Aug 21, 2021, 5:45 pm
Last edit by: Adam Smith
This thread originally contained any and all information relating to flying with AC in the times of COVID. As travel has picked up, much of the discussion has been moved to dedicated threads to make topics easier to follow. Threads that may be of particular interest to those travelling during COVID:
Meal threads:
Schedule changes/refunds - temporary COVID-related policies:
The above threads are in the process of winding down as AC moves away from temporary COVID-related policies. Most questions on schedule changes/refunds should be directed to the thread on AC's new permanent schedule change policies
Other AC-related threads:
Pre-travel e-mails:
Information on immigration rules and procedures, and other government requirements, from the Canada forum:
Airport-related threads containing information that may be relevant to AC passengers, but that are not specific to AC (there are many others in the Canada forum; these are a few that have come up frequently):
(Other threads with immigration/government-related questions not specific to AC can be found on the Canada forum, and experiences and questions on those topics should be posted there)
Meal threads:
- Air Canada Meals (Jul 2021 - ???) - Business Class - North America
- Air Canada Meals (Jul 2021 - ???) - Premium Economy - North America
- Air Canada Meals (Jul 2021 - ???) - Economy - North America
- Air Canada Meals (Jul 2021 - ???) - Business Class - International
Schedule changes/refunds - temporary COVID-related policies:
- Master thread COVID-19/Coronavirus; travel waivers, route changes, AC impacts
- Master thread Air Canada Refunds vs credits; Class action lawsuit filed
The above threads are in the process of winding down as AC moves away from temporary COVID-related policies. Most questions on schedule changes/refunds should be directed to the thread on AC's new permanent schedule change policies
Other AC-related threads:
- Air Canada Clean Care+ program
- MLLs in the time of COVID - re-openings, food, distancing, etc
- Upload your COVID documents online (trial)
Pre-travel e-mails:
Information on immigration rules and procedures, and other government requirements, from the Canada forum:
- Canada entry rules changing; fully vaccinated air travelers allowed
- Canada Will Require Negative COVID-19 Test 72 Hours Before Arrival
- Federal government to require vaccinations for all air and train passengers
Airport-related threads containing information that may be relevant to AC passengers, but that are not specific to AC (there are many others in the Canada forum; these are a few that have come up frequently):
- Flying through YYC 2021 Q3/Q4 (security, connections, construction impact, etc)
- YYZ International Arrivals
- Recent/Current YYZ-USA Preclearance Weekday morning times
(Other threads with immigration/government-related questions not specific to AC can be found on the Canada forum, and experiences and questions on those topics should be posted there)
Is anyone actually flying AC domestic or international in these Covid-filled days?
Aug 21, 2021, 7:58 am
#1112
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SE MM, Hyatt Globalist, SPG Platinum, hhonors Gold
Posts: 3,421
some how I missed “tonight” when I was looking back. It may be the three hours of sleep that AC stole from me. Hope your flight isn’t too badly delayed.
Aug 21, 2021, 8:08 am
#1113
Join Date: Mar 2008
Programs: AC SE MM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 904
Priority line was unmanned and roped off on Thurs evening. With that being said, still only 30mins from car drop-off to Intl MLL including waiting for Concierge, general security line at the D-Pier, and the walk to the E-Pier
Aug 21, 2021, 2:28 pm
#1114
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,762
Okay... The new meal threads have been opened, and most posts relating to food and beverage since July 1 have been moved out of this thread to the relevant meal threads.
Since the new threads are split by geography and class of service, posts that span multiple categories have generally been left here.
Going forward, please post any meal information in the new meal threads.
See here for the list of meal threads:
New Meal Threads July 2021 (WORK IN PROGRESS) - Input Requested
Adam Smith
AC Forum Co-Moderator
Since the new threads are split by geography and class of service, posts that span multiple categories have generally been left here.
Going forward, please post any meal information in the new meal threads.
See here for the list of meal threads:
New Meal Threads July 2021 (WORK IN PROGRESS) - Input Requested
Adam Smith
AC Forum Co-Moderator
Aug 21, 2021, 3:03 pm
#1115
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: YYZ
Programs: Aeroplan 50K/Star Alliance Gold, Accor Gold, base level Marriott/Hyatt/Hilton
Posts: 657
Flying ZRH-YYZ with 8 checked bags including one oversized piece, anything related to baggage delivery that I should be worried about?
Aug 21, 2021, 5:01 pm
#1116
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: YVR - MILLS Waypoint (It's the third house on the left)
Programs: AC*SE100K, wood level status in various other programs
Posts: 6,222
Well that was amusing. Just changed a YYZ-YVR flight to a later one to buy another hour of connection time in YYZ when returning from FCO in September. And they gave me $23.25 back for doing it. Maybe they charge less for a 788 than a 789?
I will never understand the vagaries of flight pricing.
I will never understand the vagaries of flight pricing.
Aug 21, 2021, 5:17 pm
#1118
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,762
Aug 21, 2021, 11:17 pm
#1119
Formerly known as jsfrSuperElite
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Hong Kong, Montreal
Programs: Air Canada SE100K-1MM, Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 590
AC 007
Nice to see today AC 007 flying over our apartment on her final approach towards Hong Kong airport. Daily flights are almost back.
