Carfield
Apr 30, 07, 5:30 am
Hi all,
Sorry for this delayed report, due to problems with my Powerbook for the past few weeks, now I got a new macbook and this report is finally ready to go. Don’t really want to bore you with all the segments, but I will just give out the three segments that I flew on April, and let you have a sense of the on time performance.
Photo link:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8QbNHDNy5bt0w
April 11, 2007
PD 405 YTZ-YUL Lv1035 Arr1145 Dash 8-Q400 C-GLQB
Actual departure time (AD): 1036 from R/W08
Actual arrival time (AA): 1125 at R/W6L
Cruising attitude: 23,000feet
PD 410 YUL-YTZ Lv1415 Arr1525 Dash 8-Q400 C-GLQD
AD: 1424 from R/W6R
AA: 1524 at R/W8
Cruising attitude: 22,000feet
PD 413 YTZ-YUL Lv1755 Arr1905 Dash 8-Q400 C-GLQB
AD: 1802 from R/W8
AA: 1853 at R/W6R
Reason to fly Porter:
Well I have been dying to fly Porter Airlines since I have heard about its launch and the additional factor of flying from YTZ adds more excitement. So I took advantage of a recent trip to Canada and spent a day flying Porter Airlines. The tickets are reasonably priced at $79-99 O/W plus tax on the three segments. I bought the cheapest class available. I chose YUL because more cheap fares than YTZ, which I understood later. Ottawa is doing better than Montreal for Porter for sure.
Getting to Toronto Center Airport:
That proves to be the most difficult part of the journey. Because of my own idiocy, I forgot to print out the map to the Toronto Center Airport Ferry terminal, and the concierge at Radisson pointed me towards the ferry terminal to Centerville, not the airport. After walking at the harborfront in freezing weather, I realize that I was walking the opposite direction and decided to hop into a cab, which was the right decision.
For the second trip to YTZ, I took the Union Station shuttle after a visit at the Eaton Center. The Union Station shuttle was pretty difficult to find, and it was not inside the station and no one seems to know the airline or the shuttle location. The exact address is 20 York Street and there is a GoodLife Fitness sign. It is outside of the station. Look at the pictures I found.
For this part of the journey, Porter Airlines need to make its sign more visible and perhaps use a few more sign inside the actual Union station pointing to the right place.
Of course the next annoying part of the journey is the two minutes ferry ride to the Island and I wish there is a bridge, and the ride itself is fine, but the wait for the ferry can be annoying even at 15 minutes interval and sort of taking away some of the benefits of using this terminal.
Check-in options:
Web check-in and plenty of kiosks at Union Station (I have not seen them) and at the ferry terminal… of course you can use the check in counters at the airport itself. There is one staff stationed at ferry terminal and will help any passengers especially tight connections. The check-in counters at the airport itself were nice and well staffed.
Ground agents:
All well dressed and professional! Those things might not mean much in writing, but so lacking these days when flying within the US or Canada. They are all there to help us!
Since Porter is the only airline flying out of YTZ, there is one single security line, but all the security guys and gals are so friendly and help everyone with the process. If you accidentally put a nail clipper in the carry on, you can go check it immediately at the counter, and you will still make your flight. The guy in front of me put many of those forbidden objects in his roller on, and was worried about missing his flight, but the security guy just smiled and told him, “This is not Air Canada and you can check in and make it to the flight with plenty of time!” That is exactly my experience – this is not “Air Canada” and so different from it, and also it is no Pearson and flying in and out of a smaller airport has its benefits. But the security experience at YTZ is just dramatically different from TSA at La Guardia. People are friendly, polite, and yet enforcing the laws well.
Lounge at Toronto Center Airport:
The gates are concentrated at the lounge, which is just like any business class lounge with unlimited supplies of soft drinks, tea, coffee and bottled water, along with few snack items. Real glasses and cups are used in the lounge. There were newspapers and magazines, as long as four computers with wired connections. Free wifi is also available. There are lots of sofa areas. It can get busy at morning and evening hours, but still pretty nice.
Boarding:
Since my first two flights were pretty lightly loaded, we all board at the same time. The evening flight was a bit fuller and boarding took place with the typical aft cabin first, followed by front cabin. Boarding began about fifteen minutes prior to departure and all completed within ten minutes. Despite no jet way at YTZ, there is a similar ramp that leads you to the door of the plane and up the stairs. You have to walk up the stairs, but everyone was covered, and there is a drop off right next to the stairs for valet bags. Once on board, the F/As actually offered to hang coats and jackets, which were a first for me, except Midwest Airlines. At YUL, a regular gate (gate 2) is used and a normal jetbridge was used, so don’t need to worry about snowy days in the winter or rainy days. You are well protected all the way to the plane. But for plane-spotters, there is no opportunity to take pictures of the planes at YTZ.
