SKYEG

Hey guys,

Does anyone know if AC does schedule changes to their existing schedule for plane types? Wondering if the 789 yvr-yyc-yvr once daily, that says on the summer schedule ending Sept 5th, will change into narrowbody. Or does AC keep to their released schedule? Visiting family for the long weekend and will pay extra to fly PHX-YVR-YYC-YVR-PHX to take the 789 but it's $150 cheaper to take any of the other narrowbody flights in flex. Comfort is only $40 more so I might just pay that for refundable. Things can of course change but R9 for all flights on my dates at least for now.

for ex, american and united changes theirs every month without any security for all plane types and timings so you never know.. wondering if AC is the same. Looks like it's been 789 this whole month for 214/219.

Thanks for your input in advance!

canadiancow

I wouldn't expect to be on a wide-body on that route until sitting on the flight.

Aircraft types change all the time. I've been checked in, with boarding pass, for YYZ-SFO, and then it went from a 763 to a 321.

Adam Smith

Yes, they definitely do.

It's the only widebody on the route, and as I've pointed out upthread, when they first started it last year, it was primarily cargo. Passenger loads didn't look all that high.

Looks like the passenger numbers pretty decent on recent days though, so perhaps it's more passenger-driven at the moment.

It's a short flight. Is it really worth an extra $150 to begin with?

You may think you'll buy Comfort and beat the system by refunding it, but if they swap the aircraft type, you're probably going to pay a premium to re-book on a different flight. And there's no other widebody to re-book you on.

I would definitely not pay a premium to book this just for the 789. Given WS has multiple daily non-stops, I probably wouldn't fly AC at all.

SKYEG

Thanks for your post! Very helpful.

For me it's not because I want a lie flat. I'm an aviation nerd so the novelty of having a chance to fly that route for the first time with a plane type that doesn't it usually really excites me.

Thanks again!

And yes I pay $100-$150/h for any lie flat so it's worth it to me for the price

Adam Smith

I understand that. I flew to YEG via YVR last fall for the same reason, and flew an AY 359 AMS-HEL a few weeks ago partly for that novelty value too.

If you're okay with there being a (probably small) risk that you won't get it, fill your boots. You didn't specify which long weekend, and there are two in the window. If it's August long, your chances of losing the 787 are probably much lower than if you're trying to grab it on one of the last few days it's on the schedule at Labour Day.

I'd probably pay a premium to cut the journey time in half on the non-stop, even though it would be a boring 737. Especially since it also sounded like this flight might not even be the preferred timing on a connection? Value is in the eye of the beholder, of course.

SKYEG

Visiting YVR as most my friends live there so it's a planned stop anyways

Im booking PHX-YVR and YVR-YYC separately

mbritter

YHZ-YVR direct is gone at end of October, was booked on this for our trip to Maui. Oh well, wishful thinking it was going to stay around that much longer anyways.

fly_yag

YYC-FRA is no longer operating on Tuesdays in October and November which seems to be a bit of a random cancellation. I had an AE ticket to LCA impacted but managed to get rebooked via LHR by calling in.

Flump

delete

jix

Anyone knows what's happening with AC's YYZ-LGA route on mainline (7XX) in the past 1-2 months? Ever since the schedule update where they've taken out a couple daily Jazz flights, the mainline equipment has no consistency anymore, ranging from 200, 320, 321, 7M8

Adam Smith

What do you mean "anymore"? In the Before Times, that route had E75s, E90s, 319s, 320s, and 321s all on the schedule with reasonable frequency. It was never just 15x the same aircraft every day.

jix

I'm comparing with 2020-2021 schedules I suppose, where it was pretty consistent that the identical flight number on mainline would have the same equipment daily and almost all flights were on 220 (it was 2x-3x daily, so probably easier to manage compare to the volume now)

Take AC723 for example, in the last 10 days it's been flown by 220, 320, 321, 7M8 with no predictable pattern.

I have preference towards 220 seating wise so, but it's been changed since booked and given flight time/number does not change so AC doesn't send a notification, and they're likely swapping aircraft close to departure based on load factor.

Adam Smith

2020-21 is really not a good guide. Flight schedules were light, much of the fleet was parked and not available (the 7M8s for reasons other than the pandemic), demand was low and could be met with smaller aircraft (I think the 223s got worked harder than any other mainline aircraft type).

YYZ-LGA is an easy route for AC to do fairly late equipment changes to, since it's a short route and YYZ is their largest hub. There's also a lot of last-minute booking and cancellation given it has a lot of business traffic. I don't know whether there are more last-minute equipment swaps now than pre-pandemic, but I'm not shocked by this information.

If being notified of aircraft type changes is important to you, you might want to consider a subscription to ExpertFlyer, which lets you set alerts for this.

Fes426

My YVR-YYZ in Sept went from 787 to 38M :/ I was really hoping to get some sleep on the red eye. Fingers crossed it goes back to something with lie flats

nomadic.relief

My YVR-YYZ-MUC in October got shifted a day later, so I was checking out what was up and noticed AC now offers LH DB (train) codeshares, for FRA-ZMU at least. When did that start?!