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In-Flight WiFi / Canada Travel / Airline News / WiFi / Travel Tech / Gogo / → All Tags

Gogo In-Flight WiFi is Ready to Invade Canadian Airspace

From maple leaves and Mounties to all those Tim Hortons with free WiFi—it’s clear that Canada pretty much has it all. However, it’s going to get a little bit better in the next year or so, as Gogo is set to invade Canadian airspace with their high-speed, high-altitude internet access.

Just the other day Industry Canada issued Gogo the needed license for the country’s air-to-ground radio frequency spectrum, which will allow Gogo to provide their in-flight magic to plenty of passengers traveling the friendly skies to, through, and above Canada.

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Airline News / WestJet / Bombardier / Airplane News / Airlines / Airplanes / Canada Travel / → All Tags

Propellor Power for WestJet as Canada Gets More Small Planes on Small Routes

We knew that WestJet was adding more space to certain seats, but now it looks like they’re into adding some brand new planes as well. We won’t get into the industry this-and-that over the decision, but basically it looks as though WestJet wants to compete head-to-head with Air Canada on shorter trips. These smaller routes require some smaller planes, so WestJet just made a call over to Bombardier to add some propeller power to their fleet.

WestJet may be really good at flying Boeing 737s, and in fact that’s all they’ve been flying for quite some time. However, now that they’re planning a little bit of a more regional operation the plan is to add plenty of Bombardier Q400s. The initial order was for around 20 or so aircraft, and if things go well they might just order up an additional 25 planes. Things are still in the planning stages as of right now, but the plan is to get those babies up in the air at some point in 2013.

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LCCs / Air Canada / Airlines / Airline News / New Routes / Canada Travel / → All Tags

No News is Good News When It Comes to Air Canada's Low-cost Plans

It’s been a couple of months since we last heard from Air Canada regarding their plans for a low-cost carrier, but it looks like things are still moving full speed ahead. There’s still plenty of this and that to work out, but officials with the airline seem pretty darn confident that their plan will get off the ground—literally—sooner rather than later.

The airline needs to get the pilots on board with whatever they have up their sleeve, and the labor situation shouldn’t really get in the way at this point. That's definitely good news, as contracts and agreements are always a little tricky.

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Seats / Canada Travel / Airlines / Airline News / Economy Class Travel / Airline Seats / Airplane Seats / WestJet / Premium Economy / → All Tags

Even Canadians May Soon Enjoy Premium Economy Seating

It seems like everyone wants a little more space nowadays, and airlines are certainly aware that passengers are willing to pay for it. Carriers like Virgin America, United, Delta, and JetBlue all have different flavors of their extra legroom seats, and now there’s one more airline looking to help you stretch out a little bit.

WestJet is looking for more profit (and to lure more business travelers away from Air Canada), so they’re now offering up their own version of premium economy seating for those willing to pay for the privilege. Planes are heading into the hangar starting this month, as four rows of seats will now be enjoying around 36 inches of pitch.

WestJet is upgrading and updating their entire fleet of Boeing 737s, so this is going to be quite the undertaking; however, they obviously feel that moving and shifting all the seats is more than worth it.

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Airport News / Airports / YVR / Canada Travel / Summer Travel / Party Travel / → All Tags

Airport Party! Vancouver Throws 'Take-Off Fridays' on the Tarmac

When it comes to throwing an airport party, Vancouver International Airport has the right idea. For the last few years they’ve been running something they’re calling “Take-off Fridays,” which to us, kind of just sounds like an awesome airport version of Happy Hour.

For those who haven’t flown through YVR this summer—no problem—as the on-the-ground fun continues through the remainder of the August. On Fridays the airport becomes a little less stuffy and a little more fun, as DJs do their thing along side other live entertainment options. There’s free samples and snacks, balloon artists, face painting, and even chances to win a prize or too. Even the food court restaurants are getting in on the fun with $10 lunch specials fill you up for the long flight home.

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WiFi / Coffee Travel / Food Travel / Tim Hortons / Canada Travel / → All Tags

Need Free WiFi on the Road in Canada? Hortons Has Ya.

We’ll be the first to admit that we’ve bopped on into a McDonald’s or Starbucks just to steal the WiFi signal for a couple of minutes while traveling. Shockingly we’ve even done so without picking up a small order of fries or a tall coffee, but we think our lifetime purchase total allows us to get a freebie once in a while. Anyway, those two locations are just a couple of our favorites when it comes to logging on within the nifty fifty, but now it looks like Canada is upgrading one of its national treasures into a giant WiFi hotspot.

Tim Hortons is Canada’s top spot to pick up a cup of coffee, a maple donut, a breakfast sandwich, and of course plenty of Timbits. There’s plenty of locations of the coffee shop within the United States as well—mostly within the Northeast—but Canada is where Tim Hortons is king.

