em-sk

12 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

Next May we will disembark in Vancouver after a b2b Alaskan cruise.  We will be flying to Birmingham, Alabama with the flight leaving Vancouver at 10:25pm.  What does one do at the Vancouver airport for almost 10 hours.  The reviews for the ship's disembark tours  aren't that good.  Any suggestions on private tours with luggage??

Well the cruise terminal is in downtown Vancouver.  As you walk about of the terminal your in the middle of the city.   Lots of museums, galleries, shops, restaurants, attractions and nature. 

Just located above the cruise ship terminal is the Pan Pacific Hotel. I have never done it but many have reporting being able to leave their bags there with a bell hop and for a modest tip they will look after them until your ready to go to the airport.

If your taking skytrain (subway system in Vancouver), you can get off at Templeton Station and there is a large outlet mall.  There are free lockers where you can leave your bags near customer service counter.   

Skytrain is free between stations on Sea Island, that includes YVR Airport Station and Templeton Station. About $3-55/adult from downtown to the airport depending on time of day.  Or $11.25 for all day.

There are some flights going out of Vancouver around 10 om to 2 am. Some of the redeyes back east and a few flights to Asia.  However it is generally not very busy at that time.

18 hours ago, bingobunny14 said:

not a problem with Celcius..I am a Canadian..I will be flying in from Toronto. I have a nexus card hopefully that will help at imagration..

You will likely find the flight is cheaper with Air Canada, WestJet and Porter having multiple flight through the day. 

Once your in open ocean, the weather is going to be driven by what front happens to be moving through the area at the time.  Hard to predict either way.

On 8/25/2023 at 6:35 AM, Jennifer75 said:

Thanks for the insight. JetBlue credit only good for the Boston -FLL portion of the flight. They suggested I book YTZ-Boston on my own. Seems a little complicated? March has me nervous with weather so may just book from Buffalo. Appreciate your detailed insight 

I would not do this.   If you book separate tickets then your responsible for the connection and any financial costs to rebook if a flight is late and you miss your connection.  You want it all on one ticket.

If it is on a single ticket and your first flight of the day is late, the airline is responsible to rebook you to your final destination at their costs.

I had a look at JetBlue website and they are able to sell singe tickets that combine Porter and JetBlue.  They should be able to do it.  

2 hours ago, Milhouse said:

Priority Pass is one of many airport lounge membership programs that provides access to specific airport lounges/lounge networks they have partnerships with for you and possibly a guest.  However, there are varying membership levels with the lowest requiring an additional fee for each lounge entry to the highest providing unlimited "free" entries.  

 

To get a Priority Pass card, you can apply for one directly with Priority Pass.  Alternatively, some higher tier/travel credit cards provide free membership to Priority Pass such as the AMEX Platinum card (though you still have to go through the process to register with Priority Pass but not pay the fee).

 

Points to note:

There are other airport lounge membership programs eg. Dragon Pass.  

Some higher end/travel cards provide their own lounge memberships programs (eg. Mastercard Lounge Key, Visa Airport Companion, etc) with their own rules (eg. Certain number of free entrances vs having to pay for each entrance and guest) and what airport lounges/lounge networks they provide you access to (ie. Your lounge membership program won't get you into any lounge; only the ones they partner with).

You can also sometimes buy entrance directly with the some lounges (eg. Plaza Premium lounges).

You may have to wait to enter the lounge if it is full.  Priority (for airline specific lounges) typically goes to those having airline status or flying biz class and above.  

 

 

Hmm, IDK then.  During our recent trip in June, when we used our AMEX Platinum at the domestic Plaza Premium lounge in YVR, the person checking us in was verbally going through her checks and confirmed if our flight was leaving within two (or three?) hours.  

Also, IIRC, they also checked our connecting time at the Westjet lounge in YYC and didn't want to let us in if it was longer than two hours.  Maybe I should have challenged that because I thought there was no limit for connections.  But, the Westjet lounge was extremely busy and we had to wait to get in.  They didn't kick us out though when our connection was extremely delayed.

AMEX has a deal with Plaza Premium.  You don't use Priority Pass to get into those lounges.  You show your AMEX card.   

AMEX also pays for some membership in the Priority Pass program for its members. Most Priority pass lounges have 3 hour limits.

WestJet does not have a deal with AMEX for lounge access.  WestJet does have a deal with Priority Pass.

It can also be different if your connecting.  The AMEX Centrium lounges in the US allow you to get in from 3 hours if your originating at the airport.  No limit is in place if your making a connection.

