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THE NETLETTER (logo)
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( For retirees of the new Air Canada family)
Number 587 , May 19th 2001,
We first Published in October 1995
Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson - Co-pilot - Terry Baker
To get in touch with either editor/pilot our email address is:
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While Terry's away, Vesta will play.
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GREETINGS TO THE PIONAIRS AT THE AGM IN CALGARY
THIS WEEKEND, DON'T FALL OFF ANY HORSES.
I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GOOD TIME.
Feel free to send to the NetLetter anything you want to share
with the rest of us who stayed at home and a postcard or two
to yours truly would be appreciated also.
FYI Terry's mailbox is overflowing.
Welcome Aboard the following:
S.Doreen Porta
GeorgeDuncan
June Edminson Morse
Len Schmaltz
Steve Esplen
Gren Peterson
Herb Russell
H.Don Cameron
Jack Stragier
Gerry Shepherd
Francine Gauthier
We welcome Hugh Donald Cameron to our readers, here is abio -
I made many friends in Air Canada, in the 40’s as a weather forecaster in
Vancouver, then in DOT Air Services until joining CP Air in 1954. In CP Air,
my duties included co-operating with AC’s Claude Taylor on behalf of Canada
in air bilateral matters with other countries while assisting CP Air’s
efforts to resist AC’s occasional take-over attempts.
Additional AC friends included Bill English and Fred Wood so I don’t
feel too badly now that I am an AC retiree with an AC ID Number!! I retired
in 1983.
My wife, Jean, and I spend half the year in Oyama, BC and the other
half in Lahaina, Maui, HI and the same e-mail address will get to us at
either place.
Best wishes to all, H. Don. Cameron.
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F.Y.I .
The NetLetter Archives at:
{http://www.acfamily.org/netletter/archives/ }
are now up-to-date with NetLetter 584. AR
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Followup: re Parking in YYZ.
Duane: I just phoned Margaret at Park n’ Fly , Toronto and Margaret
assured me that there has been no change to active and retired
Air Canada employee’s 50% parking discount rates.
Alex Fox: I called Park n’ Fly Toronto and talked to Margaret.
It seems the problem arose because we showed our boarding passes,
we should have shown our employee I.D. card, which we would have done
had we been given the opportunity. There is no question of us receiving any
reimbursment,
but she will “send us something in the mail “ I assume it will be some kind
of voucher .
Thanks again to Net Letter , and perhaps our little episode will help some
other retiree
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HEADLINE: Fresh airport tax grab
By: SHEILA McGOVERN The Gazette
Travelers using Montreal's airports are going to have to dig deeper
before they can board their planes.
Aeroports de Montreal announced yesterday that, as of July 15,
it's boosting the airport departure tax at Dorval to $15 from $10,
and introducing a $10 tax at Mirabel, which has been tax-free.
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John Gallagher the Caledon Hills
I'm flying to Cranbrook BC this fall. Then I wish to travel south to
Whitefish MT.
I've search the web for auto rental, bus lines etc and cannot find any info.
I would appreciate a fellow employee suggesting a solution.
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Bernie Fallows found this article -
The viewpoints expressed are those of Ben Webster
-The London Times.Quote:
“Rich will fly faster while poor take slower planes- Boeing”
“Air travel of the future will see first and business class passengers fly
on much faster jets while economy travellers may have to pay more
as well as being confined to the slower existing fleet,
according to Boeing, the world’s largest plane maker.
Passengers willing to pay a premium will cross the Atlantic more than an
hour faster and shave five hours off flights to Australia.
They will be segregated from families, backpackers and others
who can afford only economy fares.
Economy passengers may have to pay more for their tickets because business
travellers who provide most of the airlines’ profits will be on separate
planes and therefore will no longer subsidize the cost of flights, Boeing
said.
The current system of dividing jets into sections, with first and business
separated by curtains from the cheap seats, will be fundamentally changed
by the
arrival of the new planes, which will cruise at more than 750 mph.
The Seattle-based company which built more than 80 per cent of the jets
flying today, believes airlines will follow the example of the bullet trains
in Japan, where Alan Mulally, President of Boeing’s passenger jet
division, said that business
passengers did not like sharing planes with economy travellers who were able
to walk through their sections.”I can remember the first time I flew in
business and everyone walked though my room”, he said.”I had been given a
Diet Coke
before take off and they hadn’t and I felt embarrassed. But why should I,
because I did pay a bit more for the service.”
The new segregation will mean business travellers do not have to wait for
hundreds of economy passengers to board the plane. Some airports may offer
separate terminals, removing all contact between the classes.
Mulally said that the Being Sonic Cruiser, the delta-winged craft which will
fly just below the speed of sound and 200 mph faster than conventional jets
would
enable airlines to offer the “differential service” that hotels provide.
Richer travellers expected hotels to have separate hotels offering
greater luxury and air passengers wanted the same.
British Airways is among dozens of airlines which have expressed keen interest
in the Sonic Cruiser jets. Boeing expects to announce its first orders
for the jet at the beginning of next year and commence deliveries as early
as 2006.
