kenmuir

Having flown YYC-YYJ last night (26 Dec) from C71, I can tell you that there's no walking between A and C/D/E and absolutely no signage to say that the path is temporarily blocked due to construction past A24. The YYC Link shuttles are pretty quick, especially when the driver knows that everybody aboard is headed to C71/72 and doesn't need to stop at B or C stations.

The holdrooms at C71/72 are, in a word, lacking. I say this with a great deal of understatement. Seating is insufficient for the three WS flights that were departing between 2300-0000, on benches or even the ground against a wall. There is a single newsagent that had a constant queue likely due to all three departing flights being delayed from the weather down East, and two sets of washrooms with similar constant lines.

While waiting for the boarding to begin, not a single soul came through CATSA domestic screening by C71.

rehoult

This has precisely zero applicability to WestJet, as they aren't an approved airline for the program, but the segregation is to qualify for the Transit Without Visa (TWOV) program offered by CBSA (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/departm...travellers.asp). It allows travellers from certain countries to transit to and from the US without a visa, but one of the requirements is that the airports offer isolated transit areas in both directions, which cannot be left without clearing regular CBSA. As of today, the only airports in Canada that qualify are YYZ T1, YYC and YVR.

WR Cage

(1) for AC pax gates 70-73 are okay for customer experience in domestic configuration. Walking distances are equivalent to coming from c concourse hammerhead. Also the AC bag carousels are closest to the C arrivals escalator.

The problem with domestic use of gates 70-73 is entirely on westjet. For domestic arrival or departure pax they are subject to long walks back to the rest of westjet domestic operations. International and transborder connection pax get a break on long distance walking.

However as stated in this thread above, this issue affects 6-8 WS flights per day out of 90 departures. More guest oriented schedule could reduce the use of domestic swing gates down to 2-3 flights per day.

(2) D gates need to be segregated to allow for max efficiency of duty free shop operations, which are highly profitable if costs are kept to a minimum. There is no value added service to bringing duty free to the departure gates for handing out onboard.

Another reason for segregated D departures is to allow transit with out visa (TWOV) program. YYC joins YYZ T1 and YVR as the only Canadian airports that are configured for TWOV. Currently TWOV is important to AC but not to WS. In the future WS would be able to use TWOV as their international operations expand.

(3) YYC link is Oversubscribed anytime WS drops a fully loaded domestic arrival onto gates 70-73. Their guests need to travel the full line to get to their bags or domestic connecting flights. WS domestic Departing from gates 70-73 is less of a concern as the checkin process is more spread out.

As to the stationary link cart in front of the Marriott, YYCAA has over 20 carts and the system can only handle approximately 15 along the line.

(4) the customer care ambassadors (red jackets/shirts) are supposed to be the relief for the white hatters. Furthermore, WS has only 2-3 golf carts for A concourse. It should be up to WS to provision the golf carts along with wheelchair assist require guests for pax requiring assistance inside concourse A.

The YYC link golf carts could be used along the international arrivals corridor with defined stations at 94/95 and between 87/90. The arrivals corridor could take another 8 link carts with max capacity of 6 in operation most of the time.

In the departures transborder level, the reverse could happen with another 6-8 carts running between the central hall and Between gates 91 & 94. The D concourse gates are close enough that walking should be okay unless the guest really needs wheelchair assistance throughout the airport (again, this level of assistance throughout the terminal must be provided by the airline).

One other thing that YYC airport could do is merge uniform style of the paid customer care ambassadors and the volunteer white hatters. There is a place as greeters for the white hatters, but the actual work could go to customer care ambassadors in different styled white hat from the traditional white hatters. Merging the uniform styles would allow for a better service standard across the airport customer facing operations.

All this talk to golf carts being said, one thing YYC needs to communicate is that they are now a big international gateway the size of EWR terminal C, YYZ T1, etc. Part of the airport's problem is that some people (particularly from the prairies) still see YYC as a small outpost station, mostly because they only want to deal with smaller airports. Unfortunately long walking distances are par for the course at major hubs. There is no way to get around this fact.

Edit to add: tonight I was at YYC dropping the kid sister off. The family ate at Montana’s and I got to watch the YYC link in operation over an extended period. At least two WS domestic departures occur from the 70s gates. About 1/3 of the YYC link pax were WS employees or CATSA staff. This is very odd as both organizations have stated the international terminal ops are segregated between the domestic and inter national terminals.

Fiordland

Is their not a way to link the old overhead walkways in A and B to customers in the new terminal. That would permit most of B and a good percentage of A to be used as swing gates for aircraft transitioning from international/US to domestic. That leaves the new swing gates for aircraft going from Domestic to International/US.

Ace Cdn

The amount of work and rebuild that would go in it would make it very cost prohibitive I think.

