Thread: Trip Report: PHX-YYZ

Ok, I really need to get in the habbit of doing these...I'll start with the flight info, then add more as time allows. Had a good trip to YYZ Toronto, Canada) last weekend.


Thurs 9/15: as I'm wrapping things up in the office, I check the PHXYYZ flights for the next day. We're listed on the 8:45am, and there's about 20 seats left. F has 11/12 so not counting on that, but figure at least we'll get on the plane. Plan B is HP's noonish flight, Plan C is AC (Air Canada) at about 2pm.

Fri 9/16: Wake up at 4:30am to get an early start. For international flights, HP standbys can't check-in online. Arrive at the airport about 6:30ish, smooth sailing through East Economy parking, arrive at the ticket counter about 6:45am. Turns out when I made the listing, the person in res didn't do the ticketing properly...but the agent is nice enough. She asks if we want to check bags. Ask how the flight looks...she replies, "Overbooked by 2." What?? Did not check bags, just in case.
7:00am--pass through security, minimal line, and head to the gate to take a look. All quiet in the high A's area of T-4. Use a club pass and we wait in the club, take out the laptop and check the flight on there. Turns out they downgraded the plane from an A320 to A319. As time passes, slowly see the numbers drop down, eventually at 8am with 5 seats available.
8:15am--boarding time. Head to the gate, ask if they've done anything with standby, they say no. Find a seat, and notice that the plane still isn't there.
8:45am--time the plane is supposed to leave. Agent calls our names, we get seat assignments (both middle seats). Still no plane.
9:15am--we see a 319 getting tugged to the gate. The agents start to do their stuff, crew goes on board.
9:35am--our group gets called for boarding, we head on. Surprisinly, find space for 2 roller bags, a backpack, and the laptop.
9:45am--plane gets pushed back from gate. Starts to make its way to runway, but then stops off to the side. We see other planes going past. We sit for about 10-15 min.
10:00am--finally head to the runway. At least we still take off to the East. Pilot says he'll try to, "make up time."
4:30pm (Eastern): land in YYZ, fairly incident free. Onboard movie was, "Mr & Mrs Smith," was OK. They play the merger video just before landing.
5:00pm--in line at Canadian customs. It seems that several planes landed at the same time (BA, a Chinese airline, etc) and the line takes about 15-20 min. Customs itself is fairly routine, no issues.
5:15pm--make it outside, head to the downtown shuttle. Advised it is running late.
6:00pm--shuttle FINALLY arrives (supposed to run every 20 min). Traffic is a nightmare...
7:00pm--arrive at hotel (Wyndham Harbor Castle, a Priceline deal).


Sunday 9/18 afternoon:
Check online system for next day's flight. Looks great, only 5/12 in First!!!
Monday 9/19:
1:10pm: wait outside hotel at shuttle stop. First an inbound shuttle arrives, says the outbound will be there in 5 minutes.
1:15pm: outbound shuttle arrives, we are the last stop. Trip to airport is about 30 min.
1:45pm: check-in at airport. CO handles HP's services at YYZ (for now...) Agent is very nice. He gives us boarding passes (with seats, not first), and says F has 7/12.
2:00pm: arrive at gate. When leaving YYZ, US customs is done there, is fairly routine, and no line at all.
4:00pm: same agent who checked us in is at gate. He calls us to the podium, we trade boarding passes for 1A-1B (F).
4:15pm: boarding begins. Since we're in F, we board early, get our seats, relax.
6:15pm (AZ time): arrive in PHX. Plane arrives early, but gate not ready. We end up at gate around the scheduled time.


I'll add a bit more about what we did in Toronto, etc in the next few days...maybe even a picture or 2.



Tim