Jazz Yellowknife probs

[yul07]

NEW AIR CANADA JAZZ SERVICE COMES UNDER FIRE

Delayed luggage and cancelled flights are plaguing Air Canada's new Jazz service flights into Yellowknife.

RCMP officer Russell Sangster looked a little anxious at the airport when one of his bags went missing after a flight from Montreal via Calgary on Air Canada Jazz.

"It's just that I have my gun that's in a locked gun box," he says. "Unloaded, of course."

But that's not all he;missed.

"I'm with the RCMP, so I would need to have my uniform," he says, "and I have other accoutrements that go along with that uniform which I need for my work."

Air Canada is looking for Sangster's gun and uniform, but he's not the only one missing gear. Outfitters say the baggage delays for their hunting clients have been so bad, it'll hurt the Territories' reputation.

Boyd Warner;an outfitter with Bathurst Inlet Developments, says: "We've got three clients out in the bush this week, and here's their bags. Two are from Hawaii."

Warner says delayed baggage is costing his company money.

"We're having to inventory ourselves with more sleeping bags and gear to prepare these guys," he says.

Jane Weishaupt, an outfitter with Courageous Lake Caribou Camp, says she's spending time at the airport trying to help clients.

"So far, we've had five groups arrive: Eleven hunters have lost gear, which is approximately 25 & 30 bags."

Air Canada Jazz began daily non-stop service to Yellowknife from Edmonton and Calgary in early July 2006.

The airline has not responded to CBC inquiries, and Yellowknife staff say they are not authorized to comment.

[Lakelad]

To the surprise of no one with even a passing familiarity with the route. A triumph of central planning over local knowledge.

[John S.]

Is the problem not enough baggage space on the CRJ

or

are bags are not getting to the RJ to be loaded in time from those connecting flights?

[GreatSlave]

"As pointed out earlier in the thread, baggage volume will be a HUGE issue on the Skidoo. As it is, we have ongoing problems with carry-on and to a lesser degree checked bag volume even with the 737 and it's 70's vintage spacious overhead bins. The Japanese all travel with hard sided Samsonite voluminous enough to contain a Toyota Corolla PLUS a clean pair of skivies. Northerners seem to lean towards hockey bags and Action Packers."

I hope it's not in poor taste to quote yourself. I posted the above in a thread about this in May, prior to AC even starting the service.

From what I've been told, First Air has taken to hauling competitors bags.(For a price of course .) We regularly carry bags for AC, those bags that make the connection, out of YEG and YZF.

We've even been carrying bags for Canadian North on occasion when the pax load exceeds the baggage pit volumes on their new F-100. It would appear that F-100 is another aircraft not designed with the northern traveller in mind. At least Canadian North has some of their own lift available at certain times of the day.

As an aside, the latest security measures seem to have decreased the amount of carry on baggage, thereby increasing the volume of checked bags going in the already full pits.

Kevin

[ChicoChico]

An Airbus 319 would cover all the pax and their bags nicely TUVM.....

[Guest rattler]

An Airbus 319 would cover all the pax and their bags nicely TUVM.....

Are the 319s container loading or bulk? Kind of lost track of the various a320 (up and down models).

[Super 80]

I have seen them being loaded both ways,

[Guest rattler]

Thanks.

Only reason I ask is to have a container loader stationed and operating in Yellowknife might be an expensive extra if the aircraft needs it for unloading. I imagine that the other carriers might not be interested in loaning out theirs.

[dozerboy]

i dont think that any of air canada's 319 have container loading

[Guest rattler]

Thanks.

[Canus Chinookus]

To the surprise of no one with even a passing familiarity with the route. A triumph of central planning over local knowledge.

not just local knowledge here, pretty much any flight departing any southern city to the north will be very heavy with excess baggage.

[Guest rattler]

Hmm, Air Canada is also operating the RJ between YVR & YXY. Don't remember much discussion re any problem on this route. Baggage size / traffic would be the same.

So is there a difference or is YXY having the same problems??

[Just Curious 2]

Any travellers to the North travel loaded for bear. With cornflakes going for 20 bucks a box in the out-lying communities, returnung traveller load up.

Travellers going North to Visit are usually going to visit an outfitter for a hunt, go fishing or go on some sort of trek.

Average checked baggage is about 70 pounds.

And now, with the help of the folks in security at YZF (whose mision statement is "Helping you to hate us"), checked baggage is about to increase.

I hadn't realized that my favorite check report pen (lethal only to ride candidates) was an enemy in the war against terror.