Bahadir: Wonderful report! I felt that I was really there. Especially on the Dash 8 side. I recall these flights, but during the day up to Timmins, ON on the former Air Ontario. The Dash 8 is a nice looking plane I think. But as I have reported here before, I am tall, a bit wider than I'd like, and leggy, so setting is difficult. Also, if one is sitting under the landing gear, one's view is blocked. Nice report. P.S. Why did you return home after dropping off your wife? Why didn't you make it all in one trip? (sorry, if I'm too personal. You can write me off line.) Mike Burris Cambridge, Mass --- Bahadir Acuner <bahadiracuner@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > SEA-YVR Aug. 10 2003 > AS 2052 6:30 am > Dash 8-Q200 N360PH City of Medford > > This was the first leg on the way to Montreal, for > the new assignment that I > got. > I booked the ticket in a really short notice through > ITN.NET This was kind > of a > nice surprise for $600 plus round trip considering > both Air Canada and other > US > airlines requested more than $1200 for a "normal" > round trip. > After spending hours on the computer I decided to > use ITN because it allows > you > to do "multiple city" search for more than 4 legs. > To my surprise combining > the > flight with Horizon and Air Canada produced a great > result. > > I got up at 3:00 am, to drive my wife to work at the > airport. Her shift > starts > at 4:00 am. Living really close to the airport has > its perks, but at this > time > of the day it really didn't matter. > > After dropping her off, I came back to the apt. and > packed last minutes > things. > > I was at the airport at 5:30 am, an hour before the > departure. Even though I > had an Alaska Airlines flight number, I knew I was > flying a Dash8 on > Horizon. > So, I proceeded to the Horizon check in counter. > > After a quick check in, I was handed the boarding > pass. It had SSSS on it, > so > I knew I was a selectee. I don't know why I was > selected because I didn't > have > a one way ticket and I paid for it with the company > credit card. May be to > Alaska > I was a one way traveler as the reservation had two > different PNR numbers; > one > for Alaska, the other one from Air Canada. > > I drank some complimentary Horizon Air Starbucks > coffee before the boarding. > This > was a way early flight, but I noticed that the > aircraft was inbound from > another > city. That is what I call an early departure.. > > When the departure time came, the agents counted us > and told that there were > only 6 of us and we will have to sit as back as > possible. The same thing was > told by the F/A on the way to the aircraft itself. > > I really like Horizon's Dash 8 fleet as they look > really well taken care of > inside. > I don't know how they had these for, but the inside > looked really clean and > comfortable > for a commuter aircraft. > > My last Dash8 flight was in 1993 on Mesaba , > traveling ROA-DTW. It was nice > to > remember how wide the cabin is on these aircraft. > > The route to Vancouver is most of the time is direct > PAE VOR, close to > Whatcom VOR > and then radar vectors into YVR. Having flown this > in the training aircraft > couple of times, I noticed that Dash8s fly similar > route also.. > > We pushed back at 6:40 am , because there was a > stream of other Horizon > flights coming in and we had to wait for them. We > took off on runway 16L at > 6:45 am and made a right turn over to Vashon island. > After that we flew > direct PAE (Paine) VOR and to the north right after. > > Over Skagit Airport we turned to the NW as the pilot > told us that we would > be > landing on runway 8L. One thing about the pilot was > that he kept coming on > the PA system and pointed landmarks to us. I always > like it but this > happened > to be too often for a flight this short. > > We were served drinks and choice cookies on this > flight , even though it was > 30 mins long from take off to touch down. Close to > Bellingham we got pretty > good turbulence, moderate level, but that lasted not > too long as we were > starting our approach to land. Nice view of the > Boundary Bay airport on this > early Sunday morning made the flight even more > exciting. > > After some turns over the water, we landed on runway > 8L and taxied to the > remote > commuter parking on the terminal to US flights. > > It took me as long as the flight itself to walk > through the doors and > hallways > and clear Canadian customs. It was around 7:40 I had > a chance to make my way > to > the domestic terminal. > > YVR-YUL Aug. 10, 2003 8:20 am > AC 150 > A321 C-GITU First A321 for the airline > > I was really discouraged by the long lines at the > Air Canada check-in > counters. > I had a paper ticket and I was under the impression > that I couldn't use the > kiosks, > but out of desperation I tried them. Voila! They > worked. I wanted to chose a > window seat, but the 12C was the only one available. > > Air Canada has this interesting way of numbering the > bulkhead seats with > number 12, > so that they can start the coach numbering from the > same number regardless > of > aircraft type. I have noticed the same on Delta but > United and US Airways do > not number their planes like this. > > I was happy that my prospects of making my flight > had increased. To > celebrate this > I decided to pay a visit to the man's room and > return the 3 cups of coffee I > had > early in the morning.. What a relief! :) > > I cleared the security in a jiffy and went to the > gate C39. The boarding > didn't > start even though it was past 7:45 am. I boarded > when the seat number was > called. > The plane was 100% full. > > Air Canada's A321s are configured differently than > the US Airways ones that > I > have been. And if I am not mistaken US' A321s are > suitable for boarding from > using the left 2 door, but in Air Canada aircrafts > this is just an emergency > exit. > > Before push-back the flight attendant offered > newspapers to the people on > the > hospitality class. This is something I remember from > my international > flights > I have taken. It was a nice touch, but I passed. > > We took off on runway 8R with a straight ahead > departure at 8:30 am. > > My view was limited due to the small window on the > exit and being too far > from the outside. The movie came to the rescue. It > was titled "Hole" and > it was pretty good. That helped me kill some 2 hrs > really fast. > > === message truncated ===