Kip Powick Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Just got back from a bit of a jaunt out West (USA) to see my son and his wife. Left Canada on AC and traveled in the US on UNITED and back to Canada on AC. AC......... YYZ-DEN Leaving YYZ. (T-2)Other than the kiosk not accepting my info in YYZ, the check-ins and flights were extremely well done. Everyone was extremely courteous and looked like they were really enjoying their job. I was most impressed with the Captain of the AC flight out of YYZ as he gave excellent PA briefings and took the time to remind the customers that it was 11 November. It was a nice touch with a short but heartwarming PA about Remembrance Day and even better when the entertainment system was shut down for two minutes at 11:00am. Many deplaning customers commented to the crew that it was a class act. UNITED.......... DEN-SLC-DEN There is no doubt that UNITED goes out of its way to treat cons and retirees with grace and respect. Leaving DEN we were called to the front desk and given “J” class seats. I guess it pays to just sit down in the waiting area and make noise like a barrel of apples instead of pestering the gate agents, as we saw so many people doing, in their attempts to get an upgrade. For our return flight to DEN we were boarded last as we were the only two on standby and the aircraft had almost a full load. Prior to door closing the gate agent walked onboard, came down the aisle to our row, the last in the 737/300 and said, “Excuse me sir, but we have better seats for you and your wife up forward”. A bit embarrassing, leaving the seat and walking the entire length of the aircraft to Row 1.. A and C but yes, we did it. Only downside for UNITED were the PAs from the cockpit. From DEN to SLC there were none, not one , and from SLC to DEN the pilot was on the PA about every 5 minutes advising that we were flying over some little town……it was about 80% under cast. Service on the aircraft was great by all the in-flight crews and bear in mind these two flights on UNITED do not reflect the entire UNITED organization…we just noticed the PAs on these two flights. AC.......... DEN-YYZ I was surprised that the agent PA’d in the waiting area that “Y” class would have to pay $10.00 for lunch and she went on to say that the selection onboard was not that great and she advised the customers to pick up a snack in the Terminal and take it onboard !!. Have not flown on AC for quite sometime so was not aware that international flights charged for meals. Another well done flight with very courteous service by the crew with concise and informative PAs from the flight deck. On time departure and a bit of an early arrival. The subject of in-flight entertainment has been discussed at length on this forum so I decided to do a little gawking at the customers on the longer AC flights. In “J” class very few watched any screens, most were doing paperwork or on a laptop. In “Y”, it appeared that less than 30% were watching the TVs, most were reading and some had headsets on but as they were not watching, I would assume they were listening to music. Now if there had been live TV…..?? I really don’t know. SUMMARY… We have not flown AC for about two years and we were most impressed by the attitude of the individuals we came in contact with. They appeared very upbeat and went out of their way to assist all the customers. There were no “long faces” and the individuals projected a friendly and professional attitude both on the ground, and in the air…Well done. ((For WJetters - C'ya in DEC)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadaEH Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 ... and we look forward to having you. As the date approaches, feel free to PM me and I'll let you know if you'll be on an aircraft with LiveTV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Say Altitude Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 On a side note, I just booked 2 positive space YYC to IAH via the internet and it was $100/ticket cheaper to book the exact same flight with United than it was with AC. The flight is operated by AC. I wonder why they don't have a system set up to "catch" big fare differences like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 16, 2004 Author Share Posted November 16, 2004 Just curious...all CDN dollars ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conehead Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Kip; regarding the kiosks not recognizing you in YYZ; did you know that you must use the credit card in the kiosk that you used to book the ticket? The reason I ask is that we used to use our employee card, but that doesn't work any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 16, 2004 Author Share Posted November 16, 2004 Yup, I never even tried my "employee" card...tried MasterCard and Visa...no joy...not a big deal, the check-in desks weren't that busy and we got through in very little time. I had used my MasterCard in T1"New" last year and it worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Say Altitude Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Kip, Yep, I double checked it because I couldn't believe it either. I used Destina.ca which is all Cdn dollars. AC was around $673/ea and UA was $575/each - both quoted off Destina - I just searched using airline specific fields and the difference was $100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W5 Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Hyy Kip, You don't happen to have one of those WestJet/Mastercards, do you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 16, 2004 Author Share Posted November 16, 2004 Hyy Kip, You don't happen to have one of those WestJet/Mastercards, do you? Ah..nope...Have a Mosaik MC...get airmiles on that one. Have had a lot of brochures sent here asking to go with a WJ MC but I believe you only get Airmiles if you fly WJ...not sure...but I like Mosaik. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 16, 2004 Author Share Posted November 16, 2004 Kip, Yep, I double checked it because I couldn't believe it either. I used Destina.ca which is all Cdn dollars. AC was around $673/ea and UA was $575/each - both quoted off Destina - I just searched using airline specific fields and the difference was $100. Thanks for the info... I would suggest you call AC Res and ask what the h*ll is going on. Sounds like the Left Hand doesn't know what the Right Hand is doing. Shouldn't be that way on a Star Alliance carrier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Dundee Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Ah..nope...Have a Mosaik MC...get airmiles on that one. Have had a lot of brochures sent here asking to go with a WJ MC but I believe you only get Airmiles if you fly WJ...not sure...but I like Mosaik. Actually, all the new mosaik cards which earn Air Miles will be WestJet Mosaik cards. If you select the gold option ($70 annual fee) you get a $70 credit to fly on WS (you probably wouldn't use that), 1 Air Mile for every $15 spent, and a free companion flight for every $3000 spent on westjet.com (you wouldn't use that either?!?). Plus you get prefered redemption rates for flights on WestJet (again, not that useful for ex-airline employees with travel benefits). Maybe you will be carrying a WestJet credit card in your wallet when this one expires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 16, 2004 Author Share Posted November 16, 2004 Hello Croc Well you pretty well said it...I don't need a WestJet card. I just went on the MC website and the cards are virtually the same...except that if I was a "freeky flyer" on WJA it would be to my advantage to have your card. The status of the cards and fee structures are almost identical as is the medical plans and both run by BMO. I have been a Royal Bank customer for as long as I can remember but I guess eons ago I got a BMO MC for reasons that escape me, and have stuck with it. I carry a Royal Bank Visa card but very rarely use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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