 Poster: A snowHead
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We’re going Heathrow to Vancouver then into Calgary. Just another thing to keep my fingers crossed for I guess!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thinking about it, this isn't a connection in the true sense of the word. You'll be collecting your luggage, passing through customs etc then re-checking your luggage on the domestic leg. As long as the timing isn't tight (i.e you re-check your bags with a good 90+ minutes to go) then you should be fine
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| yorkshirelad wrote: |
Now it might be lack of flights stopping me getting there. !!
Merry xmas.. |
Oh really? Have they cancelled flights then?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| VolklAttivaS5 wrote: |
| yorkshirelad wrote: |
Now it might be lack of flights stopping me getting there. !!
Merry xmas.. |
Oh really? Have they cancelled flights then? |
Not sure of specific airlines. But it's all over the news. Aircrews testing positive and had to isolate. Relief crew also test positive (or no relief crew available because they got laid off during the lockdown last year)
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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FWIW in the US we've been told to not laminate our vax cards. Only reason I've heard is that doing so prevents you from adding additional jabs to it.
So I worry about turning mine into pocket lint in the washer.....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Not a concern for us Brits - the app/our NHS record is the sole repository of "truth". I would suggest for you guys that a photo on your phone would be the best option?
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Re flight cancellations - it seems to be specific to a few airlinesl:
Major airlines cancelling Christmas Eve flights as their crews call in sick
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The Associated Press · Posted: Dec 24, 2021 7:54 AM ET | Last Updated: December 24
At least three major airlines have reported cancelling dozens of flights as illnesses largely tied to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus take a toll on flight crew numbers during the busy holiday travel season.
Germany-based Lufthansa said Friday it was cancelling a dozen long-haul transatlantic flights over the Christmas holiday period because of a "massive rise" in sick leave among pilots. The cancellations on flights to Houston, Boston and Washington come despite a "large buffer" of additional staff for the period.
The airline said it couldn't speculate on whether COVID-19 infections or quarantines were responsible because it was not informed about the sort of illness. Passengers were booked on other flights.
High rate of sick calls
Lufthansa said in a statement "we planned a very large buffer for the vacation period. But this was not sufficient due to the high rate of people calling in sick."
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines said they cancelled dozens of flights because of staff shortages tied to the Omicron variant. Delta cancelled 145 flights on Friday and 111 for Christmas Day, according to FlightAware. (Other factors, such as weather, are also causing cancellations.) United called off 175 flights on Friday and 69 on Saturday.
"The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation," United said in a statement to several news outlets. "As a result, we've unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport."
The airline said it was working to rebook as many people as possible.
All options 'exhausted'
Delta said it cancelled flights on Friday because of the impact of Omicron and possibility of bad weather after it had "exhausted all options and resources — including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying."
It said in a statement to several news outlets that it was trying to get passengers to their destinations quickly.
The cancellations come as coronavirus cases driven by the new variant further squeeze staffing at hospitals, police departments, supermarkets and other critical operations struggling to maintain a full contingent of front-line workers.
"Airline staff are humans just like everybody else. So I think you're going to see a lot of this happening," Dr. Christopher Labos, a Montreal cardiologist and epidemiologist, told CBC's Katie Nicholson on Thursday. "The difference between airline staff and most other businesses is that when you work on a plane, you can't work from home.
"So I think what they're seeing in the airlines is, to a certain extent, almost what we've been seeing in the health-care system, which is that at a certain point, if enough people get sick, you can't have your business function properly anymore."
Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a regular problem for the U.S. airline industry this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and were caught short-staffed this year as travel recovered.
Countries including Spain and Britain have reduced the length of COVID-19 quarantines to ease staffing shortages by letting people return to work sooner after testing positive or being exposed to the virus.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian was among those who have called on the Biden administration to take similar steps or risk further disruptions in air travel.
Busy travel days
While some travellers cancelled holiday plans because of rising case numbers, many others kept to their vacations during some of the year's busiest travel days. The Transportation Security Administration said it expects to screen nearly 30 million people from Dec. 20 through Jan. 3, compared with nearly 44 million during the last holiday season before the pandemic.
According to FlightAware, there are nearly 3,400 cancelled flights on Friday and Saturday, with at least half of the cancellations by Chinese airlines. About 20 per cent of affected flights — 745 — were to, from or within the U.S. This is a small fraction of global flights. FlightAware says it has tracked more than 120,000 arrivals in the past 24 hours.
Passengers line up at the security checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday. (Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press)
Not all airlines said COVID-19 was disrupting their travel schedules. American Airlines said it had "nothing to report," while Southwest Airlines said "things are running smoothly."
A spokesperson for Canada's WestJet said the airline was not seeing similar issues to its U.S. counterparts.
"The large majority of our posted cancellations within the last 24 related to the major snow event that significantly impacted our operations last night and into this morning out of our primary hub in Calgary," Madison Kruger said in an email to CBC News.
