7636 replies to this topic

[jonny]

Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, Air Canada Express, Air Canada Jazz, Air Canada Jetz, Zip, Tango...I never understood why they bother with all of these silly brands. 

Edited by jonny, 13 December 2017 - 04:09 PM.

[Missed Approach]

Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, Air Canada Express, Air Canada Jazz, Air Canada Jetz, Zip, Tango...I never understood why they bother with all of these silly brands. 

Some have gone of course, but staying fresh and keeping up with competition of course. BTW Air Canada Jetz is their dedicated charter aircraft mainly for professional sports teams. Air Canada Jazz, owned by Chorus Aviation flies for the regional Express routes.

[shoeflack]

Air Canada Jazz is non-existent now, as it was the former brand name for the regional service. AC renamed their regional service to Air Canada Express to better consolidate their regional operators, Jazz Aviation being the largest of the four.

 

So worth noting that Air Canada doesn't operate any Air Canada Express flights, so that's a good distinguishing feature; similar to the new WestJet Link being operated by Pacific Coastal.

[VicHockeyFan]

BREAKING: Plane with 25 aboard crashes in Saskatchewan

The RCMP says a plane with 22 passengers and three crew members has gone down in Northern Saskatchewan. It crashed about one kilometre from where it took off at 6:15 p.m. local time in Fond du Lac. The Canadian Press is citing initial reports that say there are injuries but no fatalities.

[shoeflack]

Looks like it might have been this flight.

 

The plane in question is a West Wind Aviation ATR 42.

 

[jonny]

Some have gone of course, but staying fresh and keeping up with competition of course. BTW Air Canada Jetz is their dedicated charter aircraft mainly for professional sports teams. Air Canada Jazz, owned by Chorus Aviation flies for the regional Express routes.

 

They add all of these silly brands and then just integrate them into their mainline service, which totally dilutes the purpose, IMO. Nobody goes to buy an "Air Canada Rouge" ticket. They just go to aircanada.com, expedia.ca or wherever and buy an Air Canada ticket. 

Edited by jonny, 14 December 2017 - 09:20 AM.

[shoeflack]

They add all of these silly brands and then just integrate them into their mainline service, which totally dilutes the purpose, IMO. Nobody goes to buy an "Air Canada Rouge" ticket. They just go to aircanada.com, expedia.ca or wherever and buy an Air Canada ticket. 

 

That's not entirely true, though. There is a different pricing structure at play between the mainline and Rouge. Completely different layouts for planes too, leaving different seat pitches, different on-board entertainment system, etc. It integrates into the overall Air Canada network for seamless transfers, but the experience on Air Canada vs Air Canada Rouge vs Air Canada Express is all different.

 

And as for Express, it's a totally different operator, so it wouldn't really be accurate to say they are part of the mainline. The same way American Airlines has its American Eagle regional line, or Delta has Delta Connection, United has United Express, etc. Pretty standard across the industry.

[VicHockeyFan]

I think that for most people though, they all look alike.

[thundergun]

^^ Perhaps if you live in a major AC hub (Vancouver/Calgary/Toronto/Montreal) you have choices to make. For most people, we just take whatever flight fits into our route best. I know Rouge has fewer 'perks' than Air Canada proper, but if it gets me to my destination faster I'll just watch something on my own tablet instead of an AC owned seat-back one.

[Mike K.]

If we had the choice between the aircraft that'd be one thing, but forcing people who previously flew on mainline flights onto Rouge with their crappier seats and seating arrangements, while prices remain the same, does not build loyalty at a time when Westjet is starting to make inroads into the international travel market and airlines like Jetlines want to provide you with the same level of service/quality as Rouge at 1/4 of the price.

[jonny]

I think that for most people though, they all look alike.

 

Yes, that's my point. When you go to take your Air Canada Rouge flight, you buy your ticket on aircanada.com, go to the Air Canada part of the airport, deal with Air Canada's check in kiosks, interact with Air Canada employees, etc. If something goes wrong, you call Air Canada's 1-800 number.

 

Air Canada totally admits that Rouge is 100% integrated into their mainline system. It seems like an awful lot of work for something most travelers will not notice or care about. It's simply a cost cutting measure on their part.

 

If I go to Air Canada's website and look up flights from Victoria to Toronto, the only thing that tells me this flight on May 21 is a Rouge flight is the ugly little logo that 99% of people won't notice. The Rouge flight is in fact the exact same price as a routing that takes me through YVR on regular Air Canada. Rouge is dumb. Rouge makes me dislike AC even more. 

 

 

Edited by jonny, 14 December 2017 - 11:14 AM.

[VicHockeyFan]

Ya, maybe the work justifies some type of two-tier pay system with their staff, so it's just for that.

[jonny]

Ya, maybe the work justifies some type of two-tier pay system with their staff, so it's just for that.

 

No doubt Rouge pilots and flight attendants are paid less. 

[Mike K.]

It could be, for sure. 

 

Remember when Air Canada operated Tango? Same sort of nonsense.

[Jackerbie]

When you select the flight, though, it states multiple times that this is a Rouge flight, and that Rouge has different service than AC. I agree that I try to avoid Rouge where I can, but at least we're not showing up at the gate and seeing a Rouge plane pull in unexpectedly.

 

[vortoozo]

If we had the choice between the aircraft that'd be one thing, but forcing people who previously flew on mainline flights onto Rouge with their crappier seats and seating arrangements, while prices remain the same, does not build loyalty at a time when Westjet is starting to make inroads into the international travel market and airlines like Jetlines want to provide you with the same level of service/quality as Rouge at 1/4 of the price.

 

Rouge has allowed AC to continue to operate marginal or low yield routes (eg YYJ-YYZ) and launch new ones (YYJ-YUL, YCD-YYZ, etc) that would not be feasible with mainline.

It has launched new flights to Asia and Europe where AC would never have dreamed of flying before.

That, to me, is choice.

 

You don't see WestJet offering non-stop YYJ-YYZ service. It's certainly not a high-yielding route.

If you prefer mainline, go ahead, connect in YYC or YVR, just like you would on WestJet. That's choice.

But the Premium Rouge price is significantly less than Business class on mainline flights. And, the dates that I most recently checked, a lot less than WestJet Plus (with a lot more benefits), too.

[Mike K.]

Yeah, I getcha. Everything has its reasons for sure.

[Hotel Mike]

 

 

Remember when Air Canada operated Tango? Same sort of nonsense.

A friend of mine said that Tango stood for Thanks a**hole, now get off!

[Citified.ca]

An Air Canada A319 jetliner parked at one of Victoria International Airport's gates on a winter morning. The Island's busiest air hub is on track to hit a new passenger record in 2017.

 

2017 a record year for Victoria airport as passenger volumes near two million mark

https://victoria.cit...llion-mark-yyj/

[Kilo95]

Hoping they can get underway on some more of the upgrades next year, would be nice to see some terminal expansion (though not sure how far away that still is).