Using Toronto Center Airport:
The takeoff is amazing at YTZ and the Dash 8s were definitely in full power during takeoff roll due to short runway at YTZ. Not to mention taking off with downtown Toronto on your side! That is just super cool as you can tell from my pictures. It is definitely a great experience.
Flight attendants:
They were pretty average and my first flight has the best team. They were cheerful and helpful and refilled our beverages numerous times, instead of retiring at the galley after the beverage service. The second flight was a bit average but still did a number of runs, and the last team with the meal service was the laziest. Still they did one formal run of beverages and snack boxes and a second time with additional beverage orders. I will rate them above average, but a bit inconsistent, which is not a good thing. Porter needs to work on consistency. For service, two carts are used… one F/A from the front, and one F/A from the middle of the cabin. Our load was really light in the first flight, so tray was used instead of cart.
Inflight service:
Beverages are all served in real glassware and cups, including tea and coffee. Bottled waters are freely available and complimentary white and red wines (poured from full bottle) and beers are available after 10am.
Meal boxes were passed out during typical breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours, and at off hours, like my first two flights (10am and 2pm), we got the usual beverage and a snack basket was offered with a selection of Walker’s shortbread butter biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, ginger stem cookies, and packages of dried fruit and nut mix. For my evening flight, a snack box was passed out with a nice ham, cheddar, and lettuce sandwich (fresh bread no stale bread), and a small tub of Vanilla Panna Cotta topped with chocolate flakes.
Despite the website states that there are Porter’s “inflight magazines,” none are available at any of the seat pockets. I assume that they are discontinued, but newspapers were available at the gate.
Seats:
Best seats in the house are 1AB and 2CD, both exit rows, but 2CD has a missing window, and you need to lean forward to view out of the window exits. All other seats are pretty much the same – all leather seats with blue headrest cover – very clean and classy. The cabin is stylish, modern and efficient, and there is no doubt that it is a business airline. Row 10 has no window (for those who care).
There are seat hooks at the side of each seat for light coats and jackets, and all the tray tables feature a cup holder as well. There is also a recline button at each seat, and the reclines are nothing dramatic, but good for a short flight. All the seats are the slim types so it gave one or two extra inches of legroom. I felt the seats are more comfortable than Horizon’s Dash 8-Q400s. Two hours in these seats should be alright, but of course, I got two seats to myself for all flights.
Bathroom facilities:
There is a forward lavatory, which is okay sized, but nothing like the regional jets especially Embraer. My biggest problem is the lack of real water faucet systems on these new Dash 8s. Faucets are installed but as you can see from the pictures, no real water will come out and the sinks are filled with wet wipes. I just got icky from those wipes and really prefer real water faucets, so if you are a clean person, please use the bathrooms at the airports beforehand and take care of the businesses. For those short hourly flight, it might be okay, but for the longer Halifax flights, folks need to be better prepared. Can someone tell me why real water faucets don’t work on the Dash 8 Q400s?
Loading:
PD 405: Very light (lightest of all flights)
PD 410: Better at 20s
PD 413: Fullest – 32
The Montreal flights were not too full, and I am not surprised with the light loads at the late morning, noon, and early afternoon flights, as the same thing happened at DL Shuttles and US Airways Shuttle, but can be better with maybe heavier promotions at those times. But the Ottawa flights are doing very well and consistently has better loading than Montreal, and the 5pm flight went out almost 100% full. I guess once words got out, it should be doing much better. For a more comfortable flight, folks tried the l0am to 4pm slots.
In conclusion, it is a very efficient experience and all the inflight products aim at the high-end markets and nearly all passengers wear suit and ties. Porter Airlines definitely models its operation like the old Delta Shuttle with complimentary wines and beers, snacks all day long, and nice leather seats. The YTZ lounge is just a nice place to relax and catch up with emails. I really hope that they can launch flights into NYC soon, but I guess they will need to install pre-clear USA stations here. We will wait and see.
Do I recommend Porter Airlines? Highly recommended of course – a reliable shuttle high-class product! I am indeed flying it again in August from YTZ to YHZ, and will report back. Hopefully the loading will be better and look forward flying it again!