On 8/20/2023 at 3:51 PM, martincath said:

You're just spoiled down in WA, where every pancake place and it's granny has babies on the menu... what a horrific sentence out of context!!!! 😉

 

De Dutch claims to be authentic - and Babies are like the Germans of Pennsylvania, a corruption of Deutch rather than actually-Dutch. More scandalous given they're in Canada is no maple syrup - just Stroop, a caramelized sugar syrup (I'm also not a fan of their version, it's too burnt compared to anything I ever had in the Netherlands - they claim it's deliberately dark, but then so do Starbucks to excuse their over-roasting of everything except the Timmies-clone Blonde Roast!) When I have visitors we usually end up in De Dutch at least once, but I always go savoury so the stroop's avoidable!

While I am a fan of De Dutch, they are not quite very close to YWCA.  As a kid my parent use to take me to the one in Kingsgate Mall (that has now long closed).  Still a favourite.

Jam Cafe 556 Beatty St, is closer.  They have a southern US theme to them.  (https://jamcafes.com/).

On 7/20/2023 at 12:07 PM, Milhouse said:

IIRC Priority Pass recently restarted their partnership with Plaza Premium lounges and there is a Plaza Premium lounge for Transborder flights to the US.  

However, I'd be cautious about timing. Some lounges only allow access starting two or three hours before your flight.  The Priority Pass site (and AMEX lounge site) indicate that there's a two hour limit which would suggest entry for you at around 8:35pm.  (However, I doubt they would kick you out if there's a delay though.)

You can try to get in early but it's probably going to be hit or miss depending on how busy it is and how early you attempt entry.  I would speculate that it would not be busy that late but my recent experience has been that lounges have generally been very busy/full overall during this summer season.  

There is a weird relationship between AMEX and Plaza Premium in Canada.  I usually show my AMEX Canada Platinum card to get into Canadian Plaza Premium lounges.  I have never had an issue with the 3 hour limit.  They don't list an 2-3 hour limit on the AMEX website.

If you use the Priority Pass card then there is a 3 hour limit in most lounges.

At Vancouver Airport there are Plaza Premium lounges in all three zones.  Two lounges in Domestic, one in US Transborder and 1 in International.  There is also a Skyteam lounge in International that you can usually get into with the Priority Pass card.

1 hour ago, Smitheroo said:

So some people have not had to pay baggage fees and some have.  Hmmmmmm  confusing

If your traveling on a single ticket, the rules for the overseas flight generally override the rules for the connecting flights. 

So as an example, your flight to Boston to say Newark mighty normally have a baggage fee but if your connecting on to Lisbon then its is the rules for Newark to Lisbon that take precedence.   

TAP has a few different types of economy fares.  Between North America and Europe everything except "Discount Class" fares includes a checked bag.  That would extend to any local connecting flights if sold as part of the same ticket.

6 hours ago, 6rugrats said:

Westjet does not have online check in and offer mobile boarding passes?

Yes, there is online checkin that gives you a choice to print a boarding pass or e-mail it your phone.  There is also an app that lets you check in online.

My experience with connections.  WestJet checkin (app or in person) usually generates boarding passes for both Delta and WestJet flights.  Delta Check does the same.  The one thing they don't usually get right is passport information.  You usually get called up at the gate and they ask to see that again.

Clearly the OP had a different experience.  That is unfortunate. 

5 hours ago, Jenhilmc said:

We booked through Delta from Atlanta to Vancouver with stop in Toronto. The Toronto to Vancouver flight was on Westjet. When we deplaned in Toronto, we went through customs which was easy. We then had to go through Canadian security. The Westjet kiosks were not working so everyone had to get in line to see agents to get a boarding pass. I won't do that again. The only positive was that customs was easy and when we got to Vancouver we had no remaining hurdles. 

I have never had the case where all the kiosks don't work.  That would be terrible.  The airlines these days only have staffing levels assuming most people are self serve ahead of time at home or on the kiosks.

I think this comes down to federal vrs provincial laws.  

I don't think provincial laws apply to any inter-provincial or international trains, aircraft or ships.   The provincial liquor age does not apply.  Rules on servers don't apply etc.  Taxes don't apply.  That removes a lot of the tax.

Then on the federal side there is no GST on international journeys.   The removes the rest.

4 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We are flying to Rome this October 

one way on AC was about $1000, booking with Flights by Celebrity with Are Lingus is about $550 same as TAP 

Check out Google Flights 

in 2020 our one flight to Rome was $380 on AC , but it was canceled be cause of Covid and it was booked before Covid started 

Most legacy airlines only discount return flights to Europe.  The one way tickets are expense.  

