Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[CofR]

Originally Posted by shane_c

Heading to China for 2.5 weeks in October followed by a week in Japan. I know that Canadians don't need a Visa for Japan but that we should fill out some sort of advance entry docs to make it easier when entering the country. I came across a few links online but wondering what the official one is.

This is the one I used in April when I went:

https://services.digital.go.jp/en/visit-japan-web/

[Locke]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The Calgary Airport has a new brand and identity.
https://www.aviationpros.com/airport...and-connection

Calgary Airports, which operates YYC Calgary International Airport and YBW Springbank Airport, has unveiled a refreshed brand identity that reflects its optimistic and ambitious strategic direction, and deep connection to the Calgary region.

I know this might sound insane, so call me crazy but...its a goddamned Airport. IDGAF about your Brand or Identity. Hows about you operate like, oh, I dont know...an Airport?

STFU and move planes, passengers and luggage/freight in and out in a quick and efficient manner and you can call yourself 'the Magical Kingdom of Oz' for all I care.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Locke

I know this might sound insane, so call me crazy but...its a goddamned Airport. IDGAF about your Brand or Identity. Hows about you operate like, oh, I dont know...an Airport?

STFU and move planes, passengers and luggage/freight in and out in a quick and efficient manner and you can call yourself 'the Magical Kingdom of Oz' for all I care.

YYC is even worse than the city for being unnecessarily corporate and up its own ass

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Locke

I know this might sound insane, so call me crazy but...its a goddamned Airport. IDGAF about your Brand or Identity. Hows about you operate like, oh, I dont know...an Airport?

STFU and move planes, passengers and luggage/freight in and out in a quick and efficient manner and you can call yourself 'the Magical Kingdom of Oz' for all I care.

The next time you visit the airport you will experience the new energy. I can't wait to see the new revolution when I'm there at the end of the month.

[PepsiFree]

Just make sure you don’t try to experience the new optimistic energy revolution more than 2 hours before your flight takes off or they’ll kick you the #### out.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Locke

I know this might sound insane, so call me crazy but...its a goddamned Airport. IDGAF about your Brand or Identity. Hows about you operate like, oh, I dont know...an Airport?

STFU and move planes, passengers and luggage/freight in and out in a quick and efficient manner and you can call yourself 'the Magical Kingdom of Oz' for all I care.

I wouldn’t say you sound insane, necessarily, but you’re moseying dangerously into Abe Simpson meme territory if you think some airport rebranding affects how the airport operates. It’s not like ATC is going to start crashing planes into each other or stop losing luggage because of this thing.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I wouldn’t say you sound insane, necessarily, but you’re moseying dangerously into Abe Simpson meme territory if you think some airport rebranding affects how the airport operates. It’s not like ATC is going to start crashing planes into each other or stop losing luggage because of this thing.

I'm just more of the opinion that they shouldnt be wasting time or money on 'branding the Airport.'

What're you gonna do? Use a different one?

"Oh I dont like the Coca-Cola Airport, I'll use the Pepsi Airport instead!"

There is no brand differentiation. Its the Airport.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I wouldn’t say you sound insane, necessarily, but you’re moseying dangerously into Abe Simpson meme territory if you think some airport rebranding affects how the airport operates. It’s not like ATC is going to start crashing planes into each other or stop losing luggage because of this thing.

That's fair. But it's also not going to make any positive difference, and I suspect it cost money to accomplish. People fly there because it's the airport for Calgary and they're either from the region going elsewhere or are from elsewhere coming here. The corporate branding of the airport authority isn't going to ever move the needle.

[Amethyst]

They should call it the Blue Sky Airport.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

That's fair. But it's also not going to make any positive difference, and I suspect it cost money to accomplish. People fly there because it's the airport for Calgary and they're either from the region going elsewhere or are from elsewhere coming here. The corporate branding of the airport authority isn't going to ever move the needle.

For a final destination, sure. But I think though there are airports people actively avoid for connections because of bad they are. LAX and JFK come to mind. Businesses inside these airports depend on the traffic. I don’t know if YYC is perceived poorly or at all or how much of a difference it would make, but people do take connecting airports into consideration when planning their flights. 6 hrs in LAX or 6 hrs in SFO, all else equal, where would you want to go?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Wormius

For a final destination, sure. But I think though there are airports people actively avoid for connections because of bad they are. LAX and JFK come to mind. Businesses inside these airports depend on the traffic. I don’t know if YYC is perceived poorly or at all or how much of a difference it would make, but people do take connecting airports into consideration when planning their flights. 6 hrs in LAX or 6 hrs in SFO, all else equal, where would you want to go?

Sure. But that's because LAX sucks, not because I don't like the "Los Angeles World Airports" branding.

Investing that money into literally anything that improves the passenger experience would be more useful. Put in a couple more water bottle fillers, buy another one of those ridiculous golf cart tram things so there's less waiting for folks who need it, whatever.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Sure. But that's because LAX sucks, not because I don't like the "Los Angeles World Airports" branding.

