Air Canada review - by Jean-Louis Vergaert

4 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Tokyo-Toronto-Bogota, Business Class. 5 stars for Tokyo to Toronto: it is still an old A340, but the old-style seats are very comfortable, even more in my view than the fake "flat" beds where you slide to the floor. Food outstanding (complete royal Kaiseki set) and service very friendly. IFE was previous generation, small screen and no AVOD. 2 stars for Toronto to Bogota: although Bogota is a 6 hours flight, AC shamelessly uses B767 configured for North American short haul flights, with business class seats which are old, have no row space and no incline - at all! I know AC claims that they are refurbishing their whole fleet, but for a 6 hours flight we don't need flat seats, just decently confortable ones and here AC treats premium customers with total disdain. As for the food, a decent steak but only a salad and chocolate for desert. Service was good.

Air Canada review - by E Shepherd

29 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Honolulu to Vancouver. After being told at the Honolulu airport we'd be served a hot meal aboard, we were instead offered a cold, wrapped bunwich, either chicken or roast beef. Thick, dry submarine type buns. Nothing else came with them - no pickle, little bag or chips, nothing. I think the staff were embarrassed, to tell the truth. What is going on with AC's food service? We are not mentioning the cold air from the airconditioning - we asked for a blanket, but there were none, we were told. Were told too, that we'd have to buy a pillow if we wanted one. Very lousy service, to say the least.

Air Canada review - by R Marston

24 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-FLL-YYZ. Departure 1 hour late as plane was still in maintenance. Then became trying to find a plane. Plane towed over to the stand was A320 not the published A321. This caused some issues with people who had paid for specific seats (the smaller plane had around 8 less rows). The A320 had the new refurbished interior with seat-back AVOD. This made for a much more pleasant flight. We pre-paid for the in-flight snacks so on both flights we were approached by staff early to allow us to have a choice of the options. Very nice touch. Return flight on a A321 which was also refurbished with AVOD. Check in at Fort Lauderdale was chaotic and slow as check-in luggage belts were down. Arrived into YYZ 20 minutes early. As noted by other persons flying on a refurbished plane makes for a much more pleasant experience especially with children as they have their own channels to watch. Overall a good set of flights with pleasant, attentive cabin staff.

Air Canada review - by Rowen Baker

21 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Santiago Chile - Toronto on AC 093 on 18 January. Aircraft was a 767 with the updated interior. Traveled in Economy and found accommodation, whilst not generous, was adequate for this long haul flight. IFE did not work, I have traveled on six AC long haul flights recently and the IFE did not work properly on any of them. Overall the flight was satisfactory, although the experience was degraded by the deplorable check-in at Santiago. Poorly managed, took almost an hour to complete this formality.

Air Canada review - by R Gamba

21 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

YYC-YVR-HKG return Executive/Executive First. No complaints about domestic legs of the trip as they utilized newer aircraft with the new seat configuration. On the international legs however, seats were the old style - comfortable but not much room to roam around when the seat beside you is fully reclined. Food can be improved. Wine selection mediocre at best. I have been flying with Air Canada for a long time now but the cheese course has almost never changed over the years. Desserts were OK. Air Canada flight crew attentive, polite, and always there when you need something.

Air Canada review - by P Downer

17 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Honolulu-Vancouver return over Dec/Jan holiday break. Tired old Boeing 767, even more tired cabin staff - had to pay for alcoholic drinks and apparently as of this week, Air Canada make you pay for your meal too! The meal I ate might have been the worst airline meal I have eaten. Worse than a budget airline which at least usually have newish aircraft and bright, vital cabin attendants. Avoid this airline wherever possible!

Air Canada review - by D Sorel

17 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

YUL-YVR-YYJ and YCD-YVR-YUL. Checked-in with express kiosk and took 30 sec. Old 767, rather shabby, no personal IFE on YUL-YVR leg. Service ok but a better team work from the crew would have made it better. Spoke to FA in French but always replied to me in English - so, what's the point of saying Air Canada is proud to serve you in the language of your choice if it's not true! I find it cheap from them that we have to pay for our meal for a 5hr 25 min flight. I remember the good old days when even a flight between YUL and YYZ offered some meals! Flying back, a 767 but this one configured with international seats and less old. Great service from FA's and no problem being served and understood in French, my mother tongue.

