I love to travel.
I love being in the middle of an exotic land, soaking up the amazing cultures that this planet boasts.
In fact, very little else makes me happier.
In particular, I love Europe. I love everything about it - the history, the architecture, the food, the wine, the fashion, the people.
But I hate the process of getting there.
Being from Newfoundland, the most easterly part of North America and thus the closest to my favourite continent on the planet, one would reasonably think that popping over the Atlantic to enjoy a European holiday would not be so difficult.
Let me assure you, it is.
I recently travelled to Galway, Ireland (one of the most westerly parts of Europe and hence one of the closest points to Newfoundland) on Air Canada to celebrate New Year's in fine fashion with some of my closest friends in the world.
Well, let me rephrase that. I recently travelled as far as London, England (Heathrow airport) with Air Canada en route to Galway, Ireland. I had to stop in Heathrow, deplane, go through customs, collect my baggage, change terminals (which in Heathrow means walking about 100 kilometres laden with baggage), check in with a different airline, repack my luggage after discovering that in Heathrow you're only permitted one carry-on bag (including purses, laptops, cameras, etc.), then make my way to the gate to catch my Aer Lingus flight to Ireland because Air Canada discontinues its flight to Ireland during the low tourist season.
However, my gripe is not with fact that the Ireland flight is discontinued during low season (it was a bit annoying, but many airlines do this), but rather with the fact that it took me 25 hours of travelling in order to reach my destination, which would be cut down to perhaps nine or 10 hours if the direct flight between Heathrow and St. John's still existed. (This is given that I would have to fly from Shannon Airport in Ireland to Heathrow and then connect from St. John's to Gander. The flight between Heathrow and St. John's actually only takes about five hours.)
My flight route to get to Shannon in Ireland went like this: Gander-Halifax, Halifax-Montreal, Montreal-London, London-Shannon.
I have to say that there is nothing more pleasurable as a traveller than having to fly halfway across Canada, only to turn around and fly right back over the piece of land that you had just flown over in order to get to your destination (dripping with sarcasm).
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to long hours of travel when they get me to a destination that is very far away. If say I was flying to Australia or Thailand or South Africa, then bring on the 25-hour flight.
And God knows I've done enough long-haul flights in the past, but they have always been moving me forward rather than have me backtrack, then retrace my steps before getting on with the moving forward bit.
So I am jumping on the bandwagon of St. John's Mayor Andy Wells in his fight for the reinstatement of Air Canada's transatlantic flight to London, and of CBS Mayor Fraser Marsh, who is garnering support for a travellers' bill of rights, if for nothing else than my own selfish desire to get to my beloved continent quicker.
We deserve more in Newfoundland and Labrador than being shuttled halfway back across the country like cattle before we can start travelling to our European destination, as just one example of the poor service Air Canada provides the people of this province.
Air Canada gripe
- Published on January 17th, 2008
- Published on June 22nd, 2010
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Jennifer Pelley
I love to travel.
I love being in the middle of an exotic land, soaking up the amazing cultures that this planet boasts.
In fact, very little else makes me happier.
In particular, I love Europe. I love everything about it - the history, the architecture, the food, the wine, the fashion, the people.
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Comments
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- David
- - June 28th, 2010 at 14:49:40
I'm curious why Ms. Pelley chose a routing that took you through Halifax to Montreal, when Air Canada flies to London from Halifax, and flies from St. John's nonstop to Montreal. Either of those alternatives would have gotten her to Ireland somewhat faster.
As for reinstating the St. John's-London service, Air Canada is not a Crown Corporation. It is a private company. It is not a philanthropy. There is nothing stopping any airline, Canadian or British, from flying between St. John's and London. I'm sorry that in low season, Ms. Pelley had such a journey to get to Ireland, but I don't see why Air Canada or anyone else has to provide a largely empty chariot to get to her destination of choice in winter.
US airports and state governments have subsidized money-losing international services if they thought it was in the public interest to have a nonstop service to Europe. P.E.I. gave Westjet a subsidy to launch a Toronto service. To my knowledge, Newfoundland and Labrador didn't offer any subsidies to Air Canada to operate a St. John's-London flight.
