em-sk

Toronto - Seattle - Anchorage would not be all with Air Canada. Toronto to Seattle is Air Canada, but you would need to take a different airline from Seattle to Anchorage (Alaska or Delta). A seemless connection via SEA can be difficult because Air Canada does not partner with either Alaska or Delta.

 

Alaska Airlines does sell Toronto to Anchorage, but will put you on American Airlines out of Toronto. At best, they'll route you via Los Angeles (YYZ-LAX-ANC), but most routings have two stops (such as YYZ-Chicago-SEA-ANC).

 

If you can get on the seasonal (not year-round) Vancouver to Anchorage flight on Rouge, that might be best...but if not, it becomes somewhat tricky to get from Toronto to Anchorage.

Air Canada does interline with both Alaska and Delta. Having a single ticket with airlines from different alliances is quite feasible and still very common. Where you run into problems is if you have two different tickets.

Not certain about US banks. However with a Canadian bank account I always find the best exchange rate is by using my bank card at a local ATM machine in Europe. Credit cards are also extremely common.

 

Glad to have a Canadian comment on this. I have seen many say use atm but all from usa.

I had ordered euros from my bank but i will skip that and plan to go to an atm when i arrive in Barcelona next week.

 

You should not have any problems. Especially in Western Europe.

 

On the back of your bank card, you will see an "Interact" logo (that is the network used in Canada). You will also see either a Plus or Cirrus logo. Plus and Cirrus are the two international networks. Almost all ATM I have across in Europe connect onto those two international networks.

 

The only county I have ever had a problem is Japan. In Japan most ATM work on their domestic network and it is only the ones in the 7/11 stores that connect onto the international networks.

Disagree with getting Euros in USA. You will pay 3-10% more! Simply get an ATM card tied to an account with no foreign exchange fees and use an ATM overseas. You also are likely to find an ATM on board that dispenses Euros. The ATM rate will be best.

 

Agree with getting a credit card with no fees (Capitol One easy) and make sure you have a 4 digit pin on your debit card. Use it and NOT a credit card to get cash.

Not certain about US banks. However with a Canadian bank account I always find the best exchange rate is by using my bank card at a local ATM machine in Europe. Credit cards are also extremely common.

One thing to watch out for with credit cards is many countries (including Canada and most of Europe) use a system called chip and pin. I believe many of the US banks are still on a older system that uses card + signature. I think the US banks are somewhere in the process of transitioning over to Chip+PIN. Basically you want to check that your credit card has a chip and that you know what your PIN number is.

In a medical emergency the cruise line will put you ashore at the nearest port, or if you are near the US, call the Coast Guard for an evacuation (the Coast Guard has this in their budget). In other countries, and if you are outside the reach or territory of the US Coast Guard, you must pay for the service. Once you are off the boat, you are on your own.

 

In some cases, the foreign hospital will bill you, and must pay the bill before you can be discharged. As a foreign national, you may not enjoy the rights you think of as "normal" at home.

 

If you cannot afford medical transportation you don't get it. You have to raise the funds, or risk going without medical services as you buy other, less expensive transportation.

 

I've read that most health insurance in the US does not cover you while "on the high seas" even if the policy covers you in certain other countries. Where are you going to get sick, in port or in transit to the port? Medicare does not cover any medical bills outside of the US, period.

 

When I have priced trip insurance, I have tried to see if I saved an appreciable amount of money by buying just medical and not having trip insurance too. It typically costs me $20 or so to include the other coverages, so I usually do it.

The foreign hospitals to be the most worried about for excessive charges are the ones in the US. US hospitals have a tendency to charge rates that are quite a bit higher that equivalent rates in Canada. You run the risk of pay the difference and that can be quite extreme.

Being a Canadian the provincial health care plan only covers for emergency medical services overseas to the same value in the province but it excludes certain services.

I think the need for "extra" travel insurance sold by travel agents relay depends on the individual. I don't because I have one of those higher end "travel" credit cards that covers a lot of trip delay issues. Every place I have worked in the past 20 years has had an extended health care benefits package that includes foreign travel insurance. The employer usually has the group plan to cover business travel, however the polices do not differentiate between business or pleasure travel. The packages have also included the cost of medical charter aircraft to bring you back home if needed.

If I was retired and was relying just on the provincial plan I would probably would buy extra insurance.

You really need to look at the need for extra insurance in the context of what you already have and are paying for. I find many times people buy to much insurance because they don't fully understand what coverage they have and end up with overlapping plans.

Some wonderful photos of the " Golden Age " of flying

 

http://m.wimp.com/awesomeflying/

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

In all fairness, in those days the First Class or Business Seats were only slightly better than economy. The benefit was access to the lounge. A Boeing 747-100 or 200 (what I think some of those photos are from) had a second floor but it only had a few windows and not a lot of room. A lounge was a reasonable use of that space.

