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Before the short hop from Montréal to Toronto and on to Washington, the author must endure a very exciting and sometimes terrifying journey... to Trudeau airport!

Originally published in November 2005.

flight to washington, part 1
by Sergio Ortega

it's running and running...
for a short hop of a flight

or the first time ever, I'd be making the journey from my house to Trudeau Airport all by myself, using public transportation. A journey that usually takes about an hour and a half. My big backpack, the same I used for the Euro trip in 2003, was all ready to go. One last time, I verified if the first flight of my journey, AC417, is on time, according to Air Canada's website. It's January 13, 2005, a beautiful sunny afternoon, slightly warmer than your average January day, and I'm on my way to meet a friend in Washington.

Impossible journey
My first bus arrived at 12:10 PM. It was 10 minutes late, but it would cause my entire itinerary to YUL to be pushed by 30 minutes total. You think it would have been the only delay in my journey? Nah. Once in the metro car, five stations away from Lionel-Groulx, the connecting point to the airport, I hear the very infamous four tones

indicating an announcement to the metro travellers. If translated in English, the message would say: "Attention. Due to a paramedics intervention, we must interrupt service on the orange line, between Henri-Bourassa and Côte-Vertu until further notice."

Callsign: Air Canada ACA417
Equipment: H/A333
Reg/Fin/Cn: C-GFUR/934 (344)
Itinerary: CYUL/CYYZ

I tried to race to the parallel station on the green line, but missed the train. In desperation, I tried to go Northeast instead to Berri-UQAM, to catch the bus shuttle, at CAD 13.00 one-way. I missed the 1:20 PM departure, so I waited for the 1:40 one. It arrived at 1:45 and was delayed. Once on board, I looked at my watch and realized I wouldn't make it for my 3:00 departure. So, I left the bus, annoyed about wasting CAD 13.00, and hailed a cab on the curbside of the Central Bus Station. The bus driver, who happened to be the uncle of former athlete Bruny Surin, tried to show his kindness by exceeding the speed limit, when I told him I had a plane to catch. A bus ride to the airport costs CAD 31.00, plus tip, and since I had to pay a portion of this trip in USD, I lost money with his crappy conversion rate. At least, I made it on time.

All the long, I kept wondering: is something supposed to happen to me, and all these little events supposed to prevent me from climbing aboard? It's January 13, 2005, exactly 23 years after the Air Florida flight 90 crash. And I'm on my way to the same city where the crash occured. I know, it sounds ridiculous, especially since I don't believe in fate, but in my exhausted little head, it's the first thing that popped in my mind. I didn't feel like experimenting with self check-in and so I checked my bags with an actual representative, who told me to go to the gate immediately, as boarding for Air Canada flight AC417 to Toronto would begin in just a few minutes. It's 2:10 PM. I couldn't believe we made it from Downtown to the airport in 15 minutes.

Departure time

After completing the security control, I only had a few minutes to spot our aircraft, at gate 3. I took a picture of our beautiful Airbus A330-300, in the old colors. Two businessmen started looking at me as if I was a weirdo. Yes, maybe I am. This was a flight full of people for whom flying probably doesn't have anything special. It's part of their job to shuttle from Montréal to Toronto and beyond. They all have a drivers license to identify themselves. I was one of the very few to show a passport before stepping on the plane. I took my seat and asked a flight attendant for the tail number. She looked puzzled and asked me why I needed that information. I was surprised by her question and admitted I am an aviation enthusiast and I like to record what plane I am on. She came back a few minutes later simply saying we were on "fin number 934."

At 3:00 PM, we started pushback, following a barely audible announcement made by a young flight attendant. Engines start and the flight attendant then announced that because of a problem with the inflight entertainment system, the safety demonstration would be done on "manual mode." Ah, rats. As corny as it may sound, I always dreamed of watching the Air Canada safety demo. Nobody's watching the demonstration. The passengers probably know by heart where the emergency exits are and how to use a seatbelt. At 3:15 PM, we are airborne.

Enroute and arrival

There's nothing special about the remainder of this short flight. We were served drinks and a bag or two of Sesame Gourmet (a mix of sesame snacks, some of them spicy.) The screens show a news bulletin from Radio-Canada/CBC, especially made for Air Canada passengers. Even the newscaster concluded his bulletin by wishing us an enjoyable flight. The passengers were all boring and spent their trip either reading the newspaper, going through paperwork or typing endlessonly on their laptop computers.

45 minutes into the flight, the seat belt sign turns back on and the spoilers are raised. The weather is cloudy and it starts to rain. The plane shaked a lot and made several slight turns to line up with the runway, including on very short final. At 4:17 PM, our Airbus A330 touched down on Runway 5 at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport. 10 minutes later, we were at gate 139 of YYZ's gleaming new Terminal T1. It looked like one big asepticized facility with very light colors and bright indication signs. I felt like at a very futuristic airport. Unfortunately, with a very tight connection to Washington, I wouldn't have enough time to enjoy this terminal. Time to take the ground shuttle to the transborder concourse!

This is part of a series of 3 articles on a trip from Montreal to Washington and back. Come back soon on airodyssey.net for the continuation of this story.