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Since October 1995, Vesta Stevenson and Terry Baker have been issuing an email newsletter for those ex Air Canada types who have provided us with their email addresses. The Newsletter was created by Vesta, who gave the name 'NetLetter' and added 'Between Ourselves' - a TCA periodical with which you are probably familiar with from the 50's and 60's. It was then changed to "Between Yourselves" to avoid confusion when "Horizons" resurrected the name. Then finally simplified to just "The NetLetter".

We believe that our NetLetter, which originates from Vancouver Island, was the FIRST to use this medium to disperse information for retirees of Air Canada.

The NetLetter contains airline related information such as anecdotes or stories supplied by some of the recipients, Internet tips, travel news, cheap... excuse me, "inexpensive" accommodations, tours, interline travel, and, in some small way, we help keep our Air Canada family together and in touch.

Our 'NetLetter' is NOT sponsored by any Pionair group, nor are we seeking any financial support, only the Internet email addresses of those who would like to receive our 'NetLetter'. Please forward this to other retirees who can then subscribe right from the forwarded link at the bottom of this email.

We now estimate that the NetLetter is read by over 2708 retirees when counting our email distribution and those that print the NetLetter and give them out to their friends.

To get in touch with either the Editor/Pilot or Co- Pilot our email address is still This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To make changes to your e-mail address or to unsubscribe, please see the links at the bottom of the page for "Update Profile/Email address" and SafeUnsubscribe. This is now automated so that you can remove yourself from the list or change your email address (or name) without our assistance. We will still do this manually if you have any difficulties.

Many of our members are having difficulty finding these links. You will need to scroll to the bottom of the page, the link in similar to the following image. (The image below doesn't work but your links at the bottom will).

Thank you

Alan Rust - ACFamily Administrator

The Bush administration has proposed to boost security fees on commercial airline flights to raise an additional USD$1.3 billion in receipts from passengers. Presently us$2.50 per leg will go to us$5.00 per leg.

Since early June, 2005 Air Canada has outsourced the Personnel / Human Resources and Pension and Estates office work to Hewitt and Associates.

Below is the EMPLOYEE SERVICES contact which must be used if you have to contact Air Canada about any services formerly handled by these Departments for retirees in North America. Those in other countries are asked to contact your former offices as before, at this time.

As a limited guide these services may include Address Changes, Pension Questions, Medical and Benefit Questions, Name Changes, Death Advice, Marriage Changes, etc, etc.

CANADIAN CONTACT FOR EMPLOYEE SERVICES
Contact Centre Phone... 1 - 877 - 645 - 5000
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Address: Employee Services, P.O. Box 7650, Station B Toronto, Ont M2K 3B5

U.S.A. CONTACT FOR EMPLOYEE SERVICES
Phone: 1 - 877 - 645 - 5000
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Address: Employee Services, 401 North Tryon Street, Dept. 100 P.O.Box 563983, Charlotte, N.C. 28256- 3983

Phone Calls can be made, 09:00 to 17:00 hours from your Time Zone, Monday to Friday.

Beware of credit card e-mail scams. - We have been advised that a number of employees have recently received a scam e-mail message at their work address about a problem with their VISA card. The message includes an electronic link where they are asked to provide personal information that includes three or four digits from the credit card. Do not under any circumstances divulge this information. If there is a valid problem with your credit card, your bank would never contact you by e-mail. Also, if you should be contacted by telephone about your credit card and you are uncertain about the authenticity of the call, hang up and call your bank for confirmation. Tip: always be vigilant of unsolicited e-mail.

All Airbus aircraft will soon be able to navigate using the electronic charts from Lufthansa Systems. The eRouteManual from the German IT provider can be permanently integrated in new aircraft or retrofitted in planes that are already in use.

Ann Blakeley This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. sent us this interesting article, This is the final episode -

A day the life of a flight attendant

Off to the hotel
5:55 p.m. Pacific Time. The crew catches vans to airport hotels.
Brandle still looks unflappable but confides, "At the end of the day you get what we call 'jets-heimers.' You get to the point where you simply cannot think."

