Air Canada Customer Reviews and Air Canada Passenger Trip Reports

Journey was a return from Heathrow to Vancouver - outbound not too bad although I would describe flight attendants could be described as brisk and efficient but not particularly friendly. The service on the return journey bordered on rude. As is usual on overnight flights the aim of the crew is to serve you dinner and then force you to sleep so they can rest or chat together at the front/back as soon as possible. Unfortunately for me I was seated in the last row at the back and it seemed that they had not ordered enough food for the flight. At dinner time I was asked 'you want to eat something?' In a manner that actually compelled me to say no - she seemed to be relieved about that - maybe it meant someone else could eat. My companion was thrown a tray with the words 'pasta with meat sauce - that's all we have left'. Breakfast was worse - no trays left at all so a yoghurt and muffin with a napkin whilst most of the rows in front of us received a breakfast roll from what I could see. This experience along with the general attitude of the cabin crew (seems to be endemic having read some of the other reviews on this site) would lead me to pay more to travel to Canada with another airline such as BA next time.

I flew from Edmonton to Toronto this past December, and I must say that I was very impressed at the quality of service offered. I was greeted warmly upon check in, boarding, and throughout the flight. The crew were helpful, friendly, and always had a smile on their face throughout the flight. The drinks and snacks were great as well. The in-flight entertainment was well chosen and up to date. Seats were comfortable with plenty of leg room. The enRoute magazine was excellent in content.

Beginning of January from London Heathrow to Calgary, and from Calgary to Edmonton. Flying from London Heathrow to Calgary, flight attendants were very attentive. The food was great and filling. The crew smiled and added energy to the cabin. The entertainment was great with plenty of selection available. The enRoute magazine offered useful tips for travellers. The seats were very comfortable, as I slept without a problem! The mood lighting was nice as well. Flight from Calgary to Edmonton was also very nice!

Ottawa to Sarnia (via Toronto). No staff at 5.30 am in Ottawa so missed cut-off. Correction: there were staff, but not any that could work the scheduling computers, just staff to gossip without serving customers. Rescheduled to Toronto. Could have made original Toronto to Sarnia, but was put on later flight. Tried to get on original flight (would have been back on time) but AC wouldn't allow access. Watched as original flight was delayed 30 minutes due to poor baggage handling. Could have made original flight. Second flight was cancelled, had to rent a car from Toronto to Sarnia. Now stuck in Sarnia busy signal on all AC phones, cannot make original flight return because I have to return rental car. No way home.

Booked 3 Business Class tickets online BKK-YVR-BKK. Routing through Narita. Narita-BKK found out later Air Canada put me in an Economy seat on the code share with Thai Airways. Spent more than 3 hours on the phone with Air Canada call centre trying to get it sorted but they absolutely would not put me in a Business Class seat on the code share flight. I had enough and just cancelled my tickets. I will never fly Air Canada again.

The food and beverages from London to Toronto was good. After that terrible. Why charge for earphones? Does not help the reputation of a national airline. Feels more like a budget holiday airline. The provision of a muffin for breakfast just before landing at LHR does not help your airline's image. Stewards were spending most of their time chatting in their quarters rather than at least one of them seeing if passengers required anything. One of the plastic cup provided was cracked and my wife spilt tomato juice on her clothing. Stewardess offered a new cup to place under the broken one. Never even thought of replacing the cup and drink or offered any assistance in cleaning her clothing.

Our flight from Calgary to Dominican Republic had now changed 3 times in 2 months. First change added an overnight layover, but they were covering the hotel. Second change required a layover into a weekday, which was impossible because I couldn't not book more vacation. The third change was to a layover to a different city, but now they won't cover the hotel because this stop is a more expensive flight. I had previously sworn off Air Canada due to other bad experiences.

