Air Travel - Always a Good Story

The best part about flying a lot is that you end up with a lot of stories about the random crap you've been through.

Today was no exception.

So the plan today was flying on Air Canada from Edmonton (YEG) to Baltimore (BWI) via Toronto Pearson (YYZ). I was to depart Edmonton at 7:00 am.

I wake up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am to make sure I had enough time. After a shower, I pull out my phone for a quick email check. There's an email from Air Canada saying my flight has been delayed from 7:00 am to 8:20 pm arriving in Toronto at 8:00 am tomorrow.

(Aside: At this point in time (I now realize) I should have been suspicious because there was no notice informing me of what YYZ - BWI flight I had been rebooked on.)

So my heart essentially stops working as I dig around for the toll free number for Air Canada reservations. After being on hold briefly, I get an agent (miraculously, an anglophone). I tell him what's going on. He looks at his system and says "Hmmm that's weird. Let me put you on hold and I'll have a look into it."

Meanwhile, I check both Kayak (http://www.kayak.com) and FlightStats (http://www.flightstats.com). Both show the flight on time at 7:00 am. Odd. So I head over to Air Canada's website and my brain promptly explodes. They show the flight as on time but list the departure time the same as the email I received. Also odd was that they showed the flight being over 14 hours long. Normally, it's 4.

Finally the Air Canada agent returns and says he's waiting to hear back from someone who's calling YEG to check with them as they'll have the latest information. On hold again.

An agonizing 16 hours (actually, 3 minutes) later the Air Canada agent comes back and tells me YEG says the flight is on time.

Naturally all of this has taken some time. So now I'm running late. I rush out to my car to get to the airport.

I finally arrive at the terminal and discover that my flight (AC106) is not shown on the departure displays. I check in. No problems.

So I'm just about to start boarding (on-time) and I can't help but wonder what the hell happened to Air Canada's computers this morning.

More to come if the drama returns..

Things Are Picking Up

I imagine this post will be only a few sentences; I haven't had a whole lot of time to say much in the last few weeks, as this time of the year generally involves a lot of activity and travel for us, and 2011 has been no different...

I recall speaking a few weeks back about 14,000 on the TSX feeling like kryptonite, and it now appears that we may finally be seeing the result of QE2 getting up and leaving the table. The TSX closed just shy of 13,100 on Friday, and while a short-duration reversal back to the mid-13s is probably in order, a downward trend seems established.

The only question that remains is when QE3 will be announced. The US is not, and won't be, in a position to avoid both a) increasing the debt ceiling, despite the political noise this is currently generating, and b) avoiding further rounds of "Quantitative Easing".

The governments of the G20 have made it clear that they are either unable or unwilling to act in the manner necessary to bring expenses back in line with tax receipts. What would you say if your neighbor came up to you and said that he would continue to knowingly spend a great deal more than he makes until 2014? Just kidding, the majority of Canadians would probably invite the neighbor in to view their new credit-line-financed home renos over a glass of Cristal on granite in front of a 52" television continually tuned to HGTV (except when the only show on that channel worth watching is on).

What an age we live in; I may have to refill my popcorn bowl a few more times here on the positive net worth end of the theater, but the feature presentation is growing nearer, and it's going to be a good one.