Originally Posted by
Stranger
We can fly to FRA on Discover, or on LH through Vancouver. But no upgrades and no miles toward million/2M/3M miles.
Or of course we can connect at YYZ or YUL. However then the longer flight is only about 6/7 hours. Not really a good night sleep.
I did switch all my bookings from the YYC-FRA flight to YYC-LHR. But then, problem of course is with connections. On LH, typically an extra leg to FRA or MUC. IIn our case, not too bad since two bookings involved LIS so we ended up on TP. Also, ITA should join Star soon, which might mean that LHR would also work for Italy.
Earlier in this thread there were comments on AC starting a flight to MAD while cancelling YYC-FRA. The one aspect that was not mentioned was that AC codeshares on the Discover flight. The bulk of the business at the cheaper end will just fly Discover and barely see the difference.
It's really people flying in J and frequent flyers who will feel the pain. Even though Discover is switching to a 332 with no real J to a 333 with a 2-2-2 J section.
Anyway, bye bye FRA, which was my favorite airport in Europe. :-(
(Written on board a FRA-YYZ flight, having missed my connection to YYC because of an LH delay....)
I agree with many of your points. I am flying through FRA on my way back to YVR tomorrow and although I get a (likely) final chance to fly on a 744, I am sure the novelty of it will wear off quickly with LH's poor J seat on most of their aircraft. I disagree about FRA though, I would much prefer to connect in MUC or ZRH.
We can only hope that AC settles the pilot contract quickly and continues to add to the fleet and route map. It would be nice if there were more routes to Europe out of the west, both YYC and YVR, but that doesn't seem to be the trend. I flew to FCO via ZRH and I preferred the AC flight to a recent LH flight to MUC earlier this summer. Kudos to the concierge in ZRH that met us and walked myself and another couple through passport control to the lounge. It was a nice touch on arrival to ZRH. And the SD on the ZRH flight was Judy who apparently has the highest seniority on the YVR SD list (and missed serving me twice - both bread and dessert).
I guess time will tell once some of the labour issues are sorted.