| #775 June 25/03 - The NetLetter |
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From: Terry Baker <
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Subject: [The NetLetter] NetLetter nr 775 June 25/03 - The NetLetter
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 16:33:31 -0700
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T H E _| TCA |_
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N E T L E T T E R > CANADA <
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( For retirees of the new Air Canada family)
Number 775 June 25th., 2003. We first published in October 1995.
Circulation: 2700+
Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson - Co-pilot - Terry Baker
To get in touch with either editor/pilot our email address is
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. Must know.
Old travel flight coupon or new – which do you use? New flight coupons were
introduced earlier this year, for all employee travel privilege holders to use
when travelling. While some stations received the new T-420A coupons, for
indeterminate reasons, other stations did not. Consequently, there has been a
lot of confusion as to whether the old flight coupons, ticket stock T-421 and
T-423 are still valid. The answer: they are. To save costs under CCAA, the
Company continues to accept both old and new flight coupons. For the DCS
stations – stations that are handled by Air Canada, that do not require a paper
coupon, there is little impact. Employees however, are encouraged to always
carry a paper coupon with them in the event of a travel change to a non-DCS
station (a station not handled by Air Canada). All active and retired employees
are asked to keep the following in mind when using either ticket stock for
travel for simplified travel: coupons are only for personal travel, they must
be signed for anyone travelling under their travel profile, whether that person
is accompanied or not, and dependents or a designated partner travelling
unaccompanied must be registered on the flights prior to travel to ensure
proper handling.
Air Canada Jazz employees move to credit card as the only payment option for
travel is delayed. It was originally announced that effective July 11, Air
Canada Jazz employees and travel privilege holders would start paying for their
travel with a valid credit card. However, this change of payment method has
been delayed. The move to credit card payment will be implemented at a later
date. In the meantime, employees are encouraged to enter their credit card
number as the default payment choice the next time they use the Employee Travel
Site to register for travel.
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. Need to know.
Re comment by G.R.Lavers in NetLetter nr 774 regarding tax exemption , Mike
Purvis sends this information -
I note the comment from G.R. Lavers concerning donations to the
Pension fund - I presume he is referring to the Trust Fund set up to defend
the pension plan by the Pionairs. Presently, these donations are NOT tax
deductible, as no receipts will be issued. A process for refunding to former
union members and everyone else, at the end of the CCAA procedures is
currently being developed. Mike Purvis, Chair, Trustees Committee of the
Pension and Benefits Committee, Pionairs
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. Air Canada news -
As of June 1, 2003, Air Canada became the first full service international
airline in the world to offer exclusively electronic ticketing for travel
throughout North America.
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. Food on the Fly.
The merchants at Vancouver International Airport are increasing meal
options for travellers. The program offers passengers travelling on airlines
with a limited or no in-flight meal service with a choice of quick, freshly
prepared meals from over 20 outlets. Prices range from ca$2.99 to ca$10.49 .
Outlets are located at Departure level displaying the "Food on the Fly" sign.
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. Found on the internet.
Air France will be donating 4 Concordes to various museums. Le Bourget,
Toulouse, NASM-Washington and either Stutgart or Sao Paulo. The fifth Concorde
in the fleet was inder going a D check when the decision to cancel all flights
was made, and this aircraft may never fly again, and current plans call for it
to be scrapped.
On Tuesday 24 June 2003, Air France's Concorde F-BVFB will leave Paris-Charles
de Gaulle for the last time bound for Germany. It will leave its parking stand
at Terminal 2A at CDG at 10.30 a.m. and will take off around 10.45 a.m. It will
then fly a supersonic loop over the Atlantic and will land at Karlsruhe / Baden
- Baden airport at 12.45 p.m.
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. Ferg Kyle sends this message re NetLetter nr 774 -
Subject: London Heathrow Passenger Office
I read with warmth, the description of the above office reunion and
it brought back memories of LHR operations on Super Connies in the fifties
and sixties. I recall arriving with a dud engine and having radioed the
problem ahead, waiting on the north side grass for a new cylinder to go into
place so we could proceed. Someone came up with a football (Canuck version)
and we - Captain, F/O(me), F/E and Nav - passed the ball around to the
amusement of passengers walking toward their aircraft.
If I remember, the (PA) Tannoy announcement went:
"May I have your attention please? BA flight 65 to Bombay is now ready for
boarding. Passengers are kindly requested to take leave of their friends and
following the yellow markers, make their way to the aircraft."
Perhaps someone else can correct that phrase. It echoed through
the several connected Nissen hut-style structures.