Air Transact, WestJet and I guess TAP are exceptions to that rule.

Seattle to Portland I would just take the train.  

The train is going to take 3 hours but you avoid traveling from downtown Seattle to the airport, the lineups and security.   I don't think you save much of any time flying.

YWCA Hotel is usually a good deal.  Profits made from the hotel go to the non-profit that owns the hotel if that makes you fell good.

If your looking for low cost, clean and well maintained hotel that is fairly basic, then the Days Inn on West Pender is walking distance to the pier.  The rooms are small and the views are limited, no parking being a 100 year old build.  

I usually stay at the Sandman Hotel.  It is close to YWCA Hotel.  Both of those a longer walk from the pier.

6 hours ago, bortman23 said:

Hi all,

 

Anyone have experience with cell phone reception in Eastern Canada? I'm Canadian and have a cruise out of Quebec City to NYC. How good or bad is reception while sailing between Quebec, Nfld, NS? I have a plan that give me (basically) unlimited roaming. So I'm wondering if I'll have reception or if there will be dead spots. 

 

TY!
 

That is going to depend on who your carrier is.  

Here is the map for Bell. https://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Our_network_coverage  

On 8/9/2023 at 3:15 PM, BCHappyGal said:

ArriveCan is not needed anymore

It is not mandatory. 

If you chose to use it, it asks the same question that show up on the kiosk and there is a separate express line you go into.  When you get to kiosk and scan your passport it asks if anything has changed from what you entered on the ArriveCAN app, if you indicate no change it prints the receipt and there are no other questions.

If your arriving late morning to around 2/3 pm in Vancouver the line up for customer can sometimes be long and it is worth it.  Any other time of the day and it is usually not that bad and your not saving a lot of time using ArriveCAN.

On 7/31/2023 at 1:33 PM, FionaMG said:

 

In the past when flying MIA/LIS/FAO we always had to go through security at LIS. But this past April, doing EWR/LIS/FAO there was no security, only passport control. I don't know if they did away with it altogether since our last trip to the US back pre-covid or if the origin of the flight had anything to do with it.

Over the last few years western countries have slowly moved towards accepting each others security.  It depends, if you arrive in LIS from a country in Africa they would very likely have routed your through security again.  From a country that has an equivalent clearance your would skip.

My last flight to Portugal was in the spring.  YVR-YYZ-FRA-FAO.  No security in FRA, just passport control.

On 8/11/2023 at 12:46 PM, kayehall said:

The original booking was with Delta as I used FF points.  However, I had to go to WestJet website to assign seating on the WestJet portion.  I paid a small fee to be seated in the first row on the plane with a bulkhead in front of me.  

If it is row 1-3 it is in the front Cabin.  If it is row 4 it is the bulkhead in front of economy.

On 8/11/2023 at 6:22 AM, kayehall said:

Thanks, I did see that.  I imagine that is why Delta does not have any WestJet connections listed yet for June 30th.  Does anyone know if they are a good, on time airline to fly.  There plane configurations look at bit small as I don't see any first class.  I have reserved them for June 22 to YVR and have paid a small fee to upgrade to the front of the plane.  We are leaving from MYR (Myrtle Beach).

I fly them all the time.  They are mainstream airline these day.  Flights are generally on time in the summer.  In the winter all airlines in Canada need to deal with weather.   

Your will find the inflight service comparable to the major US Airlines or Air Canada.   

As for the credit cards.  Yes, if you book on the Canadian websites in CDN$, with a US$ credit card the bank will do the conversion to US$.  

When you do the booking on WestJet you can add your Delta loyalty program number to the flight and you will earn with Delta.

In Canada the front Cabin goes by different names than the US.   Air Canada calls it business class.  WestJet calls it Premium.  It basically the same kind of seat as what the airlines in the US call first class with similar service to First in the US.

For WestJet the 737 have 3 premium (aka First Class) rows at the front. 

The WestJet 787 has an international business class. premium cabin and economy.  The 787 mostly operate between Canada and Europe or Japan.  It is very rare they use those domestically or to the US.

8 hours ago, MudderBear said:

I'm the OP. ....

 

I honestly don't think I can book United one way with miles (EWR to BCN) and then cash from FCO to EWR.  Thank you to whomever posted that MUC is an easier airport to connect in.  I will keep that in mind.