Air Canada review - by E Hansen

17 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

We flew Air Canada's new service from Sydney to Toronto in Economy - the flight which once stopped in Honolulu is direct to Vancouver then onto Toronto. A new, personal TV fitted, 777 is now used on the route. I was impressed with seating and service. However, food quality was disappointing. Three meals were served: dinner, a snack and beakfast. The snack was a sandwich, and meals only came with salad, a roll and some fruit. Not much food really. The entertainment system operates by touch screen. Unfortunately the whole system had to be reset several times as some passengers systems were not working - also, many options such as games and news are not available. In Vancouver we had to descend and go through Canadian customs and reboard the same flight. This time however many new passengers had joined the service as a domestic flight. To our annoyance we found that even though this flight carried the same flight number it now became like any other domestic Air Canada flight: "no frills". Hardly what we expected from a full fare airline: no meal service, no blanket and pillow. We, and others, were tired from the previous flight and had not expected this. We could purchase the pillow and blanket and food but none of us had Canadian money. Kinks need to be sorted out with the entertainment system and also make passengers aware they are not getting full service Vancouver to Toronto flight - even though they are exactly the same aeroplane where they had just received food and blankets on the previous leg.

Air Canada review - by J Perry

15 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

San Juan to Toronto direct flight, full J class fare, priority bag tags. All 4 pieces of checked luggage lost (in fact we understand all of the so-called priority bags were lost). Air Canada baggage claim service distinctly unhelpful. Different answers every day, disorganized, long waits, no call-backs, even for Elite customers. A terrible experience with very poor customer service.

Air Canada review - by S Paiement

13 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

YEG-YQB via YOW & YUL on 29 Dec 07. First leg of the trip was okay : YEG to YUL on A320, apart the usual pay for your food when you are in cattle class and not in business. YUL to YQB on a Dash1 and the fun began. Departure is for 1800 hrs with boarding by 1730 hrs. At 1745 hrs, pilot, flight attendant and ground crew in discussion. Being seat 1A, I was able to hear everything : 3 luggages, which failed to make the earlier connection were on our flight, which put us overweight. After a recount, the pilots decided that 2 unlucky passengers "won" the "you are being bumped from this flight". This took a good 25 mins to figure out, which in turn made us miss the take off window and we had to wait an extra 10 mins. The two were foreigns nationals, so I guess they will keep a good souvenir of their trip to Canada. Return YQB-YEG via YUL & YOW. Bumped from my normal flight to an earlier one (no complaint since YQB is being renovated and has spartan facilities. KBL is better). Unfortunately, I was bumped from 1A to 10C, which is the back of the plane in the row. YUL-YEG via YOW was on a A319, which means no individual entertainment and the usual pay for food in cattle class. Overall, I hate flying Air Canada. On international flights, I will fly the airline of my destination country and domestic, anything else. Fortunately, Westjet will have YEG to YQB in May.

Air Canada review - by S Curtis

13 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

St. John's, NL (YYT) to Vancouver (YVR)7. The crew admitted to having arrived late at YYT from their hotel (the first flight in the morning) and then preparing the wrong aircraft once they got there. Not surprisingly, our flight arrived late in Montreal. However, our connecting flight was still at the gate when we got there. One employee said we could board but her colleague pointed out that our seats had already been given to stand-by passengers. Those employees claimed to have had no knowledge that I and another passenger were travelling from YYT and booked on the flight from Montreal. We were told to go to the passenger service counter to be rebooked on a later flight only to find no Air Canada personnel there. Eventually an employee arrived and we were put on a flight departing 5 hours later. Air Canada 'passenger service' later attributed the delay at YYT to a storm in Ontario. On the return flight YVR to YHZ we were delayed while Air Cda arranged to have luggage that had not been loaded on a previous flight put on our aircraft. Our stopover in Calgary was extended by about 90 minutes because after all the passengers were aboard the pilot announced there was no co-pilot available. The video entertainment system didn't work on that flight. When I finally arrived at YYT from YHZ (another aircraft with an entertainment system that didn't work) I discovered that my suitcase had not been loaded (I later learned that for some reason it had been taken off the aircraft in Calgary). Air Canada's passenger service consists largely of denying responsibility for anything. It is also worth noting that there were problems with 3 of the four aircraft I had the misfortune of being on.

Air Canada review - by John Kotsopoulos

10 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Heathrow-Ottawa-Heathrow. Air Canada is one of the weaker links of the Star Alliance. Both legs were disappointing with different, but equally dated, 767 aircraft. What irked me in particular was the horrendous inflight entertainment. On the outgoing leg, the image on the large movie screen was so out of focus that viewing was virtually impossible. On the return leg, our position near the back of the plane, plus the lack of any drop-down monitors, once again made it essentially impossible to see anything on the distant movie screen. Finally, at Heathrow, the Air Canada ticket desk mocked my wife and I for daring to request a window seat during the busy Christmas season. How audacious of us!