Ferg Kyle
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. Star Alliance news -
"Snowflake" is the name for the new low fare operation of S.A.S.
Scandinavian Airlines
System, which is using 4 B737-800's. Flights are offered from Copenhagen and
Stockholm to 15 destinations.
Singapore Airlines has been voted 'Airline of the Year 2002' together with 5
other awards
including - Best International First Class, Best Economy/Coach Class.
Lufthansa announce its intention to go ahead with plans to order new 70 - 100
seat regional jets jointly with its European Star Alliance partners and Air
Canada later this year.
Brazil's two biggest airlines, Varig and TAM plan to merge later this year.
Thai Airlines plan to upgrade its B747-400 cabins and introduce personal IFE
screens throughout the aircraft and new bed-like seats in the premium class.
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited is launching a tourism
promotion campaign called "Luck is in the Air 20,000 Free Thailand Return
Tickets' between 22 June - 30 September, 2003, aiming to attract passengers to
spend their holidays in exotic Thai destinations.
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. Your copilot recently took a cruise in the Baltic, and share some of the
experience - Cruise to Baltic May 2003.
Our trip started on Monday May 19th from Vancouver Island. Due to over sales on
AirBC from Nanaimo Airport, we decided to take our car and cruise to the
mainland on BC Ferries. We had booked into the Delta Vancouver Airport hotel.
The rates quoted were ca$59.00 and pay our own parking, or ca$79.00 and free
parking for 14 days, but we were away 21 days, so we had a rate of ca$109.00
with free parking for 21 days. Cost of parking was ca$7.50 per day!
On Tuesday, we checked in at 09:00 for the 13:40 flight to London England using
our C1 pass. Lucky we were early, as we were advised that the flight had been
cancelled due to a lack of interest on behalf of the public, ignoring the fact
that 22 cons were listed! The agent suggested going via Calgary and picking up
the YYC-LHR flight there. The agent was most helpful and even changed our
routing for us.
While waiting for the LHR flight at YYC, we visited the flight simulators and
exhibition in the "Spaceport", on the second floor of the terminal - helps pass
the time - its free!
Our friends collected us from LHR on Wednesday morning, and we spent 3 days
with them. On Saturday, we squeezed our suitcases into a Ford Escort, this was
a challenge in itself. We drove down to Dover to board our cruise. Through
Dargal we had booked a 14 day cruise on the Celebrity line “Constellation”
(remember those proud aircraft?).
As interliners, we traveled ticketless and labelless, but no problem, we were
supplied with a document “Pier pickup” and our luggage was labeled at check-in.
The “Constellation” is just one year old and immaculate. Our accommodations
were at the lowest deck. Why pay more than you need too? But the biggest of
cabins, complete with a king size bed and a bathroom that you didn’t have to
worry about dropping the soap in the shower, in fact the shower could
accommodate two - no further comment!
This baby is huge 2,000 passengers, 1,000 crew. The theatre holds 900, and
there is a casino, cinema, meeting rooms, computer room and, as usual, lots of
eating places.
We were a party of 3 couples, the other two couples were UK Pionairs and we
have traveled as a group many times.
After a full day sailing the North Sea, we arrived at Oslo. We took a tour of a
glass factory combined with a city tour in a brand new Mercedes coach. The tour
also included a stop at the Viking museum. There was still signs of snow in the
hills, but the weather was warm and sunny. Along the quayside is a castle with
a museum to WW11.
An alternate to pre booking a tour is to take the city tour bus which parks
right on quayside. Cost was us$15.00 or euro15.00 for a 3 hour tour. Security
on the cruise was tight. Everyone was issued an encoded card which had the
passengers photo encripted and was used for both disembarking and embarking. No
visitors were allowed onboard at any port.
Gas was euro7,85 litre
Next stop was Copenhagen. The “Mermaid” statue was just about 1/4 mile away
from the quay we were tied up to. We took the free shuttle down town and walked
back to the ship. The weather was just excellent. In the evening we visited the
Tivolli gardens us$18.00 included a bus transfer.
Various Copenhagen stores display a “Duty Free” sign. Those stores will
provide you with a form and you can claim back the duty paid on purchases from
a kiosk at quayside when you return to the ship, just look for the
“Information” flag. The duty free priviledge does not apply to residents of the
European Community - if you are travelling with them - be kind!
The city tour bus is us$12.00, and when our friends got mixed up with a group
from the Princess cruise who had been supplied with free vouchers, they managed
to be included for free too!.
The canal trip was DKK25 for 1.5 hours and boarded downtown.
Copenhagen is a city of bicycles everywhere, hundreds of them.