6:34 p.m. She opens the door to Room 305 at the Doubletree Hotel. As if she were doing a preflight safety check, she checks under the bed, behind the shower curtain, then steps into the hall to find the nearest fire exit. She kicks off her shoes and hangs out the "do not disturb" sign. The lights of San Francisco glitter up the bay, but with her body on Eastern Time and a flight in the morning, no way is she going out on the town.

6:45 p.m. Changed into slacks and top, Brandle arrives in the hotel restaurant. "My husband just called me and said, 'I miss you,' " she says. She orders a glass of Chardonnay, explaining that flight attendants may not drink in uniform or have alcohol less than 12 hours before a flight (hers isn't till 11 a.m.). Random urine checks help keep the rule enforced.

Over angel-hair pasta, she analyzes her day. "Uneventful. We like those. Sometimes it can get hairy." As it did during a flight in the '80s when a war-vet passenger had a flashback and started hitting, kicking and biting her and another attendant.

What most passengers don't realize, she says, is that attendants' No. 1 purpose is to keep passengers safe. They do CPR and can use defibrillators. In case of a crash or emergency landing, they're trained to evacuate a plane in fewer than two minutes (which an Air France crew accomplished Aug. 3 in a crash landing in Toronto). They must pass refresher tests on safety every year. Once she was on a plane with collapsed landing gear. "There was smoke, and I was brave. We got all the passengers out."

9:38 p.m. Still exuding old-school stewardess poise, Brandle is ready for bed. United has no flight attendant retirement age, so how long will she keep flying? "I'm 58," she says. "My husband is retired, and I've got an 84-year-old mother with health issues who needs me." But being a flight attendant is "a lifestyle," she says. "It's the going here and there; it's the camaraderie. It's in your blood."

WHAT THEY'RE PAID
What flight attendants average annually at seven large U.S. airlines, based on 75 hours of flying a month (some fly more). Airline Starting pay After 14-19 years;
- American $17,598 $39,988
- Continental $17,550 $43,335
- Delta $16,596 $40,140
- Northwest $19,593 $44,190
- Southwest $18,396 $48,627
- United $15,498 $33,372
- US Airways $16,704 $33,831


Source: Association of Flight Attendants

European budget airline Ryanair plans to charge passengers for baggage and introduce online check-in in a bid to halve airport queues and shave EUR30 million (USD36.7 million) off costs

From: Frank Pedder

Hi Folks,
Anybody interested in having a Purchasing and Supply & Logistic Services retirees Reunion in the month of May.

It will most likely be held at Leslie MacFarlane Bar on Lakeshore Rd in Dorval or the Dorval Legion off Cardinal blvd. We have many people in other stations that are requesting this reunion. Coordinated by Parts and Pieces Newsletter email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I will be contacting others by phone.

Best regards

Frank Pedder
514-634-5545
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The following turned up for the Nanaimo Coffee Klatch on February 8th - Arlene & Cec McCulloch (AC), Pat & Art McCarville (CP), Leo Goulet (AC), Carol & Bryan Humphrey (AC) and Terry Baker (AC)

Next meeting March 8th.

If all goes according to plan, the Airbus A380 will have touched down on North American soil for the first time on February 6th., but planespotters bent on sneaking a peek at the behemoth are warned to pack a pair of electric socks.

The double-decker airliner was scheduled to land in Iqaluit, in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut at about 9 a.m. EST for a week of cold-weather certification work. Iqaluit Airport Manager John Graham told AVweb that everything's in place for the historic visit, except perhaps the reason for it. "We wish it was colder," he said. Like most of North America, Iqaluit is experiencing a warmer than average winter, but warmth is a relative thing. For the past week, the temperature's been a balmy (by Nunavut standards) -10 F. For the testing, Airbus would like -25 to -30. The forecast for Iqaluit calls for he "warm" spell to continue with temperatures in the same range as last week (but with the wind, it feels 20 degrees colder).

