With our event wrapping up much earlier than I
expected, I had a lot of time to kill until my 4:00pm EST flight – and by “a
lot of time,” I mean close to 5 ½ hours.
Yikes! There were a couple of
museums in Pittsburgh that I wanted to check out, but the Roberto Clemente
Museum requires reservations in advance and the Senator John Heinz History
Center requires the better part of 3 – 4 hours to explore all seven floors of
exhibits in my opinion. Both would have
to be saved for a return visit to Pittsburgh I’m afraid. My two co-workers had earlier flights and
needed to get to Pittsburgh International Airport around noon. With no other viable options to kill time
before my flight, I decided to go with them to the airport instead.
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| Pittsburgh International Airport |
We left Pittsburgh Marriott Downtown shortly
after 11:30am EST. Late morning meant
less cars on the streets as people would be working. While my co-workers discussed business in the
back seat, I engaged in conversation with our Lyft driver to pass the
time. Our discussions ran the gambit of
historical buildings to general traffic issues with Pittsburgh; from the Uber
vs. Lyft debate in terms of which car ride sharing app is better and more
ethical to the President Trump vs. Prime Minister Trudeau debate in terms of
which World Leader is better and more ethical.
And before you know it, we had arrived at Pittsburgh International
Airport in about 20 minutes.
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| A local musician takes part in Pittsburgh's Performing Arts Series |
Although my colleagues were flying home on
American Airlines, both Air Canada and American Airlines were located within
the same Terminal for check in. We
agreed to meet after we passed security check in since they had TSA
pre-clearance and carry-on luggage and I had neither. Glad we agreed for me to text them after I
cleared security as Air Canada wouldn’t allow me to check-in for at least
another 15 minutes as my flight was more than four hours away. Somehow I forgot about this rule given my
experience at Dallas-Fort Worth about 18 months ago. But at least it was only a 15 minute wait
instead of two hour for me this time.
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| Red Brain Ale - Mindful Brewing Company |
There was a bit of a lineup to get through
Security, but a TSA employee directed me to an alternative Security check point
that required me to walk outside the terminal through a covered pedestrian
bridge and into a smaller terminal.
Security was light in traffic here, so I was able to clear it within 10
minutes. I still had to find my gate for
my Air Canada flight, though, which required about a 10 minute walk and a
passenger tram to get to the my Terminal.
Once I got to my Terminal, I received a text from my co-workers to meet
them for lunch at Bar Symon. Not much to
report here other than I ordered a chicken salad for lunch and washed it down
with Red Brain – a Red Ale brewed by Mindful Brewing Company, a local Brew Pub
in Pittsburgh.
 |
| Heading towards Gate A18 at Pittsburgh International Airport |
My co-workers had to leave around 1:30pm to
catch their flights, so I was left on my own for the next couple of hours. Although the Museum of Pittsburgh
International Airport had a series of small exhibits spread throughout the
airport to educate me on the history of this Regional Airport, as well as learn
more about the various Carnegie Museums throughout Pittsburgh, I opted to go to
Penn Brewery for a couple of pints to watch the Spain vs. Portugal World Cup
match instead. Ironically, I ended up
sitting in between two Spaniards who moved to the United States for work a few
years ago. They both came from Miami for
a work trip. The match itself was the
most anticipated one for World Cup 2018.
What a match it was! With just
two minutes left in regulation, Cristian Ronaldo scored a hat trick off an
awarded free kick to tie the match 3 – 3.
Four minutes of extra time were added due to compensate for injury time
in the second half.
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| Watching World Cup 2018 - Spain vs. Portugal |
At this point, boarding for AC 8171 had already
begun and I was a good 5 – 7 minutes away from my gate, so I high tailed as
fast as I could to get to Gate A18. As I
made my way around the final corner of the terminal, I tripped on the floor and
scrapped up my left elbow. My elbow
wasn’t bleeding, but I did get a nice rug burn as a result of my fall. To make matters worse, my flight had just
started boarding by the time I made that final corner. So I didn’t have to run as fast as I did as I
would have made my flight on time, anyway.
A family of three that waited in line with me for boarding offered me a
sanitary wipe to clean my scrape, but I passed on it as it didn’t hurt as much
as the embarrassment I felt at the time.
Serves me right trying to push my luck with that World Cup match!
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| Boarding Air Canada Flight #8171 |
For this flight, I sat in 13C – all the way at
the back of the plane right beside the one and only bathroom on this
flight. Although my seating arrangement sucked,
there was not much I could do as this flight was completely sold out. Our plane seats 50 passengers in total with
12 rows in a 2 x 2 formation plus my seat and the window seat beside me with
estimated flight time to be around 55 minutes.
Montreal is a major International hub for Air Canada with direct flights
to North Africa and Europe. The majority
of passengers on this flight were heading to Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau
International Airport for that reason.
