Swiss Tony

Title says it all! Need to fly from YYZ to LAS and the obvious choice is HP in F. Timings are OK for me, and it's half the price of AC.

Now, there's a school of thought that says if a deal's too good to be true, it probably is, and I subscribe to this.

So what am I missing? OK, so we won't get lounge access and there's no food as it's a 9pm departure (which seems a bit tight on a 5hr flight), but I assume that the drinks will be freely flowing and the seat will be comfortable enough to relax in.

What about check-in - do they have a priority line at YYZ? Also, have heard some pretty awful things about the transborder side of T3 - again, any comments as to how you kill time there?

Thanks

Tony

AZ Travels the World

I don't think you're missing anything that will matter much. HP's F product is fine. Seats are as comfortable as most any domestic F and drinks will definitely be freely flowing, albeit in plastic cups.

There is a first class/elite line for check-in and I can't believe that you'll have much of a problem getting through US immigration at that time of night.

There's no way AC is worth double the price.

You probably already know this, but you can earn BA miles (but no tier points ) or VS miles for the flight.

MrBookworm

My drink in F from JFK-PHX last Wed (7/6) was served in a glass, not plastic.

Dean

Swiss Tony

Many thanks for your input with this - confirms my thoughts and I suspect HP will get the business (which will account for 3/8ths of the F cabin!)

A proper glass is always anice touch, although after 5 hrs with no food, i'm sure it'll make no difference by the time we get to Vegas

dlen111

HP used to use glassses in FC on all flights.

now it seems they only use glassware on flights that serve meals in FC. HP only serves meals on long flights that are during appropriate meal times, so I think youll be starving with plastic cups in hand.

AZ Travels the World

Hi Dean, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Did your flight include a meal service? As dlenn111 points out, usually glassware is only used on flights that include a meal, which Swiss Tony's won't. I'm hoping you're going to say, no, it was not during meal time, but I'd probably be willing to bet five bucks that if you got a real glass, it was.

MrBookworm

Yes, I had a meal on the flight from JFK to PHX as it left at 6:15pm.

Dean

Insiderdude

Actually, I find HP's F product to be not bad at all. I've been on a few AC and UAL flights recently and have done forward cabin on some, and I miss HP's leather seats, adjustable headrests, etc. Perhaps I've just had the wrong flights on AC/UA - but HP's hardware in first isn't too bad.

Swiss Tony

AC have some new C class seats on the short haul fleet and they're absolutely awful. The older ones seem to have gone very saggy, but the new ones are like sitting on bleachers. Might be fine for a 1hr flight, but a 4hr haul from Toronto to Calgary was indeed a PITA

tcook052

The AC FA's, you mean?

Jetsetter2Ord

Hello SwissTony!

I might be the FA on your flight, as I have been working that route quite often. In FC you will get a nice leather seat, possibly with the adjustable headrest. In regards to a meal service, unfortunately you will be provided with a bag of snack mix, and free flowing beverages yes served in a plastic cup. However, we are required to "cut off" those who may seem or appear intoxicated during flight. You also will be provided a Free headset to watch the inflight entertainment, including a feature film, short subject and a trivia program and 10 audio music channels.

I would suggest if your going to be hungry to bring on board something to eat. There may only be enough snack mix provided for the flight to give you one, as this flight is provisioned in PHX for the inbound flight.

Be nice to the inflight crew, as we have a LONG duty day 12.5hrs, and are required to clear Canadian customs, and clear back thru US customs in the short ground time we have on the ground. Last wk we had only 30 minutes to do all of that and get to the plane 5minutes before they reboarded, (the crew didnt even have time to grab a bite to eat, use a restroom, or even make a phone call) you could make brownie points by giving the crew a treat that you may have purchased in a gift shop while waiting for your flight. ^

All in all, you will be given professional service and get you safely from point A to point B. Be thankful you have a F class seat, those in back are sometimes packed in pretty full.

So sit back relax and enjoy your flight!

Swiss Tony

Jetsetter Thanks for taking the time to post and share that. Perhaps I should have been a little more clear in what I was trying to communicate. My concern was that the FA's on this route would serve a drink after take off, possibly be "disturbed" for a second but then go hide in the galley. Kind of like Ted, but at least you can get a beer. It's not my aim to get intoxicated - and with no food i'll certainly be mixing my alcohol with lots of water/juice - but if you're selling something as F and not providing any food, I think it's a valid question to ask.

Re: the food matter, I do think it's a bit ridiculous offering a 5hr+ flight with no catering (maybe 1 bag of snack mix). Although bringing some onboard is a good idea, because it's a transborder route we clear US customs in YYZ so will be limited as to what we can bring along. Perhaps someone can correct me, but I assume that means no fruit, meat or cheese. Any hope of a sandwich is therefore out of the window (I hear the airside catering at YYZ is awful) but instead I can bring on a bag full of healthy items such as Pringles, chocolate bars and cookies - great!

And re bringing food on board for FA's... The US seems so paraniod right now, sadly I'd be too concerned that someone would assume I was up to no good in doing this. As nice a gesture as it may be, I'd have thought it was too big a risk for Joe Public to take...

I don't think it's enough to make me consider paying double to fly AC, but I may be temped to route via PHX on the 4.45pm flight so I can at least be assured of some vaguely healthy/balanced food...

cpmairtight

Forgive me . . . but is that correct, the flight is 5 hours plus and NO FOOD in F?

I take the PHX-MKE, PHX-PHL, PHX-EWR, quite frequently, and I am always served a "meal". The MKE flight is only 3.5 hours or so.

odd.

Swiss Tony

HP has a cut off (7pm pr 8pm I think) and if a plane leaves after that time, then as you'll see above, it's a bag of snack mix unless the inbound pax got a bit hungry. The LAS flight leaves YYZ at 9pm.

To be honest, it defies belief when transatlantic flights can run as quick as 5hrs. Can you imagine someone not offering to even sell you food in Y - let alone J or F - on a transatlantic leg???