Air Canada 'high density' flights...
 

I'm on one.

It's cozy.

:(

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Do the seats recline?

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Oh dear.

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But can you get a beer?

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Lucky you. Last week on a 7 hour flight (not AC) I had the pleasure of looking at my seatback video screen at a distance of about six inches for 6.5 hours as the gentleman in front did a full recline from the second the seatbelt sign was turned off till it was turned on again. The only upside was not having to wear my specs. :unsure:

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What's a "high density" flight? (Remind me not to book on one unless its insanely cheaper than normal flights and even at that it's probably just as expensive as normal flights from Lufthansa/BA given that AC is such a ripoff usually:unsure:)

Opening your laptop on your tray (even with tray fully extended towards you) usually fixes this issue along with a foot applying firm pressure to the seat to prevent it reclining and breaking said laptop. You may get a few nasty words from ahead but I believe if you are in economy, don't recline the naffing seat! I don't in interest of the person behind me.

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If I had wanted to stop the recline I would have just asked the stewardess. But as it happens I knew I was going to be watching 7 hours of films and couldn't be faffed. Maybe next time.

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THIS is the Air Canada High Density (HD) configuration. (Click the '3 Cabin' option)

In the 'back of the bus' it is a 3-4-3 seat configuration, where AC manage to squeeze 458 poor bastards onto a plane. Well 398 of them are the poor bastards, the ones up the front are comfy enough.

In the previous configuration there were only 349 people on the same plane, 307 in economy.

So in the "new and improved HD" plane, there are 91 more Economy passengers in the same space, and 2 less toilets.

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In my case the stewardess was not very nice and told me that he can recline his seat if he wanted to, so I resorted to other methods :D

:eek:

On this topic, if anyone happened to be on an Austrian airlines flight from Vienna to Toronto last July 28th and you were sitting beside a 14 year old teen and his crazy maltese family members then it would have been me :D I ask because the guy beside me had a British accent and was a PR. Oh and he snored loudly.

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So that was YOU kicking the back of my seat. :mad::mad::mad:

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Air Canada is just giving me more and more reasons not to fly them..:rofl:

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Cathy pacific have seats that recline into themselves without leaning back. They also have power outlets. Best economy seats I've flown in.

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I haven't flown AC and from most of the threads I have read on BE I'm going to try and make sure that I never end up flying with them

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And that was YOU the grumpy old man who insisted he was allowed to recline his seat and no he would not leave it upright so I would not become squished. Shame! ;)

:rofl:

Mmmm:cool:
Not enough of a good reason to fly through Asia to get to Europe though :p

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Currently in Montreal, Toronto flight was cancelled and we got rebooked, Hefce ending up on the hd flight.

Pro: far far far superior seat-back entertainment system! Way better, far less crap screen! Decent food. Plus a glass of wine and two gins.
Cons: definitely cozier, and I was in a middle seat... luckily I did not have 'larger' neighbours, but the guy beside me had a lapzilla laptop, so that was cozy.

As for reclining, I don't think the seats recline as much. The person in front turned around before reclining to let know they were doing it then did it slowly which is good enough for me.

Onwards to Toronto now...

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I will :wave: as you fly past.

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Me too

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Air Canada economy is still one of the best choices for international flights; far superior to Air France, Lufthansa, American, etc. All the airlines are packing in more passengers, using thinner, narrower seats and reducing the number of toilets. Air Transat has installed rows of 3-3-3 in 20 year old planes which were designed to have 2-4-2. On my last flight with them to the Algarve, the flight attendants couldn't squeeze their food carts past the bulkhead between the economy and Club Class. They had to bang them repeatedly against the seats/bulkhead gap to force them through the too narrow aisle opening.

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They're still using 20 yr old planes? Eeeeeeeeek!

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:wave::wave:

Anyone else? :D

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Some of the planes we're flown to work on are 40 years old.

