Printable View
Anyone have any recent experience flying Air Canada from YVR-SYD? Haven't really seen too much, either positive or negative. This will be a family trip in a few weeks to ring in the New Year down under. Really don't want to fly the older QF 747 out of LAX if we can take the newer 777 on AC via YVR.
Also looking at HA as back-up tickets. Any info on non-reving on them would be helpful, too.
Thanks!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nightice @ Dec 2 2008, 02:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>QF are flying the A380 a few days a week on that route too... hardly an older 747 http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...DIR#>/wink.gifQuote:
Really don't want to fly the older QF 747 out of LAX if we can take the newer 777 on AC via YVR.[/b]
yeah, but not the dates we are leaving/returning... http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...DIR#>/wink.gif
It seems like you have flown the A380, right Nick. How was it and how are the loads?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (imon32red @ Dec 3 2008, 06:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>It was really really nice. I'd toured the assembly line in Toulouse when I was in college so I was really excited to get a chance to ride on it. QF certainly haven't gone as flashy as EK or SQ but it still quite agreeable.Quote:
It seems like you have flown the A380, right Nick. How was it and how are the loads?[/b]
Seat - the new seats in Economy are very nice. Seats slide down and back, but don't recline as far into someone elses space as they used to. The seats definately feel wider and there is more legroom. I found the netting at your feet instead of a footrest to be slightly odd, but can appreciate how much weight it saves. If you are a window seat traveller however there is a significant gap from side of seat to fuselage - so good luck leaning on that window to sleep. Arm rests raise 1/2 way MAX, and the aisle arm rest doesn't raise at all http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/angry.gif
IFE - Very nice and lots of choice. Touch screen is a little blah... think it could have been designed better, but you can still use the corded handset remote. QF have gone down the road of cached internet which doesn't impress me much. It was still offline when i travelled, but every economy seat has an ethernet port and usb port in the arm rest for charging and eventually connecting to internet. Oh it has wifi too... but once again not online as of last month.
Food - QF have always been good with the food. Plenty of choice, snack pack at night. Water, juice and soft drink and snacks are self serve in every economy area at this snack bar type place. All you Americans will appreciate that QF do free alcohol on international flights... i recommend the james squire golden ale http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...DIR#>/wink.gif
Staff - couldn't fault them
When i travelled it had 200 empty seats!!! This was an imbalance as QF had offered an A380 sale early this year, so first week loads were packed. Then it died off but all those people in first week were coming home. As for now i'm not quite sure, tbh.
There are some (blurry) pics of the seat and plane in the gallery
Quote: "Seat - the new seats in Economy are very nice. Seats slide down and back, but don't recline as far into someone elses space as they used to. The seats definately feel wider and there is more legroom. I found the netting at your feet instead of a footrest to be slightly odd, but can appreciate how much weight it saves. If you are a window seat traveller however there is a significant gap from side of seat to fuselage - so good luck leaning on that window to sleep. Arm rests raise 1/2 way MAX, and the aisle arm rest doesn't raise at all" {agreed but I personally enjoyed the newer-style footrests on the A380.}
IFE - Very nice and lots of choice. Touch screen is a little blah... think it could have been designed better, but you can still use the corded handset remote. QF have gone down the road of cached internet which doesn't impress me much. It was still offline when i travelled, but every economy seat has an ethernet port and usb port in the arm rest for charging and eventually connecting to internet. Oh it has wifi too... but once again not online as of last month. {IFE was EXCELLENT..lots of choices: current and older. My IFE froze a time or two but otherwise it was the best to date, IMO}
Food - QF have always been good with the food. Plenty of choice, snack pack at night. Water, juice and soft drink and snacks are self serve in every economy area at this snack bar type place. All you Americans will appreciate that QF do free alcohol on international flights... i recommend the james squire golden ale {Again, food choices were good. I was seated near the front (still in econony) so I had to walk to the rear of the aircraft for refreshments. One thing I thought was odd, on this aircraft for QF, the seats were different colors by section. My cabin was red but the one behind me was all green}
Staff - couldn't fault them {really nice staff; although from SYD-HKG, one male F/A was rude at first but toned down as we were landing in HKG..the other FA made up for his rudeness by placing me in B/C for landing (tight connection)
When i travelled it had 200 empty seats!!! This was an imbalance as QF had offered an A380 sale early this year, so first week loads were packed. Then it died off but all those people in first week were coming home. As for now i'm not quite sure, tbh. {Yeah, I was told there were 50 open seats when I flew a few weeks ago...no windows or aisler, either)
If you have yet to fly the A380, you are missing out. It is a really smooth, quiet and comfortable aircraft. My favorite has always been the 747 but the A380 is a force to be reconed with..
I have to admit the male FAs can be a bit sketchy at times... they always have angry faces. But the younger female FAs I could not fault - even though they probably are on the new contact where they work x % more and get paid x % less!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nightice @ Dec 2 2008, 02:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>Just flew back YVR-SYD on AC33 earlier this week. It's a long, long flight but much the same as any other long haul experience these days.Quote:
Anyone have any recent experience flying Air Canada from YVR-SYD? Haven't really seen too much, either positive or negative. This will be a family trip in a few weeks to ring in the New Year down under.[/b]
Y cabin is 3x3x3 seating, individual in-seat AVOD, in-seat USB port as well as the 110v power port and the audio options on AVOD include the traditional "12 channels of selected music by genre" as well as the ability to create your own playlist from a large range of albums and listen to your play list instead. These options certainly make things so much easier on the long haul.
Midnight departure means a quickly served evening meal service not long after take-off, a mid-flight snack and a hot breakfast 2 hours before landing. Snack cart set up in rear galley for the flight duration.
Crews can be a mix of senior/junior or all mainly senior.
It's not a top notch full of attention experience like a CX or SQ, but it's on the whole adequate.
Set your watch to SYD time at take off and plan your night accordingly! I usually watch a movie or two, trying to stay awake as long as possible until it's about 2300 SYD (0400 YVR) then sleep as much for the rest of the flight as I can. Seems to work well. Mid morning arrival in SYD, so make sure your blinds are down, else you'll get sunlight about 5 hours from SYD.
If you're planning on non-revving, be well aware getting out of Oz in the first 2 weeks of Jan will be a nightmare on any carrier. It's the busiest period for outbound travel in the year that there is. (Dec 26 through Jan 15 traditionally). A quick look at AC's availability SYD-YVR in CRS's shows barely any Y or J classes (let alone the rest of the fare buckets!) available 01-10 Jan.
Cheers.
Thank you for the informative post! I figured it would be difficult getting out of SYD on Jan 2..may have to look at coming back New Year's Day. Traveling with a large family, I am already aware we may have to split up coming back. I will have b/u ZED's on AC, TN, PR, CX, FJ and HA...thank goodness ZED's (ID-95 on Hawaiian) are fully refundable! http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...DIR#>/cool.gif Besides those, being active military, we can fly space-available on military aircraft so that is another option we have.
Basically if we can get OUT of SYD (where my airline does NOT fly), we should be fine, as they go pretty much everywhere else..again, depending on the flight loads. Looks like we may be flying on QF now out of LAX. AC will still be our back-up if LAX fails.
Thanks for the write-up..I'll try to post back on our experience in the upcoming weeks.