Air Canada review - by W Tien

9 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Seoul Incheon to YVR in Executive First, updated 767-300 with lie-flat beds. Seats very comfortable and video excellent. The wine selection was excellent but meal service was slightly disappointing, particularly since we had just come off a connection with Asiana, whose food was terrific. Service courteous and efficient - lavatories were well-stocked with travel-size amenities. All in all, I would give it 4.5 stars - 5 for the seats and service and 4 for the food.

Air Canada review - by B Harlow

8 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ to YVR. Being the first day of the year and for most part, a snow day, we left for the airport with plenty of time. Phoned AC and was told everything is on time, arrived at airport and checked in, everything is on time, arrived at the gate and boarded the plane, and everything is on time. We had no pilot! Air Canada did not have a pilot and did not know where one was. They could not use the PA because only the pilot can turn it on. They could not turn on a movie, because the pilot had to turn it on. Well over half of the plane could not hear the movie when it did come on. Not once did Air Canada tell us what the real issue was. To this day, we have no word. How can it be fair (or secure) to board a plane when you don’t’ have a pilot? The people could have stayed in the airport where they could have had something to eat or picked up something to read and be warm. Air Canada is not a passenger friendly airline.

Air Canada review - by M Kates

8 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

On January 1, 2008, some 274 unsuspecting passengers boarded Air Canada flight 857 at Heathrow Airport bound for Toronto. Approximately an hour after the scheduled 1:00 takeoff, the in-flight entertainment suddenly self-extinguished. Seconds later, flight attendents were recalled from their beverage service, ordered to return to the galley. This was followed by a grim report from the captain: "There is an odour of smoke in the cockpit and we have no choice but to return to London. We should be at Heathrow in about an hour." Flying in complete darkness, the aircraft returned to Heathrow at approximately 2:30 pm. Passengers were left waiting for two hours while the crew and maintenance workers debated the fate of the flight. Finally, at 4:30, flight 857 was cancelled. Some passengers were rerouted on an Air Canada flight departing at 5:30, but only those travelling in first class. After descending a rickety staircase, the huddled masses were clustered onto buses bound for a holding room. They were then told to clear customs and collect their baggage before boarding another set of buses for a budget airport motel for the evening. Some passengers waited as long as 90 minutes for the bus and another 60 to check in. A customer services representative was dispatched to the motel to arrange any connecting flights, but left many passengers disappointed. One reported being more upset after speaking with him than before. The passengers were instructed to assemble in the lobby at 5:00 the next morning to board flight 2857 at 8:00 am. They arrived at Heathrow only to find no Air Canada staff on duty. After checking in and clearing security, rumours circulated that they would be boarding the same derelict plane as the previously aborted flight. They were reassured that the maintenance problem had been resolved, but in reality, the aircraft was inspected but nothing had been found. After a short delay to await special meals, the flight took off - again in darkness and without heat. Eight minutes after takeoff, the plane made an acute right turn, followed by an announcement that they were again returning to Heathrow where we were welcomed by the blaring siren of three fire engines. By now, the passengers had lost their patience. Any pleas for an explanation were replied with a glib and irrelevant statistic of Air Canada wishing to preserve its reputation as the world's safest airline. Buses were again summoned to collect the frustrated passengers. They were taken to a waiting area devoid of toilets or telephones. All other flights departing Heathrow had an explicit time and gate. For flight 2857, the only information provided asked passengers to please stand by. Finally, Gate 42 was confirmed for the departure, but where was the crew? The original crew was frightened of their horrific bunch and walked off the job. Air Canada had no choice but to cherry pick crew members from other flights as they landed in London. Finally, at approximately 2:00 pm on January 2, Air Canada flight 2857 finally departed London, arriving safely in Toronto at 4:30 pm local time. It was a journey that for those on board, will never be forgotten.

Air Canada review - by A Perl

8 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

NRT - YVR in J on an old 767 in November 2007. Crew 1 hour late arriving. No pre-flight service on account of late departure, or so the crew claimed. Mediocre food and wines; no at seat video - only the poor quality main screen at front of cabin. If I'd paid for this flight (instead of booking on points) I'd have demanded a refund.

