Just Get Me There......NOW!!
December 10, 2001

From all accounts that I have received, prayers to the snow Gods have been answered and opening day through the weekend was *&^%$% epic! I know all there had an incredible time chopping up the endless lines of fresh pow! I also understand that it was not very busy - which I find interesting in that the news of the incredible amounts of snow had reverberated across the country over the past couple of weeks. This brings me to my point of contention this time around. Being tied into what's happening out there I was doing my damnest to get out there for opening day. With the travel industry (the airlines' specifically) in the mess they are in you would believe that you could get a flight to just about anywhere with a few days or a couple of weeks notice. AppaRANTly not!! Once the snow began and the forecast was for continued dumpage, I thought a mental health/get your legs in shape excursion to Red was warranted. Having a plethora of air miles, a place to stay once there and a few days off I started the process. I got onto the Air Chance (sic) web site to book my flight (Thursday through Monday) and found out very quickly that our national airline has about 1 seat per flight put aside for points users. Wonderful. Of course I would have no problem getting into Castlegar over about a two day period going through about four airports which would leave me a solid morning of skiing before I would have to turn around and leave to get home before Xmas! It would probably be faster to drive. As the weather reports continued so did the frustration, but I was determined. I called the Aeroplan office (was put on hold for forty-five minutes) talked to an attendant for another forty minutes to determine that I couldn't get there until sometime in the New Year if I wanted to use points. I then inquired as to the cost of the flight - approximately $2,800.00 CAD. I was asked, "would you like to confirm sir?" "*&&%#-You", was the response. It was then suggested that if I would wait until the day before leaving I could use the Web Saver Seat Sale service. Well, no problem getting to Calgary or Vancouver or anywhere on the planet for that fact. Prices were reasonable ($400.00 CAD to $500.00 CAD or so). Before I booked, I asked the attendant to give me the cost of flights from both of those destinations to Castlegar, Kelowna, Cranbrook etc. so I could get the utmost skiing for my travel dollar without having to drive for a day either way. I am sure by now you know the answer. The cost was about $1,000.00 CAD. Unreal - what a *&^%ing monopoly! I tried WestJet, same cost, Tango (the new Air Canada discount line) More expensive. I think its time to declare a Jihad against Robert Milton the Czar of Air Canada. He may have won the battle, but I'll be back another day. Anyway, here I sit checking out the epic pictures of the weekend dreaming of what it would have been like - which causes me to continue to fight to get there, and I will, somehow someway!! Let us know of your experience with our national monopoly. Rock on!

- Sall