Today a international business or first class seat open to a flat bed, has walls for privacy and a private TV. Not bad at all in comparison.

For passengers in Economy the real difference between back then and now is the seats use to have padding. Today they are competing with a city bus in terms of who had more padding in their seats.

Incoming flights won't make any difference in Calgary, those arriving passengers will be going through Canadian Immigration, you will be leaving and going through US Immigration which is a totally different area.

US Customs in Calgary is busy in the morning. By mid-day it is pretty reasonable.

I fly in and out of Victoria quite frequently. Given the choice I would chose the Calgary connection.

Seattle is variable. If the flight from Victoria arrives at the same time as the flights from Asia or Dubai it can take a long time to get through customs. Other times it is quite fast.

Calgary is an easier airport to make connections.

To me what you describe for AC seems different. MCE is a set of contiguous rows with different seat pitches and in some cases, like the 777-300ER, different widths. Charging extra for a emergency row or bulkhead seems to be more of a "one off" type of deal. Just my opinion.

The AC Premium Economy is a wider seat, better wine, a business class meal I think it is identical to what American is proposing.

This is a slightly better video showing what it is like:

As far as I know they are few & far between ;)

I use a Royal Bank Avion card. Most of the Canadian banks have something equivalent. These are airline independent cards.

I regret not having it any more but I use to have an Air Canada enRoute card. enRoute was taken over by Dinners Club many years ago and now is simply Dinners. Unfortunately BMO who issue Dinners Club in the us and Canada will not accept new applicants. These cards include access into business lounges at a very low cost.

There are also Aeroplan cards from CIBC, TD and AMEX.

----

As for paying a premium for Air Canada. Air Canada has a better product. The Maple Leaf Lounges are better than anything the US airlines have. The in flight food is going to be better.

Given the price difference I would rather fly American and use the $300 for a good meal either before or after the flight. If you get Pearson Terminal 3 early there is a nice restaurant in the Sheraton Hotel connected to the terminal (only draw back is it is before security). You take the escalator up and there is an overhead bridge that links to the hotel. So desert post security.

My own thought is that MCE would be eliminated. Of course if they kept it, it would be a unique offering in the industry - 5 different seat pitches on an aircraft. I personally like MCE as I really don't care about the food/drinks offered in a higher class of service, I just need a bit of legroom to be comfortable. We'll see...

Not that unique.

For Air Canada mainline on international flights they have:

- International Business Class

- Premium Economy

- Preferred Seating Economy

- Economy

For Air Canada Rouge on international flights they have:

- Rouge Premium (Premium Economy)

- Rouge Plus (Preferred Seating Economy)

- Economy

The Preferred seats are primarily bulkheads and emergency exit rows. Fairly limited. The Rouge flights have a dedicated area at the front of the cabin.

Good American is doing this. The US Airlines are in catch up mode to where the rest of the airlines in the industry are going.

We are flying United Global First SFO-FRA connecting to LX (Swiss) economy FRA-ZRH.

 

For those familiar with FRA, what are our best options for lounge access for the 4 1/2 hour layover. I read where we are able to access the LH Welcome Arrivals Lounge, however for connecting passengers that would entail an extra trip through security? Obviously, we're looking for the most streamlined option that will include lounge access.

 

Thanks....

Once you are through passport control you should be in the Schengen area.

This link lists the Lufthansa Schengen zone lounges you have access to:

- http://www.staralliance.com/en/web/staralliance/airport-details?airportCode=FRA

The best lounge to use will depend on the assigned gate for the flight.

On your return, if you are also flying Star Alliance in business, after clearing passport control you have the choice of Lufthansa or Air Canada lounges.

Arriving on ANA 806 (BKK) @3PM, scheduled to depart on AC 10 (YYC) @4PM.

 

Just noticed that we only have one hour in between. We only have carry on-nothing checked are are seated near the front. Hopefully the former will be early and the latter will be late.

 

We have done this route for the past two years, but on Delta and United. We always had three hours...or more if the connection was late. Seems to me we should be in the same terminal since they are both Star Alliance-South 1.

Sounds like a tight connection. If you miss the connection, you might want to see if you can get booked on the Air Canada to Vancouver that leaves at 7PM (AC 004). No shortage of flights between Vancouver and Calgary.

I had this happen.

....

I was advised to put my credit card through again for penny. (PCC said if I couldn't, she'd try, but said it works better from customer's end. She stayed on he line with me.)

Much to my surprise (I thought there'd be a minimum of a few dollars), it processed it. At that point I was finally paid in full.

1c transactions on credit cards are very common especially with online purchases. For many retailers and service providers when you add a credit card to your file they will do a pre-authorisation on your card for 1c to validate that it is a validate credit card number.

I ended up booking with Southwest Airlines. I was able to snag what I think is a good deal of $285pp round trip USD. I'm not a frequent flyer so not sure how good that price really is. We're still flying in the day before (already booked that hotel) and I feel much more comfortable spending the extra money for a little peace of mind.