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Some training planes can be over 50 years old. At least the airframe is. The engines have usually been replaced or overhauled

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Yeah training planes, but I mean the ones that carry me across the pond and ensure that I don't end up in the pond:eek:

I'm sure Schnooks is reading this as she's taking off and now will not sleep on her flight home. Safe flight Schnooks! :wave:

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I'm reminded of a plane I hired to do some biomass burning research in Southern Africa in 1991. It was a modified WW2 Douglas DC3 which had been fitted with turboprop engines and lengthened by 1 metre ahead of the wings to rebalance it for flight. I think the locals referred to it as a C47.


The cabin wasn't pressurized but with the more powerful engines it could reach FL 260 (oxygen recommended).

Oh, what fun we had!

I suppose the highpoint was when we coordinated flight plans with the NASA DC8 for an intercomparison leg. NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory | NASA

You should have seen the Yanks' faces. :rofl:

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Made it to Toronto, just waiting for bags. Was on a far more civil 767-300 (3-3-3 configuration). Very sleepy, it's 01:37 for us, but at least we are in Toronto... had we waited for our normal flight which ended up cancelled we likely would not have made it back until tomorrow!

Husband agreed that the new seat back entertainment on the sardine flight was far superior... and that was its only redeeming feature! :p

Thanks for the waves, hehe! You guys are awesome.

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Welcome back.

Now about my avatar....

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Not much I can do at the airport but I will sort you out tomorrow work. Promise! :)

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:rofl: Sleep well (when you get a chance).

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Twenty years isn't really a problem for a modern jet. The limit is likely to be the number of flights and flying hours, not the age... and most are likely to be retired in favour of newer, more efficient aircraft before then, to save money. The last DC-10 in passenger service was just retired, and that was built in 1971.

I believe all B-52 bombers are now at least fifty years old, and are expected to be in service for decades to come. I seem to remember reading an article about a new B-52 pilot who was flying the same plane his grandfather flew?

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Yeah, the C47 was the military version of the DC-3. Lots of them going cheap after WW2.

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That's right. But this was one of the modified ones with Pratt & Whitney turbos fitted.

It used to belong to the SA Air Force but was at the time in the hands of a private charter company doing rather dodgy airlifts into Angola (remember, this was 1991). They used to have two, but the other one was shot down over southern Angola three weeks before I started our lease.

Cowboy science, moi?

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You'd be surprised of the age of planes flying the skies, but 20 years isn't bad really. There are still some early build A320's out there, and frankly even the early build 737 next generations are pushing 20 years now.

The airline I worked for in the late 90's and early 2000's still had 737-200's flying and at that time where nearly 30 years old.

Delta just retired their last DC-9 (inherited from Northwest in the merger) this past January, that aircraft was built in 1978, just one example.

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Ahh. Not nice to know.

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3 generations of B-52 pilots in this family.

David Welsh B-52: Air Force Capt. Daniel 'Swoop' Welch is piloting a plane that his father flew during the Cold War and his grandfather flew in Vietnam | Mail Online

Article says last plane built in 1962, and expected to fly until 2040 which by then will have been 78 years since production ended.

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Thanks. That's probably what the one I was thinking of!

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Planes are maintained to such a high standard and have so many new parts swapped for old that age is not as serious an issue as you think. Also, for you 20 years probably seems like a lifetime (not even) but for many of us it's a blink of the eye.

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The plane in my avatar is just under 20 years old.
The interior is more duct tape than upholstery in places but the engine has never given me a moment of trouble. Despite the fact she gets hammered by student after student!

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Probably built by the Soviets. I think even passenger aircraft were built to military specs, at least for the technical bits. I was on a Czech flight in the 90s on such a beast. Looked a bit like a Tristar. The interior was wood panelling and it smelled of mould.

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Attached. :)

I think the 65x65 constraint applies to you as you aren't a premium member? If you can do 90x90 then let me know and I'll do up a new one. If not then go with this! :)

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