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Edmonton International Airport (EIA/YEG)

YEG is an excellent airport overall in terms of user experience. It's big enough that it's got a decent amount of amenities (quite a few dining options, big seating areas, lots of bathrooms and places to fill up water bottles, etc), but isn't so big that it feels super crowded like YYC or YVR. Definitely my favorite airport in Western Canada, though it's harder for those other airports (YYC and YVR) as they have a lot more traffic and smaller airports feed a lot of connecting travel into them. The thing that sucks about this arrangement, as anyone who's flown internationally semi-frequently will tell you is that flying out of Edmonton usually requires one or more connections to get anywhere that isn't in Canada or in the western US (sometimes even then you need connections). Edmonton is sort of treated like a 2nd tier airport by a lot of airlines who put all their longer flights through Calgary and consider Alberta covered.

I feel like airlines should start seeing Alberta how it actually is: a bi-centric province, with two roughly equally sized cities. They should be splitting major routes roughly evenly between the two cities, which would ease traffic at YYC and give YEG a few more important flights and get the airport up to speed with what it should be for a city of its size.
 
erudyk_29 said:
YEG is an excellent airport overall in terms of user experience. It's big enough that it's got a decent amount of amenities (quite a few dining options, big seating areas, lots of bathrooms and places to fill up water bottles, etc), but isn't so big that it feels super crowded like YYC or YVR. Definitely my favorite airport in Western Canada, though it's harder for those other airports (YYC and YVR) as they have a lot more traffic and smaller airports feed a lot of connecting travel into them. The thing that sucks about this arrangement, as anyone who's flown internationally semi-frequently will tell you is that flying out of Edmonton usually requires one or more connections to get anywhere that isn't in Canada or in the western US (sometimes even then you need connections). Edmonton is sort of treated like a 2nd tier airport by a lot of airlines who put all their longer flights through Calgary and consider Alberta covered.

I feel like airlines should start seeing Alberta how it actually is: a bi-centric province, with two roughly equally sized cities. They should be splitting major routes roughly evenly between the two cities, which would ease traffic at YYC and give YEG a few more important flights and get the airport up to speed with what it should be for a city of its size.
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I agree that I wish the airlines would look at both cities but unfortunately they do not. It’s Calgary and the rest of the province. Even our provincial government seems to look at the province that way. What I wish more than anything is that us Edmonton customers would punish those airlines for this thinking. It drives me absolutely nuts that most people I know have no issues travelling through CGY and worse yet most have no issues even driving to Cgy for flights skipping YEG altogether. I just booked a flight to Dubai with a direct flight through Amsterdam and paid about $500 more for the tickets than if I connected through CGY. It sounds stupid but it’s money well spent for me. I know everyone won’t feel that way but it makes me feel like less of a hypocrite if I never ever to go through Cgy. It’s not even an option for me. I’ll fly internationally out of any city in NA before I fly out of YYC.
 
FrankRizza said:
I agree that I wish the airlines would look at both cities but unfortunately they do not. It’s Calgary and the rest of the province. Even our provincial government seems to look at the province that way. What I wish more than anything is that us Edmonton customers would punish those airlines for this thinking. It drives me absolutely nuts that most people I know have no issues travelling through CGY and worse yet most have no issues even driving to Cgy for flights skipping YEG altogether. I just booked a flight to Dubai with a direct flight through Amsterdam and paid about $500 more for the tickets than if I connected through CGY. It sounds stupid but it’s money well spent for me. I know everyone won’t feel that way but it makes me feel like less of a hypocrite if I never ever to go through Cgy. It’s not even an option for me. I’ll fly internationally out of any city in NA before I fly out of YYC.
Click to expand...
When I flew to Singapore last summer I was luckily able to avoid going through Calgary (YEG-SFO-SIN on the way there, SIN-HND-SEA-YEG, on the way back). Flying to Calgary is such a pain, you have to go through all the security and general shenanigan's of air travel, and then are only in the air for like 25 minutes.
 
erudyk_29 said:
When I flew to Singapore last summer I was luckily able to avoid going through Calgary (YEG-SFO-SIN on the way there, SIN-HND-SEA-YEG, on the way back). Flying to Calgary is such a pain, you have to go through all the security and general shenanigan's of air travel, and then are only in the air for like 25 minutes.
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In 2017 connected through Calgary YYC to China 🇨🇳 when Hainan Airlines flew between Beijing PEK- YYC. It was an ok 👌 experience. But me & my family mostly connect in Vancouver YVR or Toronto YYZ usually we when travel & only sometimes Calgary YYC (if) need be.