Air Canada review - by V Tong

30 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-LHR;CDG-YYZ. Recently flew AC out of YYZ to LHR. Was booked on the new 777, received a call that the 777 was changed and departing 2 hours later and whether I would like to change flights. I agreed, checked in online (which still showed the 777 seat map) only to discover they had changed it again to a 767. My original seat which was midway in the last section was now in the 2nd last row of the plane! IFE didn't work for the 1st 2 hours of the flight to London and the food was bad, which is surprising, because I have never before had complaints about AC's food. CDG-YYZ was on the oldest 767 in AC's fleet. The main-screen was broken (no video or audio) and the seats were so old they didn't have a headrest! Needless to say, it was a restless 8.5 hrs to Toronto. Air Canada needs to speed up the refurbishment of its older planes, especially on routes such as Paris to Toronto! Until I'm convinced that a minimum level of service is guaranteed on its flights I will think twice before flying Air Canada internationally.

Air Canada review - by W Foran

30 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-YWG. Web Check in was smooth and I was through security and at my gate less than twelve minutes after entering Terminal One - on one of the two busiest days of the flying year. AC's Embraer 175 is a reasonable way to travel in economy. The seats are a workable pitch and width for even the large sized passenger. IFE on the back of seats supply the traveler with scores of movies and other electronic fare. The return on an A319 was more claustrophobic , but offers the same diversion of video on demand. Web-Check in at YWG was easy and smooth. AC loses marks for trying to be the Walmart of the air and shamelessly hawking food and other goods. AC is not even close to being a cut rate airline, so why offer so little to the passengers?

Air Canada review - by P Bonsell

30 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Frankfurt to Toronto, Economy class. Flying with a 2.5 year old child is always a difficult task. My wife and I fly to Germany from Toronto twice a year and have flown virtually every airline available on this route. The crew were very observant to our needs. When my son began to cry an attendant arrived to assist, with consideration for both my situation and the other passengers trying to rest. I also noticed other families with kids receiving the same great service. Maybe this was an exceptionally rare occasion, but with no other airline have I yet experienced this and have even felt a little bit frowned upon with some airlines for having a child on the plane. I must note that the food wasn't really 2.5 year old friendly, we tend to bring something with us that he likes, but this is the same with every airline, the last thing you should ever expect flying economy is good food!

Air Canada review - by P Cross

27 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Providenciales - Toronto - Calgary - Business Class - Both legs on refurbished Airbus (A319/A321) aircraft with comfortable seating and seatback AVOD IFE (excellent addiditon to AC) meal selections were good and serving sizes ample. Stopover for three hours in Toronto spent in the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge - hot soup selections, bread rolls, self serve bar (liquor and salad) fresh fruit and more magazine selections than anyone could possibly read. Overall excellent experience and a real change in look and feel for Air Canada.

Air Canada review - by Bill Male

23 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Vancouver to London with stopover in Toronto. The flight from Vancouver was on an old tired plane, the staff only interested in selling onboard catering products. Maple Leaf lounge in Toronto is stark; the food selection was poor, a few lettuce leaves and a selection of cold vegetables. The flight from Toronto to London slightly better however the onboard catering was possibly the worst I have ever encountered, can be summed up as nothing less than disgusting. If you choose to fly Air Canada you should seriously consider taking a packed meal.

Air Canada review - by Ken Price

20 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

My wife and I flew from Toronto to Charlotte on 12/18. Service at Toronto was deplorable! There were 3 people at the check-in counter, one of whom was involved with a passenger who had some sort of problem. For 1 hour the line of passengers grew longer and longer as this passenger talked on the phone, removed items from obviously overweight luggage and engaged in conversation with the agent. The other two agents at the counter were consulted repeatedly by the agent "checking-in" the problem passenger, thus delaying the other passengers. When the line of passengers grew to 50 or more, Air Canada finally sent another agent to assist, and the agent attending the problem passenger took them away, to who knows where. We stood in line for 1¼ hours to drop off luggage, which took exactly 2 minutes, once we managed to actually get to an agent. Very poor organization, and a lack of supervision by the people at Air Canada.

Air Canada review - by M Kroeker

20 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YWG-YVR-NRT-BKK Economy. YWG-YVR new E190, excellent flight no issues. YVR-NRT arefurbished 767-300, excellent service. Crew amazing, food standard airline food. IFE exceptional and up to date. Bags were checked straight through to Bangkok, everything arrived on time and in one piece. NRT-BKK operated by United, dreadful airline, old aircraft and a packed flight on old 747.

