YXUFlyboy

It doesn't appear the quarantine changes are impacting AC's plans for YYC service (yet).

RangerNS

I can't imagine any reason at any positive price to fly to YYC in any class, even without the socially responsible self isolation on arrival and return.


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philelite

I was planning to travel Dec 28 from Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta on regular flight in economy, returning on Jan 4. Both flights have now been canceled by Air Canada and replaced with a new flight that is all business class (Jetz). I called Air Canada to see what they would do for me and they say my only options are to fly indirect through Toronto, turning my 5 hour direct flight into 20 hours with connections, or else fly a different day. I cannot fly a different day without missing my Christmas plans with my family or else missing my non-refundable hotel reservation in PV. The agent on the phone offered me the option to buy-up to business class for $650, but that was more than the price of my original ticket and why should I have to pay double now that they’ve made this change? There’s not even an option to get a refund, only a future travel credit. I think my New Years plans might be ruined now.

tracon

I'm seeing connections in YVR both ways on the days you want to travel.
$715 down and $731 back. Jetz to/from YVR

canadiancow

I'm pretty sure philelite meant that $650 was more than he paid for his round-trip Y ticket.

So $1446 round-trip isn't exactly a bargain.

"Hey we know you paid $400 for your trip departing at date/time X returning at date/time Y. We still have flights departing at X and returning at Y, but you're now going to have to travel on a different date for a non-stop, or connect through YYZ. Otherwise, you can pay us an ADCOL of more than your original fare if you want to fly on the dates/times you booked. And yes, those non-stop flights are still available at the same times, we're just require you to pay our post-purchase price increase. And because of COVID, if you say no, there's no refund."

Adam Smith

Pretty awful behaviour from AC. If they had changed the original flight to Jetz and given everyone booked on it a free upgrade, then charged the new price to anyone wanting to book it going forward, no problem. But what they're doing to you is just dirty.

dinotoon

The aeroplan points (for Dec 28) have also increased significantly since they cancelled the 319 with economy seating. I booked two seats on the Jetz flight on November 9 for 23,900 each (from yxe). Today they want 51,000 points per ticket but the cash price of the ticket has not changed significantly.

Bartolo

Easy come, easy go. Tried to book one of these new flights. Already cancelled and removed from the schedule.

jlisi984

They added YYC PHX apparently (not showing on EF) as well as YYC YVR (noticed this while looking for flights on UA award search), removing a bunch of others. The map and description show one thing, but the schedule is completely different. https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...nada-jetz.html

My booked flight YVR PVR (very likely going to be cancelled by me if not AC) has 0 seats selected in C. While that's not a great indicator, it's pretty telling. I mean, who in their right mind expected YVR PVR to be a market that would fill up a full A319 in C-only config?!

Nitehawk

Time for another party plane thread?

Adam Smith

Hmm, maybe I'll have a chance to fly one after all...

You spend too much time in Europe; it's J-only. Besides, if it were C-only, it would just be a bunch of crappy blocked middle seats

jlisi984

FWIW, it's possible to see one or two days in advance on which routes these aircraft are being subbed in:
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/c-gbhn
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/c-gbia

mikeycanuk

We are booked for yyz-cun on the 20th on the Jetz319

jlisi984

So, the first flights have been operated successfully. I had my doubts they would ever actually operate.

Interestingly, C-GBIA is scheduled for a YEG-YVR tomorrow, and as usual they are selling Y-only (very empty still). OTOH C-GBHN is scheduled for YUL-YYZ AC405 on Wednesday and it's being sold as J-only... That's pretty unusual.

Edit to add: C-GBIK has been returned to service. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/c-gbik

jlisi984

Colour me surprised, but perusing seat maps on upcoming flights, these flights seem to be much more popular than I expected. I guess there's pent-up demand? Maybe vacation packages? Not sure really, but it's crazy to see four YUL-FLL flights on one day, with one operated by 333 (arguably better, though not as exotic, J-class experience), and still see 46 out of 58 seats selected on the Jetz flight!

Keep in mind that beyond the few that redeemed miles at bargain/fixed prices, people paid business-class prices or lots of miles for these flights. I'm not talking load on a DH4 here... Obviously the returns (especially the early ones, the first rotations to PVR/BGI/CUN) are very empty, but the outbounds in some cases are nearly full. Selling 46 business class seats on one flight is rather impressive!

Here's some stats (yes, only based on seat map), out of total capacity of 58 seats, return occupancy in brackets:
YUL BGI Dec 16: 28 [0]
YUL FLL Dec 18: 46 [1]
YYZ PBI Dec 18: 34 [0]
YVR PVR Dec 18: 18 [0]
YVR YYC Dec 18: 12
YYC YVR Dec 19: 2
YUL FLL Dec 19: 37 [1]
YYC PHX Dec 19: 13 [0]
YYZ YLW Dec 19: 20 [1]
YUL FLL Dec 20: 33 [2]
YYZ CUN Dec 20: 24 [2] (nb: the other CUN YYZ AC flight is J1...)
YUL FLL Dec 21: 18 [2]
YYZ BGI Dec 21: 7 [0]
YVR PVR Dec 21: 7 [0]
...and so on.