Originally Posted by
Adam Smith
In what way has YYC-FRA capacity been "continually reduced"? It has mostly been 789 for years, and has been 789 for most of this year. Looks like a 788 the last couple weeks, but it's still scheduled as 789 for my flights the rest of this year. Load has been high on the times I've flown it this year, and haven't heard anything from others in YYC or concierges about low loads.
Not sure I follow this "favourable pricing" comment either. When connecting via FRA has been more expensive, in my experience, including this year, it's usually because loads in J are high on the YYC-FRA flight, which might be something like Z2 P0, but plenty of P space via YYZ.
There were times earlier this year where FRA was only 5 or 6 days a week. I can't remember exactly when it was but I remember doing some bookings and couldn't get the dates I wanted simply because there was ... no flight. And then the 788 that you've noticed has been off and on throughout 2023 on various days.
The favourable pricing, again, is anecdotal, but I was looking at dates where it was J/C/D 9 and then very low in P and Z, then went out the day of with plenty of eup space apparently available at the gate (at least by checking the upgrade list via the app).
I can't really think of anywhere in Europe where I'd rather fly via YYZ/YUL than AMS. Even somewhere like MAD/BCN that involves some backtracking from FRA/AMS
For me, FRA is the dividing line... so MUC, ZRH, FCO, VIE, ATH are under consideration. Especially ATH.
- The total time ends up being shorter by connecting at FRA/AMS
- I find the short eastbound TATLs tough to get a decent sleep on
- A lot more AC TATL routes from YYZ-YUL are served by 333s, which have a craptacular J product; I also prefer the 787 pods to the 777s (I know they're almost the same, but there's more room in the 787 footwell, which is important to a tall guy like me)
Agree 100% on all of these, especially the short eastbound TATL sleep.
- YYZ and YUL are also sucky airports. They're not particularly laid out, lots of long walks, lounges constantly overflowing capacity, and OSS is nice in theory, but the number of times it has been unavailable, or we've been sent to secondary because someone wanted to talk about the food we were bringing back or whatever, or you're going to leave the airport because you have a 7-hour layover due to the aforementioned crappy EU-YUL-YYC connections, has rendered it a lot less useful to me
Yup, I always try to avoid connecting in YYZ/YUL on westbound. Terrible journey overall.
This all being said, I'm surprised LHR is still on there as almost any day one wanted, there was R space, including on a 788....