Air Canada review - by S Habib

12 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYC to YVR. Bought a Tango (E Class) economy ticket. My original flight AC223 was cancelled. No passenger onboard that flight was notified of this cancellation. No calls, not even an email. Apparently all passengers accidentally discovered the fact while browsing the YYC airport website curiously. Old, worn-out 767-300 for this flight. Boarding was late by over 20 minutes. The flight was scheduled to take off at 1810 local time, but took off at 1840 instead. Rock hard, narrow seats, minimal legspace and extremely noisy aircraft with lot of vibration coming into cabin when the engines increased revolution. Usual Air Canada snacks and drink on board for refreshment. The aircraft had in-flight entertainment screen behind all seats, which the crew tried to activate but started to work properly only 20 minutes before landing to YVR. Cabin crew demonstrating flight safety procedures before take off did not mention anything about turning off communication equipment. The biggest issue with AC was a complete lack of responsibility, accountability, and a total absence of service or care for customers. Many people missed international connecting flights because of the cancellation without notification. It is strange they are still in business.

Air Canada review - by E Bellows

12 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-YVR Economy. Old 767, unrefurbished. Jam-packed, unable to get decent seats despite being in LHR for 9 hours coming out of Africa. Ended up in last row, by the washrooms, which wafted us in chemical air every time someone opened the door. Food overcooked and limp. Refreshment cart a rare sight. IFE on distant screens that could hardly be seen from the last row. But why bother? The movies were older than the airplane. FAs okay, but challenged by the long and full flight. Worst international flight in years. The lesson flying internationally with AC is that if you are going to a secondary destination like Calgary or Ottawa, where AC doesn't really have to compete, you can expect an old worn-out aircraft. I really expected a better one for Vancouver, though. We then hopped to Calgary and Ottawa before flying back with AC to London. None of these flights could be rated as better than Poor to Fair. This is surprising considering that we fly in and out of Africa a lot. We have been on many airlines in and around the continent - BA, Emirates, KLM, Swiss, South African, even Kenyan and Ethiopian offer better planes and better in-flight experience than down at the heels Air Canada.

Air Canada review - by Samir Akhavan

12 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Toronto to Phoenix. A319 in the air for 5 hours and 18 minutes, the longest I've experienced, having traveled this route many times. Pretty decent service and an excellent brunch was provided by an efficient cabin crew who had never learnt how to smile - very dry. The aircraft was in desperate need of an upgrade; this process at Air Canada is taking too long.

Air Canada review - by Sammy Li

11 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YVR-YYZ-SFO in economy. I was wondering if I boarded a LCC, but I paid what a "conventional airline" was charging. YVR-YZ is domestic, so no free hot food, though it flew across at least 4 time zone. Even the "international" YYZ-SFO had no free hot food served. Air Canada, a traditional airline that behaves like budget.

Air Canada review - by F Trevel

11 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Business class FRA to YYC. The experience started out by us being contacted shortly before boarding and informed that my original window seat (my spouse was in the aisle seat) in the front compartment was broken and that there were no other seats available in that cabin so we would be seated in the last row of the smaller mini cabin, which is directly ahead of the economy section - these seats were in the middle row and were the old business class configuration and not the newer sleepers. We had cold air blowing on us from both sides of the plane which was quite uncomfortable as the middle rows are completely exposed to these vents. The attendants did offer their assistance to help rectify the situation by trying to adjust the temp a number of times however it was still a rather chilly flight for us. I was thankful to have a blanket and pillow. We were very pleased with all the service received and the staff were very solicitous and professional. They were a very experienced and mature crew and it showed. Meals served were of high quality and very tasty. Had it not been for the excellent crew and cuisine this would have been a rather unsatisfactory experience.

Air Canada review - by M Doyle

4 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-LHR-YYZ in Executive First. Outbound flight on one of the new 777's. I am a big man (both width and height) and found the new pods comfortable and private. My only issues being no where to comfortably put your elbows when sitting up, and the hardness of the bed when fully reclined (they really need to add a 2nd blanket to act like a comforter). Alas, the return leg was on one of the very tired 763's. To make matters worse it was one of the awful ones leased from Varig. The seats have to be the most uncomfortable contraptions ever installed. Service wise, you know what to expect when you fly AC and in this respect there were no surprises. But there was one huge disappointment - a small one perhaps, but one that nonetheless should not happen. On the return leg I asked for more butter for my 2nd dinner bun - the look of horror I got in return was astounding. And then they informed me that there were no additional pads available. I have never had this happen before on any airline, even AC. All in all the flight on the 777 was comfortable and enjoyable. The return leg far less so. AC need to accelerate their refurbishment program for their aging 767's and hope there are no delays in delivery of their additional 777's.

