This is to differentiat people that have been given tickets from the ordinary staff travellers who will be deplaned if needed.

Super Elites are not on that list. They can be bumped as well if they are among those without seat assignments and no seats open up before dep time.

I saw Bob Rae 'bump' someone else off a full YYZ-YYC flight once, so I guess premiers have the clout.
However, yesterday's NP stated that Joe Clark was one of the many thousands of poor souls stuck in YYZ waiting for a flight.

[This message has been edited by FMac (edited 08-17-2003).]

FMac, was this while Rae was premier or afterwards?

I made it on the YYZ-YVR flight yesterday no problem--even got an exit row! Now in Whistler where the weather is fantastic!

YYZ was a freaking zoo yesterday a.m. The Vancouver/Asia check-in was lined up almost to U.S. check-in. The Diners Club MLC, which I thought was a bit of indulgence when I first got it, paid for itself in spades. Checked-in in about 10 minutes, and even got an exit row.

The flight was operating on time, but there was a red alert at YYZ a couple times during the morning, and so we were delayed by about 1h15. Surprisingly, the flight (on an ex-CP 744) was not full, which seemed really strange. I heard one of the FAs say that it was because they were short of crew.

Flight was good, used my new noise cancelling headphones (Sony NC-11) which, I have to say, were freaking amazing. Never realized how loud a plane actually is and how draining it can be. Another questionable expense that I am no longer regretting.

FAs were pleasant, no complaints. They made lots of announcements about connections in YVR to Asia-bound flights, mentioning that AC was holding all of the flights. There must have been some language problems, because on landing but during the taxi to the gate, many passengers were up and heading down the aisles! I had never seen that before. The FAs tried their best to stop it, but they were definitely overwhelmed. So there were about 25 people standing in the aisles with their carryons during the taxi to the gate.

I got home, though I swear I will never fly Y in a 319 again. Those have to be the most squished, uncomfortable seats known to god and man....

and cattle

I do however find the blue Y seats on the old CP A320's to be comfy.

Quite a while back, maybe 1992, so I think it was when he was premier.

You must have been seated in the first four rows of "Priority Seating". Once you get to the emergency exit rows and back, the pitch is fine. I once took the second row in Y, but only because I had it all to myself and could stretch out with a couple of pillows against the wall/window and my legs across the other two seats. Hardly any leg room otherwise.

I'm on 161 in early September and again in late October, but noticed that the back cabin of Y is almost empty, while the front sections of Y are just about totally filled on both. I know it's still early to forecast a final load, but I wonder if it regularly goes off with the back section empty? [I'm in the back in September taking advantage of that $1100 HKG fare -- including a YVR stop-over -- but up front er on top in October: 58A.]