Part 1; Adventures in Air Travel
June • 19• 2023
The Adventure Begins:
Our flight out of Paris “CDG 2” was scheduled to leave at 14:20 which left us loads of time to walk down the tree lined Blvd de Magenta to the Gare d’Nord, only about a kilometre from our hotel, and figure out the; trains, ticketing, platform…etc. all mostly uneventful.
We caught the right train, arrived at the airport, glided smoothly through security, easily found our gate…all with enough time to spare to enjoy a leisurely coffee and small breakfast thingy or other.
The plane was on time. We had zone 3 seating so we got to board ahead of the crush of “All Zones” passengers, and while there was still loads of space in the overhead bins, (even directly over our seats).
Boarding went smoothly and was completed on time and then we sat there…and we sat there…and we sat there! And then the pilot made an announcement.
Check out the date!
Part 2; The Adventure Continues
How to extend your vacation without even trying.
June • 19 • 2023
So…after about 30 min of sitting on the plane, the pilot announced that Air Traffic Control is holding planes on the ground due to aircraft for the air show arriving.
We finally “push off” from the terminal bout 45 minutes late to our scheduled departure time, but this doesn’t bother us so much because we have (had) a 2 1/2 hr layover in Montreal before our connecting flight to Vancouver.
To be continued…
Part 3; It gets worse:
June • 19 • 2023
“Please ensure that all your electronic devices are now set in ‘Airplane’ mode”
Somewhere out there, over Atlantic Ocean at 35,000ft, about the mid-way point of our flight, Air Canada sends me a text notification that our connecting flight; Montreal to Vancouver, has been cancelled and they have automatically booked us on another flight. No problem right?
Except that my phone, “in accordance with Transport Canada flight safety regulations…” is in Airplane Mode.
Message not received!
The new flight to Vancouver that Air Canada has rebooked us on departs Montreal at 13:30
There’s only one slight problem; our flight from Paris, (which has made up time) is now on-time for the scheduled arrival of 15:32 !
SOooo… we’re having supper tonight in Montreal at our hotel’s restaurant, courtesy of Air Canada’s $40 voucher!
To be continued (unbelievably)…Jun 19, 2023 7:14:25 am
Part 4: Montreal
Just When You Thought Things Couldn’t Possibly Get Worse
June • 20 • 2023
Oh yeah! It’s not over yet!
It seems it was the Gran Prix weekend in Montreal and everyone is heading home, or trying to!
Everywhere we try to go there’s SOMETHING going on! So now…if everything goes as scheduled (hah!); we will fly from Montreal to Calgary, Calgary to Vancouver, and Vancouver to Nanaimo. Here’s the thing though; there’s a potential for us to end up spending a night in Calgary because we have only 5 minutes between arrival and departure to change planes in Calgary and NOTHING has worked out yet! So hopefully the Calgary to Vancouver flight will also be late and give us more time.
My rantings and musings, all seem really unbelievably crazy, and they are, but its all true! And in talking to other people at the hotel last night and this morning, our itinerary, (If it happens) is actually one of the less complicated ones (again, IF IT HAPPENS as scheduled). One guy was offered a flight to Seattle to overnight there, and fly to Vancouver the next afternoon. He opted instead to fly to Toronto on Tuesday and catch a connection to Vancouver, (maybe).
My advice to anyone thinking of flying ANYWHERE right now is; DON’T ! Honestly, the airlines, (Air Canada mostly) are so disorganized and confused and NO ONE seems to know what is going on, not even the AC employees at the various desks we’ve been to; “…it is the legal time we allow between flights. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
Season 2023, The Finale
June • 20 • 2023
We made it Home
They held back the plane in Calgary, probably because there were 25 of us on the flight from Montreal, and that’s a lot of Hotel rooms with $20 vouchers for food.
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