Therefore, the old axiom applies: Use it or lose it . If the St. John's-London route was well supported and profitable (meaning fares more than covered costs), Air Canada wouldn't have dropped it, and even if it did so for some reason, there would be other airlines like Zoom clamoring to start service in its place. However, Air Canada has added flights from St. John's to Ottawa and Montreal, and from Deer Lake to Toronto, even one-stop service to Fort McMurray, improving access to points throughout North America. It has done so presumably because these services are, or have a reasonable chance of becoming, profitable.
And that's the way it should be, unless the province is willing to pony up some folding money to underwrite the losses incurred. -
- Ken
- - June 28th, 2010 at 14:49:33
It is economics Jennifer. Air Canada is a public company answerable to it's shareholders. It is not an arm of any Government and is not in business to subsidise the travel requirements of Provinces or individual citiers. Multi-million dollar aircraft are not positioned to make every small city happy. They are positioned to make money for the shareholders. Even if NL to Europe was always profitable, if the aircraft can make more money servicing another city pair, then that is where it should be. Residents of NL have three choices. Either come up with significant increase in the population of travellers to support the service you desire, increase taxes to the level where you can start your own Government run Airline to fly you anywhere in the manner you desire, or move to a centre that does have the travel population that allows for the provision of the travel services you desire. As an AC shareholder, it is certainly not my responsibility to see you have every travel option you require, at my cost.
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- Nick
- - June 28th, 2010 at 14:49:25
I was flying St.John's-London last spirng- May 31st 2007 with Aircanada. The flight was overbooked, and they needed to re-route a couple of passengers throught Halifax. My friends flied the same route several times later last sumer- the flights were sold out. So, it's strange to hear that even summer time was not profitable for Aircanada with the sold-out direction.
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- Jeff
- - June 28th, 2010 at 14:49:20
Air Canada doesn't have a legal responsibility to serve the St. John's-Heathrow route but there are a few factors that should be identified to why they left the route, came back, then left again.
First, Air Canada successfully flew a Halifax-St. John's-Heathrow route for many years, but because of Canadian immigration policy changes in 2003 passengers continuing on to Halifax from London had disembark in St. John's to go through immigration which often caused delays in excess of two hours. The route worked fine until this change.
Secondly, the Newfoundland government did attract a British carrier, Astraeus, to offer a regular scheduled service. Shortly after this service was announced, Air Canada reinstated the St. John's service with their Airbus 319. I supported the Home Team's service several times and it was always full-so the demand appeared to be there at least in the summer. I am sure many other Newfoundlander's also supported Air Canada regarding the choice thinking the seasonal route would stay. However, when the competition was too much for Astraeus which canceled the service in September Air Canada pulled the plug. Did Air Canada want to prevent another airline from establishing this route?
Finally, Ms. Pelley started her journey in Gander. There are no direct routes from Gander to Montreal- so she had to fly to Halifax first. The two flights to YHZ leave 11:35 am and 2:45 pm, it didn't make much of a difference if she traveled from Halifax or Montreal- the journey will still be in excess of 20 hours.
Now that Air France is conducting a feasibility study on a St. John's to Paris route, I'm curious to see if Air Canada will once again try to hold it's monopoly on air travel in this province. -
- Robert
- - June 28th, 2010 at 14:49:14
Ms Pelley, You mention your biggest gripe is how Air Canada stopped the St. John's - Heathrow flight. Air Canada spent loads of money taking 2 smaller sized A319 aircraft out of service to refurbish them to enable them to get the proper certification to be able to fly across the Atlantic from St. John's to Heathrow. Air Canada really wanted this route to happen and did everything in their power to do so. Unfortunately, it is about economics and even with these jets they were unable to make the profit on the route. The demand just wasn't there. I agree with the above comments. If the provice would subsidize Air Canada rather than bash Air Canada maybe AC would be willing to fly empty planes back and forth across the pond as long as they were making money. After all, AC is a public company trying to make a profit.
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- David
- - June 22nd, 2010 at 16:05:07
I'm curious why Ms. Pelley chose a routing that took you through Halifax to Montreal, when Air Canada flies to London from Halifax, and flies from St. John's nonstop to Montreal. Either of those alternatives would have gotten her to Ireland somewhat faster.
As for reinstating the St. John's-London service, Air Canada is not a Crown Corporation. It is a private company. It is not a philanthropy. There is nothing stopping any airline, Canadian or British, from flying between St. John's and London. I'm sorry that in low season, Ms. Pelley had such a journey to get to Ireland, but I don't see why Air Canada or anyone else has to provide a largely empty chariot to get to her destination of choice in winter.
