Ok, you are right, row 12 on fin 502 has a lot of leg room. You can easily place an entire cow in this space. I am now in the new 21C which we previously called 19C lol

Excuse me?

No way you're getting a cow on that side of the bulkhead.

not even during a last minute equipment swap to the all Y 737?

At one every two weeks, it would take most if not all 2027 to complete the migration. We'll likley see an acceleration with more than one at a time in conversion,

Not sure if this belong to the MAX thread or the FA collective bargaining one.

With Rouge MAX taking over so many flights formerly operated by mainline MAX, kind of see that coming miles away.

https://accomponent.ca/protecting-th...ive-agreement/

CUPE filed 2 grievances base on:

Fun fact: On AC's website, Rouge's J cabin has 37" of pitch, Mainline has 38"... so technically it hasn't exceed Mainline standards.
They just need to ensure Rouge crew are more miserable than mainline crew.

This really sounds like a lot of chest thumping from a union simply trying to justify its own existence.

I'm curious what the onboard service specifications are. Like what's even changing between rouge today and rouge on the 7M8?

The seating one, okay sure, the 223 has the narrowest seats in J. But the 32x have the widest, so... hasn't this always been an issue?

They also didn't say anything when AC brought 2 Rouge A319 to mainline (benefited mainline crew? idk).
Rouge A319 has marginally tighter pitch than A320 and A321, so technically Rouge had a better product than mainline.

Wiki updated. 502 now Rouge'd, and newbuild 543 now in mainline service.

Sometime in the past week, the YYZ-KEF summer seasonal service has been updated to be operated by Rouge 737 for the month of June (except on Jun 3 and 5). It's looking like the next Rouge 737 base will be YYZ.

Other transfers from mainline to Rouge for May/June (likely not exhaustive) include:
YVR-SFO/LAX (1 of X daily)
YVR-YYC (4 of many daily)
YVR-YXY
YVR-YQB
YYZ-some Caribbean
YYZ-Mexico
YYZ-SAN
YYZ-DFW/IAH (1 of 2 daily)
YYZ-YOW (4-5 of many daily)

Schedules after June are still TBD, since the only routes showing Rouge 737 from July onwards are just YVR-Mexico.

I've been saying this for a long time, but Rouge exists as a cabin crew labour cost management tool only. It is no longer "Air Canada Rouge, a low-cost leisure airline". It is "Air Canada, operated by rouge". The best analogy is "ANA, operated by Air Japan". Same planes, same amenities, same service.

The rouge 7M8s, seating reconfig aside, or no different than before. There's no more rouge livery, the branding is de-emphasised. There's simply a decal near the door that says operated by rouge. Even the safety cards are no longer "Air Canada rouge' branded - they are Air Canada branded with an operated by rouge logo underneath. The uniforms have been the same since the last refresh except a different scarf and nametag. rouge J service and product has been the same as narrowbody mainline J since COVID. which does exceed international PY. And rouge A320s have always had wider seats than mainline 223s. So those grievances filed by the union should have been filed a long time ago.

Any route that has been operated by a mainline 7M8 could be operated by rouge 7M8 tomorrow. Some may not for other logistical or operational reasons, but I wouldn't say "oh A-B would never be operated by rouge" if a 7M8 has operated today. Some routes like YVR-SFO could see a mix of mainline, rouge, and express.

I'm genuinely surprised rouge survived that last FA bargaining round. The cost savings for AC (and this is generalised) for rouge are slightly lower starting wages, not really any significant salary progression into more senior years, and the lack of the service director position (just a FA who takes the lead role for a sector gets a pay premium). This is also to disincentivise FAs from staying at rouge for a 'long' time. Overall creates a more predictable staffing cost for routes operated vs the more diverse seniority mix that can happen at mainline.

This is a calculated gamble by AC, to see how far they can push this. It's by design that transitioning 7M8 to rouge (which they "have" to do for the pilot agreement) is done at the most minimal cost and effort that it could easily be reversed. There absolutely is a 'close down rouge' plan that exists if this doesn't work out. Not much for AC to 'lose' at this point IMO.

The ANA operated by Air Japan (not to be confused with AirJapan, ANA's LCC subsidiary, also operated by Air Japan) comparison is a close but not quite the same. IIRC (and I might be completely wrong), in the past (and maybe now too) Air Japan was used by ANA to hire foreign crew to staff their flights (I remember flying HKG-NRT a few years ago with a Hong Kong based crew on ANA operated by Air Japan), probably for cost reasons, but likely also for language reasons. The Air Japan flights actually share aircraft with ANA (a plane can be staffed by ANA in the morning and Air Japan in the evening, for example), unlike AC Rouge where specific aircraft are assigned to Rouge and operated by Rouge exclusively.

But I completely agree that the continual blurring of the lines between AC mainline and Rouge is just another step towards an out, if/when they close down Rouge (or are forced to do so one way or another).

It seems like a smart business decision to me - for exactly these reasons. No negative impact on customers, but the upside of additional destinations.

On March 31, fin 506 C-FSEQ flew YQG-YYZ as AC7135 still registered to mainlne. Will be operating flight AC942 to Nassau later this same day.