Air Canada

YOW-DCA on an RJ. Seat 1A (single cabin). No lounge access in YOW for US-bound passengers but was allowed to go through security to the AC domestic lounge. Very nice lounge with great view of the airfield good drinks and food (salads soups rolls snacks). Check-in agent for US departures for Star Alliance gold could not have been nicer or more obliging phoning around to see if I could use the domestic lounge. Flight delayed about 50 mins due to late arrival of the aircraft. On board the one FA was very nice and efficient. Captain kept everyone updated.

Yesterday I flew from London to Toronto on a Boeing 767 which is basically a lovely plane. My complaints about this flight which apply to every Air Canada flight I've taken in the past few years are principally about: a) terribly uncomfortable seats and b) the lousiest food anywhere in the air. a) Seat comfort. Who on earth designs a seat that is so short that it puts unbearable pressure on the middle of the back of one's thighs? And this wasn't a Rouge flight either but a mainline experience. Why do they torture us with seats that are so close together that our knees are grinding against the seat in front? I'm a very average sized person - 5'10 and 170 pounds - so there is no excuse why the seat should not be comfortable. And let's not even mention the fact that the available tilt is about 4 inches from front to back with zero lumbar support. b) Long ago back in the 70's when I was a university student I used to wonder why the cafeteria food was so terrible when Air Canada could server a very decent meal at 35000 feet in a pressurized aluminium tube. In those days I routinely asked if they had any leftover meals on transatlantic flights because the food was actually quite enjoyable. Not any more. It's just awful. Virtually inedible except when one is starving. And yesterday's flight was the very worst. Recently I had the opportunity to fly to from and around Central America on the Colombian airline Avianca. Although the aircraft themselves weren't new the in-flight experience and especially the food was exceptional. The difference between the food service on Air Canada and Avianca is night and day. Avianca has delicious food and interesting menus served with a smile. Air Canada has heated cardboard served reasonably efficiently but without any enthusiasm by flight attendants in dowdy uniforms. I'll be looking for alternative carriers to Air Canada from now on. Among North American airlines Delta gets my vote at the moment.

Flew to the UK on a new "Dreamliner". Should be renamed a Squashliner. Air Canada has to be congratulated for cramming more seats into this aircraft than ever before. I paid a premium for the extra legroom seats behind business class. The aisle seat is placed right in the centre of the entry to the aisle of business class. This results in constant crashing of the food and beverage carts into the seat even though the new carts are narrower than those used on other aircraft. If the video screen which is in the armrest is used the situation is even worse. everybody trying to negotiate their way through the aircraft hits the screen. The crew were excellent and very aware of the problem of overcrowding on this aircraft. The 787 is a nice aircraft quiet but not comfortable in the Air Canada layout.

Air Canada continually disappoints. Their loyalty program is worthless unless you want to cash in your points for a flight with 3 connections and even then you still have to pay $500 in taxes and fees along with your points. Flew to Jamaica on AC Rouge as part of a vacation package. Worst plane ever nice flight attendants that had to deal with the airlines inability to properly stock food and beverage (they ran out of everything about a half way through the service so half the plane had nothing to eat). Both outgoing and return flights were an hour late in arriving. Other than some of their non Rouge planes being nice and the entertainment in those planes being pretty solid there is not much good to say about this overpriced airline and their ability to deliver flights on time and in a satisfactory manner.

Belfast - Montreal return. A rather unpleasant experience from start to finish. Best part of the trip was the flight to London only because that was on a codeshare flight with another airline. Air Canada flight from London to Halifax was on an old and dirty 767. Crew were rude and didn't have time for customers. Entertainment system dated and food was well below par of other airlines. Halifax to Montreal on a E175 and crew did bare minimum to pass their time onboard and again were just as unpleasant as the previous lot. My luggage got left in Halifax even though I had a 3 hour layover was reunited with my bags 2 days later with no apology offered when I returned to the airport to pick up lost luggage. Return flights were no better. Customer service and even customer interaction at the airport and on the aircraft isn't their strong point. I am heading back to Montreal in a few weeks time Air Canada are the cheapest but I have booked more expensive tickets via another airline so I can avoid flying Air Canada.

