NOV
03

airplane_food.jpgAir Canada Now Charging For All Snacks And In-Flight Meals

Oh c'mon, admit it. You secretly love airplane food. So this is no big deal. Right? But the rumoured 'loonie-per-flush' coin-operated lavatories are where I draw the line.

Hungry Air Canada passengers travelling on most flights within North America, in the lower-fare classes, will now need to pay for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The airline, which will charge up to $5 for snacks and sandwiches, says the move is an effort to keep up with customer demand for low fares. The change took effect on Nov. 1.

Complimentary meal service will only be offered on North American flights longer than 4.5 hours, says the company's website.

A spokesperson for Air Canada in Vancouver says the move is simply an extension of what the airline started in 2003 when it scrapped meals for short and medium-haul flights.

Air Canada scraps North American in-flight meals [Source Credit]

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OCT
14

pillow_charge.jpgAir Canada Will Now Begin Charging Customers For Pillows & Blankets

Consumers continue to bear the brunt of yet another so-called requisite measure to offset rising fuel costs. Out goes cotton batten pillows and semi-thick blankets, and in comes a $2 CDN kit that includes a blow-up pillow and a wafer-thin blanket. Sound appealing? Didn't think so. You're not alone.

"It seems to me that the airlines are more than happy to look at different methods of extracting payment or heaping indignities on their passengers in order to save dollars," said Michael Janigan, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa.

"Obviously any passenger would view charging for pillows and blankets as a pretty petty kind of expense for a dominant air carrier to implement."

There is a possible unreported angle to this however. With increasing concerns over the transmission of viruses, the move to abolish any form of recycled pillows or blankets would seem to be a prudent maneuver.

Air Canada Puts A Price On Comfort [Source Credit]

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AUG
30

airplane_cutlery.jpgAir Canada Will Give Executive Class Passengers Steel Knives, Again

Starting in two weeks, Air Canada's blueblood customers will be able to quit a practice most despise: using plastic knives to carve into slabs of beef tenderloin.

Metal knives will be allowed back on Air Canada effective Sept. 15, three years after Transport Canada and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration approved the measure.

Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Air Canada and other carriers banned metal knives while stepping up their security measures, although they have still offered metal forks and spoons.

While most passengers would acknowledge that airlines were wise to crack down on potential weapons in the wake of the terror attacks, that didn't make it any easier for Air Canada flight attendants, who have had to endure countless complaints over the past four years because of the knife ban.

"I'd say (that), on overseas routes, I get at least one complaint every other flight," said Heather Tregaskas, an Air Canada flight attendant with 37 years' experience.

"You just get customers who have this nice meal and they feel like they're eating with McDonald's utensils," she said. "There's not a lot the flight attendants can do. We just smile. What can you say?"

Air Canada returns steel knives to its flights [CP]

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AUG
15

air_canada.gif
A Little Advice For U.S. Carriers, From Robert Milton

Milton's advice to his U.S. contemporaries: "They need to focus on what they're doing. Low-cost carriers are here to stay. JetBlue is the real deal."

"My encouragement would be to rethink the business," Milton advised. "You're going to have to compete with JetBlue and new airplanes. How are you going to get new airplanes, creature comforts for the customer, and make it all hang together with much lower fares than today?"

Milton sees Delta's "Simplifares" as a good first step. "It will wind up at Southwest and JetBlue pricing," he believes. "So he who has the courage to go first will get a strong leadership position out of it. But he who goes first has to have his cost structure right to do it. And that's the trick."

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AUG
03

air_canada.gifAugust 3rd
Statement From Air Canada

Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz advise that flight operations at Toronto's Pearson International Airport are resuming this morning following the closure of the airport for much of yesterday due to an incident involving an Air France aircraft, as well as severe thunderstorm activity in the Toronto area that caused ground operation stoppages.

Air Canada is working to resume normal operations as quickly as possible. As aircraft are repositioned to operate today's schedule, some delays and a limited number of cancellations to and from Toronto are expected. Customers with flights scheduled to and from Toronto are strongly advised to check on the status of their flight prior to proceeding to the airport by consulting aircanada.com (we have noticed Air Canada's website to be experiencing heavy load issues and website performance is spotty, so try numerous times if you are not able to connect right away), or by calling Air Canada's automated flight information system at 1-888-422-7533, or by using a web-enhanced cell phone.

Customers with flights affected by yesterday's operational disruptions are requested not to present themselves at the airport without a confirmed reservation on an alternate flight. Customers wishing to make alternative travel arrangements can do so without penalty, space permitting, through Air Canada Reservations at 1-888-247-2262; TTY: 1-800-361-8071.

The following flights are cancelled for August 3, 2005:
002, 094, 095, 104, 108, 114, 116, 122, 136, 146, 166, 185, 190, 201, 235, 252, 270, 292, 294, 295, 313, 346, 347, 355, 379, 487, 515, 516, 542, 568, 569, 589, 603, 605, 607, 701, 792, 872, 879, 881, 883, 891, 923, 1038, 1061, 1083, 1101, 1174, 1183, 1184, 1239

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