YYZ-YOW Rapidair - now all E90
Jul 21, 2017, 8:10 am
#106
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: YYC, Canada
Programs: AC 35k
Posts: 1,898
It's not just YOW. YYZ is "the" hub, and everything routes through there across Canada even if other better connections exist even within AC's own network. Why would I go through the pain that is YYZ on a TB flight when I can clear customs in YYC and relax at my connecting U.S. airport?
Jul 21, 2017, 8:37 am
#107
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Ideally YOW, but probably not
Programs: AC SE*MM
Posts: 1,826
It's not just YOW. YYZ is "the" hub, and everything routes through there across Canada even if other better connections exist even within AC's own network. Why would I go through the pain that is YYZ on a TB flight when I can clear customs in YYC and relax at my connecting U.S. airport?
I've started taking more inconvenient times or just flying on other airlines if my travels are going to have me transiting YYZ during busy hours. When "Rapidair" (free same day standby, etc.) actually works then YYZ to/from YOW has some advantages. When it doesn't (right now) I'll just take other flights or other airlines.
Voting with my feet and wallet are the only way to express my dissatisfaction in a way that AC will understand. The 1h change in the evening is a positive one, but not enough to fix the problems with YOW/YYZ right now.
Sep 30, 2017, 6:18 am
#108
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: YOW
Programs: AC*SEMM, *G, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 897
Not sure if anyone has been flying YOW-YYZ over the last two days but lots of issues with some significant delays. On Thursday, maintenance and "E90 fleet constraints" led to AC459 being operated by a 789 and pretty much all evening flights being delayed. Not sure if this was maintenance or something else but a few "prime time" cancellations yesterday and again several delays for the evening flights (both ways)
I am usually a bit more of an AC apologist but as others have said before, it is going to be interesting to see how this E90 thing ends up working during the winter season... That said, it's not like the old A320s or 767s are that much more reliable. Flying in and out of YOW will be interesting for the next little while...
I am usually a bit more of an AC apologist but as others have said before, it is going to be interesting to see how this E90 thing ends up working during the winter season... That said, it's not like the old A320s or 767s are that much more reliable. Flying in and out of YOW will be interesting for the next little while...
Sep 30, 2017, 6:23 am
#109
Join Date: May 2005
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE100K MM, BA-S HH-D, MB-G LT Sil, IHG-Plt, Nexus, Global Entry
Posts: 3,803
Over the next week at least, I am seeing 2 or 3 morning YOW-YYZ flights being operated by A319/A320. I wonder if this is for seating capacity reasons, or due E190 availability issues?
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Sep 30, 2017, 6:30 am
#110
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: YOW
Programs: AC*SEMM, *G, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 897
The 6am flight out of YOW now appears to be scheduled as an A320 for the winter schedule (or 319 on some days). The 10am flight appears to be reverting to E90 after this week
Oct 12, 2017, 3:57 pm
#111
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: YVR
Programs: AC Black Card, Nexus
Posts: 292
AC463 today, not sure if it was an e90, but there was big shortage of OC space. I find there are always passengers who take advantage of OC with 3+ items in one cabin. It didn’t look like anyone was sitting beside me so I let a lady out her bag under the chair, then a few late comers came in one of which sat in the seat and didn’t mind that someone else’s bag was in her space (what a kind soul), but one of the SE’s not sitting in J walked up to j and asked the SD to put his bag in an OC there and they said no problem. Being an SE must be nice.
long story short, these small planes have very little OC space!!
long story short, these small planes have very little OC space!!
Jan 17, 2018, 6:45 pm
#113
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Ideally YOW, but probably not
Programs: AC SE*MM
Posts: 1,826
I've been transiting through YYZ a lot so far this year (and will again several more times over the next few weeks).
This winter it seems like they've settled on going with A320s on several of the evening flights from YYZ to YOW and then returning them on the morning flights YOW to YYZ, plus the 763 operated flight in the afternoon as well. E190s during the day, and in a couple of the evening slots. I'm certainly happier.
This winter it seems like they've settled on going with A320s on several of the evening flights from YYZ to YOW and then returning them on the morning flights YOW to YYZ, plus the 763 operated flight in the afternoon as well. E190s during the day, and in a couple of the evening slots. I'm certainly happier.