AC877, Business Class, Toronto - Frankfurt, 23 Jan 2013. Boeing 767 - Pods in Business Class. Efficient Boarding procedure. Staff attentive and kind for the most part. Excellent service delivered by the purser. Efficient meal service and tasty food. Good movie selection. Full bed seat was comfortable and fully functional. Arrival ahead of schedule into Toronto and efficient disembarking procedure allowed me to catch my connection flight to Ottawa, earlier. Overall one of the best experiences on board Air Canada.

Leg room too small. Cabin for carry-on luggage is too small for the bags of two passengers on the same side and row. No snacks and just 3 meals for a 15 hour flight. The meals weren't even good, but you have no choice but to eat it because you're too hungry on the longest flight. Flight attendees were a bit grumpy, and they were in a rush to serve everyone that you'd rather not disturb them and ask for anything else. Drinks are complimentary but again when you ask the flight attendees for something they seem to frown. The only pleasant flight attendant was during my flight from Seoul to Vancouver. The inflight entertainment is outdated, always hangs, with not much to watch, and you must use your own earphones.

SYD-YVR-SYD. Flew with family (3 kids). Not a fan of the herringbone layout and the video screens are a bit dated. That said both flights were very good due to the service. On both legs the service was better than any other I have seen in business class in recent years (and have flown QF, SQ, Cathay, Emirates and Etihad in that period). Only real issue is price with AC having a monopoly on the segment and hence business class very expensive.

A disastrous choice for our flight home to Seattle from Paris on Jan 17. We had every bad experience a flyer can have after our landing in Toronto en route to Seattle. The cabin crew were not polite nor careful. Empty food items were left on trays for very long periods, and had to be removed by passengers. The flight was diverted to Vancouver, even though it had been announced that there were fog problems in Seattle. Taken off the plane in Vancouver and kept with no food or drink except that which could be purchased in a machine. For those of us in transit a lack of Canadian money made that option impossible. After a delay of almost 2 hours we went on to Seattle. There were 3 passengers who had by then missed connections. We got to Seattle and the crew walked away leaving the 3 of us stranded at SeaTac at about 2.45am. The behavior of the crew was rude. We were told they do not offer any service to help stranded passengers with rebooking or housing for the night. Will never fly Air Canada again.

Ottawa to Aruba via Toronto and return. Ottawa to Toronto leg very comfortable in Embraer. Late 1hr 15 mins due to de-icing. Three other legs in a cramped A319. Flights on time, luggage not lost. Dirty windows. Seats won't recline. IFE stop and go. 4.5 hrs is ballooned to an 11 hrs flight because of (very tight) connection in Toronto. Food for purchase. Good beverage service. No service on Toronto to Ottawa flight. No special food available on board/at airport, you have to take it with you. We fly Air Canada only if it is impossible to avoid.

Jan 14 Heathrow to Toronto flight cancelled due to computer problems. I flew from Colombo (Sri-Lanka) to London which arrived on time and connecting flight was Air Canada. Air Canada boarded all passengers at 11.00 and left gate at 12.00 for de-icing. 15 minutes later captain announced there were some computer issue and it would take 10 minutes to fix. 15 minutes later told that they have to call engineers. 30 minutes later told they need more time to fix the issue. Flight was de-iced 3 times. All passengers were seated onboard for 5 hours without any food or drink. After 5 hours captain announced flight was cancelled. Had to take a bus to airport since there were no gates, clear immigration, claim our baggage and contacted Air Canada Rep to get hotel/food voucher. Next day I flew back to Toronto. I'm a frequent flyer, always fly with Air Canada but will think twice before I book flights with them in future.

Vancouver  - Tokyo Narita. A renovated or more recent 767, clean and with large IFE screens in economy. Staff excellent on the ground and on the plane. Food mediocre. IFE selection good (always space for improvement) and system operation adequate. Departure and arrival on-time. Negative points - quite a bit of cold air over the seats near emergency exits; judging by the apologies of the flight attendants, this is apparently treated as a feature of the aircraft. Mandatory closing of windows on a day-time flight is questionable - it does nothing to alleviate jetlag on a long-haul westbound flight. Otherwise, a good experience.

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