What is Zip Air?

I've got a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton that my TA booked with Air
Canada. The itinerary indicates that this leg is operated by "Zip Air."
Who are they? I don't, as a rule, fly regional carriers.

"PTRAVEL" wrote in message
...
I've got a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton that my TA booked with Air
Canada. The itinerary indicates that this leg is operated by "Zip Air."
Who are they? I don't, as a rule, fly regional carriers.

Google is your friend:

http://www.zipairlinetickets.com/

Air Canads'a really ugly discount carrier (lime green, pink, orange, blue
planes). Like Delta's Song or United's TED.

Their official website is 4321zip.com, or you can link to them throught the
Air Canada site.



"PTRAVEL" wrote in message
...
I've got a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton that my TA booked with Air
Canada. The itinerary indicates that this leg is operated by "Zip Air."
Who are they? I don't, as a rule, fly regional carriers.

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 11:02:44 -0800, "PTRAVEL"
wrote:

I've got a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton that my TA booked with Air
Canada. The itinerary indicates that this leg is operated by "Zip Air."
Who are they? I don't, as a rule, fly regional carriers.


They fly 737-200's around western Canada, not sure if they're as far
east as Ontario yet. They're meant to compete with Westjet. I've never
flown with them but they are a discount carrier, no meals, no
in-flight entertainment, etc etc.

"Jordan" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 11:02:44 -0800, "PTRAVEL"
wrote:

I've got a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton that my TA booked with Air
Canada. The itinerary indicates that this leg is operated by "Zip Air."
Who are they? I don't, as a rule, fly regional carriers.


They fly 737-200's around western Canada, not sure if they're as far
east as Ontario yet. They're meant to compete with Westjet. I've never
flown with them but they are a discount carrier, no meals, no
in-flight entertainment, etc etc.

Ugh. I try to avoid the discount carriers. I've only got one leg on them
and, happily, it's a short one.

Thanks, and to everyone else who provided information.

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 12:25:50 -0800, PTRAVEL wrote:


"Jordan" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 11:02:44 -0800, "PTRAVEL"
wrote:

I've got a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton that my TA booked with Air
Canada. The itinerary indicates that this leg is operated by "Zip Air."
Who are they? I don't, as a rule, fly regional carriers.


They fly 737-200's around western Canada, not sure if they're as far
east as Ontario yet. They're meant to compete with Westjet. I've never
flown with them but they are a discount carrier, no meals, no
in-flight entertainment, etc etc.

Ugh. I try to avoid the discount carriers. I've only got one leg on them
and, happily, it's a short one.

Thanks, and to everyone else who provided information.

THey do belong to AC. As someone said, they operate the old rundown ex-CP
737-200 series. Given that they operate relatively large planes, they go
by same standards as the mainline. Crews are likely mostly ex-AC who had
the choice between Zip and layoff.

But eh, that's what you get for going to Edmonton. If you would have
flown thru here (YYC) the YYC-YEG leg would have been shorter, but most
likely in a Dash 8. Although there is one Zip flight on a 737 and
two AC flights on 319s.

Anyway, next time you go thru YYC, you might stop be and give us a chance
to argue on the Taiwan/China thing :-).

devil wrote in message ...
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 12:25:50 -0800, PTRAVEL wrote:


"Jordan" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 11:02:44 -0800, "PTRAVEL"
wrote:

I've got a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton that my TA booked with Air
Canada. The itinerary indicates that this leg is operated by "Zip Air."
Who are they? I don't, as a rule, fly regional carriers.


They fly 737-200's around western Canada, not sure if they're as far
east as Ontario yet. They're meant to compete with Westjet. I've never
flown with them but they are a discount carrier, no meals, no
in-flight entertainment, etc etc.

Ugh. I try to avoid the discount carriers. I've only got one leg on them
and, happily, it's a short one.

Thanks, and to everyone else who provided information.

THey do belong to AC. As someone said, they operate the old rundown ex-CP
737-200 series. Given that they operate relatively large planes, they go
by same standards as the mainline. Crews are likely mostly ex-AC who had
the choice between Zip and layoff.

But eh, that's what you get for going to Edmonton. If you would have
flown thru here (YYC) the YYC-YEG leg would have been shorter, but most
likely in a Dash 8. Although there is one Zip flight on a 737 and
two AC flights on 319s.

Anyway, next time you go thru YYC, you might stop be and give us a chance
to argue on the Taiwan/China thing :-).

I've flown Zip several times, mostly YOW-YWG, but also YWG-YVR & v.v.
They're very basic inside, coffee/tea/soft drinks/bar, also snacks for
sale.
Decent leg room. Cabin crews _seem_ to be new hires,mostly quite
young.

My only problem with them is they fly 737-200s exclusively. I've kind
of been hoping AC will retire these geezers and pass on some A319s,
but so far no joy.

Zip are mostly Western Canada (Vancouver, Abbotsford, Calgary,
Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg) but also go into Ottawa (YOW) 2x daily
from Winnipeg, and London (YXU?) 1x daily from Winnipeg. They did do
Winnipeg-Montreal for a while but mainline has reclaimed it. I
suppose it's possible they might have a go at Hamilton (YHM) now that
Westjet are scaling back there.

Jordan wrote:
They fly 737-200's around western Canada, not sure if they're as far
east as Ontario yet. They're meant to compete with Westjet. I've never
flown with them but they are a discount carrier, no meals, no
in-flight entertainment, etc etc.

They aren't so different from AC mainline anymore.They were spun off from AC
as a way for AC to operate a carrier not hamstrung by AC's high cost unions.
It was also probably a human resources issue too: to get Steve Smith who had
been let go of Westjet, AC probably had to promise him his own independant
airline he could manage as he had succesfully done with Westjet. By hiring
Steve Smith, AC was getting the one guy who kew how to beat Westjet since he
had built Westjet.

And since AC has lowered its service levels to those of its "tango", I suspect
that the differences between AC mainline and Zip have all but gone.

Sometime ago, AC announced that it would start to charge for the "privilege"
of seat pre-selection for tickets purchased at the lowest fares.


Zip is likely to have younger flight crews that are more cheerful, compared to
the more senior AC mainline ones.