US and Canada in winter - Ice Pilots NWT Yellowknife geek

[Justinf]

Just completed a 2 and a half week journey through some parts of the States and Canada in winter.
Flew from MEL to LA and then a connection to Minneapolis (what a nightmare that was - more to come).
Then up to Edmonton and then onto Yellowknife for five nights and then down to Denver.
I was a big fan of the series Ice Pilots NWT, a series about Buffalo Airways that flies very old planes to remote communities for supplies etc. They also had a passenger run to Hay River, but it got canned with the owners not following safety regulations. Meh. I didn't care.
My main goals for the trip was to visit Buffalo Airways, see the Northern Lights, experience minus 30 degrees (again as I did in Fairbanks this time last year) and to see the San Antonio Spurs play, which I did in Denver.
Trip report coming up.
Put your seatbelts on, stow your carry on in the luggage compartments above your head or under the seat in front of you and come along with me for the ride.

 

[VPS]

Your TRs are also fun so looking forward to this one too

 

[Justinf]

A bit of background before I launch into the nitty gritty.
I had a stack of FF points (well a stack for me, but a pittance for others), so I orginally decied on QF J going over from MEL to LAX and premium economy on VA back. Internal flights would be paid for.
So I booked QF J on points for 11 February and then Y plus on VA for 23 February.
I booked quite early, around 10 months in advance and left it at that for a while.
After a few months I get a notification from VA saying my direct LAX-MEL had been changed to include LAX-BNE-MEL. I wasn't overly happy with that so decided to ring and see what I could do. Unfortunately there was nothing to solve the situation.
So I thought about it for a few days and decided to see if I could cancel both flights and then just start again and just pay $ if need be.
VA was understanding and credited back all my points with no cancellation fee. QF wasn't at fault so I just cancelled the normal way and copped the 6000 point cancellation fee.
I then decided just to book QF J return so I did.
A few months out from the trip I realised that I wanted to tack on a couple of extra days at the end of the trip to catch a Spurs NBA game in Denver. I had to cop a $400 change fee from QF so my new return date was now Sunday 25 February.
It was a rushed trip. I crammed in a lot. So in a nutshell:
11 Feb QF93 MEL-LAX 11.15am-6.30am Business Class
11 Feb Delta LAX-MSP 1.45pm 'First' Class
14 Feb Delta MSP-YEG (Edmonton) 11.45am 'First' Class
16 Feb Air Canada YEG-YZF (Yellowknife) 7.45pm Economy Tango (bottom fare)
21 Feb Air Canada YZF-YYC (Calgary) 1.50pm Flex Fare
23 Feb Air Canada YYC-LAX 7.35am Business Class
23 Feb Delta LAX-DEN (Denver) 1.40pm, arrive DEN 5.07pm (NBA game starts at 7pm) 'First' class
25 Feb Delta DEN-LAX 3.55pm-5.30pm 'First' Class
25 Feb QF 94 LAX-MEL 10.05pm Business Class

Upgrade requests using points were immediately lodged for both QF flights.
I won't go into detail about hotels and Air B&Bs until in get to that in the report.
So a busy time planned and in hindsight, I would have done things a little differently, but that will have to wait until the next installment.
Next up, the big day arrives and I'm off.

 

[BriarFlyer]

Luggage stowed, strapped in, pre-takeoff drink consumed, all ready for the TR.

 

[Justinf]

A few days before I left I realised that my ESTA visa waiver for the States might be pretty close to expiring. A quick check revealed that I was right (19 March), but I'd be fine for this trip.
What I didn't do, was check for any similar requirements for Canada and yes, we need exactly the same thing. I quickly logged on and paid my CAD$7 and got my visa waiver approved instantly.
I also changed my Delta flight from LAX to MSP. I changed it from the 1.45pm flight to the 11.45am flight. I figured that by arriving at LAX at 6.30am, if I could save two hours waiting around, then I would do it. Fortunately it only cost me $30 to do so.
The upgrade fairy also gave me a nice surprise. My original seat of 13F was changed to 3F so 1st class it was. I was quite happy about this.
So with an 11.15am departure time, I set the alarm for 4.15am and managed to put the running shoes on and squeeze in a gentle 5km run before showering and leaving home at 6.30am.
Obviously being so early on a Sunday morning, the trip was traffic free and I was eventually inside the terminal at just after 8am.
A quick stroll through security and customs and I was in the QF First Lounge, where I thought I'd have a sneaky Coopers Pale Ale despite the ungodly hour.
My A380 was there and waiting for me.


I didn't eat in the restaurant. I wanted to save room for when onboard.

