Air Canada rouge

After booking my flight to Disneyland in August 2013 we had a fabulous vacation. Tired and hungry we (the group of 9 of us) boarded our flight in LA to Vancouver with a dead cell phone fully anticipating being able to charge it on the plane. To my surprise the flight had no way of charging my phone nor did we have video to occupy our 3 hour long flight with our knees in the back of the seats of other unlucky passengers in front of us. My 9 year old son also had his knees touching the seat in front of him and a seat in the face as the other uncomfortable passenger tilted their seat back in hopes of finding some extra space. The flight crew were insistent on asking us how we were enjoying the flight numerous times. It got annoying. Fortunately we had bought snacks to prepare us for the dinner we would miss during the flight and thankful we did because we weren't even offered so much as a bag of peanuts. As we were flying internationally we needed to fill out declaration cards. Someone didn't stock them on the flight so we had to fight our way through the small table outside of customs to fill out our declaration cards. This could have occupied some of the boring time we spent on the flight looking at the obvious hole in the seats where the video consoles had been removed. The good news was it gave us a great place to put our hands on so we could attempt to nap on our forearms. Oh and to hold onto when we landed. Fortunately we had wifi for our ipad! This was a saving grace - we tried to connect no luck. This was when they came over the system to proudly tell us we could use the wifi for free and hopefully we had previously downloaded their app to view inflight movies. Much to our surprise the wifi would only work within their app. But no worries we could pay 10.00 to use a complimentary ipad that had said downloaded app on it. I had never heard of Rouge before but I do now. I suggest you do not fly them. If I wanted to fly in a cattle car I would have booked through a cheaper carrier. Shame on you Air Canada! Shame on you!

Flew from Phoenix to Toronto this week on Rouge. Boarding was delayed as the staff spent at least a half hour trying to get passengers to check their carry ons due to the fact that the Rouge planes have a much smaller overhead bin. That's not the only thing that is smaller and uncomfortable. The seats are tight (this says a lot coming from someone who is 5' 3") the entertainment choices are dated/if they work staff are young and inexperienced service was disorganized and slow. We will do anything we can not to take a Rouge flight ever again. I understand that they might want to offer a lower priced alternative to travellers but there are no deals on their flights compared to their previous Air Canada flights. We're stuck with this as the only option until Westjet begins their service YYZ to PHX - with luck this fall. Can't imagine who thought this would be a good idea - whoever it was should be made to sit in a middle seat for a 5 hour flight and rethink all that Rouge has to offer.

On May 1st my wife son and I were on the inaugural Rouge flight from Toronto to Dublin with regular flights from Edmonton to Toronto. We booked last summer and knew the flight would be on Rouge and the price seemed to be OK. Interestingly our daughter and her boyfriend later booked on regular Air Canada through London and paid over $100 each less than us. There goes the low cost airline unless low cost means low cost for the airline which translates into rip off for the customer. The plane we travelled on was a Boeing 767. The plane we originally boarded had a broken windshield wiper and therefore had to be abandoned in favor of a second plane. This delayed our departure by over two hours. We were seated in economy class. Looking at the six abreast "premium class" seats my wife and I were glad we hadn't paid for an upgrade. The economy class seats are very slim and rows are close together. This might be ok for short flights of up to three hours but nothing to look forward to for a transatlantic flight. Further the seats hardly recline at all. Lacking blankets and pillows good luck for some sleep and welcome to aches and pains arriving in Dublin. Entertainment is via WiFi through iPads or lap top computers with flash player. No option for Android devices. Anyway I could not get it to work on my computer. $5 saved. The cabin crew was young and inexperienced in silly uniforms. Food quality was airline minus minus. A free soft drink was provided but alcoholic beverages had to be paid for (free on my daughter's cheaper regular Air Canada flight). All together Air Canada Rouge is a rip off approaching Ryan Air quality. At least Ryanair is open about its cattle truck approach. After having failed with two attempts at budget airlines what is Air Canada thinking? I expect Rouge to die and unceremonious death - the sooner the better.

Air Canada 1873 April 22nd. Lousiest airline I have ever been on. Extremely small spaces between rows. Flight attendants cannot even speak French properly they all seem like they just got out of high school very non- professional staff. Will never fly Air Canada again.

AC1760 Toronto to Holguin Cuba March 16 2014. Return flight AC1761 March 23. Booked an Air Canada Vacations package to Cuba. I would generally use ACV because service tended to be a bit better than other vacation companies. I guess those days are gone. The flight was terribly uncomfortable. Seat padding is thin inadequate leg room (I'm 6'3") no entertainment unless you own or rent an ipad and all this for the price of a regular flight. I'll be looking for other options from now on.

Brand new "Rouge" - I am a frequent flyer with Air Canada but was "forced" onto their new "Rouge" service on a recent pleasure trip to Cuba. Flew "Rouge" Montreal-Holguin on May 1 return on May 8. Connected each way to YVR on regular AC. Massively unhappy with Rouge. Pretty new exterior paint odd uniforms (what were you thinking?) but the bottom line is AC is forcing people to use Rouge and it is just a "bait and switch". Crew were pleasant and flights on time - but this trip was charter by another name! Seat pitch very poor seats thin and anything happening in seat pocket behind ands up communicated to your lower back. The "entertainment" system (bring your own tablet or rent one for $10.00 from them. I had pre-loaded their required software and it worked perfectly on way down but on way back - failed and failed (same for man next to me). Crew suggested I needed newer software (hey it was new and worked 7 days previously). Next time if they force (and they do) Rouge on me - I am switching to a different charter airline (for that is what Rouge is - it is a bait and switch) for lower service levels - lack of comfort (oh and no business class cabin not even premium economy). I am retired and felt beat-up on this trip. Not happy. Better of with a "real charter" - next time I will avoid anything "Rouge".

Only problem I had with the plane was the seats. The entertainment was poor but it didn't bother me. Flight staff were good. I would pay more to fly on a non rouge flight but they don't offer any to Florida. For our next flight I have paid the extra $40 for premium seats still in economy though so I hope the extra $ is worth it.

A new expression for airline travel! "We have been "rouged". My husband is a very frequent flyer (Elite status) and always tries to use Air Canada. We flew AC May 1 YVR-MON-Holguin (return on 8th). The Vancouver-MON were fine (usual economy with Air Canada). Rouge is horrible Seats are jammed in like Sunwing or similar seats too thin and you spent hours being nudged and bumped by any movement behind you food not good (as usual) but worst is the "entertainment" system. You bring your own and we did - our iPad all pre-loaded as they asked worked one way but not on return. Crew were polite but suggested our operating system needed updating (in a week). Never again. There is no price advantage there was no premium economy sets are very cheap and above all Air Canada is trapping it's loyal customers into this trick.

Booked two economy tickets on Air Canada in April 2013 to fly to Grenada from YYZ and paid over $1000 per ticket for a flight in March 2014. Paid extra for bulkhead seats. Air Canada switched flights to Rouge without even notifying us and gave away the seat selection we had paid extra for. Not only that but they changed from flying on Saturdays to Mondays. The seat pitch on Rouge flights is 29". This is one of the lowest in the airline industry. To add insult to injury they awarded us a fraction of the Aeroplan points because the flight was operated by Rouge and not Air Canada. Wish there was a star rating for 0.

Never again. After so many years of loyalty but now feel completely "rouged". There is no deal there are no option on routes - its Rouge or nothing. Business class is a joke! 9 hours waiting for a plane to arrive because they could not substitute with regular AC fleet. So why not inconvenience passengers who paid the same price as AC fares and then refuse to post comments on their website. Goodbye Rouge Hello Westjet!