There once was a time when the restaurant encouraged visitors to do their thing and move along, but now the addition of free WiFi will encourage visitors to linger just a little bit longer.

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London 2012 Olympics / Olympics Travel / London Travel / Canada Travel / Tourism / Zoos / Zoo Travel / Green Travel / Nature Travel / Animals / → All Tags

Where to Have Olympic-Themed Fun at Zoos This Weekend

You've taken our advice and nutritionally prepared yourself for the London 2012 Olympics. You've done your background reading on the special-edition Olympics airplanes from various airlines. You're caught up on the "please don't flee the country" ad campaign that British Airways has been running.

You even know that there's free wifi in Underground stations for the duration of the Games. You are, in other words, all caught up on Olympics-related travel news. Nothing left.

How about some pictures and videos of the various "Animal Olympics" being held at zoos around the world this weekend and through the rest of summer? Happy Friday.

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Canada Travel / Travel Delays / Airlines / Airline News / Air Canada / WestJet / → All Tags

Canada is Now a Little Bit Nicer to Their Airplane Passengers

It’s now the law up in Canada to be really nice to your passengers if you’re running an airline.

The Canadian Transportation Agency has ordered some of the country’s biggest carriers to increase compensation for passengers who suffer from screwed up travel plans. That means airlines like WestJet and Air Canada need to raise the amount of money offered up to passengers with delayed or canceled flights. It’s the same thing for those who are forced into a later flight by getting bumped from their original itinerary.

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LCCs / Air Canada / Airlines / Airline News / New Routes / Canada Travel / → All Tags

Air Canada's New Cheapie Airline May Fly from Vancouver Next Year

When it comes to low-cost carriers it seems that everybody and their brother is looking to cash in on the low fare and low frills craze. We heard that Air Canada was discussing this idea up in their corporate boardroom, but now there’s a little bit more information about what they’re thinking to do and where they're doing it.

Air Canada has their eyes on Asia, and if all goes according to plan they’ll be connecting plenty of Canadians to the East while saving them plenty of Loonies. It sounds like the base of the new airline could be in Vancouver, which kind of makes sense, as the city is a whole lot closer to spots in Japan and China than Montreal or Toronto.

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Foreign Grocery Friday / Food Travel / Asia Travel / Britain Travel / Europe Travel / Canada Travel / → All Tags

Foreign Grocery Friday: Exotic Potato Chips up the Wazoo

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

If there's one thing we've learned during international travels far and wide, it's that potato chips are the universal snack of choice. As is to be expected, most of the creative flavors have roots in English cuisine, as the empire today is less "for queen and country" and more "for baked or ripples."

Well SmarterTravel has done their homework on this very important topic of chip domination, discovering what they name the 15 Craziest Potato Chip Flavors Around the World. Though we could easily supplant these flavors just off the top of our head (we ate Unagi Kabayaki, Salmon Sushi and Mong Kok BBQ sausage-flavor chips just last week), let's take a look:

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Theme Parks / Amusement Parks / Roller Coasters / Canada Travel / → All Tags

Screaming Starts This Week on Canada's Newest, Largest Roller Coaster

We knew that our neighbors to the north were up to no good with their latest roller coaster, and now the time has finally arrived for coaster crazies to take it for a spin.

It seems like quite some time since we first heard of the country’s biggest and baddest coaster, but it’s all going to be worth it when it makes its debut later this week. Christmas comes early for coaster fans this year—May 6 to be specific—as that’s when Leviathan is set to debut at Canada’s Wonderland.

CBC News got a sneak peek at the new ride—see the video above—and it’s clear that this thing means serious business. The roughly 306-foot drop looks pretty intense even from the comfort of your couch, and let’s not even begin to discuss the 80-degree drop angle.

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Photo Gallery / Thanatourism / Titanic / Halifax Travel / Death / Canada Travel / Nova Scotia Travel / → All Tags

The Titanic Graveyard Isn't in New York or Southampton. It's in Canada.

Going to visit the largest burial site of those who died in the Titanic ship disaster while on a cruise probably isn't the best idea, but then you think of something better to do while practically fogged in at Halifax's harbour. We took a bus out to Fairlawn Cemetery, which definitely isn't near downtown Halifax but more on the edge of a regular neighborhood. You'd never guess that inside the modest gates lay 121 victims, some still unidentified 100 years after the ship hit the iceberg and sunk on its maiden transatlantic voyage.

Fairlawn is open during normal daylight hours and, on a typical day, one bus tour will be followed by another bus tour stopping to visit the site. The Titanic portion of the cemetery consists of three rows of graves that mostly match, save for a few whose families purchased individual tombstones for their loved ones. All death dates are the same: April 15, 1912, though the ship hit the iceberg on the 14th.

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