Ew/oQ

Good fall fares are available now through Dec 14. About to book a dozen flights.

Does anyone know the exact runway construction timetable for this fall so connections in Toronto can be avoided?

gregster

I have not come across exact dates, other than "October". I would expect they'd be finished by December before the ground starts to freeze, and assuming similar amount of work as this first phase.

Edit: found reference to Oct 10 - Nov 3 with possible extension.

24left

If the GTAA knows the exact or approximate dates of the next phase of runway construction in the fall, then so should EVERY airline that operates out of YYZ.

I will assume the airlines know, and most especially AC and WS.

Since this the AC FT, I will add the following:

If Air Canada knows the Fall dates and does nothing to notify the travelling public WELL IN ADVANCE, then I would suggest poor decision-making on the part of AC.

Pretending like this isn't going to happen again is not going to make it go away.

If AC is more concerned about a loss of revenue while a few customers choose fly other airlines or choose to route away from YYZ completely, then the mistake is theirs alone.

I don't care if SFO or LAX is bigger or busier. They have had a much more proactive level of communication with the airlines and passengers.

Air Canada has an opportunity to be pro-active.

Do we all need another apology letter from Ben in the Fall?

Seriously.

.

RatherBeInYOW

I am going from YOW through YYZ on the 16th to SFO, which is indeed listed on their advisory. I tried to rebook online using the rebooking tool and it fails, saying my flights on the 16th are not eligible. I guess I'll try the Elite line, probably spend an hour on the phone trying to save myself some hassle by going through YUL instead.

Should have booked down through YUL in the first place, the timing just sucks.

YVRtoYYZ

I get the same message. Called the Elite line to change my outbound flight this week and got an immediate answer. Gotta make the call for the Friday return segment and again for the Tuesday outbound flights to go via YTZ instead of YYZ.

yyznomad

That stupid online rebooking tool hasn't work for all my cancelled flights since the runway construction began. Like, what is the frickin point?

jc94

I personally had no issues so was lucky, but was wondering is there a specific set of flights that gets delayed, like domestic/tb ones?

I was checking intl inbounds from the UK and 1/8 over the last two days was 30 mins delayed, all others early; normally by 15-20 mins.

Also, are the delays known inflight? Like "This flight from DEL is going to be 2 hours late" or is it "This flight from DEL is going to land on time" ... then it circles and ends up being 2 hours late?

I ask because I'm picking someone up next week and would rather not sit at arrivals for hours. Nor do I want a phone call while driving asking where I am again

28isGreat

Actually, there are 3 east-west runways, 06R/24L, 06L/24R, and 05/23.

They prefer to use the east-west runways (obviously) as they have higher collective capacity compared to the 15/33 pair.

I'm assuming the short story is something like this: under perfect conditions, going down to 2 runways still gives sufficient capacity to meet demand (or something close to it). But if anything upsets perfect conditions, they're screwed.

(There are documents out there on the internets detailing YYZ's capacity on each runway depending on the configuration in use, if you're interested in details. I don't have those at my fingertips right now.)

RangerNS

They usually try to delay the planes before they take off, but occasionally do a loop or two. Barring some unrelated weather issue, if it takes off, its highly likely going to when (the new) schedule says so.

vernonc

Generally the smaller planes are most affected rather than widebodies. This would be to minimize disruptions. This is off course a generalization only.

jc94

Thanks both, I'll assume an arrival time of whatever AC tells me +30. Yes I believe people sitting in row 30-40 of a 767 can make it through YYZ customs, immigration and baggage collection in 30 minutes. It took 30 minutes last time, and 1.5 hours the time before that.

Fiordland

Being proactive would also mean someone like AC shifting some of the flying to say Winnipeg, Ottawa or Montreal.

canadiancow

It's not that they don't know when the construction is.

If you believe AC and WS (noting that WS was much more specific about this), it sounds like YYZ told them there would be capacity cuts of (made up numbers, but they get the point across) 2-5%, but it ended up being 5-10%.

I'm sure both airlines are trying to get a much better picture of what the next phase of construction will entail.

Also, I don't know what you mean about SFO. I have flights booked on AC, UA, and DL, and I have not received any communication about the construction. The only reason I even know about it is the AC FT forum.

yyznomad

Much quieter in the YYZ Dom MLL.

Only YAM and YYT were annulled. Rapidairs intact!

24left

You do know what i mean.

I am not talking about the lack of proper PRE-CONSTRUCTION communication from GTAA and Air Canada.

SFO has a GDP. It has been communicated on their website and on the FAA site and so on. Also, some airlines do mention it in their communications. At least FFs know about it.

LAX is a better example (if only because the GDP and terminal moves are more recent, and because I'm flying through there often).

LAWA has press releases and briefings with a lot of information.
The GDPs are noted on the FAA site and FlightAware.
And DL, who we all know is making the biggest terminal move along with all the other airlines in the next few days, has done an outstanding job of communicating on all media platforms, with not just their employees and customers but anyone who has to deal with LAX over this period.

Despite my best efforts to have active threads on LAX and SFO activities that impact AIR CANADA customers, the DL FT thread has been an excellent resource.

I am plenty annoyed that Air Canada reps, in their wisdom to not participate here, have not found a way to feed updates and information to you, for example, so the threads I created can be current and more helpful.

I don't care if GTAA and/or AC, WS etc underestimated the number of flights that would be impacted or cut. We live in a world where there are many platforms with which companies and entities like airports can communicate faster and more effectively than an occasional press release (or apology letter).

I.M.H.O.