In a few weeks, will report on AC 008
In a few weeks, will report on AC 008
Last edited by Adam Smith; Aug 21, 2021 at 11:23 pm Reason: Resize excessively large image
Aug 22, 2021, 4:37 am
#1120
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
yeah it was unmanned too when I used it recently
Aug 22, 2021, 5:19 am
#1121
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: MEX
Programs: AC E75K
Posts: 4,171
I've taken a few TATL flights in recent months and J was always ~70%+ full, and from what I could tell, the flights also had similar loads in PY / Y.
Aug 22, 2021, 5:33 am
#1122
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan 75K, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 1,374
I strolled through PY and Y towards the end of the flight. It'd be easy to mistake those two cabins as completely empty with how few people were there.
The YVR international area was also lifeless. Only the duty free shop and Subway were open. No other flights departing around the same time. The departures board only showed 9 flights that day.
Aug 22, 2021, 8:18 am
#1123
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
Moving these comments over from the meal thread....
@capedreamer
Consider some of the following:
Most if not all of the Asian countries along with AU and NZ, have had locked borders with no foreigners allowed, or very restrictive entrance permissions. HKG had 21-day hotel quarantines for all arrivals - including residents, and along with Japan, some of the most extreme testing procedures. Look at the topic of the list of Australians all over the world still trying to get on a flight back home. AC has limited ability on pax routes even if they were able to add back YYZ-HKG, YYZ-ICN etc.
On some of the key European routes, AC was flying pax all throughout. As more European countries opened up, AC was able to add back some routes, along with existing an new ones to the Middle East and North Africa.
Thus, it's not hard to see why pax loads to some or all of the few routes AC can fly across the Pacific might be low.
.
Yeah, it was super deserted at the gate. We actually started boarding at 8:15 AM for a 8:30 AM departure. The gate agent just called for zones 1 & 2 together, and then everyone else. Only took a few minutes!
I strolled through PY and Y towards the end of the flight. It'd be easy to mistake those two cabins as completely empty with how few people were there.
The YVR international area was also lifeless. Only the duty free shop and Subway were open. No other flights departing around the same time. The departures board only showed 9 flights that day.
.....
I strolled through PY and Y towards the end of the flight. It'd be easy to mistake those two cabins as completely empty with how few people were there.
The YVR international area was also lifeless. Only the duty free shop and Subway were open. No other flights departing around the same time. The departures board only showed 9 flights that day.
.....
Thanks for the report. It's really stunning to see the differential degree and pace of return to normalcy across different international hubs. YVR seems close to the state YYZ was in when I flew out from YOW to AMS in May 2020. And on a return trip from TXL to YOW in October 2020, I was struck by how busy TXL and FRA were at that point in contrast to YUL and YOW. More recently, I flew YYZ-FRA-BER and AMS-FRA-YUL-YYZ last month, and noted once again that the European airports seemed to have returned to a normal state of hustle and bustle whereas the same could not be said for their Canadian counterparts.
Mods - I'm sorry this conversation has veered off-track again. Feel free to move / remove. But good conversations tend to flow freely into tangents, and I'm not sure how to prosecute one within the apparent bounds of this forum.
Mods - I'm sorry this conversation has veered off-track again. Feel free to move / remove. But good conversations tend to flow freely into tangents, and I'm not sure how to prosecute one within the apparent bounds of this forum.
Consider some of the following:
Most if not all of the Asian countries along with AU and NZ, have had locked borders with no foreigners allowed, or very restrictive entrance permissions. HKG had 21-day hotel quarantines for all arrivals - including residents, and along with Japan, some of the most extreme testing procedures. Look at the topic of the list of Australians all over the world still trying to get on a flight back home. AC has limited ability on pax routes even if they were able to add back YYZ-HKG, YYZ-ICN etc.
On some of the key European routes, AC was flying pax all throughout. As more European countries opened up, AC was able to add back some routes, along with existing an new ones to the Middle East and North Africa.
Thus, it's not hard to see why pax loads to some or all of the few routes AC can fly across the Pacific might be low.
.
Aug 22, 2021, 8:28 am
#1124
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: MEX
Programs: AC E75K
Posts: 4,171
Moving these comments over from the meal thread....
@capedreamer
Consider some of the following:
Most if not all of the Asian countries along with AU and NZ, have had locked borders with no foreigners allowed, or very restrictive entrance permissions. HKG had 21-day hotel quarantines for all arrivals - including residents, and along with Japan, some of the most extreme testing procedures. Look at the topic of the list of Australians all over the world still trying to get on a flight back home. AC has limited ability on pax routes even if they were able to add back YYZ-HKG, YYZ-ICN etc.
On some of the key European routes, AC was flying pax all throughout. As more European countries opened up, AC was able to add back some routes, along with existing an new ones to the Middle East and North Africa.
Thus, it's not hard to see why pax loads to some or all of the few routes AC can fly across the Pacific might be low.
.
@capedreamer
Consider some of the following:
Most if not all of the Asian countries along with AU and NZ, have had locked borders with no foreigners allowed, or very restrictive entrance permissions. HKG had 21-day hotel quarantines for all arrivals - including residents, and along with Japan, some of the most extreme testing procedures. Look at the topic of the list of Australians all over the world still trying to get on a flight back home. AC has limited ability on pax routes even if they were able to add back YYZ-HKG, YYZ-ICN etc.
On some of the key European routes, AC was flying pax all throughout. As more European countries opened up, AC was able to add back some routes, along with existing an new ones to the Middle East and North Africa.
Thus, it's not hard to see why pax loads to some or all of the few routes AC can fly across the Pacific might be low.
.