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| Air Canada Flight #8171 |
It was 27°C, which made it extremely hot inside the plane prior to
takeoff to the point where I started to sweat a bit. Fortunately, the air conditioning kicked in
once we took off. I was starting to
worry that we would have a similar situation when I was in Philadelphia. For the most part, I went in and out of sleep
for the majority of the flight as there were no in-flight entertainment system
available and I had already read the latest issue of Air Canada’s enRoute
Magazine on the way to Providence earlier in the week. Complimentary drinks were offered, but no
snacks for some reason, so I grabbed two tomato juices. The pilot announced that we were preparing
for landing around 5:30pm EST. As I
gazed out the window, there was very little I could see of Montreal during the
descent as the wing was obstructing 85% of my view. All-in-all, it was a very smooth, quick
flight with a little bit of turbulence here and there.
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| Descending into Montreal |
AC 8171 – PIT to YUL
Operated by: Jazz Air (Air Canada)
Aircraft:
Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200; Seat: 13C
Cabin: Snacks & Complimentary Drinks
Depart: 04:01PM EST – Pittsburgh International
Airport (PIT) – Gate A18
Arrive:
05:42PM EST – Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)
– Terminal F, Gate B5
Flight Time: 1:40; Non Stop Flight – 540 Miles/869
Kilometers; Date: June 15, 2018
 |
| Disembarking Air Canada Flight #8171 |
Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International
Airport was such a zoo when we arrived. For
some reason, we all gathered outside on the tarmac waiting for our
luggage. It turns out that some of the
passengers who had carry-on were required to store it in the under carriage of
the plane as the sold out flight meant that there was not enough overhead
storage space for everyone during the flight.
The rest of us went straight to connections if necessary. While it took me a relatively quick 10
minutes to go through Customs, I still had to hustle to the other side of the
Terminal as my flight was departing out of Gate A3. That walk took about 15 minutes as the
airport was completely packed with tourists everywhere. Some passengers seemed lost or confused and
would just literally stop right in front of me or blocked me from passing on
the left of the escalators.
 |
| Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport |
With only a 90 minute layover, the extra time
it took to get to my gate was a bit infuriating as it meant it would cut into
my dinner time. As such, I was able to
grab a quick bite to eat at the Pork & Pickle – a nice little BBQ joint
beside my gate. Within 10 minutes, I was
able to wolf down a turkey sandwich with a 650 mL bottle of L'Écurieux. It was far more beer than I was expecting,
but this Brown Ale from Brasseurs du Monde had great Malty and toasted
Hazelnut flavours. It was a beautiful
little airport restaurant with lots of natural lighting from the windows that
overlook the tarmac in front of us. I
wish I had a bit more time to enjoy this restaurant, but I will the next time I
fly back to Toronto via Montreal.
 |
| Flying over Lake Ontario |
The Air Canada Express flight to Toronto Billy
Bishop Airport was even smaller than AC 8171 with about 20 rows in a 2 x 2
formation. At least this plane had
comfortable leather seats and I had my coveted window seat for the flight back
home to Toronto. Flight time was
estimated to be 55 minutes at a peak altitude of 20,000 feet – much quicker
than the average 5 hour drive it takes from Montreal to Toronto, but far more
cheaper if you do. There was a beautiful
sunset view upon takeoff, which occurred around 7:30pm EST. The flight itself was extremely smooth with
no turbulence. As an added bonus, I was
completely surprised by the variety of snacks available on this flight, which
included granola bars, fruit gummies, and bags of chips. I opted for a bag of Miss Vickies with my
usual tomato juice.
 |
| Descending upon Toronto |
Once again, there was no in-flight entertainment
system available due to the short length of this flight. So I just stared at the endless miles of
Quebec farmland below. Truth be told, I
could have taken a direct flight from Pittsburgh to Toronto earlier in the
day. But it had been almost seven years
since my one and only experience at Billy Bishop Airport. I was really looking forward to landing at
Billy Bishop. And boy, did it not
disappoint with the orange-yellow glow of the Sunset covering the Toronto
skyline upon descent. Aside from the
bumpy landing, the flight went off without a hitch. Within 10 minutes of disembarking off the
plane, our luggage was ready for pickup at Arrivals and it home time for
me. This would be my last work trip for
a while, so I couldn’t have asked for a better finish to this one.
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| Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport |
AC 7977 – YUL to YTZ
Operated by: Jazz Air (Air Canada)
Aircraft:
de Havilland Dash 8-400 (twin-turboprop); Seat: 19F
Cabin:
Snacks & Complimentary Drinks
Depart: 07:26PM EST – Montréal–Pierre Elliott
Trudeau International Airport (YUL), Gate A3
Arrive:
08:49PM EST – Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ)
Flight Time: 1:23; Non Stop Flight – 328 Miles/528
Kilometers; Date: June 13, 2018
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