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"Going Rogue" from -15C to +30C: Air Canada Rouge in Y+ (YUL-CUN) with photos/videos

"Going Rogue" from -15C to +30C: Air Canada Rouge in Y+ (YUL-CUN) with photos/videos

Old Jun 7, 2016, 4:17 am
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"Going Rogue" from -15C to +30C: Air Canada Rouge in Y+ (YUL-CUN) with photos/videos

During the cold winter January all I wanted was to escape to a warm destination.
So, I decided to head down to the "blue collar" destination of Cancun, Mexico.

Air Canada leisure airlines "Rouge" is offering a widebody service between Montreal and Cancun on a Boeing 767-300ER.
Although, some may call that bird ancient, our bird was delivered to Air Canada by Boeing only in June 2001.

These birds are also deployed on some leisure destination in Europe. Rouge does not offer individual TV screens. They have been removed.
Nonetheless, Rouge is running an Inflight Entertainment System via Wifi, which is activated in flight, once the plane reaches around 15.000 feet.
I couldn't take (or simply forgot) to take a photo, but the IFE UI is showcased in my video. It's free, however, it is plagued with loads of commercials.

I have paid some money to upgrade to Economy Plus, which is called Rouge Plus. The offering is similar to United.
You get a better seat pitch - that's it. Nonetheless, it helps to exit the plane right away after landing in Mexico and join the entry immigration
queue quickly. That is a plus. Entry immigration checkpoints
in Latin America could be a frustrating experience, sometimes. I esp. look down at Brazil on that matter.
Moreover, a seat in Rouge Plus allows some good views on one of the General Electric CF6-80C2 engines.

Cancun is - without a doubt - a holiday destination. Hence, Y and Y+ were almost fully booked. Premium Rouge had lots of empty seats.

Weather in Montreal was freezing, but sunny. Unfortunately, most of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico and Cancun itself was covered in clouds.
Weather was hot and muggy on the day of my arrival.

We didn't hit any significant delays. De-icing took around 20 minutes. I believe Air Canada has built this into their schedule.
Moreover, we were facing pretty stiff headwinds, esp. during the second part of our flight. This is quite normal, because due to the Hadley Cell the upper air masses
run from the Southwest to the Northeast. This winds eventually converge into the Polar Jetstream. The Trade Wings at sea lever run in the opposite direction.

The video:




Here are some stats about the flight:

Flight: Air Canada Rouge AC 1820
Departure from: Montral - Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, YUL, Quebec, Canada
Take Off from Runway 24L; length 2,926 m / 9,600 ft
Arrival To: Cancn International Airport, CUN, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Landing on: Runway 12L, length 2,800 m / 9,186 ft
Distance: 1,842 miles / 2,965 km
Duration: 4 hours and 22 minutes
Passenger load in Y and Y+: approx. 98%
Travel Class: Rouge Plus (Economy Plus)
Seat pitch: 35 inches
Lounge visited at Montreal:
Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, International, near gate 50
Plane: Boeing 767-300ER
Registration: C-GHLQ
Delivered to Air Canada: June 2001
Engines: 2 x General Electric CF6-80C2
Thrust Rating: 60,800 lb each


Trudeau International Airport on a cold winter morning in January:





Our bird today; an Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER C-GHLQ:





Our bird, seen from the Lounge:





Completely empty Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge (international). The domestic Maple Leaf Lounge
was completely crowded, stuffy and small. The lounge dragons there recommended me to go to the international lounge.
In Canada, you do not have to pass any border checkpoint to switch between the international (non-US) and domestic airside departure area.





From the gate:





Aft economy section; Economy has a relaxed 2-3-2 seating configuration:





Over the wing shot:





Punctual pushback:





De-icing (it is -15C):







Taxiing towards runway 24L:







Take off from Runway 24L:





Frozen Saint Lawrence River:







About to cross the border between Canada and the United States (New York State):







BOB (sandwich costs around CAD 7; tee and water is free):





Over icy New York State:





Stuffed Economy cabin:





Over the Gulf of Mexico:





Getting closer to Yucatan Peninsula:





Hitting the coast of Yucatan; unfortunately, it was overcast:







Getting ready to land on Runway 12L:





At the gate in Cancun International Airport:





