Air Canada

I am a Star Alliance Gold Card holder and fly business class frequently. I just returned from a trip to Thailand and flew the Vancouver to Hong Kong leg (return) business class in their newly configured 777-300 series aircraft. The new business class seating arrangement on this aircraft is an unmitigated disaster. Where do I begin! It is primarily a 2-2-2 layout with 3 rows being 1-2-1. This single seat is only available to AC super elite members. So AC has decided that any other full fare business class travelers on this aircraft are not entitled to a single seat. Ridiculous. The tight seats are far too firm and narrow footwells make it impossible to properly stretch out and have a relaxing sleep. There is no storage area and materials used are cheap and do not even belong in a Premium Economy section. Window passengers do not have a clear access to the aisle. You have to climb over the other passenger. This is unacceptable in a business class in today's airline industry! I browsed through the Duty Free Magazine located in the seat pocket in front of each seat and asked the Flight Attendant if I could order something. She advised me that the configuration of this aircraft did not permit any duty free sales on board. No duty free on board when there is a duty free magazine located in every seat pocket! I will never fly on this aircraft again and my frequent flights to Asia will be on other Star Alliance carriers which are improving their business class product not reducing it to cattle car status such as AC.

Flew LHR to Vancouver Premium Economy on newish plane with different layout premium economy is no longer separated by a bulkhead and curtain so we had to put up with kids running up and down the aisles and noise. On top of this they messed up on our return flight from Calgary. No premium economy available so we chose the front two seats in economy they changed the plane last May didn't tell us so we lost the seats after a few calls to the call centre in India they refunded the charge for the so called premium seats but it's not a money issue we wanted the seats. Arrive at the airport and now we have to pay $70 for our third case that was FOC on the way out. We explained we would have booked it if we could but no joy they charged us. The only way to complain is to write to them apparently which we will for sure. Based on these issues I wouldn't recommend this airline.

On 14th Sept flew Air Canada express - Saskatoon to Vancouver on AC Express. Excellent service by flight attendants. The plane is starting to show its age. We then flew AC 47 to Honolulu. Here again the aircraft is showing its age. Our preferred seat 12 A and C has no window. Service was excellent. The flight attendants were older and were very professional. We learned that Air Canada Rouge is taking over this route in Mid Nov. and we will be returning on that flight in Dec. Our flight departed late however arrived in good time. We had problems stowing our carry on bag as bins were completely filled. Flight attendant did put our bag in a bin in Business Class.

I flew from Toronto to Tokyo on my way to Manila on 22 Oct and had the worst service experience I had in a long haul flight (12 hrs). I was seated at the window seat on several occasions I had a request for food water in the middle of the flight I pressed the attendant button waited more than 20 mins then an attendant went by and just went past no stopping on our side of the aisle and asking if anybody needed anything this happened in the middle of the flight when everyone was asleep so I didn't want to call out loudly but was waving my hands. This went on for 3 more attendant passes me before I was able to get the attention of an attendant. On the way back flying from Tokyo to Toronto I opted for an aisle seat thinking it was easier to get their attention it was but they were not the friendliest or most cordial I was asking for snacks in the middle of the long flight I was asked to go to the back myself to get pretzels and cookies. No more long haul Air Canada flights for me if I can avoid it.

A trip from home from Greece to Calgary resulted in arrival 41 hours after the scheduled time. Air Canada did not contact me once during this time only provided vague updates through the hotel staff. On the ensuing flight from Greece customers were still charged $10 rental fees to use the in-flight iPads despite being delayed more than a day and a half. Disgusting customer service and clearly poor plane maintenance practices. A good way to ruin a vacation is to fly with Air Canada.

We had three short haul domestic flights with Air Canada - YVR to YYJ YYJ to YYC and YYC to YVR. One flight was on time one was 25 minutes late and the other was over an hour late. Minimal information was provided about the delays and most of that was obviously incorrect. Check-in at YYJ and YYC was simple and efficient but at YVR was terribly slow with only 2 bag drop desks open and huge queues. The overhead lockers on the YYC to YVR were inadequate leaving everyone a scamble to find space anywhere they could. I would give any other airline a try next time - Air Canada performance leaves much to be desired.

