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_| TCA |_ B E T W E E N Y O U R S E L V E S
_|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R
> CANADA <
>_./|\._< for Air Canada retirees
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Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson
http://www.acra.ca/between/vesta/
Co-pilot - Terry Baker
http://www.acra.ca/between
number 346 date Mar 11th, 1999 1st Published in October 1995
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The "A-Crew" WWW Site
**************************
A-Crew stands for "Air Canada Retired Employees Website". You no
longer have to be a "Pionair" to access the "members" area, but we do
require you to be an AC retiree. This web site is filled with news,
pictures and events pertaining to all retirees.
It will be sure to bring back many fond memories.
Your Webmasters are Tom Grant and his wife Julie.
supported with input from the 'NetLetter' and Alan Rust.
See: http://www.acra.ca/acrew
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. We welcome Sam Gilmour retired in Dec 1995 email
John McKee retired Manager Maintenance Contracts lives in Hudson, QC
email for John is
John A. Kingston retired Technican living in Abbotsford, BC
try
Mike Rose retired Captain lioves in Langley, BC
Captain Sask Wilford Retired email
Captain Earl Cummings Soon to retire May 31 1999
email for Earl is
Patricia Korol retired Flight Attendant lievs in High River AB
email is
Benny Blotnicky retired Cat 1 Aircraft mechanic
resides in Dartmouth, NS email
Michael (Mickey) Garagan, Mickey joined AC in Halifax in 1973 as
Airport Customer Service and left the Company in 1994 from
Saint John, N.B. as Manager, Customer Service and is now living in
Halifax, he may be reached at:
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" ' "
. Where are they now.
Lois North has a new email, try her at
Patricia McGilligan-Maggs now up and running
Lost track of
Eldon Dimond, Norman Margison and Bill Willows - anyone in touch to give
us a new email?
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" ' "
. Need to know.
Following up on the timely advice from Don Demeza re hanging onto pass
coupons.
To get refunds on unused ID90, ID50, ID80 and various Z fares, you must
send the unused coupons and any boarding passes to prove departure within 24
hours to avoid airport departure fees to
Air Canada Refunds,
355 Portage Ave,
Winnipeg, R3B 2C3
and could take from 6 to 8 weeks to process according to the Winnipeg Call
Centre. A far cry from the several seconds it takes to pay for them with a
swipe of your credit card!
It might also be advisable to take a photocopy of the documents
juuust in case!
And while I have your attention, the 1999 Family Affair program information
is Online for members at: http://www.acra.ca/member/affair/affair.asp
You can also print a text page of the Fare Grid for you or your family
members.
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" ' "
. News from the districts.
From the Calgary Pionairs Press newsletter -
from Adele Wallace.
Cape Breton is a new district and the District Director is Murray Wadden.
I had the pleasure of working with Murray in Ottawa and I wish Murray all
the best in Cape Breton. For all golf lovers Cape Breton has put together
a wonderful Gold Tournament June 21st and 22nd.
All of you have received your entry form by now.
From Sheila Moscoe regarding the T2 coffee meetings at YYZ
T2 went well, about 20 showed up. They found out apparently that day
that one of our former colleagues Ken Eibbett, Sr had passed away. And
the gal who wrote me said if it hadn't been for the T2 CK no one would
have known about Ken. so, even if it's a social get-together, we also
hear news of former colleagues. We're going to set up a phone network
to pass this kind of info around. Next meeting in April 6th
Sheila Moscoe
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" ' "
. Frank Jones, who is with the newly formed Pionair group in Cape Breton,
has sent us this bio -
Joined AC on 06May65 as a Passenger Agent and like many others in that
year was sent to Montreal for three weeks of REServec training.
Having had the experience of eight different jobs in a two year span I
remember the Reservations Mngr (Peter McCarthy) asking me if I were hired
would I stay a least two years before going on to something else, I agreed.
Upon returning to Sydney NS I was placed in the reservations office where I
stayed until Oct /67 when I took a transfer to the Sydney Airport.
It was a different experience than the res office as it was a 24 hour
operation and as like all small airports you did everything, including
baggage tracing.
During my time there I had the pleasure of training part time workers as well
as Travel Agents. In Jun/89 AC departed Sydney and I was one of three
agents left to man the downtown ticket office. In 1991 the Sales Mngr
retired and was not replaced and I was asked under the LOU program if I
would be the sales rep for Cape Breton of which I agreed. As there was
no local Management I was given the authority to pay all bills as well
as procure anything that was required for the operation of the office.
During this time I helped procure and design a new Ticket office of
which we occupied for three years. Being sales rep was
an enjoyable time with company as it gave me the opportunity to meet and
talk to many people throughout the company. In 1996 the LOU agreement as
sales rep ended and I was then asked to pilot a program to see
if it was worth the companies time and money to have a local contact for
the Atlantic Travel Agencies. An office
was set up in the Air Nova Office Building at Halifax Airport and I
commuted to Halifax for six months. After that
I returned to the ticket office until Apr30/98 when the Ticket Office
was closed and at that time after 33 years
I chose to retire.