Air Canada review - by Randall Lowry

4 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YHM-YUL-YHM Easy and efficient flights. Flying from Hamilton Airport is like taking the back roads vs the super highway, the super highway should be the best way there but usually isn't - the back roads are scenic, flexible, often faster and you meet nicer people along the way. Parking, check-in and boarding is a breeze in Hamilton, 5 minute taxi to the runway at most - 43 minutes in the air and then you're in Montreal. Same thing coming back - off the plane and 5 minutes later you're in your car and out of the parking lot. If you want to remember the days when flying was fun and not a high stress ordeal then give the small airports a try - YHM, YXU etc.

Air Canada review - by Rashed Chowdhury

23 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Montreal to Paris via Toronto outbound, and London to Toronto on the return, in economy class. The Toronto to Paris leg was enjoyable because of the spacious seats in economy class. However, the entertainment system, which the cabin crew praised on the PA system, had a quite limited choice of movies. The food was atrocious, and didn't at all go with the semi-luxurious decor of the plane. My wife got a vegetarian meal, which pretty-much consisted of over-spiced lentil soup, which even I (who grew up eating South Asian food) couldn't handle. My own meal was just bland and non-descript. I also found the cabin crew to be on the dour side.

Air Canada review - by Mike Davies

23 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YVR-YYZ-ATL return in executive class. Check in fast and efficient at Vancouver and in the lounge 10 minutes after arriving at airport. First leg in A330, great for this flight as has international seating, breakfast excellent and service throughout was fine. Second flight supposed to be CRJ 200 but was changed to 700. Return on EMB170 from ATL to YYZ, great cold meal and excellent service. Just one hour in Toronto spent in the lounge, good selection of snacks in the evening. Return to Vancouver in ancient 767 - 200, not particularly comfortable, but the service was fine and the meal this time was very good. All in all a good experience. Would have given 5 stars but for the old equipment on the last leg

Air Canada review - by Franco Iacovella

12 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YUL-YYZ-HKG return. B-777 Spacious and cabin interior lighting very soothing. Great service for a 15 hour flight. Loved the AVOD personal entertainment screen, the only problem mine did not work for about 11 hours on the way back and I asked the flight attendants a few times - no one could reset my screen

Air Canada review - by D Heng

12 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-FRA-BCN return Executive First on 777-300. The lay flat bed was perfect and food was abundant. Seats 6A, 6K, 11A and 11K are best because you get an extra corner of room. Service good but certainly not of the calibre of Singapore Airlines. The mid-cabin self-service bar wasn't as nice as I thought it would be. FRA-BCN leg on Lufthansa and seats were economy class seats with middle seat used as a drink console for business class.

Air Canada review - by Cedric Gauthier

12 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Flew business on A319 Montreal to San Francisco. Very good service. New aircraft with great interior. Very good food.

Air Canada review - by David MacMillan

9 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-YVR J class on refurbished 767-300 with flat seats - comfortable and private. Good ground handling both ends with quick baggage retrieval. Fairly attentive crew, good food and OK wines. On demand entertainment system worked well with sound cancelling earphones. YVR-LHR J class on unrefurbished 767-300 with freshened up cabin. Personal DVD machines available. Decent lounge in YVR.

Air Canada review - by M Labanich

3 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-PVG Executive First on A340. Good value for this route (ticket was 50% cheaper than AA or UAL direct from Chicago same date). Easy check in; lounge however, was very, very crowded. Old plane with tired cloth seats which were very worn and an outdated IFE system. Minimal offering of movies. Flight crew friendly & attentive but "tenured" crew on this prestigious route. Amenity kit adequate, but nothing special, as was the food. Seats are angled lie-flat, and do not have a privacy partition. On time flight and the price was great.

Air Canada review - by Christopher Adam

1 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Ottawa-Winnipeg return. The outbound flight was a CRJ-705, which offered a good inflight entertainment system at each seat. Unfortunately, CRJ 200 on the inbound flight offered no such entertainment. In- flight service on Air Canada remains dismal. Attendants do still offer free hot and cold drinks, but chocolate bars and bags of nuts are sold for $2. Many passengers may not mind paying a little more for a decent light meal or snack on a two hour flight, yet the offering on routes operated by AC Jazz is very limited. Whenever flying on Air Canada's domestic routes, it is well worth buying a few snacks at the airport, or dining before the flight.