What impact that will have on the testing isn't clear. Although aircraft routinely experience extreme cold when flying at altitude, circumstances are different on the ground. Airbus' team of 50 technicians need to see how the airplane starts, how the electronics hold up and even how interior components stand up to sitting on the ramp at -30 all night. The tests are part of the certification requirements for the aircraft, which is scheduled to go into service by the end of this year.

Iqaluit is a popular destination for cold-seeking aircraft manufacturers, mainly because of its 8,600- foot runway and huge ramp area, all relics of the Cold War.

Virgin America, the airline startup with a brand name made famous by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, said on Monday it named as its chairman Don Carty, the former chairman and chief executive of AMR. (Boy these guys get around don't they? - eds)

Coming your way this week are more great Luxury Hotel Barge opportunities.

First we have an Exclusive Interline Barge Cruise on the Anacoluthe, which does a 6 night "Route of the Impressionists" cruise out of Paris on Sept 30. We also have an offer from Canal & Co. to charter the Libellule on March 25 as well as some other special dates on Hotel Barges.

Aero-Marine Interline

Exclusive Interline Cruise on the Anacoluthe
Route of the Impressionists
First Night in Paris September 29
Cruise Begins September 30

Includes 7 day 6 night cruise and one night pre cruise and one night post cruise Paris hotel. The Anacoluthe has been chartered for a special interline only cruise. All passengers will be airline employees.

Historic Compiègne, Abby and Chateau visit Giverny, Claude Monet's home & gardens Auvers Sur Oise, Van Gogh's early home, visit Chateau de Chantilly Paris, "City of Light"-evening cruise

Chateau Vaux le Vicomte, beautiful interiors and magnificent gardens Moret Sur Loing, a small medieval town that was once the home of Alfred Sisley
Interline Price is $1449 per person Club Aero-Marine Members Price - $1429 per person Includes: Pre & Post Paris Hotel (including breakfast), Transfers to Barge, 6 nights onboard the Anacoluthe, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner onboard (including wine) and shore excursions each day.

Libellule Burgundy to Beaujolais
March 25, 2006
Lowest Interline rate this year! $949 pp dbl
This date (March 25) on the Libellule is available for us to charter, however due to the short notice we do not want to commit to the date unless we can fill it.

If you can travel with short notice and are interested in this departure. Please contact us to get your name on the list. We must be able to fill 10 cabins before we commit to the charter. There are 2 upper deck cabins available for supplement of $150 per person. 7 day 6 night itinerary from Lyon to Dijon. Optional Paris transfers are $250 per person.

Special Barge Packages for Spring
Includes Pre & Post Paris Hotels
The sailings and prices listed below include Pre & Post Paris hotels. Optional Paris Transfers are $250 per person (except Anacoluthe where transfers are included)
April 8 - Litote - $1145 pp dbl
Aprl 15-Libellule - $1245 pp dbl
April 22 - Lorraine - $1245 pp dbl
May 6, 13 or 20 - Anacoluthe- $1245 pp dbl


Aero-Marine Interline
800-255-2376
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://www.aero-marine.com Anacoluthe Sept 29 offer is open to Airline Employee/Retiree Only. All other dates are open to Airline Employees and companions traveling in separate cabins. New bookings only.

The mailing and formating of the NetLetter for HTML format is provided compliments of the ACFamily Network and Nerds On Site. Content is researched and submitted by Vesta Stevenson and Terry Baker. Thank you for letting us into your homes!

Important reminder, for all new articles, submissions and or comments for the "The Netletter" please send to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. please add to your Address Books.

This e-mail address has been set up so that both of us (exclusively) will get an automatic copy and so we can keep up with the continuity of news for the NetLetter.

The archives of the NetLetter are kept on the ACFamily Network Forums area. They are in plain text format so you can print them from there if desired. If you are not a member of the ACFamily Network yet, we encourage you to join us there. Non members can Register here. (It's Free!)