drvannostren

Ehh...I simply don't agree with the article.

People who live downtown Vancouver are not going to drive to YXX to save $100 or maybe $200. Those are the same people IMO that aren't driving to BLI for flights to LAS. I think the YXX flight is brilliant for the right people. My sister and her family currently live in Langley. It's 20 something minutes to YXX, 40 minutes to YVR. It's a family of 4, if they wanna fly to Toronto for some reason, parking, spending less time in the car, price are all factors that'll definitely lead them to a Rouge flight from YXX. It's perfect for them and if the prices are good then that's awesome. I don't see that as diluting, I just see it as options. NY has LGA/JFK/EWR, people fly to all of them for different reasons. There's no reason YXX can't have the small presence WS has and then add some Rouge flights.

I think the author doesn't give passengers enough credit. I think most infrequent fliers turn into idiots when they get to the airport. Don't mean to be insulting, but when someone asks where US check-in is as they stand under a sign with a US flag pointing left...But I don't think a passenger is going to buy a LGW ticket thinking it's Heathrow, or buy a Rouge flight to LGW thinking they'll be sitting pretty in mainline J. If they do, then they're just not thinking straight. The biggest follie to come out of confusion I think would be if AC starts booking connections LGW/LHR-outward. I don't think they'll be doing that, because it's fraught with disaster. I know NH does it for NRT/HND and maybe it works really well but I think unseasoned "Rougers" would make a meal of it.

Lastly, I can't buy the YWG-YYZ-LHR thing. If you're buying a Rouge ticket, from what I've seen (admittedly haven't done extensive research) it's only cheap if you're flying Rouge and nothing else. YWG-YYZ-LGW would put you on mainline first, and sure if you JUST took the YWG-YYZ the price might be ridiculous, we've all seen that, but they're not likely to sell you the same leg AND LGW for less than they're selling the individual flight. A one off? MAYBE, but certainly never on a regular basis.

When did this reconfig happen? Is it going on for all the 319s? I've flown YYC-LAX and SFO-YVR and both were the 3 seat middle block system. SFO flight was in March.