~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\^/| _| TCA |_ B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S _|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R > CANADA < >_./|\._< for Air Canada retirees | Our crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson Chief Navigator - Terry Baker number 141 date April 1st 1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . Charlie Mackie shares this information - Have been enjoying all your Net letters with all the good information. Re Number 136 and Tom Martins reference to retirees in the Saanich Penisula, I have a list of names that also reside on the Peninsula many of them for a long time and a good many of them are retired from the Victoria airport. Charles Mackie, Harvey Currie, Al Clayton, Dan Butler, George Maude, Ron Matthews, Malcolm MacNaughton, Les Anderson, Allan Hopkins, Geo Wispinski, Glen Hale, Geoff Baldwin, Weldon Wallace and I am sure there are others which I have overlooked, so you can see we have quite a represention from the Peninsula. Charles J. L. Mackie, VE7WW> (Thank you Charlie, let us hope others will send names in for us to share - eds) ~-=o0o=-~ Air Canada Celebrates 50 Years of Service to Boston on April 1 On April 1, 1947, Air Canada became the first airline to begin scheduled service to Boston from Canada. The first flights were twice-daily round trips between Boston and Halifax, with intermediate stops in Saint John, New Brunswick and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. ~-=o0o=-~ . Vesta sends us this information which appeared in the Montreal District newsletter the "Sentinel" Winter edition. For Your Information by Mary Guillaume. Pionairs was founded 20 years ago to create a forum where former Air Canada colleagues could keep in touch with one another socially after retirement. In recent years as the ranks of retirees has grown, some Pionairs have been urging a more pro-active stance by the organization in areas where Company decisions impact on our established benefits and travel privilege. The Pionairs are organized by region, of which there are presently a total of 14 in Canada, the U.S.A. and abroad with each region headed by a Director. At present, Montreal is the largest Region, covers the entire province of Quebec and has over 1500 members. The Directors and their committees are in office for two years and meet monthly, and the Directors meet twice a year with the National Committee for planning and support. The National Committee (President, 1st and 2nd Vice-presidents, Secretary and Treasurer) are also elected for a period of 2 years, and are responsible for the hefty job of planning the Annual General Meeting. Pionairs is funded through annual fee of $7.50 ($3.75 for surviving spouses), an amount calculated to over the cost of mailing the regions' newsletters; expenses incurred for other activities (outings & dinners etc.) should be self-supporting. Spouses of Air Canada retirees are full members of Pionairs and may hold office in the organization. ~-=o0o=-~ . DEJA VU! Russia - For visiting tourists who speak no Russian, finding a restaurant, a bar, a currency exchange booth or evan a toilet on the streets of St. Peterburg could become far more difficult by years end. Thanks to a new City Hall crackdown, street signs and advertisments using common English words as 'bar', 'cafe', 'restaurant', 'hotel', 'airport', 'train station' and 'toilet' will be illegal - even when they are simply a translation of accompanying Russian text. In a few scattered cases last week, city authorities accompanied by paramilitary police began to unceremoniously tear down offending signs. In addition to heavy fines, the businesses or organisations displaying the offending signs are charged for their removal and distruction. (We are sure our friends in Quebec can relate to that! - eds) ~-=o0o=-~ . Interline stuff. Bob Carson sends us the following information - I phoned the RES office to request a BUDDY pass for my son Doug to come down for the Easter weekend and enquired about bringing his cat along as carry-on. We had to have a transporter of dimensions such that it can fit under the seat and the cat can stand up inside (9 inches high). OK no problem (as they say in Jamacia). When we arrived at the airport we were directed to Special Services in Toronto who would book us in (I was with Doug). We had our newly purchased duffle bag transporter but were then informed at the Toronto airport that "on a pass" you are not allowed to bring a pet on board even as carry-on since we could be bumped???? The agent was very helpful and began to explore the options of shipping the cat as cargo, paying for excess baggage, purchase of a return revenue ticket, etc. Since there were 141 revenue standby's as of 19:00 Thurday 27th we were not left with many options. Since Doug lives close to the airport and we would not get out (if lucky) until 23:00 or 23:55 we decided to drive down to Montreal for the weekend in his new car. Two points to be made; 1. Most people like me are not aware that the "Pet Rule" exists therefore it should put it into Horizons as an FYI and advise the RES folks of the policy. I don't have a problem with it as long as people are aware. 2. Now I have to find out if Doug can keep the Buddy pass and simply use it sometime later. (Thanks for the information Bob, this sounds like an ongoing saga and we would welcome learning of the resolution - eds) From the Montreal District 'Sentinel' newsletter - Travelanguage According to the December-January issue of Travel Holiday, some common North American gestures can cause embarrassment abroad. In Nigeria and Australia, for example, the 'thumbs up' sign is akin to 'the finger', while in Spain it can indicate allegiance to the Basque separatist movement. The 'thumbs up' sign is obscene in Uruguay, Spain and Brazil, while in Japan, it is used to tell a cashier you want your change in coins! ~-=o0o=-~ . Smiles Bob Carson sends this one along - A Captain calls the plumber to fit a leaky pipe in the home. Plumber arrives makes one turn with the wrench and fixes it! Plumber presents bill to the Captain for $140.00 at which point the Captain say's, "I'm an airline Captain and I don't make that much money for one call". The Plumber replies, "Neither did I when I was an airline pilot.". ~-=o0o=-~ . That's it for this time, please we need your input, send comments and email addresses of any others who may be interested to Vesta with a copy to Terry. -!- Landing on an Island in the Pacific. _____(~)_____ ! ! ! <<<>>> Air Canada Pionairs ~Between Ourselves-Netletter~ http://www.mortimer.com/acra mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ................................................... . GREETINGS FROM . . Vancouver Island . . BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA . ...................................................