Feel free to ask any question!
Carfield
Sorry for this delayed report, due to problems with my Powerbook for the past few weeks, now I got a new macbook and this report is finally ready to go. Don’t really want to bore you with all the segments, but I will just give out the three segments that I flew on April, and let you have a sense of the on time performance.
Photo link:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8QbNHDNy5bt0w
April 11, 2007
PD 405 YTZ-YUL Lv1035 Arr1145 Dash 8-Q400 C-GLQB
Actual departure time (AD): 1036 from R/W08
Actual arrival time (AA): 1125 at R/W6L
Cruising attitude: 23,000feet
PD 410 YUL-YTZ Lv1415 Arr1525 Dash 8-Q400 C-GLQD
AD: 1424 from R/W6R
AA: 1524 at R/W8
Cruising attitude: 22,000feet
PD 413 YTZ-YUL Lv1755 Arr1905 Dash 8-Q400 C-GLQB
AD: 1802 from R/W8
AA: 1853 at R/W6R
Reason to fly Porter:
Well I have been dying to fly Porter Airlines since I have heard about its launch and the additional factor of flying from YTZ adds more excitement. So I took advantage of a recent trip to Canada and spent a day flying Porter Airlines. The tickets are reasonably priced at $79-99 O/W plus tax on the three segments. I bought the cheapest class available. I chose YUL because more cheap fares than YTZ, which I understood later. Ottawa is doing better than Montreal for Porter for sure.
Getting to Toronto Center Airport:
That proves to be the most difficult part of the journey. Because of my own idiocy, I forgot to print out the map to the Toronto Center Airport Ferry terminal, and the concierge at Radisson pointed me towards the ferry terminal to Centerville, not the airport. After walking at the harborfront in freezing weather, I realize that I was walking the opposite direction and decided to hop into a cab, which was the right decision.
For the second trip to YTZ, I took the Union Station shuttle after a visit at the Eaton Center. The Union Station shuttle was pretty difficult to find, and it was not inside the station and no one seems to know the airline or the shuttle location. The exact address is 20 York Street and there is a GoodLife Fitness sign. It is outside of the station. Look at the pictures I found.
For this part of the journey, Porter Airlines need to make its sign more visible and perhaps use a few more sign inside the actual Union station pointing to the right place.
Of course the next annoying part of the journey is the two minutes ferry ride to the Island and I wish there is a bridge, and the ride itself is fine, but the wait for the ferry can be annoying even at 15 minutes interval and sort of taking away some of the benefits of using this terminal.
Check-in options:
Web check-in and plenty of kiosks at Union Station (I have not seen them) and at the ferry terminal… of course you can use the check in counters at the airport itself. There is one staff stationed at ferry terminal and will help any passengers especially tight connections. The check-in counters at the airport itself were nice and well staffed.
Ground agents:
All well dressed and professional! Those things might not mean much in writing, but so lacking these days when flying within the US or Canada. They are all there to help us!
Since Porter is the only airline flying out of YTZ, there is one single security line, but all the security guys and gals are so friendly and help everyone with the process. If you accidentally put a nail clipper in the carry on, you can go check it immediately at the counter, and you will still make your flight. The guy in front of me put many of those forbidden objects in his roller on, and was worried about missing his flight, but the security guy just smiled and told him, “This is not Air Canada and you can check in and make it to the flight with plenty of time!” That is exactly my experience – this is not “Air Canada” and so different from it, and also it is no Pearson and flying in and out of a smaller airport has its benefits. But the security experience at YTZ is just dramatically different from TSA at La Guardia. People are friendly, polite, and yet enforcing the laws well.
Lounge at Toronto Center Airport:
The gates are concentrated at the lounge, which is just like any business class lounge with unlimited supplies of soft drinks, tea, coffee and bottled water, along with few snack items. Real glasses and cups are used in the lounge. There were newspapers and magazines, as long as four computers with wired connections. Free wifi is also available. There are lots of sofa areas. It can get busy at morning and evening hours, but still pretty nice.
Boarding:
Since my first two flights were pretty lightly loaded, we all board at the same time. The evening flight was a bit fuller and boarding took place with the typical aft cabin first, followed by front cabin. Boarding began about fifteen minutes prior to departure and all completed within ten minutes. Despite no jet way at YTZ, there is a similar ramp that leads you to the door of the plane and up the stairs. You have to walk up the stairs, but everyone was covered, and there is a drop off right next to the stairs for valet bags. Once on board, the F/As actually offered to hang coats and jackets, which were a first for me, except Midwest Airlines. At YUL, a regular gate (gate 2) is used and a normal jetbridge was used, so don’t need to worry about snowy days in the winter or rainy days. You are well protected all the way to the plane. But for plane-spotters, there is no opportunity to take pictures of the planes at YTZ.