The company believes there is a potential market for up to 5000 Sonic
Cruisers over the next two decades, although production will be limited in
the early years.
Boeing claims the plane will cost little more to operate than existing
jets, meaning passengers will have to pay only a modest premium to fly on
it. Concorde which was the only scheduled passenger jet to operate with
purely first class
seats, costs eight times as much to operate as a conventional jet. The Sonic
Cruiser is likely to have at least double the number of seats of the grounded
supersonic jet, which carried only 100 passengers.
End of quote.Bernie Fallows.
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The Winnipeg Air Canada Retirement Club, are having their annual picnic
this year at the Assiniboine Park at the Duck Pond Site, on June 20th,
from 9am-4pm.
This is for members of the club, but we will welcome all retirees, who wish
to come,
and maybe even become members of our club.
We are welcoming all Canadian Airlines retirees also, if they wish to come.
Bring a chair, your lunch, and your smiles, as we play a few,
not too strenuous games, which of course, have prizes for the final
winners,
and door prizes. Gary Sands.
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The following is for your info and subject to change after ACRA general
meeting
May 29, 2001 regarding both AC and CP retirees and ACRA..
As it stands now, Air Canada employees that are ACRA members in good
standing for at least 2 years before they retire are eligible to become
lifetime ACRA members. There are no dues to be paid and they are welcome to
attend all ACRA functions.
Having said this, there are bylaws in place covering who can participate in
the ACRA System Events and what they can win.
Each event (Hockey, Art, Golf) has their own rules some include retirees
and some don’t.
This will be covered at the meeting in May and maybe we can resolve some
issues
there.
An Associate member is for those that want to participate in ACRA sponsored
events but are not ACRA members or can’t qualify to be an ACRA member.
Usually this covers Air BC etc employees that would like to play say Soccer
with an ACRA team but can’t become an ACRA member. They can’t compete at
System events and can’t win passes, but can participate in the event. The
fees for Associate members are decided by each station. In Vancouver it is
$20/year right now.
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In recognition of its ongoing partnership with Aeroplan, Future
Shop is offering great savings to active and retired Air Canada
and Air Canada Regional Inc. employees, family members, and
friends. Save in either of three ways-unadvertised discounts on a
vast selection of products, 15-30 per cent off all clearance
merchandise, or $5-50 mystery markdowns on selected merchandise.
The sale is on at all Future Shop locations as follows: May 27
from 5:00-9:00 pm in Ontario and Western Canada, and May 28 from
5:00-9:00 pm in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. The offer is not
advertised to the public and is only available to those
invited-employee ID cards aren't required.
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NEW DOMAIN NAMES APPROVED: '.BIZ' & '.INFO'
Two new Internet suffixes have been approved by the Web's governing
body. The domain names ".biz" and ".info" will give Web site owners an
alternative to the popular and crowded ".com" domain space.
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. Terry’s travel tips.
Byron Dale sends this information for you intrepid travellers -
Research shows bottled water no healthier
Thursday, 3 May 2001
Research commissioned by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) indicates that
bottled water is often no healthier or safer to drink than tap water.
It found consumers risk being duped into thinking that paying more for
bottled water means it is a high quality alternative.
Research shows that bottled water sells for up to 1, 000 times the price of
tap water, but the quality is often no better.
In 50 per cent of cases, the only difference is that bottled water has
added mineralsand salts, which does not actually mean it is healthier.
Furthermore some bottled waters are exactly the same standard as tap water
without being as energy efficient.
While the WWF does acknowledge that bottled water is generally safer in areas
where tap water is contaminated it says boiling or filtering local water
is a cheaperand more sustainable alternative.
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Travel is very educational. I can now say "Kaopectate" in seven different
languages.
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Internet Tip from RAPCAN
Emailer response functions.
Know the difference between REPLY, REPLY ALL,
FORWARD and REDIRECT.
New users often use the incorrect function. The most prevalent is the use
of "forward" instead of "reply".
You REPLY to the sender of the email in question.
You FORWARD to a new recipient the email in question.
You REDIRECT the email in question if the subject is not for you and/or is
better answered by someone else - you REDIRECT it to that person. This
keeps the original senders email address in the FROM field.
The REPLY ALL is the same as REPLY, but will put anyone that appeared in
the CC field of the original email into the TO field of the reply email.
PS: When REPLYing the function allows you to quote the original message.
Don't, unless absolutely necessary, quote the entire message - this is very
annoying if it is a long message. This is especially bad when REPLYing to a
REPLY, to a REPLY - you get the picture. Edit by deleting what is not
necessary to make a relevant answer or to remind the original sender what
the discussion is all about.
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…..
The flight attendant approached a gentleman who was protesting rather
loudly. "I want to complain about this airline," he grumbled. "Every
time I fly, I get the same seat. I can't see the inflight movie,
and there are no window blinds, so I can't sleep."
"Aw, Captain," the flight attendant replied, "just shut up and land the plane."
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