Jan 17, 2018, 7:22 pm
#114
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: YVR
Programs: AC SE 2MM; UA MP Premier Silver; Marriott Bonvoy LT Titanium Elite; Radisson; Avis PC
Posts: 35,255
I've been transiting through YYZ a lot so far this year (and will again several more times over the next few weeks).
This winter it seems like they've settled on going with A320s on several of the evening flights from YYZ to YOW and then returning them on the morning flights YOW to YYZ, plus the 763 operated flight in the afternoon as well. E190s during the day, and in a couple of the evening slots. I'm certainly happier.
This winter it seems like they've settled on going with A320s on several of the evening flights from YYZ to YOW and then returning them on the morning flights YOW to YYZ, plus the 763 operated flight in the afternoon as well. E190s during the day, and in a couple of the evening slots. I'm certainly happier.
Jan 18, 2018, 9:10 am
#115
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,726
I've been transiting through YYZ a lot so far this year (and will again several more times over the next few weeks).
This winter it seems like they've settled on going with A320s on several of the evening flights from YYZ to YOW and then returning them on the morning flights YOW to YYZ, plus the 763 operated flight in the afternoon as well. E190s during the day, and in a couple of the evening slots. I'm certainly happier.
This winter it seems like they've settled on going with A320s on several of the evening flights from YYZ to YOW and then returning them on the morning flights YOW to YYZ, plus the 763 operated flight in the afternoon as well. E190s during the day, and in a couple of the evening slots. I'm certainly happier.
...then there's a bunch of extra capacity YYZ-YOW at 16:40, 18:45 and 23:10, for those who've (A) finished meetings early, (B) left work in Toronto at 5PM, (C) need to stay in Toronto for dinner, or (D), like me, don't know how long things will run in Toronto, so book the 23:10 or the 00:30, and then standby early if things wrap up ahead of schedule in T.O..
Similarly, there's a 320 on the 1830 YOW-YYZ, which to me looks like it's also addressing a demand spike for Toronto-based pax who've just spent the day working in Ottawa.
What I can't figure out is the aircraft scheduling. A quick look at FR24 shows that the 320 that operates AC470 at 23:10 is rarely the same aircraft that returns to Toronto at 6AM the next morning, but instead does the daily YOW-MCO, YOW-FLL, or the twice-weekly YOW-CUN.
Jan 18, 2018, 10:16 am
#116
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE100K, AC-3MM, Marriott- LT Titanium, SPG RIP
Posts: 2,958
A320 on the 6 AM flight makes sense to me, that's an extra 50 seats' capacity for the time of day that lots of Ottawa-based folks want to get down to Toronto for a day of work / meetings. This is me a lot of the time.
...then there's a bunch of extra capacity YYZ-YOW at 16:40, 18:45 and 23:10, for those who've (A) finished meetings early, (B) left work in Toronto at 5PM, (C) need to stay in Toronto for dinner, or (D), like me, don't know how long things will run in Toronto, so book the 23:10 or the 00:30, and then standby early if things wrap up ahead of schedule in T.O..
Similarly, there's a 320 on the 1830 YOW-YYZ, which to me looks like it's also addressing a demand spike for Toronto-based pax who've just spent the day working in Ottawa.
What I can't figure out is the aircraft scheduling. A quick look at FR24 shows that the 320 that operates AC470 at 23:10 is rarely the same aircraft that returns to Toronto at 6AM the next morning, but instead does the daily YOW-MCO, YOW-FLL, or the twice-weekly YOW-CUN.
...then there's a bunch of extra capacity YYZ-YOW at 16:40, 18:45 and 23:10, for those who've (A) finished meetings early, (B) left work in Toronto at 5PM, (C) need to stay in Toronto for dinner, or (D), like me, don't know how long things will run in Toronto, so book the 23:10 or the 00:30, and then standby early if things wrap up ahead of schedule in T.O..
Similarly, there's a 320 on the 1830 YOW-YYZ, which to me looks like it's also addressing a demand spike for Toronto-based pax who've just spent the day working in Ottawa.
