Yeah, sorry Slowman... I didn't mean for this derailment to happen, although it was inevitable. My original response was simply to build a picture on cargo capabilities and smaller market restrictions with a real world example before you approached your choice of sponsor so you'd know what they might need to be considering!

Dev, by law (the aforementioned AC Act) we must make PAs in French, then English then "other" when serving a Quebec origin or destination, otherwise it's English then French then into the city pair's native language plus any others we may see the need to translate to. For example, if we had, say a Spanish sports team on board travelling to China from Vancouver for an event, we'd do English, French, Mandarin then if we had a Spanish speaker, we'd provide that PA service too. I know as a passenger, the endless stream of announcements is exhausting at best and irritating at worst, but it's what we are required to do.

Dave

Next time FC Barcelona is flying through Vancouver to play a friendly in Shanghai, I think you guys should just nix all announcements and just do Spanish and if anyone has a beef they can complain to Messi! At least those guys don't have to worry about bike fees!

I'll rise to the bait one more time. I'm not sure why you seem offended by my suggestion that ATC, as part of a huge transportation machine, can at times contribute to delays, however I shall refer you towards some examples of what the majority of the world's airlines use to classify delays: the IATA Delay Codes, specifically Section 8, found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/...r_traffic_control.29. If you insist ATC is infallible within this machine, whether as enforcer or not, I am mistaken and apologize for suggesting otherwise!

Thanks for the service as ATC in helping us make the tactical decisions we do. I must ask whether the nonsensical flight plans might be the long way around an FIR or country perhaps? FYI, in the absence of weather/hazards to avoid, we plan our routes not only MTT (min time track) but MCT (min cost track). Essentially a corporate decision is made that accepts additional costs (up to a point) if a flight plan is over schedule by flying through an FIR with high ATC/Nav fees, but will try to avoid those FIRs if it makes fiscal sense and the flight's under/on schedule. Dispatch runs the various models and finds what is overall the best for the passengers and the company. I assure you your tools do not account for that! We pilots may also just have our spidey senses tingling about a certain area (usually anticipating turbulence or CBs) and just overrule Dispatch's flight plan (think something like Shanghai-Toronto going Russia/Polar vs. over Japan/NOPAC to avoid getting the crap beat out of us over the Pacific, despite it adding ~20 minutes and lots of $$ in Nav fees to the FP). I've been strapping on airplanes for almost 40 years, and although never perfect, my intuition is getting better as each year goes by.

Dave

Hmm seems this thread should be here-----> http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/

:)

Hey Dave,

You bet...slagging AC is a national sport. As I'm fortunate enough to be based in Asia, I am spoiled that my main carrier is Eva, and my back-ups are Singapore Airlines and Cathay.

That said...I was on JFK-YYZ last Friday night and having not flown AC in many many years, I was blown away by service that I feel was head and shoulders above the rest of the crap in the US domestic market. (Possible exception might be Virgin America...but pretty flight attendants and LED lighting only go so far against a bad run of not on time performance on my flights.) So...keep at it Dave...some of us notice!

And Slowman....there must be a market for a better way to get bikes to where we need them!

Any chance at getting any AA bike passes? FYI - This is to go to Frankfurt for Roth.

Thanks!

---

David
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