 

[Pushka]

A few days before I left I realised that my ESTA visa waiver for the States might be pretty close to expiring. A quick check revealed that I was right (19 March), but I'd be fine for this trip.
What I didn't do, was check for any similar requirements for Canada and yes, we need exactly the same thing. I quickly logged on and paid my CAD$7 and got my visa waiver approved instantly.
I also changed my Delta flight from LAX to MSP. I changed it from the 1.45pm flight to the 11.45am flight. I figured that by arriving at LAX at 6.30am, if I could save two hours waiting around, then I would do it. Fortunately it only cost me $30 to do so.
The upgrade fairy also gave me a nice surprise. My original seat of 13F was changed to 3F so 1st class it was. I was quite happy about this.
So with an 11.15am departure time, I set the alarm for 4.15am and managed to put the running shoes on and squeeze in a gentle 5km run before showering and leaving home at 6.30am.
Obviously being so early on a Sunday morning, the trip was traffic free and I was eventually inside the terminal at just after 8am.
A quick stroll through security and customs and I was in the QF First Lounge, where I thought I'd have a sneaky Coopers Pale Ale despite the ungodly hour.
My A380 was there and waiting for me.
View attachment 119021

I didn't eat in the restaurant. I wanted to save room for when onboard.

This is why I love the F lounges. Favourite poison in hand overlooking the limosine.

 

[Justinf]

I'm just downloading and resizing all my photos.
I must apologise in advance. As a very long suffering Richmond supporter and having been to all except two of our 25 games last season (I was at the grand final), I have bought nearly every piece of premiership apparel that was purchasable.
I'm afraid that if you do want to come along for this ride, nearly every pic of me will be wearing some of premiership cap or T-shirt and I may have watched the grand final highlights on my iPad quite a few times while in airport bars waiting to pass the time.
Sorry not sorry.

EDIT: actually not a lot have Richmond stuff in them. It seems I did keep somewhat of a lid on things after all.

 

[I love to travel]

If you have 3F I will take 3D to live vicariously through you.

 

[Major]

I am also a fan of the Ice Pilots series

 

[love_the_life]

Love the cold and snowy TRs so I’m all packed and ready to ride along.

 

[Pushka]

I'm just downloading and resizing all my photos.
I must apologise in advance. As a very long suffering Richmond supporter and having been to all except two of our 25 games last season (I was at the grand final), I have bought nearly every piece of premiership apparel that was purchasable.
I'm afraid that if you do want to come along for this ride, nearly every pic of me will be wearing some of premiership cap or T-shirt and I may have watched the grand final highlights on my iPad quite a few times while in airport bars waiting to pass the time.
Sorry not sorry.

EDIT: actually not a lot have Richmond stuff in them. It seems I did keep somewhat of a lid on things after all.

We Crows supporters might need to back out here if you flaunt Richmond. It still hurts too much.

 

[Justinf]

We Crows supporters might need to back out here if you flaunt Richmond. It still hurts too much.

I'll try and go easy on you.

 

[Justinf]

Before too long it was time for boarding. The last time I flew F, I made the mistake of joining the line with Y passengers, but not this time. We had our own walkway to the front of the bus.



As the walkway snaked around, our ride awaited.


Once settled in to seat 3F, and I had the obligatory Champagne and horse doovers.





Nice leg room before swivelling that bad boy seat around.

 

[NoName]

I was hoping you’d be in F! I’m flying to LAX in F again in August so I will be interested to hear your recent thoughts.

 

[love_the_life]

Before too long it was time for boarding. The last time I flew F, I made the mistake of joining the line with Y passengers, but not this time. We had our own walkway to the front of the bus.

View attachment 119090

As the walkway snaked around, our ride awaited.
View attachment 119094

Once settled in to seat 3F, and I had the obligatory Champagne and horse doovers.

View attachment 119091

View attachment 119095

Nice leg room before swivelling that bad boy seat around.

View attachment 119101

You look like you got the whole bottle of champers

 

[Pushka]

You look like you got the whole bottle of champers

And a damn Richmond guernsey and hat. Hey, that’s not going easy!

 

[TomVexille]

Richmond supporters keeping a lid on it... yeah right

Looking forward to reading this however

 

[Justinf]

You look like you got the whole bottle of champers

The FA put the whole bottle there for the pic. I thought it was pretty cute the she she did it.

 

[Justinf]

Richmond supporters keeping a lid on it... yeah right

Looking forward to reading this however

We have suffered enough and been the butt of everyone's jokes for close to four decades. Don't begrudge us six months of rubbing it back in.
I always said we would be the worst winners imagineable.
However, out of respect I will keep it to a minimum.
(no promises)

 

[Justinf]

First the F menu. I know a lot here love the F menu so I am posting it now.
Forgive the quality of the pics, please. If you need to know more, shoot me a PM.