Our next port of call was Rostock. The “Garden of the World” IGA2003 exhibition
was in full swing, this being an outdoor show with massive flower beds and an
overhead aerial cableway to a height of 25 metres, circumventing the area. Cost
on the brochure was euro14.00, but an agent who boarded the ship had a deal for
euro7.00 which included unlimited travel on the trains or buses for a day plus
admission to the IGA2003. The train station is right alongside the quay and
runs frequently to Rostock passing the station for the exhibition, which was
the third station. At departure time, a local band was playing, and there were
crowds of locals to wave us on our way.
Next port of call was Stockholm. Here we took a prepaid tour to the Carl Milles
garden and city tour. Milles was world famous for his sculptures, and his
garden and house is just crammed with them. Alternate city tour was skr190.
Next port of call was Tallinn in Estonia. We again took a prepaid city tour. We
were taken to a huge outdoor concert area with a stage which, according to our
guide, held 10,000 people, the surrounding slopes held many more. The first
foreign entertainer to perform after the Russians left was Michael Jackson. We
walked around the medieval town, visited the Orthodox church and a cemetery.
The usual cemetery we are familiar with are graves in rows, but here the
graves are dotted amongst the trees in the forest, albeit in an enclosed area
so designated.
And now to St. Petersburg a city I have always wanted to visit, and I was not
disappointed. Due to visa restrictions, we were not allowed to roam around, but
must be on prepaid shore tours. We all had to go through the Russian customs
and immigration building at quayside, and most of the officials really are dour
and forbidding. The Hermitage is just incredible, unbelievable that one family
could amass such a fortune, it is no wonder that the peasantry rose up in 1917,
but surprisingly the palaces were not all ransacked. Some of the ceiling
designs of gold and paintings were duplicated in mosaic on the floors. As the
city was celebrating its 300 year anniversary, and the fact that (other)
foreign dignitaries had visited just days before we got there, most buildings
in the central core had been revitalized. But just to see the architecture of
all the buildings was an experience.
We saw several wedding groups. All weddings must be through a civil ceremony
which is the only ceremony recognized by the authorities. Many couples also go
through a church ceremony too. One incident we witnessed was of a groom
carrying his bride as he staggered across a canal bridge to the vocal
encouragement of his guests. As the groom seemed rather frail and his bride
quite buxom. We wondered if later in the evening …. (well perhaps not!).
The good weather is still with us. Several weeks prior to our visit, the cruise
ships were unable to get to St. Petersburg due to ice.
Be aware that you need a visa to go on shore in St.Petersburg.
You can avoid going through the hassle of getting a visa by taking one of the
land tours offered by the cruise line, as they have a blanket visa just for the
specific tours.
Our final port of call was Helsinki. Here we took another prepaid city tour
which included a visit to the ‘Church in the mountain”. A free shuttle to the
city center was euro17 for 1.5 hours, and a free shuttle to the city center was
available.
To help cope with the vehicular traffic, the city placed bicycles at various
places in the city, they were shackled similar to the trollies at the
supermarket. For euro 2 you could take and ride a bike, returning it to any of
the places and get your euro2 back. Of course, who would give up an opportunity
to have a bike for euro2? But we did see three in a stall near a park.
The main thing we noticed in all the cities we visited was that they were
litter free and very clean and tidy.
After two days at sea, we finally arrived back at Dover and the White Cliffs,
something my wife and I have never seen.
So back home to reality, ready for the next adventure.
If anyone wants some in depth information, feel free to email me at
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. May Day.
From: "David & Marie Williams" <
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Subject: Hotel / Motel Discounts in Edmonton
My wife and I plan a trip there in September to visit family, in Sherwood Park
in Edmonton,
best regards
David
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. Help!
From: "L&MGuillaume" <
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>
Subject: Enquiry, landing gear
I am interested, idle curiosity I would say, in finding information on devices
which have been developed, or research that has been done on the subject, to
get the wheels of the landing gear to rotate at the optimal speed before
impacting the runways in order to reduce the wear and tear on the tires.
Thanks and best regards,
Lucien Guillaume
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. Terry's travel tips.
When changing travellers cheques at any airport served by Air Canada,
enquire about commission free transactions for airline staff. Commission free
at LHR, YVR, YYC
YYZ , SYD and YUL so far in the past.
Carnival stateroom upgrade -
Buy an Interior stateroom and we'll give you an Ocean View. Or book an Ocean
View and get a stateroom with your own private balcony. Virtually everything is
included.
Hurry!
Book by June 30th and be entered into a draw for a digital camera!