Similarly, Air Canada said in an email to CBC News that "we have the crews tours are reo operate our schedule so we have not been impacted as some other carriers have been." |
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| dalehernando wrote: |
| We’re going Heathrow to Vancouver then into Calgary. Just another thing to keep my fingers crossed for I guess! |
What day are you flying ?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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It’s not something I’d considered but yes I can see why the timetable would be disrupted! Then you’d have planes in the wrong place which so it has a knock on effect.
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@Saintsman, makes total sense and we do that too, but some places (certain restaurants) require seeing the original.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Scooter in Seattle wrote: |
FWIW in the US we've been told to not laminate our vax cards. Only reason I've heard is that doing so prevents you from adding additional jabs to it.
So I worry about turning mine into pocket lint in the washer..... |
Make a copy of it?
Mine is in my wallet. So unless I wash my wallet by accident, it'll be pretty safe in there. I also took a picture of it using my cell phone. So for restaurants and such, the cell phone image was sufficient. The real card only comes out on border crossings.
Also, the hospital my doctor's affiliated with has a copy of it too (I uploaded it as part of my medical record). They now have added my booster shot to it (I did the original at a state vaccine site, but the booster at the hospital). That's the most complete record of my vaccination (that's not just Covid, but flu, hepatitis etc...the whole lot). In the unlikely event I lost my vaccine card, I can get another one from the hospital.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@abc, @Scooter in Seattle,
What is it with the bit of paper for a vax card in the US?
Even your neighbour's to the north managed to come up with some sort of modern approach (so well in fact that all the provinces came up with their own flavours, then the federal government did it again for good measure!) 
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Incase anyone finds this useful here’s my arrival experience travelling as a tourist on the 24th flying EDI->LHR->YVR.
To board the first flight the documents checked were pre-departure PCR test, proof of vaccination and ArriveCAN receipt, with nothing checked for the second leg. When landing in YVR I used the machine to print my declaration which the border agent reviewed and wrote T for test on it - 99.9% of the people there were chosen for testing. While waiting to collect my baggage I pre-registered online for my arrival test using my phone. This probably saved 10 mins so nothing major. Test was done at 16:40 and results back the following day at 15:50 (~23 hrs).
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You know it makes sense.
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@harryb933,
That's pretty efficient! I know where I'm going if I need a COVID test
I walked past the drive-thru test line in North Van on Thursday and it was quite the line(s) - apparently people are waiting up to 5 hours, and BC is at PCR test capacity limit, so many given a rapid test instead
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| stuarth wrote: |
@abc, @Scooter in Seattle,
What is it with the bit of paper for a vax card in the US?
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There're various local version of mobile apps for vaccine proof too. But since most places accept a cell phone copy of the vaccine card, it's actually just as convenient to do it that way.
Just for giggles, my 80+ Mom had downloaded the Excelsior app which is used in NY state, while I didn't bother. But when we went to places, there's always a human there doing the checking. I pulled up my picture of my vaccine card on the phone while my Mom use her app. There wasn't any different.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@stuarth, its no trouble, I either slide it behind my sundial or under the abacus!
It is oddly quaint: the shooter handwrites the info on the card (no word if cursive is required). Where the original isn't required the phone works best. We check before we go; many restaurants want the hard copy, somewhat surprisingly.
There is no US national vax card. Having seen no official explanation, I speculate with some degree of confidence that doing so would make a lot of sense to Americans in the middle of the political spectrum, but a sufficiently effective number of folks at both extremes have prevented it on privacy/govt overreach grounds.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Billy steele wrote: |
| dalehernando wrote: |
| We’re going Heathrow to Vancouver then into Calgary. Just another thing to keep my fingers crossed for I guess! |
What day are you flying ? |
January 1st 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Saintsman wrote: |
| Thinking about it, this isn't a connection in the true sense of the word. You'll be collecting your luggage, passing through customs etc then re-checking your luggage on the domestic leg. As long as the timing isn't tight (i.e you re-check your bags with a good 90+ minutes to go) then you should be fine |
We have a 2hr 30mins wait before our connecting flight, I’m hoping we’ll get our tests done in Vancouver before boarding the connecting flight. Unless anyone has any other info on this that I have missed?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| dalehernando wrote: |
| Saintsman wrote: |
| Thinking about it, this isn't a connection in the true sense of the word. You'll be collecting your luggage, passing through customs etc then re-checking your luggage on the domestic leg. As long as the timing isn't tight (i.e you re-check your bags with a good 90+ minutes to go) then you should be fine |
We have a 2hr 30mins wait before our connecting flight, I’m hoping we’ll get our tests done in Vancouver before boarding the connecting flight. Unless anyone has any other info on this that I have missed? |
You'll need the baggage to come through quickly if you want to do the test at Vancouver. 2h30 would normally be very safe, but if the test queues have any length to them you could be in trouble
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Any idea what tests are being used in Calgary? Is it still test on site?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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They'll do.onsite, but it won’t be available for you as you won't be arriving on an international flight
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Just when I thought I had everything clear and sorted…
If the on site isn’t available to us, what does that mean??
