Air Canada

October 14 2013 took flight 847 on 777-300 from Munich to Toronto and then flight 787 from Toronto to Los Angeles later that day. Flight 847 was on a new "High density" 777-300 with 10 abreast seats resulting in narrow seats and reduced pitch to 31". I am 5'10" tall and 170 lbs and the height that aircraft seats were originally made for. It was impossible to reach down and get things from the floor without getting up and bending over. The price of this flight was not cheaper than others and Air Canada did a bait and switch changing the configuration after I purchased the ticket. The cabin crew did their best . The galley for the 400 seats in economy was very small. The food was almost non-existent. Air Canada has the worst food for an international flight I have had. The second meal was a heated wrap essentially a "hot pocket". Inflight entertainment was new system on this plane and was quite good but the second flight had a slow outdated system. Overall service good and AVOD good everything else terrible. Flight 787 was an Airbus A320. Bad AVOD only two bathrooms for economy. Turbulent flight so when not turbulent long lines for lavs. Service Satisfactory everything else not. Hopefully Air Canada will get new 737 MAX equipment with 3 lavs in the rear for these medium haul flights. The Pearson Airport transition with US customs is terrible. Would be better just to have customs in final destination. Canada is not the USA so what benefit is it for the consumer to spend 2 hours of their layover in customs rather than eating and relaxing after Air Canada's horrifying service.

Air Canada Rouge - Great cabin crew terrible seating space. I flew from Toronto Canada to Varadero Cuba and back. In both directions the cabin crew were excellent and that is where all good about Rouge stops because no matter what these great people do they can not solve issue with lack of space between the seats. Airplane type was A319 and they had 31 raw of seats which basically means no leg room at all. Anyone close or above to 6 feet or 180cm should avoid Rouge flights. Seating pitch on this plane is 29 and this is for flights to Caribbean. After 3.5 hours of flight you will not be able to get out from your seat because of pain in your back and legs. It is so tight between the seats that in my view this is security issue since in case of the emergency people will have extreme difficulties to quickly leave the seat. When it comes to entertainment system there is something called wifi and that has to be paid 10 $ but it did not work so I can say is it worth or not other than this there is no other option. When it comes to food and drinks non alcoholic beverages including coffee and tea are free how ever quantity is limited to one or if you are lucky two drinks at the best. Food and liqueurs can be purchased but for that you will need credit card as cash is not accepted.

YYZ-LHR-YYZ. Both flights arrived on time. Cabin crew friendly. Good in flight entertainment system. Food OK. Check in staff really good. Price better than Air Transat. In short Air Canada staff seem to have ditched their bad union attitude and combined with other flights to YEG and FLL is winning me back.

Flew YYC-YEG-YOW then YQB-YYZ-YYC. Outbound trip was awful. Flight was full of kids and very loud. Staff did absolutely nothing on both flights. On decent to Ottawa flight descended very rapidly flight crew did nothing and there was no explanation for why this happened. Return trip wasn't as bad but still horrible service. Flight was delayed in Toronto for 30 minutes due to crew problems. Plane was a very old A319. Staff were rude and air con didn't work at all. Delayed landing in Calgary by 45 minutes.

October 5 2013 LGA to YYZ. We booked our flights over 3 months ago my husband 8 year old daughter and me. When we arrived at LGA to check in 3 hours before our flight the AC counter representative forced us to check in at the kiosk even though there was nobody in line at the counter! I usually do the kiosk thing but given we had a lot of luggage our child has a broken arm in a cast and we were tired I just wanted to deal with a live person. She refused to check us in at the counter and instead assisted us at the kiosk. She then told us we couldn't have seats together as the plane was full. Not an ideal scenario travelling with an 8 year old child! She said there was nothing she could do. She scolded me for not having checked in online 24 hours prior. I explained to her that was impossible as we were in the middle of the ocean on a cruise and she said oh well and shrugged. What fantastic customer service! Only fly AC as a very last resort.

Flew in Business Class from FRA via YYz to BNA. A/C from FRA was a 777 already before take off the crew advised that the IFE was not working. They tried a couple of times to re-start it and finally 2 hours before arrival it got done. Things like that happen but no apologies or compensation was offered for a 6000 USD flight. Food was average to low and the crew was rushing through the service with no smile. Bottle of white wine was clearly open for a while the glass was taken away and after my comment about the bad taste no more wine was offered nice way of solving that problem. Transfer in YYZ was easy and good and shortly after boarding the CRJ for Nashville the plane was grounded for technical issues. Had to run to the other end of the airport to get a spare plane 2 hours later and had to wait in a small waiting room with no water or communication on what was going on. AC needs to realise that there is a choice in air travel and that sometimes a smile can make a big difference.

I flew Air Canada a couple of times recently to Vancouver. It was a very enjoyable experience. The staff are very efficient at their work. In serving the meals they are very quick to serve as they have 4 people serving two for the meals and two later for the drinks. After the meal is done we didn't have to wait for long before they came to pick up the trays. I would take Air Canada for long haul flights. Air Canada's service is excellent!

We paid regular fare thinking we would be flying from Toronto to Venice on Air Canada but were on Air Canada Rouge. We will never fly with Air Canada Rouge again the plane was very old there was no entertainment we had to buy our wine and the seats were extremely cramped. We were very disappointed as international flights are usually very pleasant not with Air Canada Rouge.

I fly to Greece twice a year and book on a regular flight going through Frankfurt. But in August of this year had the chance to try Air Canada rouge. I paid the same price as a normal flight and got far less than usual. 1) Plane was old and cold. 2) There was no air control system above the seat. 3) Staff were less than friendly. 4) Cold food tea and coffee. 5) Poor entertainment. 6) I had to interrupt a steward using his phone to ask him to put more toilet paper in the bathrooms. 7) I asked for an extra dinner roll as the pasta was terrible I was told they did not know if they had enough to go around even though the flight was not full I never got the dinner roll. 8) The plane was not very clean. 9) Although I paid the same price as a regular flight I still had to pay for wine. I will never fly AC rouge again. My flight home from Athens was a regular flight and I almost felt guilty with the attention I received. The staff are more mature and know how to communicate with customers. They go out of their way to be available at all times. Their presence is comforting. I will continue flying AC but only on regular flights even if it takes a little longer to get to my destination. By offering AC rouge you have only embarrassed yourself but have taken a few steps backwards in customer service.

YYZ-YYT. Wonderful service! The cabin crew were extremely helpful when my Air Canada gift card wasn't working. They gave me my meal for free. The flight was great and the cabin crew together spoke 6 different languages. Thanks for another great trip Air Canada!