Air Canada review - by J Vandenbroucke

1 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I travelled with a group of 10 persons with Air Canada. LHR-YOW : worn out interior in old B767, my seat couldn't recline, head phones didn't work, cabin crew indifferent, 4 pieces of baggage arrived only 48 hours later. YUL-FRA : mechanical problems discovered 1 hour before scheduled depart. No spare plane in YUL, 6.5 hours delay. Free orange juice and a piece of cold pizza at gate. Very old B767.

Air Canada review - by David MacMillan

28 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-LHR J class. New 777 with lie flat seating. Quick check in, busy lounge. Good service with well managed team. A few too many announcements which is typical of AC. Good food and interesting selection. Very good inflight entertainment and comfortable seats, good privacy and makes for quiet environment. Quick baggage in London. Much improved and AC transatlantic flight.

Air Canada review - by W Burrows

26 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YVR to LHR return in Business/Economy. Basically Air Canada's product is a gamble - if you get a new or refurbished aircraft, the experience is great and compares well to the competition. That said however, if you get one of the older mainstream aircraft, you've paid the same price for a lesser product. Unfortunately we had the older aircraft in both directions. Outbound in business was a rushed meal with no individual movies and a dirty cabin. Return was in economy with broken seats and an embarrassing selection of main screen movies. As an Elite member for five years and an Aeroplan member for 10 plus years, Air Canada have my loyalty. Please continue to earn it and provide a consistent product. I'm becoming less optimistically cautious in recommending Air Canada to my European and American colleagues. Finally - what is with the In-Charge flight attendants these days - shouldn't the person in this role represent the "best of the best" - both recent flights seemed like Air Canada was using anyone for this very visible and influential role.

Air Canada review - by C Trinder

23 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-YVR-LHR. Economy. Both flights on A330, can't understand why we had footrests on seats on way back, but not on way out, but they were very welcome. Slightly more legroom on return trip also (row 23) which was a bonus. Took off punctually and landed a little early at YVR, smooth flight, plenty of beverage runs, always good to see. Food dreadful, a feature I've come to expect from AC. FA's average, IFE pretty dire. That said, all I really require of an airline is that it gets me and my luggage from A to B safely, on time and with a modicum of comfort. Return flight boarded punctually, FA's more attentive, I have often found this to be the case on night flights, perhaps because a lot of pax are snoozing and the job's a lot easier! First meal pretty dreadful, but breakfast fine. As we gained so much time, we were inevitably stacked over LHR for a while and then had to wait for a gate, but we deplaned eventually about 35 minutes ahead of time. Not a bad experience.

Air Canada review - by R Calvo

18 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Seattle-Toronto-Halifax, Montreal-Toronto-Seattle. Flight crew varied from good to outstanding. Aircraft flown - A320, 767, A319 and EMB 190 and all except one of the A319s had the AVOD tv system which was nice. Not sure why the map feature was unavailable on every flight. Buy on board selections good enough for the length of each flight. Overall I feel that Air Canada does a good job in serving the needs of the flying public.

Air Canada review - by J Andrews

17 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-FRA. Ancient 767 with old seats and very indifferent crew. Pilot put seatbelt sign on and left on for long periods of time despite very clear air and no bumps (so crew could relax?). Largest disappointment was no individual entertainment systems in Business Class. Even worse is the one movie that was shown on the grainy cabin screen was Beetlejuice - released in 1988 !!

Air Canada review - by D Silverstone

30 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

FRA-YUL-LGA stuck on one of the non-updated 767's in coach on the leg from FRA to YUL -- I could swear the seat cushions dated back to the original launch (and they probably did). As worn and aged as the interior was, it was at least clean, and the service was very friendly. FA's were quiet, unobtrusive, and there in an instant if you called. Thankfully had no need for IFE, as I slept across the Atlantic. The updated 767's have personal TV's, but it's impossible (as far as I know) to tell which interior you'll have based on the plane designation. Due to ATC problems, my connecting flight was cancelled and I had to fly out the next day. Air Canada handled this very poorly, in some part due to a large event booking up a lot of the area hotel rooms that week. Although I was rebooked quickly and efficiently over the phone, the quest for accomodation was so discouraging that I simply booked a room for myself at my favorite local hotel and not deal with Air Canada for lodging. The next day, customs made me miss my (rebooked) flight, but an off-duty gate agent offered to help me and took a good 20 minutes of her time to not only re-book me, but also track down my luggage for me! Would that more airline employees took that sort of care of customers. Embraer E190 from YUL to LGA -- equipped with PTV's, but almost none of the channels worked on this flight.

