Air Canada rouge

AC1830 on May 4 2014. I am a regular customer of Air Canada on the Barbados-Toronto route. Like many of the other business travel regulars we were generally satisfied with the service on the route. The flight attendants knew what they were doing the pitch on the seats in economy and business was fine (even on the 319) and the in-flight entertainment system was a plus on the flight that can be over 5 hours. This new Rouge service is a huge step down in quality with no reduction in fares. The economy seats are too narrow and close together for anyone over 5 ft tall. The iPad based entertainment has a degraded selection of material. And any upgrade to their premium service is a joke. Yes two more inches in pitch but the seats are the same narrow width in economy. Even the overhead storage is reduced in the front of the plane. The flight attendants are obviously new and not yet up to speed. An absolute waste of money to pay for the upgrade and a waste of Upgrade points. The only safe bet is to get in the preferred seating row. Most of us are now looking to the alternative Westjet. I would not advise anyone to book the Rouge service if they have a choice.

Venice to Toronto on August 23 2013. Air Canada stuck us on this flight on the return trip from Venice to Toronto. My husband is 6 ft 5 and my 3 sons are 6 ft 2 so needless to say they were all miserable. No entertainment Rude service. Really old plane. There was so little padding in the seats that any time you used the seat pocket you poked the person in front of you. Will never travel with Air Canada again.

AC1830 Toronto to Bridgetown 24 April 2014. AC1831 Bridgetown to Toronto 4 May 2014. Like many others posting I booked flights for myself and my husband months in advance of our April 2014 trip to Barbados. When I booked I paid for an Air Canada flight - not an Air Canada Rouge flight. As I understand it Air Canada Rouge didn't even fly into Barbados at the time I booked. We were subsequently bumped to Air Canada Rouge with no consultation and no refund. I had upgrade credits to get us to Premium Rouge so the trip down wasn't too bad (except for the lack of entertainment) but the trip back in economy was terrible. My husband was forced to sit sideways (to the extent possible) in order to avoid jamming his knees into the seat ahead. Clearly AC didn't get anyone over 6 feet to test the comfort of these seats before they decided to alter the planes. So we got a "discount" service with no discount!

Flew Rouge YYZ-CUN in Feb 14. Knew when we booked it was Rouge and had concerns but Husband is AC Elite and we "always" fly AC so we gave it a shot. Big mistake huge mistake. I am only 5'3" and 125 lbs and even I found the seats awful. I had to stuff my jacket between my lower back and seat for support had back ache for 3 days afterwards. Paid for a vodka and sprite got the mini vodka and a little splash of sprite in a cup. For 6 bucks you would think you would get the whole can. Return flight sat on tarmac for 3 hrs getting a wheel fixed. Same as other posters first told 30 mins then 1 hr then 3 hrs. Seems mechanical problems a common issues. Hubby will still fly regular AC for business heaven help them if they bump him to a Rouge flight. We will fly some other airline for pleasure.

Departed Toronto on Feb 12 flight Ac1812 returned AC1813 on Feb 28. Flew return Toronto to Cancun. In Toronto flight was overbooked by 10 people very crammed seats no leg or wiggle room. Wife has problem with back and suffered the whole flight to Cancun. Flight back to Toronto the person in front of wife leaned seat back due to closeness of her knees to the back of seat she was crushed. The remedy was to move the person that forced the seat into here and his 10 year old child to first class where they where given food and drinks while the wife had to suffer. Very poor service poor seats no wiggle room and no leg room.

Outbound flight on May 1st AC 1820 return flight on May 5th AC 1821. I was recently Rouged on a flight to Cancun Mexico. I used 20 upgrade credits and when I selected my seats it clearly showed a standard executive class configuration of 2 wide seats per side. Imagine my surprise when I found the configuration to actually be the new slimline seats with a 3 seat configuration and a pillow placed on the centre seat. I feel that this is a blatant attempt to mislead and had I known that this would be the case would not have used the credits.

YUL-LAS return booked on Air Canada months ago converted to Rouge and refused to discount or refund flight to book elsewhere. Experience confirmed fears: heinous obvious decrease in legroom stripped of all entertainment including power outlets to stay plugged into streaming system IF it's working and IF you have an Apple device. Young and eager crew does not know what they're doing and their poor pay promises to keep turnover high and little improvement. AC management loves that they're still able to charge full Air Canada prices for discounted Rouge but that won't last. Certainly not for me. Actively booked away from AC - even mainline - on next 3 upcoming business/leisure flights.

I just flew from Vancouver to LAX on a Rouge flight. I booked with Air Canada because of my aeroplan points collection and my general good experience with the airline. I'm 6'5" so legroom on even a 3 hour flight is important to my level of comfort. All airlines are relatively tight but this Rouge flight was a new level of discomfort. I could barely squeeze my knees into the available area with one knee spilling into my neighbour's area. Even sitting bolt upright I wasn't able to get my knees into the available area. Thank goodness I was seated next to a tiny woman. To give you an idea of the lateral space she fell asleep and her head fell right onto my shoulder. When the person ahead of me put their seat back the seatback was right in my face to the point that I was barely able to read. It was ridiculous and I'll never fly Rouge again or AC for that matter as I might be bumped to Rouge without notice. On the upside the flight staff were very nice but that only goes so far when I'm crammed into a seat like a sardine.

I flew from Barbados to Toronto on AC Rouge and I saw red. I didn't notice when I booked the flight that this was AC Rouge. The seats are very uncomfortable limited leg room and crammed. No audio no USB or electrical plug. I don't have and IPhone or IPad to download the AC Rouge Apps to see movie or listen to tunes therefore I read Enroute. This was the worst flight ever! Flying 6 hours sitting on those seats killed my back and I was bored. For extra cash I will be flying West Jet. AC Rouge would be fine for short flights EG: Ottawa – Toronto. AC lost my business!

Flew YYC to LAS a couple days after these flights were Rouged. Flight attendants were horrible either the PA system was poor or their speaking ability or both. The announcements in French would make my elementary French teacher cringe but it wasn't like the English was that much better either it felt unrehearsed and like they were reading off post it notes and need to pause every few words to find their place. The lack of IFE was archaic for a new airline and was the clincher for me to not fly this airline again.