Regards Frank
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" ' "
. A tid Bit from John Hayes -
Trying to make the air travel experience smell better, BA is pumping the
aromas of fresh-cut grass and the ocean into LHR Terminal 4 from beneath
the floor. The fragrances were chosen from 100 options that did not
include jet fuel.
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" ' "
. Brian Dunn in Toronto sends us this update -
Air Canada will dry-leasing one of their A319s to Airbus Industrie
from February 6th to 9th for a sales demo tour of Mexico. The aircraft
in question is C-GBIA (FLN280). Airbus crews will fly the aircraft and
it will use their call-sign.
The aircraft was due to leave YYZ at 1400hrs February 6th, and be
returned before 2359hrs on February 9th. Air Canada announced their
1998 financial results on February 3rd. A net loss of $16million was
incurred....blamed mostly on the pilot's strike of last September. The
airline estimates that it would have recorded a $107million net profit
if there had been no strike. However, to cut costs this year the
airline has already retired all six of its older model 747s, and is
reducing the DC-9 fleet to a total of sixteen aircraft. Two of four
A330-300s due for delivery in 2000 will be postponed until 2001, and the
decision on the final phase of the Airbus widebody renewal program has
been postponed. Another DC-9-32 was flown to Marana Arizona
with C-FTLZ (FLN725) ferrying from YUL via MCI to MZJ on 03Feb for
long-term storage.
Air Canada ferried another DC-9-32 to Marana AZ Feb 8th with FLN722 C-FTLW
flying from Montreal via Kansas City to Marana. It made its last revenue
flight back on 16 December from YYZ to YUL.
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" ' "
. For you golfing nuts!
Sam Gilmour sends this information -
There is a web site which may be of interest to golfing members.
It is called the IAGA (International Airline Golf Association) and their
web address is "www.iaga.net"
My wife and I enjoyed the golf event in Hawaii in May 98 and are looking
forward to the May 99 event in Reno. This is a wonderful worldwide
collection of various airline employees and friends.
At the Hawaiian event it appeared to me to be an equal mixture of retired
and active.
I encourage you to have a look at the site and hopefully it may interest
some of your members.
With best wishes and thanks, RJ (Sam) Gilmour
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" ' "
. Found on the internet.
Airlines serving New Zealand are cashing in on the country's
attraction for many year 2000 revellers. The New Zealand Press
Association (NZPA) has discovered that Air New Zealand has hiked
its price for a round-trip ticket between the UK and New Zealand
over the 2000 New Year by 22% compared to this holiday season's
price. Other airlines, including British Airways, Cathay Pacific and
Qantas have adopted similar fare increases. A spokesman for Air
New Zealand defended the carrier against accusations of ripping off
passengers, justifying the fare hike by passengers' willingness to
pay more.
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" ' "
. Vesta sends this piece of info -
A friend in Scotland sent me this.
Is this the policy of Air Canada as well?
quote:
Subject: News in Brief from the British Sunday Times
Second-hand cabin air blamed for the rise of passenger flight rage.
Passengers who suffer from air rage may not always be to blame for
their behaviour. A new study suggests their aggression could be caused by
airlines skimping on cabin ventilation.
It found that airlines are increasingly supplying air that has been
breathed several times, building up potentially dangerous levels of carbon
dioxide.
Such high levels, evidence suggests, are associated with mood changes and
aggression, especially when compounded with alcohol.
The airlines have switched to recirculating air, rather than providing fresh
supplies, because it cuts their fuel bills by 2%, a significant saving on
long haul flights.
"The practice of recirculating cabin air to cut costs is being increasingly
blamed for passengers' agitated states" said Conor Whelan of Cranfield
College of Aeronautics in Bedfordshire. In some cases airlines are pushing
the amount of recycled air to 60%, but it does have an effect on the
passengers.
Air rage has increased by 400% worldwide since 1995.......unquote
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" ' "
. Terry's travel tips.
We recently told you of the special bus deal with National in the UK,
Ron Barber sends you his recent experience -
I was just in England and went from Terminal 3 to the bus depot
outside termminals 1 & 2 . Yes there is a discount, and they have them
now and again, and yes I could leave from there to my destination for
GBP9.99 if I bought the discount card for GBP8.00 - so far still a saving
as I was going up to Birmingham normally GBP27.00 return.
The only problem was that I had to book the return at the same time as the
outbound - an unknown for me at this time so I couldn't take advantage
of the better price. Another thing with the National is that if you do
book an open return you have to pay GBP1.50 booking fee when you do decide
to return.
Regards Ron Barber
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. Smilie.
Brian Dunn supplied this -
The German air traffic controllers at Frankfurt airport were a short
tempered lot. They not only expected you to know your parking location
but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with
some amusement that we listened to the following exchange between
Frankfurt ground and a British Airways 747(radio call 'Speedbird 206')
after landing.
Speedbird 206: "Good morning Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of the
active."
Ground: "Guten morgen, taxi to your gate."
The British Airways 747 pulls onto the main taxiway and stops.
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, ground, I'm looking up the gate location now."
Ground (with typical impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you NEVER flown
to Frankfurt before?"
Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, in 1944. But I didn't stop".
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. 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.
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