Preferential ATC and Airport Authority treatment
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Preferential ATC and Airport Authority treatment
I would like to think that here in Canada, everyone is treated equal but I do think we all have our biases and they do come to light, occasionally.
My recent experience focuses namely on some specific airports and their area/tower control.
Has anyone else experienced being a non Westjet carrier, going into Kelowna and to a lesser extent, Victoria?
On more than one occasion, while dealing with the Area Control I've been asked numerous times if I wished to cut the corner or if I could speed it up to minimize the impact on a subsequent WJ arrival from another direction. I've always endeavored to operate my aircraft in a fast and efficient manner within the guidelines of operational and legal limits. This is of course, an industry courtesy and I'd hope for the same, but why does ATC ask on their behalf? The icing on the cake came when we had a long flight originating down south and fuel was getting tight. We asked ATC, covering YLW with respect to our fuel situation to request an Encore flight that would be arriving ahead of us, if they could keep the speed up to minimize our delay as we were coming in from another direction to the same fix. That never occurred and even though we followed their progress on TCAS and slowed as much as operationally feasible, we had to then receive a radar vector away from the airport to increase the spacing. When finally, we were turned back to the airport, we were then then asked to keep the speed up so as to not delay a WJ flight coming in behind us. (I didn't declare Min Fuel and yes, I'm aware that even if I had, the non-priority that I'd receive).
My last Kelowna situation occurred when advised by our Dispatch that that all the gates were either occupied and that our gate was inoperable. When taxiing in, I saw that the gate had agents in it and when I queried our Ground Handling agent, was advised that they attempted all day to have the Airport Authority to make it available to us, but that a Westjet flight was coming in within a minimum of 30 minutes and they were the priority. We had to disembark our passengers via airstairs, while the jetway wasn't utilized until after our next flight departed.
Finally, in Victoria while sharing a common hallway to which mine and Westjet's jetway were shared, we'd arrived early from a 6+ hour flight and had to hold the passengers on for 20 minutes while Westjet had to start and finish their boarding on a domestic flight. I wonder if their flight was full, as mine was?
Does Westjet pay more in Navigation and landing fees to be able to enjoy these priorities that I've experienced?
Rant over.
My recent experience focuses namely on some specific airports and their area/tower control.
Has anyone else experienced being a non Westjet carrier, going into Kelowna and to a lesser extent, Victoria?
On more than one occasion, while dealing with the Area Control I've been asked numerous times if I wished to cut the corner or if I could speed it up to minimize the impact on a subsequent WJ arrival from another direction. I've always endeavored to operate my aircraft in a fast and efficient manner within the guidelines of operational and legal limits. This is of course, an industry courtesy and I'd hope for the same, but why does ATC ask on their behalf? The icing on the cake came when we had a long flight originating down south and fuel was getting tight. We asked ATC, covering YLW with respect to our fuel situation to request an Encore flight that would be arriving ahead of us, if they could keep the speed up to minimize our delay as we were coming in from another direction to the same fix. That never occurred and even though we followed their progress on TCAS and slowed as much as operationally feasible, we had to then receive a radar vector away from the airport to increase the spacing. When finally, we were turned back to the airport, we were then then asked to keep the speed up so as to not delay a WJ flight coming in behind us. (I didn't declare Min Fuel and yes, I'm aware that even if I had, the non-priority that I'd receive).
My last Kelowna situation occurred when advised by our Dispatch that that all the gates were either occupied and that our gate was inoperable. When taxiing in, I saw that the gate had agents in it and when I queried our Ground Handling agent, was advised that they attempted all day to have the Airport Authority to make it available to us, but that a Westjet flight was coming in within a minimum of 30 minutes and they were the priority. We had to disembark our passengers via airstairs, while the jetway wasn't utilized until after our next flight departed.
Finally, in Victoria while sharing a common hallway to which mine and Westjet's jetway were shared, we'd arrived early from a 6+ hour flight and had to hold the passengers on for 20 minutes while Westjet had to start and finish their boarding on a domestic flight. I wonder if their flight was full, as mine was?
Does Westjet pay more in Navigation and landing fees to be able to enjoy these priorities that I've experienced?
Rant over.
Join Date: Oct 2007
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I would like to think that here in Canada, everyone is treated equal but I do even think we all have our biases and they do come to light, occasionally.
Then there was the preferential treatment to Hawk Air in YDQ, but that was from the airport authority rather than a controlling agency (as it's uncontrolled).
I can't tell you how many times I've waited at the end of a runway in YYC to find AC, WJ, AA, Delta...damn near everyone but the charter airlines, going ahead even though I've been sitting, ready to go for up to 10 minutes.
Alright, my rant over.
Try not being Air Canada in Montreal some time and see how you are treated by ATC. So, you can write a report to ATC about it, get mad about it if you want or you can realize it evens out in the long run and just try to enjoy your job a little.