 

It's just when I go to Kayak, I am finding flights (particularly in question TAP and Swiss Air) whose prices totally are below United.  I really would love to use UA because I have alot of miles (points).  Unfortunately, as I have about 220,000 points, I still need to lay out about $3 thousand to "buy" extra points.  What's the use?  For about 2 or 3 thousand dolllars more I can just save those points for my domestic vacations.

 

As far as seasons, I would be traveling in mid May which is not a big demand travel period.

There are a few exceptions.  However for the most part transatlantic flights are almost always cheaper as round trip with a Saturday stay over.   If you search online you want to pick the multi-city option and get both outbound and return priced on the same ticket.

United, TAP Air Portugal, Swiss, Lufthansa and Air Canada are all star alliance partners.  That means you credit miles from any of these airlines into your United loyalty program.  The one thing to keep in mind is if your booked into the cheapest fare you may be getting very few miles.  Some low fares may only give you 25% or 50% miles.  There may even be a few rock bottom fares with 0.  

If your trading in points, on United all Star Alliance (including TAP and Air Canada) operated flights should be available for you.  220,000 is a good amount of points.  you should be able to get something with that.  You may even be able to business class with that number of points. 

Usually the points don't include taxes and fees.  With international travel those can easily be a few hundred dollars.

6 hours ago, LHT28 said:

I know  that they  restrict the seats there

Usually  EM  has good info  so was surprised by her post

Typo on my part.   Should have been "not allowed".   

On 6/14/2023 at 7:35 PM, LHT28 said:

Yes at  $65 pp  & you run the risk of being bumped  by  someone  that  needs the seat  for  a handicapped person

 I have done Rouge in BIZ   & it was fine  but not paying $1000  PP 

Thanks for all the comments

 will just have to go with the flow  & crappy Rouge

If your handicapped you are allowed to sit in the exit rows.   Bulkhead yes.   

On 6/14/2023 at 10:39 AM, Zach1213 said:

Hell, there are some countries you need to show ID to even enter the terminal. India, for example, always requires that I show ID + ticket confirmation (printed or digital) to just get in the front door. 

Your suggesting that extra step adds value in the process?   Ok.

Most other parts of the world they have found that to be not worth the extra inconvenience.

17 hours ago, kissimmee-cruiser said:

So glad you asked this question! I am in the exact same position. Hopefully once we are ticketed we can pick our seats. Do you know if you have to pay additional to pick the seats?

It depends.  If your in Business or Premium seat selection is free.  If your in economy it is also free if it a more expensive ticket (what WestJet calls EconoFlex).  The lower cost economy fares have a fee for advanced seat selection.    

At checkin there is no fee.

Should also add with Canadian carriers (including WestJet) if your traveling with children under 14 the airline is required to seat you together with your kids and is not allowed to charge seat selection fees.  Sometimes that works online sometimes you have to call in.    

On 6/11/2023 at 8:27 PM, FlyerTalker said:

 

Huh??  I don't know of anyplace in the USA where you have to do an ID check prior to you entering the security screening process.

 

You present your ID to the TSA agent, before you enter the bag/body scanning.  And if you are using Pre-Check, then there is someone at the start of that line to check that you belong there.  So just where are these other ID checks you talk about?  Airport?

 

 

Not at all.  Clear is a biometric identity verification product that uses fingerprints and iris scans to provide a positive ID.  After being verified by Clear, you are escorted to the front of the Pre-Check line.  I use it at airports where they are located and have found the system to be fast and effective.

 

Just because Canadians can't use it doesn't mean it's a scam.

 

 

The US is the only country I have been to where you stand in line to do an ID check with TSA.  Then once you do the TSA ID check you go into the next line to have bags x-rayed.  Most other countries don't do these ID checks there.  In Canada the ID check is done by the gate agent as you board.  In some places like Germany they use kiosks and don't even bother with that.

The Clear sales people can be quit annoying.  I am not saying it is scam, just that the people they are trying to sell the service don't get it.  You standing in line holding a Canadian passport and they are trying to convince you to get out to line to go a kiosk to sign up for a service you don't qualify for.  

6 hours ago, rodndonna said:

We came through yesterday (Saturday mid-day) and there were no real delays or issues. We did Arrivecan before arriving and were then in the "express"  line but even without it, the line for non-Nexus and non-completed Arrivican did not seem bad.

I have also gotten in the habit of always doing the Arrivecan app.  Having the express arrivecan lane helps when it is busy.  When it is not busy as you say it does not matter.