Air Canada

AC 811 from IST to YYZ on B767-300. The ground services in Istanbul are handled by a third party for Air Canada and are appalling. I am a top-tier AC frequent flyer and used the priority check-in which took an extraordinarily long time to process our party of 4 travellers. There were 5 agents behind the desk with only one dealing with the passengers and the rest simply watching. Boarding process was utterly chaotic with 9 agents in attendance and none of them at all interested in answering the queries from the passengers or helping them. I had to inquire 3 times about priority boarding before I was offered a snippy response. In one of those instances the agent made eye-contact and then simply walked away from me completely ignoring my question. The gate assigned for the flight was woefully inadequate to handle a Transatlantic flight. 200+ passengers were processed through a check-in facility more suited for commuter planes. We were eventually bussed to the aircraft adding further delays to a flight that was already delayed by 90 minutes. Once onboard the aircraft showed its age with tired interior worn-out PODS inoperable washrooms and dull lighting. FA's were very attentive and the AVOD selection offered plenty of options. Two meals and frequent water-runs were offered throughout the 11-hour long flight. The meals were mediocre at best but drink selection was good. The only redeeming aspect of the journey was the amazing Business Lounge operated by Turkish Airlines. The flight arrived late but we were lucky to make our connection. Air Canada must take a serious look at their ground service arrangement in Istanbul as it really gets the passengers off to an unpleasant experience.

AC 613 July 6th from Halifax to Toronto and AC 716 Toronto to NYC (LaGuardia) on July 6th. Ground crew and FA's were both excellent. Aircraft's on both flights (Airbus 320 and E-190) were very clean and well maintained. Cannot find anything to fault. Will fly Air Canada again without question.

Ottawa to Antigua via Toronto (July 20th). The flight between Ottawa-Toronto was lengthened by more than 20 minutes and left us with 35 minutes to catch our connecting flight to Antigua. Not an easy task when you have to run up floors than down while changing to other sections of the terminal. The return flight on July 27th was even worse. Toronto-Ottawa was cancelled due to severe weather. It took us two hours to access customer service on the premises. Not enough agents contradictory advise. We were put on stand-by on the 00.30hr flight with crossed- fingers wishing us luck. I can't understand that with the technology we have today they don't known the number of people who book the flight. To make matters worse no ground crew for an hour that left us in Ottawa at 2h30am without luggage and a closed office.

Flew from Toronto Pearson to Milan Malpensa direct. I must say I have no complaints whatsoever ok the food was average but its airline food so why complain. The whole experience was pleasant.

Mexico City-Toronto-Milan Malpensa round trip in business class. Air Canada delivers a consistent and sound business class product with some features that make it more similar to a first class product. For example the seat configuration on the 767 (1-1-1) is really comfortable and give a great degree of privacy that is not provided on other 4* airlines. Staff service very attentive. I had a 12 hours layover in Toronto and Air Canada provided me a room free of charge at the Gateway Sheraton: a detail that was very much appreciated. I suggest an improvement on drinks in Business Class: for instance an upgrade in whisky and a wider selection would be both very much appropriated.

I flew from Toronto to Sydney Australia via Vancouver. The flight was very comfortable. Sure the seat could have been roomier but there was adequate leg room. The leg from Toronto to Vancouver was great no one in the middle seat! And because I was continuing on to Sydney I got free food (a choice of a meal item and a snack). The food on the long haul leg was okay nothing special but edible for myself. Free bar service is nice! Service was good and water was plentiful. I think Air Canada's seat back TV is best in class. Lots to choose from when you can't sleep! The only think I wish Air Canada did differently is get rid of 3x3x3 seating and make it 2x4x2. Yes less seats overall but it would make it a more pleasant flying experience for all!

We flew from Ottawa to Hong Kong returned from Shanghai to Ottawa both via Vancouver. I paid extra for choice of preferred seats and while there was sufficient legroom the seats were so narrow as to make comfort and ultimately sleep impossible. The food was really nothing more than garbage with a choice of "gruel" or a slice of some sort of egg for breakfast. For dinner I chose the beef which was a very poor quality meat all fat and only 3 little pieces. I think next time I will pay more and try to fly with another carrier.

We flew from Toronto to Hong Kong direct. The seats were fine and the flight attendants were friendly but the food was really atrocious. The sum of the meals were carbohydrate heavy. For snacks we were offered pretzels and later some kind of shortbread-like cookie. The snack on the return trip included a roast beef sandwich which had nothing but white bread and roast beef (no lettuce no dressing nothing!). Oh yes one of the other snacks was cup o'noodles. For main meal one of the dishes was some kind of white pasta pellets with a little bit of chicken. Another main meal was white congee (i.e. white rice porridge) or egg. So again carbs carbs carbs! I'm not anti- carb but the meals were all heavily laden with carbs with very little else to go with it. Not even vegetables!

Winnipeg to Nashville via Toronto. Was scheduled to fly Sunday morning. Plane was delayed due to mechanical problems things like this happen. The problem was we were not informed that our flight was delayed while standing in the line. The board showed our flight to be on time. Needless to say we stood for over 2 hours in line and were late to board our plane. Then told our plane was delayed. No help was offered while we were in the line only told we would have to wait our turn. Ended up flying into Toronto later that day but missed our connecting flight to Nashville. Thankfully Air Canada paid for our hotel and part of our supper in Toronto. On our return we were on schedule coming into Toronto according to our tickets. But when we had gone through customs and were ready recheck our bags to get the connecting flight to Winnipeg we were told we were too late as the baggage had to be checked in 1 hour in advance of the next flight. No effort to get us on the original flight. Thankfully I had enough time after landing in Winnipeg that I could still drive home. The service we got at the airports was just appalling. Flight attendants were okay. Luckily I was flying for holidays and not for work where time missed could be very costly.

We flew from Frankfurt to Calgary and 3 weeks later again from Vancouver to London. Our first trip was a bit hectic because we had very little time to catch our connecting flight. We had to run to our gate and once arrived there was a big queue. We were assigned 2 seats apart from each other (15 rows in between) so despite the big queue we went to the Air Canada desk at the gate to ask if it was possible to change our seats. The lady was friendly and she did manage to change our seats on this very short notice so that was positive. During the flight the food was good you could choose from different soft drinks (cans not just a glass) and the flight attendants came by with water quite often. The inflight entertainment was good as well (touchscreen). On the returning flight we had a newer airplane but the experience was not as good. The seat configuration was different as they added an extra row of seats which made 3-4-3. Because of this the seats were very small and less comfortable. Also the food was quite bad and the flight attendants were not as friendly and less skilled. The inflight entertainment system however was even better (latest version) so no complaints about that at all. Overall impression of flying with Air Canada was good. Would we choose for Air Canada again? Probably yes.