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_| TCA |_ B E T W E E N Y O U R S E L V E S
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>_./|\._< for Air Canada retirees
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Number 433 Date Dec 14th, 1999 BYN 1st Published in October 1995
Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson
http://www.acfamily.net/between/vesta/
Co-pilot - Terry Baker
http://www.acfamily.net/between/terry/
Mailing of this "NetLetter" is courtesy of Alan Rust
administrator of the "AC Family Network" at:
http://www.acfamily.net
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. DID YOU KNOW?
Important reminder, for all new articles, submissions and or comments
for the "BETWEEN YOURSELVES - Netletter" please send to:
This e-mail address has been set up so that both of us (exclusively)
will get an automatic copy and can keep up with the continuity of news
for the netletter.
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. Did you notice?
We have moved the line in our banner for the NetLetter number and date
further up the banner. This will allow this reference to appear
on the archive copy's first page.
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. Need to know.
Don't abuse your pass privileges.
A recent article in The Toronto Sun alleged airline employees at
Lester B. Pearson International Airport were selling travel passes at
a significant profit. Although we haven't found evidence to substantiate
this at this time, we'd like to repeat the rules surrounding our partner
travel program.
Active and retired employees can use partner tickets to allow
relatives or close friends to travel on a standby basis at reduced rates.
Abuse of this privilege, such as exchanging or selling passes for
services, or giving them to people unknown to the pass issuer will not
be tolerated and will result in severe action up to and including
dismissal. For details on the partner travel pass program, consult
your Travel Guide.
Attention! Empty seats on Vancouver/Hong Kong flights are no guarantee
non-revenue travellers will be boarded. Although a flight may show
plenty of empty seats, other factors, such as weight and balance,
influence how many people can be boarded. Weight restrictions are
particularly stringent on this route and revenue cargo must board
before contingent travellers. Therefore, until the end of January,
unaccompanied partner travel is not recommended because partners can't
travel on other carriers. When travelling on Star Alliance carriers,
they must be accompanied by the employee. Check your Travel Guide.
Runway repairs in Glasgow may restrict employee travel. Until March
2000, runway repairs and aircraft weight restrictions are underway in
Glasgow. This will significantly impact our ability to carry
contingent passengers, including travel partners. Whether travelling
there on direct flights or on one of our winter schedule's three
weekly circle flights between Manchester-Glasgow to/from Toronto,
contingent travellers, including travel partners, cannot be accepted
on board unless empty seats are available from Manchester. Employees
should make alternate travel arrangements for themselves and travel
partners before leaving home base.
Call the Employee Call Centre 48 hours in advance for personal tickets
on other airlines. Processing tickets takes time. Employees wishing to
purchase tickets for personal travel on other airlines must call the
Employee Call Centre at least 48 hours in advance. Once the
registration is made, the request is queued for fare details. This
process alone can take up to 48 hours. Help out the Call Centre by
calling ahead of time.
Brian Dunn included this in his recent email newsletter from YYZ -
If you travel out to YYZ on the afternoon or evening of December
31st, most of the airplanes you are going to see will be on the ground.
Almost every airline has cancelled the majority of their regularly
scheduled flights between the afternoon of the 31st and approximately
noon on Saturday, January 1st. With the exception of two overseas
flights (AC856 and AC872) Air Canada will not be operating any
departures after 1300hrs on the 31st and last arrivals are due in about
1900hrs or so. First departures on the 1st of January will be around
1200hrs. With that much of the fleet grounded you can bet there will be
some unusual parking jobs and the aircraft are expected to occupy every
available gate and every inch of space around the hangar areas. Two
overseas flights will be operated as usual on the 31st to LHR & FRA plus
one from Montreal to Paris. These will be the only aircraft in the air
at the stroke of midnight.
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. Welcome to -
Jacques & Dorothy Levesque retired Area Sales manager living in
Orleans, Ont. email:
Eileen MacNeil living in Sydney, NS retired Area Sales Manager
email:
Grant Traill email:
Langley B.C.
Earle R. Nickerson retired Cert. Station Agent, lives in
Riverview, NB email:
email:
Milton Ont retired Flight Support Equipment Mtce Planner
email:
Sales Assistant living in Vancouver BC.
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. Industry news -
Copenhagen Airport to raise its charge fees. According to Aviation
Daily, on January 1, 2000, Copenhagen Kastrup Airport will increase
its charges by 13%. A baggage-handling charge of 10 crowns (US$1.45)
per passenger on international flights and 5 crowns on domestic
flights will also be introduced. Total charge increases will total
15%.
Twelve years ago, Air Canada asked customers to please butt out.
On December 7, 1987, Air Canada introduced its "no smoking" policy on
all flights.
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. Found on the internet.
CONTROLLERS ANGRY OVER UNFOUNDED ALLEGATIONS:
Fingers have been so quick to point over airline delays this year in
the US that it's a wonder there hasn't been introduced some sort of
workplace rule to help prevent joint inflammation.
Continental Airlines (CO) has recently been handing out passenger
"complaint cards" at Newark that singled out ATC as being the cause of
most flight delays. Those cards did not take into account weather,
runway problems, equipment breakdowns, or takeoff and arrival volume.
When Daniel D'Agostino, head of the Newark Division of the National Air
Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), saw the cards, he also saw red.
Controllers threatened to picket CO if the cards weren't withdrawn, and
airline officials realized they had a big problem on their hands. After
meeting with national NATCA reps, CO agreed to pull the cards and work
with controllers on the wording for future complaint cards.