US airports and state governments have subsidized money-losing international services if they thought it was in the public interest to have a nonstop service to Europe. P.E.I. gave Westjet a subsidy to launch a Toronto service. To my knowledge, Newfoundland and Labrador didn't offer any subsidies to Air Canada to operate a St. John's-London flight.
Therefore, the old axiom applies: Use it or lose it . If the St. John's-London route was well supported and profitable (meaning fares more than covered costs), Air Canada wouldn't have dropped it, and even if it did so for some reason, there would be other airlines like Zoom clamoring to start service in its place. However, Air Canada has added flights from St. John's to Ottawa and Montreal, and from Deer Lake to Toronto, even one-stop service to Fort McMurray, improving access to points throughout North America. It has done so presumably because these services are, or have a reasonable chance of becoming, profitable.
And that's the way it should be, unless the province is willing to pony up some folding money to underwrite the losses incurred. -
- Ken
- - June 22nd, 2010 at 16:04:58
It is economics Jennifer. Air Canada is a public company answerable to it's shareholders. It is not an arm of any Government and is not in business to subsidise the travel requirements of Provinces or individual citiers. Multi-million dollar aircraft are not positioned to make every small city happy. They are positioned to make money for the shareholders. Even if NL to Europe was always profitable, if the aircraft can make more money servicing another city pair, then that is where it should be. Residents of NL have three choices. Either come up with significant increase in the population of travellers to support the service you desire, increase taxes to the level where you can start your own Government run Airline to fly you anywhere in the manner you desire, or move to a centre that does have the travel population that allows for the provision of the travel services you desire. As an AC shareholder, it is certainly not my responsibility to see you have every travel option you require, at my cost.
-
- Nick
- - June 22nd, 2010 at 16:04:48
I was flying St.John's-London last spirng- May 31st 2007 with Aircanada. The flight was overbooked, and they needed to re-route a couple of passengers throught Halifax. My friends flied the same route several times later last sumer- the flights were sold out. So, it's strange to hear that even summer time was not profitable for Aircanada with the sold-out direction.
-
- Jeff
- - June 22nd, 2010 at 16:04:43
Air Canada doesn't have a legal responsibility to serve the St. John's-Heathrow route but there are a few factors that should be identified to why they left the route, came back, then left again.
First, Air Canada successfully flew a Halifax-St. John's-Heathrow route for many years, but because of Canadian immigration policy changes in 2003 passengers continuing on to Halifax from London had disembark in St. John's to go through immigration which often caused delays in excess of two hours. The route worked fine until this change.
Secondly, the Newfoundland government did attract a British carrier, Astraeus, to offer a regular scheduled service. Shortly after this service was announced, Air Canada reinstated the St. John's service with their Airbus 319. I supported the Home Team's service several times and it was always full-so the demand appeared to be there at least in the summer. I am sure many other Newfoundlander's also supported Air Canada regarding the choice thinking the seasonal route would stay. However, when the competition was too much for Astraeus which canceled the service in September Air Canada pulled the plug. Did Air Canada want to prevent another airline from establishing this route?
Finally, Ms. Pelley started her journey in Gander. There are no direct routes from Gander to Montreal- so she had to fly to Halifax first. The two flights to YHZ leave 11:35 am and 2:45 pm, it didn't make much of a difference if she traveled from Halifax or Montreal- the journey will still be in excess of 20 hours.
Now that Air France is conducting a feasibility study on a St. John's to Paris route, I'm curious to see if Air Canada will once again try to hold it's monopoly on air travel in this province. -
- Robert
- - June 22nd, 2010 at 16:04:37
Ms Pelley, You mention your biggest gripe is how Air Canada stopped the St. John's - Heathrow flight. Air Canada spent loads of money taking 2 smaller sized A319 aircraft out of service to refurbish them to enable them to get the proper certification to be able to fly across the Atlantic from St. John's to Heathrow. Air Canada really wanted this route to happen and did everything in their power to do so. Unfortunately, it is about economics and even with these jets they were unable to make the profit on the route. The demand just wasn't there. I agree with the above comments. If the provice would subsidize Air Canada rather than bash Air Canada maybe AC would be willing to fly empty planes back and forth across the pond as long as they were making money. After all, AC is a public company trying to make a profit.
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