Investing that money into literally anything that improves the passenger experience would be more useful. Put in a couple more water bottle fillers, buy another one of those ridiculous golf cart tram things so there's less waiting for folks who need it, whatever.

I mean, that’s fair. But if LAX did manage to improve itself, a good way to bring some attention to it would be a marketing blitz so people won’t purposefully filter it out as a connection.

But It’s not like this rebrand is mutually exclusive of other initiatives; it does coincide with a few projects that are being completed as mentioned in the news release on the YYC website.

People will find anything to complain about though - a lack of golf carts, out-dated looking signs, whatever. Would the budget of this enable YYC to pay for more staff and golf carts to take people places - who knows? But I think the goal is to get people to our airport and patronize the businesses in it.

So is it worth it if it encourages passengers to choose us over other connecting airport, I think so. Is it worth a Rick Bell diatribe? Not really.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Wormius

But It’s not like this rebrand is mutually exclusive of other initiatives; it does coincide with a few projects that are being completed as mentioned in the news release on the YYC website.

Money is fungible and not unlimited. Any money they spend on this is excluded from being spent on anything else - that's an intrinsic property of money.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by CofR

This is the one I used in April when I went:

https://services.digital.go.jp/en/visit-japan-web/

Did you claim the VAT back? How’d that go?

I’ve been a few times, just walked through customs with luggage, identified myself to officer, stamped and on my way. Fluid and easy, albeit I had snowboard gear, so my intentions were obvious.

Going again in January, it’d be cool to get that 10%, without too much hassle.

[RichieRich]

The Wife and I had to make a short stop through JFK and due to timing we needed to grab some food. She ended up grabbing a 2-3 things at a convenience store without looking at the price tag. Ended up being something like $40 Cdn for a drink, bag of chips, and something else. Yup, JFK definitely take advantage of in-transit travellers. For such a major airport I was quite unimpressed.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

The Wife and I had to make a short stop through JFK and due to timing we needed to grab some food. She ended up grabbing a 2-3 things at a convenience store without looking at the price tag. Ended up being something like $40 Cdn for a drink, bag of chips, and something else. Yup, JFK definitely take advantage of in-transit travellers. For such a major airport I was quite unimpressed.

That is pretty standard for all airports though. I paid $20 for three small empanadas at FLL and almost $30 for a dozen donuts at LAX from Dunkin. I never buy anything at YYC but I wouldn't be surprised if a sandwich was $12 to $15 and a bottle of coke around $5.

[CofR]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Did you claim the VAT back? How’d that go?

I’ve been a few times, just walked through customs with luggage, identified myself to officer, stamped and on my way. Fluid and easy, albeit I had snowboard gear, so my intentions were obvious.

Going again in January, it’d be cool to get that 10%, without too much hassle.

I did some shopping at the stores that had designated tax free counters and it was super easy. They just scanned my passport and took the 10% off, only trouble is that things then go in designated sealed bags that aren’t supposed to be opened until leaving the country so they can be a bit annoying to pack, but nobody checked any of that for me or anything when I was leaving the country.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'm just more of the opinion that they shouldnt be wasting time or money on 'branding the Airport.'

What're you gonna do? Use a different one?

There is no brand differentiation. It’s the Airport.

I have no connections with that industry however I would imagine a rebrand is less geared towards vacation travelers and more for corporate and commercial. I suspect there is a fair amount of money in being a cargo hub and would imagine there is a lot of competition in that area. Also the rebrand seems to be in part to bring Springbank into umbrella. Perhaps there will be some growth there.

[marsplasticeraser]

So I've been somebody who has supported WestJet for quite some time, mostly as I really like the international links from Calgary. I pretty much fly WJ whenever I can and only really travel internationally.

I just came back from the Amsterdam - Halifax - Calgary flight, all in 737's, and it was quite disappointing. I felt bad for the dutch tourists on our flights who were getting that as their first experience in Canada.


First of all, in both flights the wifi wasn't working. That's a 7+ hr flight and then a 6.5hr flight (we spent an hour on the tarmac in Halifax). In both cases the FA's said that the Wifi wasn't working on the way out. I get that this happens, but for longer flights it really is unacceptable when you rely on Wifi for your entertainment system.


Secondly, they didn't load specials meals on the AMS - Halifax route, so my son who is a celiac didn't have food.

Finally, two of the FA's on the AMS Halifax flight made it very clear they did not have any desire to be working that flight.

[WideReceiver]

I understand but when I see someone say that, I’m reminded of this:

Passenger A: I had a bad experience with Air Canada. I’ll never fly AC again; West Jet only from now on.
Passenger B: I had a bad experience with West Jet and will never fly with them again. It’s only Air Canada for me.

I’ve had issues with both but I still use both because I’m not driving to Halifax.