
Earn Gold Medallion Status when you fly just two paid round-trip domestic flights or one paid round-trip international flight on Delta. Register Online (Registration is required)

Air North increases YYC service for the summer season

Recently Air North increase their service between Calgary and Whitehorse from four to six flights per week for the summer season. The current schedule of increased flights will run until September 9.

Source: Airline Route Updates

British Airways Business Class Sale to London

British Airways is currently running a sale on Business Class fares from Calgary to London for the summer season. Fares start at $3298r/t (+taxes &fees) for travel Jun 28 - Sep 3 and need to be booked by Jun 16. . You can book this fare at BritishAirways.com*

* Full disclosure: This is a commissioned link, I Fly Calgary will receive a commission if you book a flight via this link to British Airways

April 2011 Passenger Statistics

April 2011 saw the 2 month slide in passenger numbers at YYC end with a decent sized increase of 2.2% over the previous year.

The month saw all three sectors increase over 2010 with domestic traffic growing by 1.1%, transborder by 2.2% and International by 8.6%. It also appears that YYC has corrected the March numbers for domestic passenger counts by nearly 15,000 which means March only had a drop of 0.8% from March 2010 as compared to the original -2.2% first reported.

April 2011
Domestic: 693,407
Transborder: 219,540
International: 119,267

Source: YYC.com

American expands code-shares on WestJet flights out of Calgary

Further to last weeks post on WestJet beginning to code-share on AA's YYC-DFW flights, American is now putting their flight number on the following WestJet routes :
Calgary – Abbotsford
Calgary – Kelowna
Calgary – Regina
Calgary – Winnipeg

Source: Airline Route Updates

Air Canada increases service to Maui from YYC

Air Canada updated their winter schedules today and it sure looks like one of my favorite destinations is also a favorite of many other Calgarians. According to Airline Route Updates service between Calgary and Kahului will increase to 5x weekly from the previous winter season's 4x weekly service. Honolulu will remain at 2x weekly. This is the second year in a row that AC has increased Maui service as when they first introduced the route for the 2009/10 winter season it was only flown 3x weekly.

WestJet now code-sharing on AA's YYC-DFW flights

WestJet is continuing to expand its actual code-shares on American Airlines fights. When it was first announced, both airlines released all the routes they planned to code-share on and slowly many of those routes are being implemented. As of May 21st, American Airlines flights between Calgary and Dallas/Ft. Worth carry a WestJet flight number.

Source: FlyerTalk

Vote for Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Card

For the third year in a row Rewards Canada will be ranking Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards but this year we are also having Canada vote for their favourites. Canada's Rankings will be listed alongside of Rewards Canada's on July 18th.

To vote please visit
http://www.rewardscanada.ca/vote/