What I can't figure out is the aircraft scheduling. A quick look at FR24 shows that the 320 that operates AC470 at 23:10 is rarely the same aircraft that returns to Toronto at 6AM the next morning, but instead does the daily YOW-MCO, YOW-FLL, or the twice-weekly YOW-CUN.
Jan 18, 2018, 12:12 pm
#118
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 67
I posted about this in another thread a while back: Has policy changed for Rapidair East standby?. At the time, I thought AC were just using E90s across the board as placeholders while the summer schedule was being rolled out.
Even though AC are adding 2 additional YYZ-YOW Rapidairs per day, total capacity on the route is CUT BY MORE THAN 15%! That is utter insanity. It's not like on April 30th where there are still mostly A32x ops that demand suddenly disappears. May is always a STRONGER month than April is for domestic traffic at YOW yet capacity is getting cut.
If you check online, fares are through the roof. Tango sold-out almost everywhere. This will do wonders for YOW's already terrible pax numbers. It's hard to believe that with so much going on in Canada's Capital for Canada 150 that YOW's pax numbers for 2017 are likely going end the year negative.
For the month of May it's 17x E90 and 1x 763 on YYZ-YOW.
In June 1 320 gets added back. It's hard to believe that YOW will have zero A319 and A321 ops and only 4x A320 ops this summer. That's unheard of. AC continues to inexplicably shrink YOW...actually there is an explanation - NOT ENOUGH COMPETITION! Our beloved AC is so focussed on trashing yields at the big 4 hubs these days (there's a reason why AC now almost always releases financial results on a Friday) thanks to near-zero competition elsewhere. We desperately need a real new ULCC in Canada to shake things up.
The thing is, they've done the same with YYZ-YUL. Everything is on a 320 + 2x E75 & ZERO WIDEBODIES some days of the week (max. 2x/day) & flight frequencies cut to as low as 18x on some weekdays = 10% cut.
Even though AC are adding 2 additional YYZ-YOW Rapidairs per day, total capacity on the route is CUT BY MORE THAN 15%! That is utter insanity. It's not like on April 30th where there are still mostly A32x ops that demand suddenly disappears. May is always a STRONGER month than April is for domestic traffic at YOW yet capacity is getting cut.
If you check online, fares are through the roof. Tango sold-out almost everywhere. This will do wonders for YOW's already terrible pax numbers. It's hard to believe that with so much going on in Canada's Capital for Canada 150 that YOW's pax numbers for 2017 are likely going end the year negative.
For the month of May it's 17x E90 and 1x 763 on YYZ-YOW.
In June 1 320 gets added back. It's hard to believe that YOW will have zero A319 and A321 ops and only 4x A320 ops this summer. That's unheard of. AC continues to inexplicably shrink YOW...actually there is an explanation - NOT ENOUGH COMPETITION! Our beloved AC is so focussed on trashing yields at the big 4 hubs these days (there's a reason why AC now almost always releases financial results on a Friday) thanks to near-zero competition elsewhere. We desperately need a real new ULCC in Canada to shake things up.
The thing is, they've done the same with YYZ-YUL. Everything is on a 320 + 2x E75 & ZERO WIDEBODIES some days of the week (max. 2x/day) & flight frequencies cut to as low as 18x on some weekdays = 10% cut.
Jan 18, 2018, 12:14 pm
#119
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 67
I fly Ottawa/Toronto a lot and it has been mostly Embraer's for a while now, and they could have gotten away with introducing Q-400s given that's the equipment used by Porter. This is a situation that is bound to change over the next couple of years given that Air Canada is just now embarking on a major narrowbody renewal program. I imagine within a few years we will see these operated by C-Series and a few 737s.
Jan 18, 2018, 5:42 pm
#120
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Ideally YOW, but probably not
Programs: AC SE*MM
Posts: 1,826
By way of anecdote, when I was heavily delayed YOW to YYZ recently on the 6am, the GA stated that there were 90 pax on the flight who had connections that were going to be missed or were at risk. Given the A320 holds less than 150, about 2/3rds of the plane was connecting in YYZ that morning (including me).