Air Canada review - by Paul Browne

30 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YVR-FCO via YUL return in Y. YVR-YUL saw us on a 763 with new interior. In seat screens impressive. Buy onboard food ok but needs a more imaginative selection. Beware of Row 13 as there is no window on this row. Cabin crew friendly and service excellent with several water runs. YUL-FCO found us on an older 763 with original interiors and IFE. However, the seat configuration had a domestic Executive Class section - 38" seat pitch most welcome. Energetic, welcoming crew and food was good. IFE was old style central screen with an iffy selection of movies. FCO-YUL on our return a 763 with a configuration that included an Executive First cabin. Again, the crew were lovely and the food good. However, the choice of movies was odd. Same plane was used for YUL-YVR and we were back in windowless Row 13 seated behind the family from h**l that had the entire cabin in uproar for the entire flight.

Air Canada review - by P Hartnett

27 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-LAX-YYZ - A320 - Economy. Booked seats using Aeroplan points. Got to airport and was advised that spouse was sitting in a different row to myself and our daughter. Only row we could get so seat all 3 together was last row of plane, took it as we wanted to sit together. Was kind of surprised that no meals were served on this 4-4.5hr flight. Was also surprised to see the plane had been outfitted with screens in the back of the seat. IFE was ok, not a huge variety of things to watch but was ok. Had planned to watch Oceans Thirteen and although movie was in English it had Japanese subtitles. I restarted thinking I chose the wrong movie but it was the same and others around me had the same. Was difficult to hear so eventually gave up watching it. Return flight had spouse separated again from us, flight was fully booked so unable to get seats together, he wasn't too happy. Overall, flights were fine, left on time, attendants were ok, wouldn't say they were friendly though.

Air Canada review - by D West

27 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR to Calgary. Vancouver to LHR..Staff and service was very good. Planes getting on in age and to this point the IFE is very poor for a national carrier and on such long haul flights. I cannot see how Air Canada can justify such high prices for an ancient IFE system. On service I would use them, on IFE and the cost differential with the likes of Thomas Cook or Air Transat then the answer is no. Food was ok out but on the return - why do they think all British people only eat curry, and not a good one at that either.

Air Canada review - by Dave Lowry

27 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Ottawa (YOW) to London (LHR) in economy. Both legs used Boeing 767-300 series aircraft, which are admittedly older. The seats and general condition of the interior on the outbound leg can best be descried as tired, but the airline is in the process of re- furbishing their fleet so I give them the benefit of the doubt in this case. The food was OK, as was the service of the cabin crew for an overnight flight. Flight depated and arrived on time. I used the on-line check-in system for the trip out and found it to be excellent - I have never checked in for a flight faster. I can't comment on the service at heathrow as I didn't use it in England. The return leg was on a re-furbished 767-300, and was much more comfortable. Good legroom and very comfortable seating, although I always request the aisle for space reasons. Flight crew were excellent as was the meal (surprisingly). Took off early and arrived on time. All in all, a safe trip, with no delays or lost baggage and good service.

Air Canada review - by Christoph Blaschke

20 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-FRA, new 777 in excellent condition. Little problems with the IFE, seats were very narrow and not much space for the legs. Food was okay, service good. All in all three stars recommended, would take AC again.

Air Canada review - by Iain Rogers

20 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Hong Kong-Toronto return. Check-in at HKG was very speedy and counter-staff confirmed my pre-selected seat and "special" meal in economy class. B777-200LR with a 3x3x3 seat configuration. Seat pitch was 32", width 18.5" and recline of 4.5". Inflight announcements made in English, French and Cantonese, with Mandarin and Taiwanese speakers also available. Meals were piping hot, although of standard fare (chicken, beef, etc) filling and tasty. AVOD was a bit dodgy. The key to operating this system is not to overload it by rapid touching of the screen. FA's stress this in their announcements - but few people listen. For a 15 hour+ flight, this has to be one of the best economy long-haul flights that I have taken.

Air Canada review - by L Maher

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-YVR Economy. Comfortable seat and good, attentive crew. Awful vegetarian meals, good thing I took my own snacks on board otherwise I would have been famished. Shame they haven't updated ALL their aircraft with personal TVs, the selection of movies on the overhead TVs was pretty poor. Both flights were boarded in a very orderly fashion and left on time. The return flight to Heathrow arrived 30 minutes early. Three stars given for comfort and service, not for IFE and food.