Using Toronto Center Airport:
The takeoff is amazing at YTZ and the Dash 8s were definitely in full power during takeoff roll due to short runway at YTZ. Not to mention taking off with downtown Toronto on your side! That is just super cool as you can tell from my pictures. It is definitely a great experience.
Flight attendants:
They were pretty average and my first flight has the best team. They were cheerful and helpful and refilled our beverages numerous times, instead of retiring at the galley after the beverage service. The second flight was a bit average but still did a number of runs, and the last team with the meal service was the laziest. Still they did one formal run of beverages and snack boxes and a second time with additional beverage orders. I will rate them above average, but a bit inconsistent, which is not a good thing. Porter needs to work on consistency. For service, two carts are used… one F/A from the front, and one F/A from the middle of the cabin. Our load was really light in the first flight, so tray was used instead of cart.
Inflight service:
Beverages are all served in real glassware and cups, including tea and coffee. Bottled waters are freely available and complimentary white and red wines (poured from full bottle) and beers are available after 10am.
Meal boxes were passed out during typical breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours, and at off hours, like my first two flights (10am and 2pm), we got the usual beverage and a snack basket was offered with a selection of Walker’s shortbread butter biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, ginger stem cookies, and packages of dried fruit and nut mix. For my evening flight, a snack box was passed out with a nice ham, cheddar, and lettuce sandwich (fresh bread no stale bread), and a small tub of Vanilla Panna Cotta topped with chocolate flakes.
Despite the website states that there are Porter’s “inflight magazines,” none are available at any of the seat pockets. I assume that they are discontinued, but newspapers were available at the gate.
Seats:
Best seats in the house are 1AB and 2CD, both exit rows, but 2CD has a missing window, and you need to lean forward to view out of the window exits. All other seats are pretty much the same – all leather seats with blue headrest cover – very clean and classy. The cabin is stylish, modern and efficient, and there is no doubt that it is a business airline. Row 10 has no window (for those who care).
There are seat hooks at the side of each seat for light coats and jackets, and all the tray tables feature a cup holder as well. There is also a recline button at each seat, and the reclines are nothing dramatic, but good for a short flight. All the seats are the slim types so it gave one or two extra inches of legroom. I felt the seats are more comfortable than Horizon’s Dash 8-Q400s. Two hours in these seats should be alright, but of course, I got two seats to myself for all flights.
Bathroom facilities:
There is a forward lavatory, which is okay sized, but nothing like the regional jets especially Embraer. My biggest problem is the lack of real water faucet systems on these new Dash 8s. Faucets are installed but as you can see from the pictures, no real water will come out and the sinks are filled with wet wipes. I just got icky from those wipes and really prefer real water faucets, so if you are a clean person, please use the bathrooms at the airports beforehand and take care of the businesses. For those short hourly flight, it might be okay, but for the longer Halifax flights, folks need to be better prepared. Can someone tell me why real water faucets don’t work on the Dash 8 Q400s?
Loading:
PD 405: Very light (lightest of all flights)
PD 410: Better at 20s
PD 413: Fullest – 32
The Montreal flights were not too full, and I am not surprised with the light loads at the late morning, noon, and early afternoon flights, as the same thing happened at DL Shuttles and US Airways Shuttle, but can be better with maybe heavier promotions at those times. But the Ottawa flights are doing very well and consistently has better loading than Montreal, and the 5pm flight went out almost 100% full. I guess once words got out, it should be doing much better. For a more comfortable flight, folks tried the l0am to 4pm slots.
In conclusion, it is a very efficient experience and all the inflight products aim at the high-end markets and nearly all passengers wear suit and ties. Porter Airlines definitely models its operation like the old Delta Shuttle with complimentary wines and beers, snacks all day long, and nice leather seats. The YTZ lounge is just a nice place to relax and catch up with emails. I really hope that they can launch flights into NYC soon, but I guess they will need to install pre-clear USA stations here. We will wait and see.
Do I recommend Porter Airlines? Highly recommended of course – a reliable shuttle high-class product! I am indeed flying it again in August from YTZ to YHZ, and will report back. Hopefully the loading will be better and look forward flying it again!
Feel free to ask any question!
Carfield