#20 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
379 reviews
Hello, and welcome to my very first flight report. Today, I am headed across the Pacific as part of a tour around a few countries in Asia for the summer. For this series, my final destination will be Manila, Philippines with an overnight stopover in Tokyo, Japan. Approximately a week after that, I will be taking more flights headed to Malaysia and Singapore. This FR will cover the first sector on Air Canada across the Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver.
I arrived at Calgary International Airport approximately two hours before scheduled departure to check-in for my flight to Vancouver.
Involuntary Flight Change
Just a few days after I booked my flights, I received an email from ANA about a flight change on this sector. I was involuntarily moved somehow to AC219, departing more than 1.5 hours after my original flight. This meant that my connection in YVR will be reduced from 2h45m to just over one hour.
Fearing that a missed connection will be likely in case of a delay on the new flight, I called ANA and explained to them about the situation. The agent was super helpful and was happy to change the flight back to this one at no charge; she even offered to put me on an even earlier flight than this one at no cost in case this flight gets significantly delayed. Talk about excellent customer service!
Unfortunately, my online check-in experience with Air Canada wasn't going well. The checked baggage allowance for the entire itinerary is 2 x 23kg per person since I am connecting onto an international flight in Vancouver. However, Air Canada wanted to charge $105 for the checked bags. Hence, I stopped the online check-in entirely and decided to do it at the airport instead to avoid the unnecessary fee.
YYC International uses self-serve kiosks to check-in and print boarding passes, as well as bag tags. Baggage drop is usually done by yourself as well. Simply place the bag on the conveyor belt and off it goes to your plane. However if something goes wrong, the Check-In Assistance desks are always available for you to go to for help. I couldn't get any pics of the check-in desks or security lane as it was very busy at the time.
Since aviation is my passion, I try to collect model planes on the occasional basis, provided the fact that budget permits. If you have a layover in Calgary and decide to go landside and are also into collecting model airplanes, don't forget to check out the store, Who's Who In The Zoo, located in the Domestic Terminal. However, prices can get a bit steep, with amounts reaching as high as CAD$85 for a 767 in 1/200 scale. This is where I go to buy model planes if I have the budget. However today, I decided not to get one.
The gate agent announced that the flight was completely full, therefore some carry-on bags had to be checked in for the flight. Air Canada stopped my family and forced us to check-in three of the four carry-ons we had (excluding personal items). We thought it was not gonna be too much of a problem, until a terrible incident happened before boarding on the connecting flight. (more info on that in the next FR).
The gate that will be used for flight AC217. The flight was delayed by over half an hour, shifting the departure time to 1:45PM, but we didn't actually leave the gate until serveral minutes after that.
Air Canada A320-200 (reg # C-FMSX)
Pushback and taxi to the runway. Some grounded 737MAX parked next to an Air Transat A330.
There were two planes waiting for takeoff behind us, and after a few minutes of holding we were up in the air to YVR.
Complimentary earphones are distributed.
The flight time was only just over an hour, so drinks and pretzels were handed out by the flight attendants. It's enough for a flight of this duration. You can always have the option of purchasing food onboard, but prices can tend to be a little on the high side.
Mid-Flight
Descent into YVR international. It was pretty bumpy most of the way down.
Landing at Vancouver International Airport
Taxiing to gate, passing by some aircraft along the way.
During the middle of the flight, I handed my Flight Logbook (I ordered it from https://www.knaviation.net/log-book) to the cabin crew and they were more than happy to fill it up, as well as hand over some souvenirs as a thank you for flying with Air Canada.
Flight deck of the A320-200. I had a short chat with the crew as well; the pilots were headed to the city for their rest period while the flight attendants will be headed to Edmonton next.
Connecting Flight to Tokyo
Because of the delayed arrival, my connection time at YVR was reduced, however this was still enough time to make it to the gate for the flight on ANA to Haneda.
Little did I know that there was an unexpected and terrible surprise waiting for me and my family at the gate…. (more info on that on the next FR)
Before this flight, I've read some reviews about how terrible Air Canada is. From rude flight attendants to nickel-and-diming customers. However, I was really pleased with the flight in general despite the delay. The flight attendants were professional in doing their jobs. They may not be the most friendly and personable bunch, but they weren't rude either and still got the job done efficiently. Will definitely fly with Air Canada on another domestic flight and hopefully, on a long-haul international flight sometime in the future.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 12 avis concernant 3 compagnies sur la ligne Calgary (YYC) → Vancouver (YVR).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Air Canada avec 7.5/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 28 minutes.
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4 Comments
Welcome to flight-report
you need to hide the names/surnames in the flight log
thats a pretty nice attention from the crew
basic service from AC , i wasnt expecting much for a . 90 mins flight anyway
thanks
Wow, nice model store at YYC...I too, like most aviation nerds collect models. There should be more stores like that in more airports. The main one I can think of off the top of my head is in AMS.
It sure is a scenic flight from YYC to YVR! Also beautiful crossing the Rockies down here in the US, but usually landscapes where I cross (from East Coast to Southern California) are much drier and desert-like. Very green up there in the Northern Rockies, of course.
How lovely of the crew to sign your logbook and give you goodies.
Welcome to Flight-Report!
Thanks for your comment.
-That model store at YYC is the only place in Calgary (from what I know) that you can get snap-fit model aircraft with a good selection of airlines, albeit a high price. If you look at my ANA NH869 flight report, there is also a mention of a model plane shop with even more variety.
-YYC-YVR sure is scenic with a great view of the Canadian Rockies.
-Thanks for the comment about the log book! I try to fill it up every time I take a flight, however if the crew doesn't want to fill it up then I'm okay with that.
Thanks for reading my FR! Do check out my other flight reports, as well as the upcoming ones I'm gonna post on here soon!
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