Our fight at YYZ was originally delayed 35 minutes. However when the plane never arrived it was bumped to a 1:25 minute delay. After everyone boarded the plane there was an additional 25 minute delay to upgrade the computer system with landing information about our destination. We were offered free $3 earphones for the inconvenience. I normally wouldn't write such a negative review based on one experience but this is after being silent for several similar past experiences.

Flew YVR - LHR - YVR in Executive first. The so called new suite on Air Canada's Boeing 777 on select routes only must be one of the worst business class seats ever designed. I was seated in 2D. When you first arrive at your seat you think that you have plenty of space. However once seated you soon feel very claustrophobic. The large arm rest on the left is made up by the very small armrest on the right which puts you very close to your neighbour. Just sitting normally ones left arm/hand naturally rests on the seat controls so without warning your seat starts moving. The tray table has a 3 phase deployment which could only be done by cabin crew. All passengers battled. Your seat can only be upright or flat with no in between settings. When flat the massage function on my seat would not turn off. It would only turn off when upright. When flat your feet go under the seat in front leaving no room to move your legs around. It's like laying in a coffin. There is no ground area for any luggage and no space for your duvet or pillow (which you are not allowed at your feet for take off / landing). All in all a very badly designed seat. I wasn't a great fan of the previous pod system but it is far better than this current design. I would rather have flown BA even with the backward facing seats. Service was good and the staff cannot be blamed for the tools they have been given to work with. I have had better comfort and sleep traveling in Economy.

This is the worst experience I've had I understand it's New Years and its busy which is why I think they should be a little more organized. I will never fly Air Canada and would never recommend it. We came at 3 am to check in for our 6am flight yes we don't get served. Still waiting while they take the Toronto flight. We have been standing and still standing here to check in our luggage. They have no customer services. We have a big group with boxes and carts. We have been told to go in 3 different lines since 2 hrs ago yet still waiting. I would never fly this airline ever again.

B787 AC004 NRT to YVR Dec 22nd 2014 seat 3G. Offered menu choices soon after take off by meal time we were informed that they had run out of the beef option. In Business class no less! My wife didn't want the alternatives and therefore declined to eat. I told the attendant to give the beef to her and I'll have the salmon. The service director explained that even though we were full paying passengers there is a priority system there in terms of menu items. They had to take care of their Elite Super Elite and Million Milers before the others. We found this unbelievable in terms of a company policy. How much can it cost Air Canada to provide sufficient meal choices in J class? As it turned out the beef tenderloin was anything but tender or tasty. The rest of the flight was uneventful the seat was fairly comfortable and converted to flat bed easily. Turbulence prevented hot drinks service but that wasn't anyone's fault. The movie and TV choices were pretty pathetic compared to having just come off a Singapore Airlines business class segment from SIN to NRT. There was no comparison in the level of service the comfort and width of the seat and the meals. In fact when I mentioned this to the AC service director she candidly admitted that she was aware that they did not match up to SQ or Emirates in J class. I felt sorry for her as she was attentive a hard worker and did her best but had to comply with a restrictive mandate working for an airline that has a lot of room to improve.

Flew on AC 855 from LHR to YVR on December. 22 in economy. Crew attentive throughout flight. Lots of water juice and ice cream between meals. Lunch better than many offerings in other airlines' economy cabins. Wine quality well above average. Air Canada seem to have finally fixed their often faulty IFE system. Plenty of music and film choices though latest film selections could have been better. The downside? Like other airlines Air Canada has reconfigured economy seating with four seats now in the centre section. As a results seats and aisles are very narrow. Not too uncomfortable for a daytime flight but I'd find it impossible to sleep on an overnight flight.