Monteal airport question
 

I am flying AC direct flight from Toronto, to Montreal to Geneva.
From what I can tell the plane arrives at a domestic gate (today 11) and is then moved (today gate 51)
For departure to Geneva it appears to use gate 51 which looks to be both domestic and international according to the map. (I assume it toggles based on demand)
I will have 90 minutes where I will need to deplane and re-board.
I read the lounge is only for travelers using gates 52 and above which appears to be only international, therefore even though I am on an international flight I appear to be out of luck.
I was wondering if somebody who has taken this flight can confirm if I am at gate 51 which restaurants services will I have access to - domestic, international or neither.
Thanks

You will be able to use the intl lounge. Fresh chef-prepared meals. :-)

I think it's open to departures from Gate 50 (not 52) and above which is the International wing at YUL.

For restaurants and services you can freely move throughout the entire International and domestic areas of the terminal. The AC MLL has an arbitrary rule saying that you can only use the international MLL if you're departing from flights in gate 50 and above which will always include international flights, but may on some occasions include domestic flights.

That has changed. There are 2 other threads about it.....

Thanks for calling me out for being wrong. Perhaps you (or someone else in the know) could actually share the right answer rather than making me and others search for a relevant thread?

The rule about having access to the int'l MLL for gates 50 (or 52) and above used to have to do with the odd domestic flight leaving that end of the terminal. If you are on an international flight, you can use the international lounge. Now, as 24left has pointed out, access rules have recently changed at YUL whereas the access to the international area is now "gated" somehow so you can not roam free back and forth the domestic and international portion of the terminal without a proper boarding pass.

@yyzgigi
Actually, I did not say you were wrong. I wrote:

I can't always search for threads. I assumed (perhaps mistakenly) that others here might.

Thankfully, @YOWCDNFF added some clarification for you.

The change has already been explained, and I can't find any master thread, but there are comments at the end of these two:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...-flyers-5.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...al-mll-15.html

This was an unwelcome surprise to me in early May :(, especially after some unrelated mishaps with CATSA incompetence :mad:.

Anyone know whose initiative was this change?

As I posted in the other thread on this topic, my understanding is that AC is working with the airports trying to make YYZ, YUL and YVR more suitable for US - INTL and even INTL - INTL connections, and also improve the US/INTL - Domestic experience. Given the number of super-cheap US - INTL fares AC is selling I am seeing more and more US pax on my INTL flights out of YYZ and YUL; much more common than it was 5 years ago. This change at YUL is part of that; by segmenting Domestic and International sections of YUL then they can more easily facilitate these kinds of transfers. Previously at YUL everyone had to enter Canada like they were staying and then re-clear, which is more like a small airport like YOW where there is minimal US-INTL to say the least, and most traffic is either O/D or domestic connections. AC wants YUL to be a proper hub. Maybe they can fix the YUL Dom lounge next, which makes even YYZ Dom look like the Shangri-La ;-)

Personally I think it is a welcome change. The YUL INTL lounge used to be segmented by gate, but inconsistently enforced by lounge agents, especially sometimes when there would be INTL flights at gates <50 and tcon widebodies at gates >50. Now it is dead simple; the gate areas are clearly segmented and access is enforced, and if you have an INTL BP you get in to the INTL lounge.

Thanks for the insight. I haven't seen the other thread.

On the lounge considerations only, I was happy with the gate 50 arrangement. It seems formerly there was uncertainty with a chance of upside, whereas now there is certainty with no chance of upside. Oh well. :o

Some discussion here

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...later-day.html


.....and a couple of posts here as well including

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...g-yul-yyz.html

Thanks for the detailed response. Wasn't trying to demand this much information from your original post, just some sense of what had actually changed. Strange that YUL is back to the way they were a few years back, hopefully they actually do something useful with it.

My curiosity has peaked. I wonder if AC would ticket something like that?

AC would happily sell a DCer a ticket to Cancun via Ottawa. If it's economical for such a person, who can say?

$169USD+fees isn't a bad price, actually.

V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG
1 KYET1TG K X 169.00 T01AU 14/3 -/ - WH01
PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES
FROM-WAS TO-CUN CXR-AC TVL-23JAN20 RULE-TUWH IPRW/5
FARE BASIS-KYET1TG SPECIAL FARE DIS-E VENDOR-ATP
FARE TYPE-XOX OW-ECONOMY CLASS ONE WAY EXCURSION FARE
USD 169.00 CONS E28JUN19 D-INFINITY FC-KYET1TG FN-5A
SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 27JUN19/1621 EXPIRES INFINITY

**** CONSTRUCTED ROUTING WAS-CUN/AC EF-28JUN19 DIS-INDEF
**ADDON ORG WAS WHRG/5 PUBLISHED ROUTING 0308
**PUBLISHED BUF-CUN WHRG/5 PUBLISHED ROUTING 0308

/WITHIN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE/
MAP CONSTRUCTED LEFT TO RIGHT AND RIGHT TO LEFT
1. WAS-YTO-YMQ-CUN
2. WAS-YTO/YMQ-YOW-CUN
3. WAS-YMQ-YTO-CUN