Thanks for the update Simon. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it there today

Thanks Simon that was a very interesting read! I couldn't make it either, I was trapped in a Dash. :)

I was there today, just got back from the dinner.

Simon, thanks for your excellent notes of the day.

I didn't get to fly our simulator (only observe) but a certain FTer will now be known as Capt Kangaroo......nothing like bouncing down it down the runway.... Jumping down the escape shute in the cabin simulator was fun.

All in all, I was very impressed with the AC and AP people taking the time to listen to their customers. In a chat with one of the AP folks before the dinner, they indicated that the ability to upgrade with points is on the AP wish list but that no time line had been decided.

That's good to hear although I hope they make that strictly an elite benefit.

Why, Shore9 of course :D

Fleet plans

They are looking at the A350, more A340-600 from Airbus, or Boeing 787/777ER/777CR and hope to make a decision over the next couple of months. This has been going on over the last 4-5 months.

There will be an announcement shortly on this.



The deal is bigger than people have been led to believe. The winner proposal will replace ALL of the AC widebody fleet, albeit over several years. AC will either go all Airbus - the A346-HGW and the A350 - or it will go all Boeing - the 773-ER and the 787. If Airbus gets the nod, the 343s all go, and probably the two 345s, too, since this model of 346 that debuts this year can fly almost as far as the 345. The 330s might stay since they are pretty new, but the 350s would, in time, replace all 767s and eventually the 333s as well. If Boeing wins, all the Airbus equipment would be replaced by 773ERs and maybe a few 772LRs, because the 773ER doesn't have quite the range of the 346 HGW. And the 787 would replace the 762s and 763s.

Last I heard, it can go either way. Milton really loves the 773ER - thinks it's one of the best planes in any class - but the 346 HGW is viewed as the plane that makes up for all of the weaknesses and deficiencies of the other 340s preceding it, including the 345. The 346 can fly up to 16 hours with a full payload where the 773ER is optimum to 14 hours. With the 777-300ER, AC would probably have to get some 777-200LRs for very long flying, whereas with the 346 HGW, it can pretty well do all overseas missions AC has in mind so that is one less scheduling complication. Curiously, at least to me, my source says AC and Milton are ambivalent about the choice between the 787 and 350. The 787 is this all new aircraft, newly engineered from the ground up, while the 350 is coming aggressive as a stop gap by Airbus to blunt the 787's appeal. Yet, Airbus seems to have done a good enough sales job to put this competition on a level playing field.

Right now, I have absolutely no idea who is in the lead. Price and willingness to bend over backwards for AC will have a big bearing. As we have read, AC wants the winner to finance its upgrades of the 767s, since the 350/787 won't enter the fleet until 2010 or later

I had a great time today, many thanks go to Parnel and AC staff for making this an informative and fun time! ^ ^ It was a blast flying the A320 simulator, and no, I didn't kill anyone doing so (though I'm sure the passengers had one heck of a ride)! :o :p

A most revealing day from a number of perspectives. A very large and diverse group of AC and Aeroplan staff came in from YUL and provided much insight into why things are as they are, or may be as they may become. As already noted, some major decisions will be made by the ACE board at their meeting on Tuesday that will move AC well along on its much overdue integrated look vis a vis interiors and consistent seating on all aircraft types.

Two revelations:

1. The main reason many of the elite kits have not arrived is that the sprinkler system went off at the fullfilment house just as they were ready to be posted, and soaked several thousand SE and E kits. This required their reprinting and repacking.

2. One of our own is now the newest AC employee in YUL, a long hoped for dream come true for him. You could not turn off the beaming smile on his face! Congratulations.

Though it was a short visit, the session at the Operations Centre gave us a pretty good idea of what is involved in juggling almost 200 aircraft and keeping over 1,000 flights a day in some order. Not to mention how those A345 mechanicals were covered off.

Our trip to the Flight Training Centre put each of us right into the copilot's seat of an A320 for either a take-off or landing. Back Seat and I alternated, I took us up from LAX and he brought us down. As a starter, however, our instructor recreated the aborted landing I had two years ago at LGA, and we flew over mid-Manhattan, across Brooklyn and Queens and back into LGA.

And in another section of the building, I finally had a chance to open one of those emergency exit row windows, and passed the test. My PNR will henceforth identify me as having qualified in the training simulator and I can prebook exit row seats.

Appreciate Parnel's pulling this together, and the contribution of the ACE folks who hosted us.

BTW Hope nobody had their AC letter opener confiscated by security on their flight home...

Nice to see FTers from across the country, and points far beyond, and to meet new members and reconnect with old ones.

^

Nice, very classy move by AC. In fact I bet AC could run courses and make it into some sort of profit center :)

At the risk of opening old wounds, I believe it was previously determined that they do (or did) swap equipment for load reasons. Not always, but at least on some occaisions.

Are we to presume that there will be no "Elite-Lite" status for 2006? I sure hope so ;)

Sorry to say it, but based on the descriptions posted so far, the meeting was more about AC giving non-answers (or agreeing something is bad, but hey what can you do) and making people feel good, than anything else. But maybe that was the point.

=aw

Simon, and others, thanks very much for such detail. Sounds like it was a lot of fun.

On the subject of AC's newest employee ^ ^ ^

I believe Empress will do very well fulfilling his dream of working in the airline industry and he is already well liked by his peers and bosses. AC's gain FT's loss!!

Now we need to clone him somehow so we can get the accurate information on FT we have been spoiled with over the last few years.