LHR to YVR 777-300ER. Fairly new aircraft with everything clean and working as it should. Cabin crew were okay without being anything special. I found the staggered beds to be quite comfortable although if travelling alone it is better to avoid the pairs of seats near the window unless you want to climb over/be climbed over by a stranger. Food was okay but nothing special. Air Canada lounge at Heathrow was nice but the check-in process was poor. The premium desk was far removed from the economy kiosks with poor signage and the Air Canada roving ground staff lady that we dealt with did not help. It was only when we reached the bag drop desk after a long wait that we were told where we should have gone.

Toronto YYZ - Tel-Aviv TLV. Flew on new 787-8 aircraft in a standard economy window seat. The plane has only been in service since the early summer and it shows. It still looks (and smells) new. The climate control system pumped fresh air into the cabin the AC was very good. The windows on this plane are huge. The ambient lighting changed according to our journey's progress and provided a good general atmosphere. The entertainment system was excellent and fast responding with an extended selection of films TV shows games etc. Every seat came with a USB plug as well as AC power. Flight attendants were courteous professional and between them spoke 6 languages to cater to the various passengers. The overhead storage bins were very large. The cabin in general seemed spacious and pleasing. Before I review the seats and leg space please make note that I have small build 5'5" (165 cm) and 132 pounds (60kg). Leg room was ok as long as you don't have carry on luggage on the floor. The seat reclined to a relative comfortable position (as far as an economy seat may be comfortable) although I didn't note a major improvement over other/older Air Canada planes including the 767-3 which was replaced by this plane on this route. The big problem with the seating in economy is the 3x3x3 configuration. The seats are narrow. I was lucky that nobody was sitting in the middle seat next to my window seat. The seat felt cramped without a person sitting next to me. It would've been almost unbearable to fly for 10 hours with someone next to me. Remember I'm smaller than the average person and couldn't imagine how an average or large person could last in an economy seat for such a long flight. Air Canada definitely dropped the ball with this seat configuration on an international flight. It might work for a short haul flight but not on a 10 hour flight. Simply outrageous design decision. Another inexplicable design decision was to mount controls on the arm rest exactly where you'd put your arm. There were several incidents witnessed during the flight where a passenger accidentally pressed the flight attendant button. The flight attendants reaction was as if it was a common occurrence. I myself accidentally pressed the seat lighting button a few times and changed the volume on my flight entertainment program. This is a very annoying design flaw especially if a stranger sitting next to you will push the buttons on your flight entertainment controls. Food was horrible possibly the worst meal I've come across specifically the main course for dinner as well as breakfast. One bite was more than enough to leave the food on the tray. The new plane has a lot going for it but is plagued by design flaws in economy that would most likely make the long journey in economy a very bad experience for almost every single person. Disappointing! I cannot recommend a flight on this plane in economy. My suggestion would be to pay the extra money to fly in Premium Economy. The seats looked far more comfortable and had had a better 2x3x2 configuration. I also suggest to eat prior to flying at the airport and/or buy food to eat prior to boarding.

On September 8 I boarded my connection flight scheduled to depart at 6.30pm from Calgary to London Heathrow but after boarding the pilot announces that there was a problem with the de-icing device. They spent hours trying to fix the problem but in the end the flight was canceled. By the time we walked out of the plane it was almost midnight. I understand that due to safety issues there was no choice but to cancel the flight but what I'm extremely upset about was the unhelpful staff and lack of support for the 300 passengers walking out of that plane at midnight in a snowing city hungry and without anywhere to go. After exiting the plane we were summarily dismissed by agents who could do nothing to help us rebook our plane find hotels or even to just to remove our "checked-in" status so that we could call the helpline to rebook our flight. Because the desk agents failed to remove my "checked-in" status (when I asked they told me it would be done in about an hour which did not happen) I had to call the help line 3 different times before someone there was able to reach the ticket office to fix things up and issue me a new ticket for next evening. Needless to say it was a sleepless night. As a single Canadian adult traveling by myself with all the right gadgets and adequate travel insurance I was lucky enough to sort everything out myself albeit with endless frustrations. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been for foreigner families or elderly people with hearing problems. Because of this experience I will probably take a vacation from Air Canada for a long long time.

Flew YEG-LHR (again). Great experience. It's not the luxury of the middle eastern or Asian airlines but the meals and wines are included unlike Icelandair and the cabin experience is far better than United. My first choice. The LHR terminal they use is now excellent.