I assume this is mandated by Transport Canada (ie make announcements when the seatbelt sign goes on) for Canadian carriers. Please correct if if this is wrong.

From the Canadian Aviation Regulations:

It's more that NZ doesn't release award space to partners - it's notorious for this. Not even in Y. You can find it but it's really hard.

I doubt AC would status match within the same alliance.

No, SYD usually gets in earlier in the day, depending on the time of year. 8-9am

I mentioned the new AKL service to the excellent SD (Vincent) while on AC18 on approach from TPE.

He was speechless and shaking with excitement. Once he semi-regained his composure he rushed to share the news with his colleagues. He loves flying as much as we do--and has since he was a child.

30 years with AC yet he said sadly he has virtually no chance in bidding to work the inaugural 'celebration' flight as there are far more senior employees.

Assuming it doesn't deflate?

Well if AKL ever changes timezones, maybe AC can accommodate both YVR connecting traffic and those who want to go to work straight off the plane.

I would bet most people (who dont go straight to work) would prefer an 11am arrival to an 8am arrival when there is a better chance of having a ready hotel room.

Hmm. Toss up between opportunity to sit on a very likely broken seat, and extra time at the airport and onboard because of the chronic tardiness of flights. Who doesn't love sitting at the empty YVR departures gates with the shuttered shops and restaurants on a saturday night? One can pass the time making new friends with the waiting pax, right?

Can't believe this took as long as it did to become publicly announced. Has been in the works for a very long time. I am a bit surprised AC only went 'half-in' with a 4x weekly, seasonal service; they had been talking about year-round, but perhaps like MEL (37/38) that will eventually increase. It currently suggests "we don't know what else to do with all these airplanes in the winter" rather than offering a meaningful service to business flyers or cargo shippers.

Originating as I do at YVR (and connecting beyond AKL), I'll still opt for NZ every time, especially with the Canada departure time as late as it is.

That says nothing about announcements being mandatory. It simply defers to the PIC or the FA using the term "...considers it necessary".

I think the general malaise is due to a lack of (easy) availability on the YVR-AKL nonstop, but I do agree that award space is not as elusive on NZ as some seem to believe.

Any ideas what the cutoff date might be for seasonal service?

People rag on AC, but I've flown NZ a couple times and while it was nice, I wouldn't pay up for it over AC. If the prices are comparable, I would probably favor whichever I get more miles on.

NZ charges a TON for the flights to/from YVR, so I'm surprised it took this long for AC to get in on the act, but I guess they wanted to jump on Australia first. That said, what I don't get is what exactly they think they'll do with this. I supposed they'll route all their own traffic on to this flight rather than ever sending pax to NZ. But like a handful of months, a few days a week, while NZ is 7 or more flights a week...I don't really see any competitive advantage for AC.

I do kinda expect this grow though, almost all of these routes from YVR introduced in the past year or two clearly seem to be doing well, because they've all started like this and been up-gauged, or more days added, or year round service. The only ones that seem not to have are the European summer routes to CDG/ZRH/FRA.

As a YVR employee and obviously living here, I'm in favor of any new routes from any airlines here...as long as it's not just another Chinese carrier. What I'm BEGGING for is SOMEONE to fly to Central America, PTY makes the most sense, and CM makes the most sense especially with their MAX 9s being delivered. It seems the range is ok and I don't think it could support a widebody, but Aeromexico has made a good go of things here, I wanna see STAR jump on this and fly to a WAY better connecting airport in PTY and make getting to all of South and Central America much easier.

I fly to BNE and go directly to work. Did it this morning. Arrived at 8:15 am.