superangrypenguin

WS, not WJ...

FEV1

Hi everyone,

I have been reading the great information here on FlyerTalk for the last couple of years but only now adding a post.

At YXE, there usually is no significant lineup for security. I have never waited more than 10 minutes. Obviously, this can change when there is a large sun-destination charter going south and conflicting with the usual AC & WS flights.

There is a "Nexus Line" but nobody uses it.

The business lounge is scheduled to open next month and is apparently Priority Pass affiliated.

The best news is that both Tim Horton's and Starbucks are open past security so you can get your caffeine fix before the flight.

Cheers

Canuckmma

WJA if I was referencing the stock code I suppose. Apologies mon penguin.

DJ Bitterbarn

I visited the Starbucks on the way back in Jan, and it's perfectly adequate for YXE (and a big step up from the that coffee shop they put in the pier IMO). Timmies will be great for reducing the security line, though. I still recall a few times in the morning seeing a huge line at Timmies and empty security, only to look back ten minutes later and see the complete inverse.

Overall I'm looking forward to my next trip through to see what the updates look like. It's so far been a nice rebuild.

As for staff? I guess? I sort of see there could be a bit of attitude depending on the time, although YXE is still the only time where the checkin agent turned a SWU into an SSWU for me on their own volition.

canadiancow

But then how will I get my upgrade on the DH3?

Adam Smith

There's an argument to be made that perhaps a YYC TB lounge should be a UA lounge or an AC/UA JV, but the need is clearly there.

IAH must be one of the most profitable TB routes for both AC and UA. I take that route regularly, as do a number of my colleagues, and the fares are usually extremely expensive relative to other flights of similar length. J is always packed with either paying pax or SEs and maybe an E75K (almost impossible for E50Ks to get upgrades, difficult even for E75Ks).

DEN also seems to attract a good deal of business travellers, based on the people I see on that flight when I take it, and I know there's a lot of oil and gas corporate traffic back and forth.

EWR also mainly a businessperson's flight.

Don't forget the wealthy oilmen who have winter places down south that use PHX or LAX to get there.

By far the #1 complaint I here from frequent travellers about YYC is the lack of TB lounge. I'll be extremely dismayed if there isn't one in the new TB area. It would be a vastly better use of AC's dollars than YXE or any of the others mentioned above.

FlyerJ

Agreed 100%.

The transborder experience ex YYC is pretty poor today, and the new international terminal will be lacking without a TB MLL. (Aa posted elsewhere on FT, rumour is that they've already told YYC that they don't want a lounge in the new terminal.) And that's in spite of the fact that IAH - YYC is a cash cow.

My point was that AC (and UA, too) are probably unlikely to go to the expense of a lounge ... given that UA already owns Calgary's TB market without one ... and AC is left with mostly bottom-of-the-barrel Rouge service. (I assume that Rouge, as its own P&L, would far rather there not be a MLL there. A lounge really wouldn't help make Rouge any less undesirable to customers, so there's probably no benefit to Rouge forking out for the cost.)

From AC's and UA's viewpoint, I can only assume they're thinking "why bother?". A TB lounge would greatly improve the AC/UA customer experience, but it would be at a massive cost without any market share gain or any real ability to earn more revenue off of it.

I really, really hope I'm wrong.

But unfortunately I doubt I am in this case! (I'll happily eat my words if I am, though!)

Adam Smith

You probably are right, which is depressing. I do know some of those rich guys who have high AC status but often fly WS to their sun places partly because there's no lounge, so why bother with AC, but it's probably not a big loss for AC. And poor schmoes like me are stuck going to IAH whether there's a lounge or not.

So it's hard to quantify the opportunity cost of not having the lounge. But it does create a lot of ill will among the customer base. And everyone I know seems to be under the impression that there will be one, so it will be an even bigger p1ss off if we found out there isn't one in the new TB area.

Canuckmma

Quick follow up on this thread here. The YXE "llunge" opened up a few months ago now, but it is not a business lounge. It's just a public restaraunt with a bar area. No affiliations to any lounge group at all. They do have a good menu, including some traditional Saskatchewan fare such as there perogy, kielbasa and cabbage roll plate though.

Alot of the staff were new hires when it opened so there were some rough patches, but they have it mostly sorted out now. Ruel is usually working the bar, and has been there since it was the old cafe in the seating areas, and he's great.