Apparently a recent American Airlines flight was delayed in Amarillo
because of zero visibility. Upon arriving at DFW to pick up a passenger
on the now-delayed flight, a woman inquired of the AA gate agent why the
plane was late. "Air traffic," she was told, not once but three times
at two different gates. The woman asking the question, a controller
herself, called Center and found out the delay was due to weather.
Texas controllers are furious that anyone asking about the delay that
morning was told ATC was to blame, when they, in fact, were not.
SCRUBBING BUBBLES AND TOILET SHIPWRECKS:
The Sunday after Thanksgiving flights out of PHL were delayed because of
strange activity on the field. The mystery was solved when a pilot
announced to his pax that someone had filled the toilet liquid supply on
another plane with jet fuel instead of the "blue stuff."
All the passengers had to be evacuated, and the fuel drained.
We want to stress that ATC was NOT responsible for these delays.
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. From Frank Coughlin -
Subject: Mad Cow Disease
Hi, At the blood donor clinic (recently) we were told that they will not
accept blood from anyone who has been to U.K. and Europe due to fear of
"mad cow disease".
Quebec has its own blood collection agency and rules.
I wonder what the situation is elsewhere in Canada?
Travel doesn't get any easier these days, does it?
Frank Coughlin.
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. Help!
From Robert Holmgren
My wife and I are planning on visiting Cuba early in 2000.
It has been recommended to us that since we are primarily interested
in seeing the real Cuba!, going the Bed & Breakfast route in,
for example, Santiago de Cuba, may be one of the better ways to do it.
Since Santiago is located on the southeast coast of the island of Cuba,
which is approximately 1200 km long, we need to make some decisions on
how to travel to other destinations on the island. A cursory look at info
available on the net tells us that going by train is safe, inexpensive,
but veeery slow!
Would appreciate your input on the above, especially if you have been
a recent visitor to the island.
In closing, a special thank you to our front end crew, Vesta and Terry,
for a terrific job in providing us all with BETWEEN YOURSELVES.
What a great way to stay in touch with the happenings at the best airline
in the world, AIR CANADA.
Best of the season to you and everyone at Air Canada, past and present.
Robert & Lucette Holmgren
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. Want to celebrate Christmas and the new Millennium at the same time?
Toronto's got the party for you. It's time for Toronto's annual ACRA
Adult Christmas Dinner and Dance, but this year it's going to be a
little bit different. With the coming millennium, this year's party is
one celebration you won't want to miss! Mark down Saturday, December
18, in your party agenda and turn up at the Mississauga Convention
Hall. For details, contact your local ACRA director.
Flight Operations ties one on for Dreams Take Flight.
As a fund-raiser, the Flight Operations team had 400 ties made from a
drawing by Alexandra Reed, daughter of mechanic Martyn Reed, Montreal,
from last year's Christmas card contest. As a result of the
overwhelming response_all 400 ties were sold in less than a week_the
Flight Operations team will donate $10,000 to Dreams Take Flight
chapters across the system. Due to its popularity, we'll relaunch the
program next November and produce more ties to meet the demand.
Note:To allow pilots to wear the ties December 1-January 10, a special
exception was made to the uniform code.
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. Gerald G. Damskov sends this message -
I retired from Air Canada after thirty-three years in the Power Plant
Shop in Dorval, in November of 97. I enjoy keeping in touch with the
people that I have met and worked with over those 33 yrs.
And your net letter is an excellent vehicle for that pastime.
Gerry advises his new email is
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. Terry's travel tips.
What's new for non-revenue travel with the expanded Air
Canada/Lufthansa Joint Venture agreement?
The initial Transatlantic Joint Venture program (JV), which began
May 1, 1998 on Montreal/Frankfurt flights only, has been so successful
it was expanded to include all Canada/German transatlantic flights on
November 1.
Employees of both carriers now have the same priority when
travelling on JV flights operated by either carrier.
In addition, Air Canada employees can now use their trip pass tickets
on JV flights operated by Lufthansa (LH).
Air Canada service charges apply. Low ZED fares continue to apply on all
other LH routes.
(We suggest you update your Travel Guide accordingly - eds)
From Dargal Interline -
Jan 2 ~ 7 Days ~ Carnival SENSATION
Tampa, Fun Day at Sea, Grand Cayman, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel,
Fun Day at Sea, New Orleans, Fun Day at Sea, Tampa
Great rates from $350
Jan 3 ~ 11 Nights ~ Celebrity HORIZON
Ft. Lauderdale, At Sea, Curacao, La Guaira, Grenada,
Barbados, Martinique, St. Thomas, At Sea, Ft. Lauderdale
Inside $674 Outside $814 3rd & 4th $204
All rates are US$ per person, based on double occupancy
and subject to eligibility and availability. New bookings only.
Port Charges/Govt Fees are additional. PLEASE QUOTE EM# 120299
For more information on these and other Dargal specials - contact us at:
DARGAL Interline 1-800-690-3223
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. Smilie.
From Brian O'Hare Retired AC YYZ...living in Arizona
Airport Marketing......
At a meeting with a group of Asian airline executives the airport
development manager was trying to sell the concept of developing raw
land on the west side of the N/S runway.
Since access is difficult and a long way around, discussion took place
on the feasibility of a tunnel. The airport engineer explained that
the water table was too high for that. The enthusiastic development
manager then stated
"Hey!, what about a bridge?"
There was a lot of discussion in a variety of Asian languages and the
executives excused themselves - they haven't been back........
Butch H. Anchorage
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. That's it for this time, please we need your input, send
comments and email addresses of any others who may be
interested to:
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