Just got back from my quick trip to YVR and I gotta say I miss it - the Chinooks still can't make up for a light drizzle and lots of greenery!
Like Empress mentioned, my outbound flight was changed to an ex-CP 767-300 that was really showing its age. The J seats were those newish, but truly unsightly lime(?) green AC ones; the Y seats were those final CP days greyish and gold ones. The flight was full - kids everywhere given the Family Day long weekend in Alberta.
My return flight yesterday was sked to be an A340 but morphed into...the same 767-300 I had on my outbound. We left from C51 at YVR which meant a bit of a hike from the MLL and when I arrived at the sked boarding time (the flight showed on time according to AC but YVR FIDS showed it as 15 mins delayed), we were nowhere near being ready to board. The gate agent blamed it on the groomers and catering but there was a maintenance truck visible on the tarmac as well. Hmmmm...
I wondered if it would have taken AC 3 days to get around to fixing a couple things on this aircraft from Friday: 1) the constant flushing noise from the right side J lav ~ it refused to stop for the entire flight; 2) the continous chime throughout the flight ping, ping, ping...the FAs claimed at first not to hear it but then relented as we were on final approach to YVR that they were unsure as to where it was coming from!?
We boarded about 30 mins late and when I headed towards my seat, there were still 4 mechanic guys in J debating some issue. All I overheard was "yeah, it's been happening for awhile now". I just assumed that a J seat footrest wouldn't work right or something and took my seat.
As we pushed back from the gate the ping, ping, ping started up again! This time there were some FAs on board in Y behind me (unsure if they were Jetsgo or Skyservice) that asked about the noise. The senior FA said she would check with the Captain right away. The pax behind me thought perhaps a door wasn't closed properly and began to worry. I turned around and reassured them (?) that the same noise as around for the entire flight on Friday and we arrived safely.
The FA came on the PA and announced that while they would try to turn the volume on the ping, ping, ping down, rest assured the engines and the wings worked fine. Great news.
On the upside though, the flushing J lav had been fixed.
A quick side note: what was the loaf that they serve as a morning danish on the YYC-YVR runs? It had literally no taste to it and was just curious as to what I tried.