Hello all. Last month I had to travel home to Western Massachusetts for a wedding. Given that I am was in the middle of my first term of Grad School, and had only a short window to be home, my options were pretty well limited to Air Canada.

My original plan was to fly out on Thursday the 13th of October on a red-eye, then leave Hartford the morning of the 17th. All was set until the Sunday before. While working on a project and watching the news, I saw that the cabin crew was set to go on strike the morning of the 13th. The next morning I got an email from AC offering me a complimentary rebooking. After chatting with my professor, she released me from my Thursday class.

I was surprised to see that I actually had several options to rebook on. I decided to pick a bit of an unusual itinerary (surprise surprise, right?) I noticed that one itinerary had a layover of 8 hours and 55 minutes in Montréal. Seeing as I have only visited Montréal once before, I decided to go for it and treat myself to a free day in Québec. The other plus was one way I would have the Beech 1900D and on the way back the Dash 8. I looked forward to comparing the 2. I have never flown a Dash 8 before.

The only drawback was the flight left Tuesday night. I have class Tuesday evenings, which meant I would have to take my suitcase to UBC with me and go to the airport straight from campus via the bus and the Canada Line.

AC 182
YVR-YUL
Depart: Tue Oct-11, 2011 at 11:35 PM PDT
Arriving: Wed Oct-12, 2011 at 07:10 AM EDT
Airbus A321 Seat: 20F

I will spare a lengthy description of this flight. It was a typical AC domestic Y class flight. The flight was full, and was full of workers from the mining industry coming from the north. The man seated behind me was a bit much. He spent the first 2 hours hitting on the two young Swiss women seated next to him. He then ordered 4 drinks and proceeded to get absolutely blasted. (Which raises an observation: one usually will not be served 4 drinks for themselves at a bar. Why the cabin crew did is beyond me.)

King Edward station on a drizzly Vancouver night

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Destination: YVR!

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

I got a seat near the front. The Canada Line is driverless, so if you sit up front you can get great views from Marine Drive station and South:

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

I try to minimize the amount of carry on luggage I have so I feel no need to rush when boarding is called

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

I settled in and did some work while watching the airshow. The airshow was sort of funky on this flight. As you can see the distance to destination and time to destination didn’t work. Also for about 20 minutes after take off it told us we were on final approach. After finishing my work I ordered a club soda and a scotch and watched some of the IFE.

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

The flight was smooth, and before I knew it, we were almost in Montréal

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Since my bags were checked through, I exited the terminal and boarded the aptly numbered 747 express bus to downtown. The bus fare is a day pass for the Montréal transit system which is very convenient.

What was nice was that I had no real plan. My only priority was to get my father, a Canadiens fan a birthday gift. After grabbing breakfast, I strolled around a little.

McGill

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Being from Massachusetts I had to take a photo

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Bell Centre

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

I liked the signs in the Metro blocking off the wet stairs

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Stylized Metro entrance in the Old Town

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

After a lot of walking it was time to go, so I returned to YUL. As usual I took the opportunity to pick up a Starbucks mug

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Guess who used to own this hangar?

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

QR, which I didn’t know served YUL

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

AC7434
YUL-BDL
Depart: Wed Oct-12, 2011 at 04:05 PM EDT
Arriving: Wed Oct-12, 2011 at 05:22 PM EDT
Beechcraft 1900D Seat: 7A

There was some confusion on the ground as the boarding time came and went. From my limited French I could pick up that the plane wasn’t there, and the ground staff seemed confused by that. There were no windows looking out though so I can’t say for sure. I grabbed a cup of coffee that I sorely needed by that point and still nothing. Eventually almost 30 minutes late we were set to board.

Love these pics

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

I quite like the pitch and layout

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Finally pushing back

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Farmland of Québec

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

There was a beautiful view of the sunset on the right side of the plane. Unfortunately I was seated on the left.

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Almost there

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

We landed with some force. The braking was strong enough that the foldable seats that were empty folded down from the force. The flight was pretty smooth. I relaxed and read the reformatted enRoute magazine, which is far better than it was previously.
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I enjoyed my extra time home, especially since it meant getting to actually see my sister outside of her wedding day. As the plans were previously I wasn’t going to have much time with her outside of the ceremony. But it was time to head home to Vancouver.

Unlike my previous departures I was able to leave at a more reasonable hour. The handling agent for Jazz waived my baggage fees too! I ate breakfast and settled in to see what was happening at BDL

I quite like the view

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

My ride, with the now defunct Murphy terminal behind it

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

I went to stretch my legs and actually bumped into my great uncle who had flown in from Alabama for the wedding. We chatted for a bit and went our separate ways, but it was a nice coincidence that our flights left at the same time.

AC7951
BDL-YYZ
Depart: Mon Oct-17, 2011 at 10:25 AM EDT
Arriving: Mon Oct-17, 2011 at 12:22 PM EDT
Dash 8-100 Seats: 7F

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Tarmac views

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Up close and personal. I believe this livery is being phased out though.

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Take off was on time, and we headed to Toronto. In contrast to the flight down, this one was quite turbulent.

Unlike the flights on the Beech, this flight actually has a FA, and there is drink service. Actually you get pretzels too—more than you get on mainline AC!

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Unfortunately the coffee warmer wasn’t functioning right and the coffee was lukewarm. The FA was apologetic and up front about it. I decided to try it, and regretted it.

You get unique views

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

There has to be at least one photo like this

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Just over 50% load

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Second service before landing

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

The weather was clear and I had some beautiful views

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

A crummy photo which doesn’t do the actual view much justice

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

The approach was very turbulent; enough to make me a little motion sick actually. We did get some great views of downtown Toronto, though I couldn’t snap a picture as we were making a lot of turns.

After the long long walk from the US regional gates to immigration and through to the domestic hall I decided to check some email and treat myself

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

After a few hours it was back to BC

AC147
YYZ-YVR
Depart: Mon Oct-17, 2011 at 03:00 PM EDT
Arriving: Mon Oct-17, 2011 at 04:56 PM PDT
Airbus A320 Seat: 27D

I will again try to keep this section brief. It was another full flight.

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Ah but they had The Simpsons!

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

I love the stirrers

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

I was surprised to see The Darjeeling Limited on the IFE and so watched that along with The Whistleblower

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

It was an unremarkable flight. When I got home I noticed that I had a love note from the TSA inside. I am guessing it is because I had my Xbox packed inside.

From Comparing the Beech 1900 and the Dash 8

Conclusion:
I am enjoying the prop flights I get to take between YUL/YYZ and BDL. I am not sure which I like better. The Beech is incredibly loud, but the seats I find more comfortable, especially with the single aisle. The Dash 8 was nice though too. It offered better views, and drink service, which is always nice. For now I will say I am partial to the Beech, but I wouldn’t turn down a chance to fly on either one again soon.

In a few weeks I will be headed home again for Christmas. On the way back I will fly CO one last time BDL-EWR-SEA-YVR. More than likely I will be posting about that trip as well, though hopefully with less of a delay.

Thanks for reading!
-Peter


Check out my previous trip reports:
Moving to Vancouver: AC BDL-YYZ-YVR 3 August 2011
Day Trip To The West Coast, BDL-ORD-LAX-IAD-BDL