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by Wildflower-nut on Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:29 pm
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What is the story on calm air to churchill.  Are they serious about 20lb carryon?
 

by Brian E. Small on Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:21 pm
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Wildflower-nut wrote:What is the story on calm air to churchill.  Are they serious about 20lb carryon?
Here's what I can tell you from personal experience.  I flew with them from Winnipeg summer of '17 and assume things are the same now.  At that time, they were flying two different aircraft to Churchill...............one was a 737 and then a smaller jet of some sort.  You can probably look it up on their website.  Anyway, I purposely chose flights on the larger of the two aircraft.  The thinking being they may be less weight conscious on the larger aircraft.  None of my carry on was weighed nor really looked at all that hard.  Neither flight was full so that may have been a factor too.  The other benefit of the 737 was also a significantly shorter flight.
 

by Wildflower-nut on Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:06 pm
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I expect a 737
 

by Charlie Woodrich on Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:32 pm
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I flew them in 2017 from Winnipeg to Churchill.  They weighted my carry on.  But rail service was closed then and they were hauling lots of stuff to the town.  I believe the rail service has resumed so maybe things are more relaxed.
 

by Wildflower-nut on Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:07 pm
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beginning to sound like prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
 

by ricardo00 on Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:40 pm
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Wildflower-nut wrote:beginning to sound like prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
  Always a good idea with any airline!  The 3 times I flew on them (always in winter), they weighed my bags and gave me a hard time.  One time they even left one of my checked bags in Winnipeg due to the plane being too heavy (it came about 6 hours after my arrival in Churchill)!  Always ended up on the smaller plane where the overhead bins were extremely small.  So my recommendation is try to slim down as much of your carry on weight as you can and where the clothes you want for the first day there (though I did see one time they tried to weigh the coat that another passenger was wearing (they had put stuff in the pockets). 
 

by E.J. Peiker on Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:00 pm
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ricardo00 wrote:
Wildflower-nut wrote:beginning to sound like prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
  Always a good idea with any airline!  The 3 times I flew on them (always in winter), they weighed my bags and gave me a hard time.  One time they even left one of my checked bags in Winnipeg due to the plane being too heavy (it came about 6 hours after my arrival in Churchill)!  Always ended up on the smaller plane where the overhead bins were extremely small.  So my recommendation is try to slim down as much of your carry on weight as you can and where the clothes you want for the first day there (though I did see one time they tried to weigh the coat that another passenger was wearing (they had put stuff in the pockets). 
That must have been in the Dash 8 days - certainly wouldn't be a problem on a 737 as it wouldn't even need half fuel for the roundtrip plus fuel for an alternate.
 

by DMcLarty on Tue Sep 17, 2019 2:24 pm
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Unless you are with a charter /tour group that arranges flights the Calm Air regular flight is a 737 – 400 combo

There is a stated 20 Lb carry on as well as two bags at 50 Lb limits on the jet. A total of 120 lbs.  That being said if you are in the check in line you will see what looks like people moving a complete house checking in, large containers, suitcases and tubs, many that go Thud as they hit the scales. Most have 3 -4 pieces of stuff.  The  jet services all of the northern communities not just Churchill and most travelers are returning with shopping items everything from diapers to lettuce in their bags. (hint -There is a scale by the check in area just off to the side by one of the big pillars that we use to check our weights before we tape up our containers)

The key is be early, be nice, look smart. If you are late you will be in the line of heavy checkers and this starts to frustrate the clerks as there is so  much that people bring. The check in folks are like most dependent on the day and time.

These days the flights are full both ways with northern travelers going to and from all of the Kivalliq region to Winnipeg. 

Our last trips have been good for carry  on 1 regular 20 lb carry suitcase as well as our personal piece which is a back pack. My back pack with cameras laptop is well over 20 lbs. and I just shuffle it to the side. The regular sized suit case goes above my back pack under the seat. 

Doug
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Lethbridge Alberta    
Rankin Inlet Nunavut Canada
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