 

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

Good choice.

Regarding prices out of Canada. Since it is an international flight there are lots of extra government taxes for Immigration, US Agriculture, a 9-11 tax (what ever that is for these days) that do not apply on domestic flights. The customs people do not charge those taxes when driving across the board but do when flying.

I think that is what I should do and then justify the expense on a better bottle of wine :). The trekking pants are a great idea too - I guess "dressed up" for a Norwegian restaurant just means no shorts, no jeans.

The rules can be found here. https://www.ncl.com/faq#packing

Per the NCL rules, kids 12 and under are ok with shorts.

I would suggest spend time in the rest of Portugal. Take the train down to the Algarve.

Here are some ideas: http://aguide2portugal.com/

You tell him what you have. If it is an amount that he thinks it is worth the effort to collect the duty on he sends you to another table. The duty is a flat fee per liter. Typically if the amount of duty is less than $25 they don't fool with it. $25 is about 8 bottles over the limit.

Here is the details:

https://www.ncl.com/faq%2523customs-allowances

As zqvol stated, If it is a small charge that is due, the customers officer may decided its not worth the effort to collect it and just wave you through.

Looks like Air Canada is getting rid of the Rogue A319/A321 based in Vancouver. The Vancouver to California flights are switching back to mainline. Sounds like they want to focus the Rogue flights a bit more in Toronto and the rogue aircraft will be moved east while the regular ones will be positioned into Vancouver. Lucky, Toronto.

They are still keeping the 767 that operate Vancouver to Hawaii and Vancouver to Osaka Japan as Rogue.

Thanks for the feedback. The Zurich option disappeared, so I'm going through Munich! Plenty of transfer time. Even got seat assignments. Just love FF miles!

I have been on buses in Munich (as well as Zurich). Typically it is only on very small aircraft (prop or regional jet) and they don't have very many stairs. i would not be worried about it.

Munich is a very efficient airport, excellent for making connections.

The Studios are well designed. They feel bigger than they are.

As for the other aspects of sailing solo. The studio open onto a common shared living room. If you want to do your own thing you can, if you want to go to dinner as part of a larger group it is east to do that also.

They exist on the newer ships in large numbers and the ship in Hawaii has studio (but there are only 4 are they go quickly).

We just finished a Rouge flight from Athens through Toronto to DFW in economy. There was no "economy plus." The plane was also full for both flights. No problems, we would fly them again.

They do. Just Air Canada has made a mess of naming its products.

The Rouge 767 has the following:

Premium Rouge - A Premium Economy service. Bigger seat (similar to domestic business class on Air Canada or what the US Airlines sell as domestic First Class). Rows 1-4.

Rouge Plus - An Economy Plus type seat. Rows 12-15 and 27.

Rouge - Regular Economy.

Virtually every international business class flight will serve dinner after an evening departure. Now the first course may not start until an hour or so into the flight. Here is a link to the Air Canada description of the meal service on international business.

They change around the menu from time to time. In international business class they will hand you a menu to chose your hot entry. While it is being prepared there is warmed nuts with drinks. Then a starter then the main entre and finally desert. Somewhere in there is also a course with some port and grapes and cheese.

Unless it has changed, usually when it says continental breakfast that means in economy it is a cold breakfast box. Usually even if it says that it is a hot breakfast up front. That would normally a choice from a couple of options.

Rogue flights use the domestic business class meals all served at the same time on tray. Still quite good.

Economy is on par with the other North American airlines and is similar to a TV dinner.

It has nothing to do with the airport or route. It is the software used by the various websites and airlines to comply with TSA and related agencies.

 

I wouldn't loose any sleep over it.

Over the last 15+ years I have had similar systems. Including long before internet booking when most people used a travel agent.

I would not worry about it.

One alternative to look at is Porter Airlines. They now fly to Fort Meyers from Toronto - City Centre airport. I have not looked at specific dates.

Two things to keep in mind. Porter has excellent in flight service and a wonderful experience. Second thing to keep in mind they only fly the Dash-8 and that is a very long flight for a Dash-8. They are an airline that will discount quite a bit to fill seats.

TruckerDave, I am so disappointed the United lounge is not a nice place to wait in between flights. We are not experienced lounge users. But we did use the one for BA in Amsterdam in May. Spectacular!! Plenty of good food. Every kind of drink you can imagine. Extra comfy chairs, perfect for napping. Hope the lounge in Toronto is better, because we have a long layover there, too.

The Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge in Toronto is a step above anything United has.

The lounge in the Domestic and Transboarder (US) concourse will have an assortment beverages including wine that is a step above united. There is usually soup, salad and fresh sandwiches. The International departures lounge will usually also have a hot pasta dish. Seats are a mix of lounger and seated areas. There is also a business area with computers and good quality office furniture. Quite comfortable.