Contact Interlining Plus 1-800-665-3100
From Interline2000
Your Interline Travel Specialist
River – Europe:
Uniworld River Countess – ‘Ultimate Grand Cruise’ – August 10 – 21 nights –
Amsterdam / Koblenz: guided walking tour / Rudesheim: Siegfried’s Music Museum
/ Heidelberg: castle and city tour with lunch / Miltenberg: walking tour /
Wurzburg: tour of the Prince Bishop’s palace / Bamberg: guided walking tour /
Nuremberg: city tour / Regensburg: guided walking tour / Passau: city tour /
Melk: tour of the Abbey / Vienna: city tour / Budapest: city tour / Kalocsa:
city tour and horsemanship display / Belgrade: city tour / Rousse: city tour
and cave-monasteries of Lom, full-day excursion to Veliko Turnovo / Constanta –
all this for only $2100!
All the way across the continent in one cruise!
____________________________________________________________________________
___________
River – USA:
Delta Queen’s Mississippi & American Queens – July 7, 12, September 13, 14, 27
& 28 – 7 nights – St. Louis / Hannibal / Burlington / Dubuque / Lacrosse /
Winona / Wabasha / Red Wing / St. Paul - $693
Great deal!
____________________________________________________________________________
___________
Alaska:
Holland America – 7 nights - Roundtrip from Vancouver or one-way Vancouver to
Seward or reverse – Too many sailings to mention! – 30 days or less prior to
sailing – Insides $329 to $389, Outsides from $429 to $489.
All kinds of great deals to be had!
____________________________________________________________________________
___________
Luxury – British Isles & Canada’s Maritimes:
Seabourn Pride – September 6 – 18 nights – London, England / Fowey, England /
Cork, Ireland / Dublin, Ireland (2 days) / Inveraray, Scotland* / Londonderry,
Ireland / St. John’s, Newfoundland / Halifax, Nova Scotia / Cape Cod Canal /
Newport, Rhode Island / New York City - $3150
Wow!
*Special Included excursion in Inveraray: Visit the ancestral castle of the
Duke of Argyll, titular head of the famous Campbell Clan, highlighted by a
ceremonial performance of a Scottish pipe band.
____________________________________________________________________________
___________
Europe:
Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas – July 18 – 12 nights – Harwich, England /
Stockholm, Sweden / Muuga (Tallinn), Estonia / Copenhagen, Denmark (1
overnight) / Bergen, Norway / Flam, Norway / Geiranger, Norway / Hellesylt,
Norway / Harwich, England – Inside $899, Balcony $1099, Suite with Balcony
$1499, 3rd/4th $499
Nice itinerary!
____________________________________________________________________________
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Radisson Luxury Balcony Suite Specials!
Seven Seas Voyager – July 15, 22, 29, August 5 & 12 – 7 nights – Copenhagen to
Stockholm (or reverse) - $1750
Seven Seas Voyager – Sep 17 & 24 – 7 nights – Venice to Athens & reverse -
$1750
Seven Seas Navigator – June 24, July 1, August 27, September 2, 3, 9, 10, 16 &
17 – 7 nights – Bermuda roundtrip from Norfolk or New York - $1575
Seven Seas Navigator – Sep 24 – 9 nights – New York to Montreal – $2025
All rates are for Balcony Suites!
Specific itinerary details can be found at: http://explore.rssc.com/index.asp
____________________________________________________________________________
___________
Interline rates are per person, in US dollars, and INCLUDE port charges unless
otherwise specified. Government fees are additional on all cruises and are
usually between $0 and $50 per person.
Interline rates are unpredictable but are generally at their lowest
approximately 30 days prior to sailing. However, very popular cruises may sell
out earlier than this.
The following people are eligible for interline rates:
- Airline/Courier/Military/Air Traffic/IATA employee or retiree, spouse,
dependent child under age 19, parent, parent-in-law.
- Anyone sharing a cabin with one of the above people. Cabins can be ‘split’
(e.g.: to allow an interline couple to bring friends along at the same rate,
call me for details).
- Extended family & friends can often obtain special rates without an eligible
interliner.
****************************************************************************
*********************
Kyle Oram
Your Interline Travel Specialist
Toll-Free: 1-888-768-6777
Direct: (250) 765-4564
Fax: (775) 416-8022
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. Smilie.
What should have been a 90 minute flight from Halifax to St.John's turned
into a 15 hour flight for one Air Canada passenger. She fell asleep and somehow
remained on board after departing St. John's. After 30 minutes she awoke to
discover her predicament when the captain announced that flying time to London
England would be 4 1/2 hours. The passenger returned from London after a wait
of 2 hours at LHR.
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