SEATING

It was a full flight and my carry-on had to be taken to the front for storage. I was able to pick it up upon landing in Madrid without incident. I was near the very back of the aircraft - not my choice! - in row 38. It didn't recline very much, and the noise from the washroom and galley wasn't exactly conducive to sleeping. When they refurbished the aircraft, they didn't bother to change the seat cushion, as it was worn almost flat, with minimal "give". I am of average height and weight, but the seat gave me a very sore behind after 8 hours!


CATERING

By the time they got to me at the back, there was no choice of entrees - just chicken and rice... o well. It was at least edible, which is more than I can say for the "salad", made up of some half- cooked vegetables. The dessert (some sort of cake) was extremely small, about one inch square. Red or white wine was served with the meal. There were several water runs. Before arrival, we were given a hot, tomato-paste filled pastry in a Macdonald apple-pie like container.


INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

Air Canada should scrap its seat-back AVOD system! It is not designed to handle so many passenger inputting data all at once. It didn't work in my Toronto-Munich-Toronto trip in July; now it froze after about 3 hours into the flight to Madrid. Thankfully it worked for the whole duration of the return flight. Also, why do the "News" and "Maps" feature never, ever work? What is the point of having these selections on the menu?


CABIN STAFF SERVICE

Senior FA staff; reasonably pleasant attitude and quite efficient. As long as they do their job efficiently and are professional, that's good enough for me.


FLIGHT ARRIVAL

The ground agent in Toronto did not let me check my bag through to Valencia, only to Madrid. Why? Because I changed to Iberia, a non-Star Alliance airline. This is unacceptable! I was so afraid of losing my bag (it was only a three-day trip) that I ended up taking only a carry-on. Transferring from Star Alliance terminal 1 to Iberia's terminal 4 was a trial - it was a LONG walk to the shuttle bus, and then another 15+ minutes to reach the Iberia counter.


CUSTOMER VERDICT

Overall, I feel the flight itself was above average. It left on time and actually got to Madrid 30 minutes early! The takeoff and landing were smooth. There were no major issues, just a few annoyances like the IFE and my transfer problems. I guess in the final analysis, a safe trip without major issues is good enough in my book.


CUSTOMER RANKING