Apparently American serves Cancun with an Airbus A330-300 (probably either from Philadelphia or Charlotte):





Sunny Cancun Airport (this photo was actually taken on my return flight):





Cancun Beach (Zona Hotelera):















Emporio Hotel & Suites Cancun Beach, Quintana Roo, Mexico (a very average hotel resort):





The wind is blowing from the west in Cancun; that is unusual:









Here is the full video about the trip:







All my trip reports on FT:

Airbus:

Iberia Airbus A340-600 London - Madrid in Y

Air Caraibes Airbus A350-900 Guadeloupe - Paris in Y

Empty Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - London Heathrow in Y+ and AY Lounge Sauna

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - Shanghai in Y+

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Hong Kong - Helsinki in Y+

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 Singapore - New Delhi in Upper Deck Y

British Airways Airbus A380-800 Singapore - London Heathrow in Y



Boeing:

Asiana Boeing 747-400 Combi Tokyo - Seoul in F

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Montreal - Cancun in Y+

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Cancun - Toronto in Y

United Boeing 777-200ER Houston - Newark - Amsterdam in C

United Boeing 777-200ER Amsterdam - Houston in Y+

United Boeing 777-200ER Singapore - Hongkong in C

British Airways Boeing 777-300ER London - Shanghai in Y

ANA Boeing 777-300ER Singapore - Tokyo in C

Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Zurich - Hong Kong in Y

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong - Singapore in Y

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Sint Maarten - Curacao in P

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Curacao - Amsterdam in P

Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Toronto - London in Y

ANA Boeing 787-8 Shanghai Pudong - Tokyo Narita in C

United Boeing 787-9 Los Angeles - Houston in C



Trains:

CFR Calatori Bucharest - Istanbul Halkali in Sleeper Car

EuroNight Jan Kiepura Cologne - Warsaw in Sleeper Cabin

China High Speed Rail Shanghai - Xiamen in F

Caledonian Sleeper Train Inverness - London Euston in Sleeper Cabin

French TGV High Speed Train: Barcelona - Paris in F

China High Speed Rail Guangzhou - Shanghai Hongqiao in Y

Swiss Railways Ltschberg Mountain Line Bern - Brig in F

Ukraine Railways Kiev - Budapest in Sleeper Cabin

Virgin Trains West Coast London - Glasgow in F



Lounges:

Five Star Alliance Lounges: LHR

Four OneWorld Lounges: HKG

TBIT Star Alliance Lounge: LAX



Enjoy!

Last edited by warakorn; Sep 9, 2017 at 3:42 am
warakorn is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2016, 9:19 am
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Nice. I think that is the only bearable rouge configuration. Thank god they did not try to stuff another seat in and make it 3:3:3
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 4:45 am
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How are the seats / spaciousness on the 767? Seems not too bad. I'm considering whether to try them for a transpacific from KIX.
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Old Jun 10, 2016, 1:57 am
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Thank god they did not try to stuff another seat in and make it 3:3:3
Does any airline operates the 767 in a 3-3-3 configuration? I wouldn't think that would be physically possible.
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Old Jun 10, 2016, 5:44 am
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Nice contrast between sun and ice
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Old Jun 20, 2016, 2:24 pm
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yes, there is no better way to get from icy Quebec to the warm Caribbean during the northern winter time.
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Old Jun 20, 2016, 5:47 pm
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Whoa! I also stayed at the Emporio! Booked an oceanside room using AAdvantage miles. Great, laid-back hotel. Terrible food, but we actually liked that it wasn't all-inclusive. Kept the price low and it meant we could scrounge around Cancun for real food. The Mayan place and the seafood place across the street were both excellent. Would love to go back to Cancun some day, maybe spend a few days in Tulum and Puerto Morelos - we visited both but didn't do any overnights.
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Old Jun 20, 2016, 9:53 pm
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Originally Posted by mkjr
Nice. I think that is the only bearable rouge configuration. Thank god they did not try to stuff another seat in and make it 3:3:3
Originally Posted by warakorn
Does any airline operates the 767 in a 3-3-3 configuration? I wouldn't think that would be physically possible.
As a 767 is typically 2-3-2, going to 3-3-3 would be nearly impossible. Thomson Airways does/did have 767s with a 2-4-2 layout.
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