WR Cage

There are a couple of challenges:
- Connecting the old A/B corridor with new terminal would require going over top the YYC Link corridor between concourse B and C. If this was requested before construction of the link corridor, its not that big of a deal.
- Minor issue efficiently connecting the A concourse corridor with the B concourse corridor. There is a minor switchback at the junction with the escalators down to the old CBSA hall.
- Moderate issue connecting the corridor to Link corridor without removing a big segment of the Spaceport.
- Major issue connecting the desired corridor from concourse C to the new terminal, building the segregated transfer corridor would require removal of prime real estate from the Marriott hotel. Essentially the pool, fitness room, and two conference rooms would have to be relocated.
- The show stopper however is getting transfer pax from the fourth floor corridor to the CBSA primary inspection hall. This would require removal of the transborder Aspire lounge and half the transborder and international food courts. This is because the vertical location and alignment of the CBSA primary inspection hall is located directly below the northern edge of the food court retail establishments.

Shareholder

T3 at LHR, not sure about T1.

Shareholder

I've always hated YYC since they changed the access road design and pretty much doubled the taxi fare between downtown and the terminal...not to mention never extending the LRT out to the terminal after 20 years. These new issues would only increase my resolve to stay clear of the airport and the city!

arf04

We arrived into YYC last night and the gate was in B concourse. We were heading to the Marriott, but trying to get out of the secure area was a PITA. We ended up following the crowd like sheep all the way back to A. I'm sure this will improve when the construction is done, but signage sucks.

Going through security and immigration this morning was very efficient--maybe 15 minutes for the whole deal with NEXUS. The new terminal itself is ok, but not as nice as the renovated WS terminal at YVR. The vastness of the gate areas in the higher E gates section is odd and off putting, and ugly! Two issues: 1. There should be more bathrooms; 2. The polished shiny flooring reflects the lights too much and is quite unpleasant.

Overall, we are very happy with the security and immigration process as it was very efficient. The terminal itself is just ok but nothing spectacular.

lawgrrl

I've never flown through YYC but we will be connecting to Puerto Vallarta there. Our WS domestic flight is scheduled to arrive at Terminal A at 1:30 PM, while the international flight will depart from Terminal D at 2:45 PM.
Query: Will our luggage be checked through from YCD or will we have to retrieve it for the second round of security? I have no problem walking 2 kms but would rather do so without our checked bag. TY

Ace Cdn

Your checked baggage should be put straight through. If you walk towards the B concourse once you get there you can hop on the little bus to the international terminal.

rehoult

Your bag will be checked through, and there will not be a second round of security. Take the golf cart from A gates to the D/E stop, and then follow the signed to international. Do NOT leave the secure area or you will cost yourself a ton of time.

ptownca

Coming from the states, I always found YYC to be a pleasant experience coming or heading to the states. Plus, I genuinely like going to Alberta.

Sounds like this may no longer be the case.

It is part of a larger problem with newer airports, which as I have said often, are an architect's wet dream on their drafting table, but completely hostile to users. I can point at DeGaulle as a perfect example of that. The New York Times wrote a great piece about that: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/t...ture.html?_r=0

That said, you can build a modern user friendly terminal such as T-2 in San Francisco. You can go from the garage in your own car, if you have Pre-Check, to standing inside the aircraft in 12-15 minutes, which I have done often without running. Moreover within T-2, because of its circular design transfer from one gate to another in less than 5 minutes maximum.

I have a particular place in hell for whoever designed T-6 (Delta) at JFK.

tcook052

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/ca...-functionality

New Calgary airport CEO ‘hell bent’ on fixing international terminal ‘short on functionality’

The only positive feedback was on the aesthetic appeal of the new terminal. For that, YYC does win points, but good looks only get you so far.

None of this is lost on new Calgary Airport Authority CEO Bob Sartor, whose career has been concentrated in the world of retail and customer service.

“I have had several conversations with Gregg (Saretsky) at WestJet. They are our number 1 customer and guess what? When your number 1 customer talks, you have to listen,” said Sartor.

He has also met with Air Canada to hear their concerns, recognizing the airline’s importance as a YYC customer, and received emails from passengers that Sartor says would “peel paint.”

“The new terminal is long on aesthetics and short on functionality,” he said in a recent interview.

PhotoJim

We just connected through the new international YYC terminal en route to Denver and from San Francisco (on United downward, AC upward, but that shouldn't matter). (AC YQR-YYC UA YYC-DEN-SAN, UA SAN-SFO AC SFO-YYC-YQR, if you care.)

Ignoring the walking distances, I really like the new terminal. You don't see your bags in most cases, which saves time. You also don't have to reclear security when you're connecting to a Canadian destination after Canada Customs. This saves a ton of hassle which I really appreciate.