Ahhh Northwest.... they were still using 727s up until a few years ago, and I STILL regularly see their old DC-9s droning out Dorval....

Codeshare flights on other airliners are easy to spot. They usually have a 4 digit number that relates to the actual carriers 2/3 digit flight number. (E.g.: BA 95, Finnair 5995)

Ah yes NWA and their "big grey battleships" as I used to call them. Used to scare the cr@p out of me along with AA's MD11's They always looked like they needed to flap their wings to takeoff!!!!!!

Saying that AC don't have a very new fleet. BA sounds good especially if they are flying the 777 on the route.

Yes a little bit of a plane spotter before anyone asks, think it comes from living 5 mins from LGW (until I moved), spending 7 years working for airlines and having an Uncle who is an air traffic controller

Not always a codeshare indicator. Our holiday flight to Cuba was on ACXXXX. It was an AC plane with AC crew. Just not a regular, scheduled AC route.

<gets anorak>

we are flying out with air canada on a shiney new 777 , looks really good from the website piccies and business class was less than 100ukp more than sardine class plus you get 69kg of luggage allowance

I've only been on one once (BA about 8 years ago). Very nice.

Huge engines.

not a spotter but I too live nr Gatwick and pass daily under the take off/landing paths, 777's are lush, much nicer than 747s imo, although a 747 thundering at 200 feet over your head is quite a sight, i normally fly BA so will probably go with them

First experience of a 777 was when AA flew in on a test flight (even though the pilots were on strike! it was about the only one of our aircraft in that day!) remember how HUGE it seemed. First time I flew on it was 2 weeks later in First class LOVELY

Think you just get bitten by the bug when you live so close to a major airport and as you say having a 747 coming into land right over your car does make you take notice!

Flew BA YYC-LHR-YYC in Jan this year and had no problems with them.

I flew on a JAL one to and from Japan last year, very nice. Great facilities, comfy seats and wonderful onboard entertainment system. Having an entire row of three to myself so I could stretch out was nice as well. Great plane, one of the reasons I picked that flight as I hadn't been on a 777 before.

Now just waiting to fly somewhere on an A380.

Not many people know this but the 777 owes its existence to a very large extent to an extremely obscure metal called rhenium.

Mmmmm, more the engines than the plane itself, and it's used in engines that can be mounted on other planes as well these days.

Do you really get 69kg of luggage allowance? That would be well worth the extra cost!

Well, yes. A large twin-jet could not really have been built in the mid-1980s as the available superalloys weren't up to the job. It only became possible when some anorak (at P&W, I think) found that upping the rhenium content of the alloy allowed for far higher performance. The RB-211s typical of 747s knock out up to 60,000lb of thrust. Some types of the Trent and its competitors deliver over 100,000lb. Stick early 1980s alloy into a Trent and the turbine blades would melt, which is probably not a good thing.

'Coo you really are a plane spotter aren't you?

Mate of mine back home is shortly going to Rolls to build aero engines. It'll be a lot different from building Toyota's and Fords I imagine.

according to the website you can check 3 bags up to 32kgs each with total weight of all 3 not exceeding 69kg per person
prices obviously are according to season and demand
for instance, if you wanted to fly this weekend it's just £95 (plus taxes etc) per person each way for their tourist class but £2010 (plus taxes) per person each way for executive first!!

I'm not quite that sad. I had cause to research into this stuff a couple of years back. I still remember some of it.