Fiordland

YYZ - What can one say about YYZ. They did a better job of designing that airport than the international terminal at YYC. For an airport that feels that spacious it is not. It is an optical illusion.

YYC - Lets not talk about YYC. Someone passed through Heathrow Terminal 3, was mistaken in thinking call to gate was the way grown up airports worked.

YVR - Is hit and miss. Parts of the new terminal have lots of space. Older parts are crowded. The one problem gate is the one behind the whitespot restaurant that AC mistakenly convinced themselves is appropriate for a wide-body aircraft. It is not.

vernonc

BOM-YYZ.
Got eupg at the gate. No new boarding pass, just my new seat scribbled on it.
The gates were one of 4 which needed a bus to the aircraft.
No Zone signs anywhere. No announcements. Two lines started forming. Staff doing important stuff but no communication with pax.
They started with wheelchair passengers and kids in strollers. A few families with older kids also went thru. Since there were no announcements, I went up to the guy that looked in charge and asked him when he was going to board zone 1 to which he removed the rope and I boarded with my family. Maybe they boarded by zones later. Bus full of pax incl the wheelchair and kids. Got to the plane and waited in the bus for 10 mins as the crew had not boarded just before we showed up. Bus doors opened and the usual free for all with everyone trying to get up the stairs.
I expected BOM to be a mess and expectations were met.

Diabeetus

Every time I walk through the new YYC terminal, I am disappointed at such wasted opportunity of a good facility it should have been.

Calling zone 1 and zone 2 together is such a common occurrence that it's almost not worth reporting anymore.

I did have disabilities and small children called before zone 1 & 2 at UA run AC outstation recently though.

Stranger

I believe this is procedure for major disabilities, but not for small children.

CZAMFlyer

Have you ridden the Canada Line on the way to the airport in Vancouver? They have painted lines on the platforms for the same purpose. Canadians do indeed behave this way, at least until they arrive at said airport...

CZAMFlyer

Which problem gate are you referring to? Perhaps you mean Monk's Grill*? The gates behind White Spot aren't used for wide body aircraft (the restaurant itself is before security), but larger planes do dock at gates 44-49 in the C pier, and I can see the potential for congestion there.

At gate 31, used almost exclusively by the A320, the overflow into the narrow hallway coupled with the loose Starbucks lineup at the Y, can certainly result in a bottleneck situation.

*oh wait...didn't the Monk's location used to be a White Spot...?

meagicano

Fiordland

At the same time, who would expect this zone boarding to work with buses. One bus for each zone? Who ever boards the bus first should move towards the back/front leaving room for others to board the bus. Last one the bus will likely be first off and first on the aircraft.

What makes sense is done by some like TAP. Separate bus for business class. Run that bus to the front stairs. The passengers in the back half of the bus to the back stairs.

Fiordland

I have several times. Never noticed lines on the platform, I will look for them next time.

Fiordland

It is 47/48. My luck I usually end boarding the morning wide-body to Montreal out of that gate area.

jc94

vernonc

I was hoping for the TAP style boarding. More importantly board by zone.

canadiancow

Jan 6 2018 AC 759 YYZ-SFO.

Delayed 30 minutes, so huge lines at the 1/2 and 3/4/5 lanes.

They called zone 1, and everyone in the priority side started moving. I joined the gaggle, as I did see a Z1 BP near the back.

Then they called zone 2, so my friend and I walked around to the front of the line (the person at the very front was definitely not zone 1, and thus was holding up the line).

That's what I've learned. Cut the line. Otherwise zone 2 lice will board first.

jasdou

canadiancow

Because when zone 1 was called, they were standing in line, blocking zone 1 passengers from boarding.

It just wasn't clear they weren't zone 1 until zone 2 was called.