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As I understand it you’ll have to be “tested” at Vancouver so if there isn’t time to queue you’ll get a home kit and be looking at a couple of days of quarantine while you get it back to them and get the results.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Flight change for us......Manchester to Heathrow..flight cancelled...changed to earlier one.. so now have 5 hours to kill at Heathrow airport on the 12th....at least we will be in vip lounge
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| dalehernando wrote: |
Just when I thought I had everything clear and sorted…
If the on site isn’t available to us, what does that mean?? |
If you can't do onsite at Vancouver because you'd miss your connection you'll be given a test to take with you and post. It'll delay your clearance from isolation by a good 24 hours
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| harryb933 wrote: |
Incase anyone finds this useful here’s my arrival experience travelling as a tourist on the 24th flying EDI->LHR->YVR.
To board the first flight the documents checked were pre-departure PCR test, proof of vaccination and ArriveCAN receipt, with nothing checked for the second leg. When landing in YVR I used the machine to print my declaration which the border agent reviewed and wrote T for test on it - 99.9% of the people there were chosen for testing. While waiting to collect my baggage I pre-registered online for my arrival test using my phone. This probably saved 10 mins so nothing major. Test was done at 16:40 and results back the following day at 15:50 (~23 hrs). |
Thank you, that is very helpful information.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| yorkshirelad wrote: |
| Flight change for us......Manchester to Heathrow..flight cancelled...changed to earlier one.. so now have 5 hours to kill at Heathrow airport on the 12th....at least we will be in vip lounge |
What day were you flying?
5 hours isn’t too bad like you say in the VIP lounge where you can plug your phones in etc and it’s a lot more comfortable in there.
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@Saintsman, I got the same request for an internal flight booked while in country, but not for the trans-Atlantic legs - although I am now flying out via Frankfurt so now going to add stressing about losing skis to list of other worries (imagine I could charge AC for my rental in this scenario). I am also really rather hoping my internal flights (YLW- YVR and YVR-YYC) do not get cancelled as wish to avoid distance driving, especially the Coquihalla as feel confident I have used up my nine lives and windshields already on Highway 5!
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You know it makes sense.
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If AC scrub a flight they'll have to reroute you. If my YVR flight is scrubbed I would expect to be re-routed LHR-YYZ-YVR. Bit of a pain and a good few hours longer, but as pong as they keep me in Biz class I'll survive
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Gawd, its hard to watch all this. Good luck everybody!
@Snowsartre, I haven't used any of my nine lives on the Coquihalla, but I have used up two windshields and a tire. And you know the Coq still closed except for trucks, right? Five or seven bridges damaged, depending on what I read.
...and as I write this that highway is in a blizzard, and so is my house! So beautiful.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Scooter in Seattle, No, I didn't know the Coq is closed other than to trucks! I guess that's because they are lighter and driven sedately...errr no, wait a minute...
Even more reason for the flights to continue then.
Hope you are enjoying the snow 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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BC Highways is working like the devil to fix things so check with DriveBC, but I suspect its going backwards for a few days at least due to snow, meaning you need to get here by any means necessary! Bring everything, very cold temps are on the wind; even Seattle is going to be in the teens, unusually cold for us. Hope the flights hold for ya.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I saw today they have closed Banff Sunshine for the moment due to the temperatures
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Snowsartre, wow.
I went to Banff in Feb 2020 before Covid kicked off and some days it was -17 that was enough for me really.
It’s true it feels like a different sort of cold though, last week in Austria it was -10 to -14 degrees C and that felt worse to be honest, maybe it’s to do with the humidity too.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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What’s the threshold where they close lifts due to the cold? -25 or something?
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| Snowsartre wrote: |
| @Saintsman, I got the same request for an internal flight booked while in country, but not for the trans-Atlantic legs - although I am now flying out via Frankfurt so now going to add stressing about losing skis to list of other worries (imagine I could charge AC for my rental in this scenario). I am also really rather hoping my internal flights (YLW- YVR and YVR-YYC) do not get cancelled as wish to avoid distance driving, especially the Coquihalla as feel confident I have used up my nine lives and windshields already on Highway 5! |
Good news! 
You can't drive the Coquihalla even if you want to, it's only open for essential/commercial traffic. You can now drive the 99 or 3, they are even more "fun" in the winter
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| Saintsman wrote: |
| dalehernando wrote: |
Just when I thought I had everything clear and sorted…
If the on site isn’t available to us, what does that mean?? |
If you can't do onsite at Vancouver because you'd miss your connection you'll be given a test to take with you and post. It'll delay your clearance from isolation by a good 24 hours |
Well I’ve done everything I can do now, so I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that we do manage to fit in our tests at Vancouver. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| dalehernando wrote: |
| Billy steele wrote: |
| dalehernando wrote: |
| We’re going Heathrow to Vancouver then into Calgary. Just another thing to keep my fingers crossed for I guess! |
What day are you flying ? |
January 1st |
Would be interested to hear from you same flight bit on the 19th of Jan.
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@Billy steele, I must be on the same flight as you, I’m flying to Vancouver that day for Whistler with Air Canada.
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FAQ