Yes definitely connecting in other cities can be tough, during delays/weather✅.
 
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FrankRizza said:
I agree that I wish the airlines would look at both cities but unfortunately they do not. It’s Calgary and the rest of the province. Even our provincial government seems to look at the province that way. What I wish more than anything is that us Edmonton customers would punish those airlines for this thinking. It drives me absolutely nuts that most people I know have no issues travelling through CGY and worse yet most have no issues even driving to Cgy for flights skipping YEG altogether. I just booked a flight to Dubai with a direct flight through Amsterdam and paid about $500 more for the tickets than if I connected through CGY. It sounds stupid but it’s money well spent for me. I know everyone won’t feel that way but it makes me feel like less of a hypocrite if I never ever to go through Cgy. It’s not even an option for me. I’ll fly internationally out of any city in NA before I fly out of YYC.
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Yes,I have no problem or issue going through, Calgary YYC (if) I need to. I will be doing a Western Canada 🇨🇦 Bus 🚌 trip on Rider Express from Edmonton YEG- Vancouver YVR via YYC this Sunday April 14. Coming back April 19th is via Calgary too.

There’s no nonstop direct bus services between YEG- YVR since Greyhound left. It involves a connection in YYC.
 
erudyk_29 said:
YEG is an excellent airport overall in terms of user experience. It's big enough that it's got a decent amount of amenities (quite a few dining options, big seating areas, lots of bathrooms and places to fill up water bottles, etc), but isn't so big that it feels super crowded like YYC or YVR. Definitely my favorite airport in Western Canada, though it's harder for those other airports (YYC and YVR) as they have a lot more traffic and smaller airports feed a lot of connecting travel into them. The thing that sucks about this arrangement, as anyone who's flown internationally semi-frequently will tell you is that flying out of Edmonton usually requires one or more connections to get anywhere that isn't in Canada or in the western US (sometimes even then you need connections). Edmonton is sort of treated like a 2nd tier airport by a lot of airlines who put all their longer flights through Calgary and consider Alberta covered.

I feel like airlines should start seeing Alberta how it actually is: a bi-centric province, with two roughly equally sized cities. They should be splitting major routes roughly evenly between the two cities, which would ease traffic at YYC and give YEG a few more important flights and get the airport up to speed with what it should be for a city of its size.
Click to expand...
This is a great summary of EIA and my overall experience with it. I really think it's one of the most underrated airports in Canada for user experience and is quite spacious, clean and has decent amenities, especially when you compare it with an airport like YOW (which is quite small and the lack of amenities always drives me crazy when I go visit there).

I really wish airlines would start treating Edmonton at par with Calgary. It's honestly quite astonishing sometimes the growth and perseverance Edmonton experiences given it has everyone working against it.
 
I do feel it is a sign of the small mindedness of some of the national business and other supposed thought leaders in central Canada that they can't somehow fathom there being more than one major city in Alberta.

To its credit, Calgary has marketed itself well to those with this blind spot and parochial and dated view of the west.
 
Munanyo said:
I really wish airlines would start treating Edmonton at par with Calgary. It's honestly quite astonishing sometimes the growth and perseverance Edmonton experiences given it has everyone working against it.
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To be fair, it is also very much on EIA and the work they do/need to do on reaching out to airlines, which according to the most recent master plan to 2048, there is little ambition to grow connectivity to Edmonton.

In their latest master plan published this year, it very much reads like EIA is trying to be Canada's largest regional airport as the report shows a substantial portion of the projected growth to 2048 is domestic, a minimal amount of growth is transborder, and almost no growth is international.

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If EIA isnt planning to bring YEG to the world, why would airlines go out of their way to connect YEG to the world?
 
EIA is just reflecting the attitude of the airlines. They will do what is best for them not what is best for the airport. Having two destinations so close to each other does not sense to their bottom line so unless you can convince them to do what is in the best interest of Edmonton and EIA the status quote will remain. Maybe EIA can convince the UCP to hand over $75mil to incentivize more direct connections. 🤨
 
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