AT Trip Report

[Kip Powick]

27 February – TS 108

YUL-ADZ

Online check-in was no problem but the UL airport could use a clear and concise sign near the AT check-in area that states where PERSONS WHO HAVE UTILIZED ONLINE CHECK-IN  NEED TO GO TO CHECK BAGGAGE. Two of the persons I talked to kept trying to get me to check back in at a kiosk even though I showed them I had already done an online check in. I finally found the correct area.

A simple sign would certainly help

The flight down was extremely enjoyable, great cabin crew who interacted with the pax in a very amiable way.

Pre- departure PA from pilots was much too fast and hard to understand. Pre-landing PA merely stated an ETA, no temp or “out the window you can see” info. Was a very nice clear day, very light winds, and the main area of the small island is easily view-able when lined up for landing on the  NE runway…

14 March –TS 109

ADZ –YUL

Air Transat sends update text messages as the date your flight approaches.  AT states that  online check-in is available. It also states that two hard copies of your boarding pass should be printed out. I was fortunate that I knew the admin persons in the Dive Shop and managed to Air-Print from my IOS and get two hard copies. Checked in at the airport  and it was quite obvious that there was absolutely no advantage to doing and online check-in  because the airport staff do not have the technology that is available in other places. I handed in one of my boarding passes and Passport…….waited…..waited….and got back the normal thin cardboard boarding pass that was IDENTICAL to my printed out boarding pass. Again at the gate it was obvious that the technology was not yet in place as the agents could not read an IOS with the encrypted boarding pass installed…they wanted the newly issued  paper pass.

Once again, outstanding service from the cabin crew….appreciated by all

Pre-departure  PA from the cockpit was very informative and even advised the pax why we stopped taxiing and  that we would have to wait for an aircraft to land prior to being able to move onto the runway. Pre-arrival PA was very good….only forgot to mention the local time and that there was a one hour time change between ADZ and YUL (Canada was now on DL Savings Time).

THEY ARE STILL OUT THERE

Below you will find a pic of lady waiting at the boarding gate for the flight from ADZ to YUL. There are always people who want to get on-board first and I don’t know why when pax are supposed to be boarded by assigned seat rows….(perhaps they want to get the choice of overhead bins ), anyhow…as I sat there I noticed her bag had a “Carry On Baggage” tag. After thinking about it…I finally went up to the lady and explained that the bag was much too big for Carry-On baggage..(I estimated 3 feet x 2 feet x 1 foot).

She was adamant that the bag was going on as Carry On baggage.. I certainly wasn’t going to argue with her, I merely pointed out that it probably wouldn’t be allowed and I wished her luck.

Well we started boarding and she was about number 5 through the gate and I was about number 15-20. Shortly after we started down the ramp to the tarmac..(air-stairs boarding),  the line halted then moved again slowly past the Francophone lady shouting at the Avianca agent about her bag going up the air-stairs to the cabin. (Broken English with a touch of French and Spanish) As I looked back I saw the agent dragging her bag to the starboard side of the aircraft and heading for the belt that went into the aft cargo hold…..

I guess some people just don’t get it.