Air Canada

Flew from Honolulu to Vancouver economy class. Ground staff were helpful and reasonably friendly. The plane was a 767-300 and the seat was very uncomfortable as the padding in the middle of the seat had vanished over the years. The four stewardesses in my area must have been 60ish and not up to speed. One stewardess asked a passenger to get out of his seat and close the overhead bin as she had a bad back. Knowing that Air Canada did not serve meals domestically I checked online about international flights and it said that meals were served. None provided. During the flight I was offered a decent beverage twice and a couple of times the stewardess came by with a tacky plastic jug and served lukewarm water. I travel to and from Asia quite often and have never experienced such poor service on any other airline. I will absolutely go out of my way to avoid flying Air Canada again.

Montreal YUL to Boston BOS on Air Canada Express CRJ100. Checked in online but still needed to use airport machines to print boarding cards and luggage tags assisted by pleasant AC staff. With this small aircraft you have to leave cabin cases at the door and they are returned to you on landing although there were the usual few passengers who decided this reasonable rule did not apply to them. Announcements in the air virtually inaudible because the FA held the microphone too close to her mouth and then shouted into it - training issue here. Drink and snack served on this short flight. Being a small aircraft it twitches a bit in flight so nervous flyers should be aware. Flight left 10 mins late but still arrived 20 mins early in Boston.

Quebec YUB to Toronto YYZ on Air Canada Express Q400. First time in a Q400 and what a horrible aircraft! Noisy rattly and with a constant vibration through the seats this 100 min flight was about as much as I could take. Air Canada staff were pleasant and efficient both in the air and on the ground although the boarding official was a bit sniffy when he found we were not business class passengers (in an all-economy aircraft!) and the flight left slightly late but arrived 30 mins early. Good service from AC but I will try to avoid that aircraft in future.

We recently returned from New York La Guardia airport to London Heathrow. Our first flight was delayed which meant we missed our connecting flight to London. Both my sister and I missed several appointments - work for myself and registration for her PhD and meetings for my sister. It was also my sister's 25th birthday which is an extra detail but made the subsequent experience much worse to take. Our return flight included a connection at Montreal - the plane from New York was delayed and from the offset the staff on the plane were incredibly rude disengaged and unhelpful when we asked for advice and reassurance. The whole process was terribly managed - we arrived at the boarding gate in time to see our plane pull away from the gate - some better communications and we definitely could have boarded that flight with a five minute delay for the other passengers at most. We were then sent around the airport with cursory explanations and a lack of basic guidance - for example no one explained there was a shuttle bus to the hotel or even pointed us in the right direction. There was a lack of staff in the airport due to it being a bit later in the evening and we felt completely unguided in the process. I was stunned that a customer-focused service could have such a poor grasp of good communications and moreover just didn't seem to care about it's customers as well. We arrived in London 12 hours after our scheduled arrival time. Overall the process was poor in itself - bad food stingy amounts. When my sister asked if we would be served another meal the attendant smirked and said 'You could loosely call it a meal'. I'd never fly with Air Canada again.

Flying from London Heathrow to Kingston Ontario is a tiring trip at the best of times flight delays on both legs due to “the late arrival of the aircraft from its previous destination” only makes it worse. Paying extra to get a seat with extra legroom is worth it although the seats are getting threadbare and any padding that may have been there no longer shields you from the frame of the chair this is especially true on their smaller aircraft flying into Kingston.

The worst long haul airline and I travel a lot but I am doomed and have been for last 15 years as it is the only direct connection between London UK and Halifax Nova Scotia. The price is outrageous the service is generally poor (even in business I don't find it super friendly) and it is the only long haul airline where I have to bring my own food when I fly economy. Also completely inefficient and useless systems if you want to book an end to end flight using different members of Star Alliance for different legs of the flight (if not in the same class). Every time I have to deal with them I have to grit my teeth.

AC034 20 September. Just got off a 14 hour flight from Sydney and thought the crew was excellent. They were attentive continued cabin presence and friendly. I also thought the seat (even though a little warn) was better than other airlines like Malaysia Airlines A330. Very pleased with everything and well worth the price. Definitely a 7.5 out of 10.

Flying from Kingston Ontario to London Heathrow is a tiring trip at the best of times delays at the start when a plane needs additional time and maintenance to be flightworthy only makes it worse. Paying extra to get a seat with extra legroom is worth it although the seats are getting threadbare and any padding that may have been there no longer shields you from the frame of the chair this is especially true on their smaller aircraft flying into Kingston. Due to maintenance issues the entertainment system on the Toronto to Heathrow leg had to be completely rebooted mid-flight making it unusable for about an hour. Luggage handling was slow and bags marked “Priority” were some of the last ones off. Since they are the only airline that flies out of Kingston it used to be worth the extra 30% on fairs for flights going outside of North America to fly Air Canada for the convenience but with chronic scheduling problems because of aged aircraft it is becoming less so.

Over the last two years we have taken 31 flights. Of those flights 11 were on Air Canada and on 8 of those 11 there were either delays of more than two hours or cancellations. My most recent was on Air Canada YVR to YEG - the flight was cancelled and it created a great deal of confusion for Air Canada. First they would let us know about putting on other flights in 15 minutes half an hour later they were still confused and lost. They said they would give a lunch voucher but couldn't get them to print and that took 45 minutes. Finally a lunch voucher that would buy an airport pre-made airport sandwich. Back after lunch and sched on flight in another hour (now 2.5 hours later). This is very typical or even quite good service for this airline. Food and beverages - if you like a mini bag of pretzels and some juice or water or coffee then great. I only travel Air Canada when absolutely necessary.

Toronto - Tel Aviv - Toronto B787 Dreamliner. Executive First. Aircraft is superb and is now my favoured choice over the B777. Innovative numerous improvements in passenger comfort and convenience. Cabin staff really proud of the aircraft and it shows in their service. Flights left on time and arrived early. Concierge at Tel Aviv personally accompanied me to my seat (a first). Overall a thoroughly enjoyable experience on both flights. A thumbs up to a great new aircraft and a motivated and delightful crew.