Air Canada

Had a very good experience flying from London Heathrow to Toronto via Chicago on 23/8/13. Everything from booking the flight customer service before flight and during flight checking in boarding aircraft comfort on board good connecting service and the same on direct return flight everything was great. Competitive price as well.

I fly regularly on the Boston to Toronto route and Air Canada always disappoints. On my most recent trip I tried to check my bag in at the gate which I have done many times before) because I didn't want to have to lift my bag into the overhead bin on the plane as I am 7 months pregnant. I was told not to do that since the bag was small and there was plenty of space on the plane and someone would help me. When I got on the plane and asked the steward if he could help me put my bag up in the overhead bin he took a look at my bag and asked 'Is it really that heavy?'. He told me a passenger would help me! Just downright rude. They always seem to set the bar for the worst customer experience whether it has been when I have missed a flight or their policies with respect to gate checking strollers and car seats. They are by far the worst airline to travel with children.

Terrible flight to and from Greece. Freezing cabin and rude stewardesses. Food worst I have tasted. Seats very uncomfortable asked for blankets and was asked if I was sick? We had exit rows and they would not turn down the air conditioning. The entire plane was freezing. Then when we arrived in Montreal to connect to Toronto they said the flights were cancelled and they would have to see what they could do the next day. My son had taken another flight and was left waiting at the airport in Toronto for us. They were not willing to help or guide and people were scrambling to try to get out on a flight that evening to Toronto. Every year we say never again this experience was the last straw.

ADB-IST-YYZ-YUL return in economy on 14 August. First flight on Turkish from Izmir code share. Even though a code share flight they couldn't give me my AC boarding passes and told me my luggage would go through to Montreal but I had to check in at AC in Istanbul. Too many people scheduled to be an A320 switched to a A340 at last minute leading to delays leaving Izmir. Arrived in Istanbul we were taken to a remote stand and finally bussed to the domestic terminal. Dashed to the international terminal reps for AC were waiting all smiles and no problems got my two remaining boarding passes. Massive line at immigration control to leave. I went to the front and asked some people if they would let me go ahead as my flight had already started to board. Just made it to my flight to Toronto. Once on board a perfect as a flight in economy could be. Excellent flight attendants professional and friendly. Drinks then a wonderful meal of lamb. Plenty of water runs snack part way through self service drinks and snacks in galley. Another meal 1.5 hrs before landing chicken again excellent. B767 had been refurbished excellent seats comfortable and entertainment system first rate with plenty of choices. Bags didn't make it to YYZ Turkish Airlines fault but AC was very good about getting them to me in Ottawa to my hotel 2 days later. Transfer to YUL smooth good short flight. Return flights again on AC from YUL-YYZ-IST on 23 Aug very good great service by caring crew as outbound. Equipment change again in IST to ADB on THY code share seat changed. Flight short and ok. Overall Air Canada has a great product as I have flown this route over the last 10 years using Turkish Airlines Air France KLM and Lufthansa. The price I paid was cheaper then the rest the flight attendants are what made the difference so nice and accommodating as well as good food for economy. I will keep using AC now that they are flight to IST from Canada.

Flew from Toronto to Sydney on 7th September. Flight left Toronto at 8.25pm. We were in transit in Vancouver which was 4.5 hrs flying. What we were offered for dinner when we boarded in Toronto was a snack which had to be paid. Then when we arrived in Vancouver all our cabin luggage had to be taken with us and reboard the same plane to the same seats. This was really inconvenient from the passengers point of view. By the time we were served a proper meal was 2.30am Toronto time. Toronto to Sydney just the flying time was 20 hrs. That kind of a meal service for such a long flight is not acceptable.

YVR-YOW-YVR. Breakfast flight to Ottawa on an Airbus 320. I had breakfast in the AC lounge and it was good the wireless needs to be upgraded as it was very slow and the YVR wireless was much faster. Our FA on the flight was very attentive and the breakfast service was excellent. Delayed 45 minutes landing in Ottawa due to a thunderstorm. On my return journey I enjoyed my stay in the lounge with good food and a glass of quality wine but again the wireless was slow and I gave up using it. The return flight was an Airbus 319. There was only one FA with us in the front cabin and she did the best she could being short handed with a full cabin. She was friendly and otherwise I enjoyed my trip. The meal was excellent and she offered a special liqueur service which was appreciated by many in the front cabin. My other suggestion is that on the IFE you get more documentaries old comedy TV shows and classic films. These must be reasonably inexpensive. Because I travel so much with them I sometimes run out of choices. However for both I paid an executive class fare and I got good value for what I paid.

19th Aug London to Toronto. Flight was fine though staff seemed too few and too busy to deal with passengers. The next leg 5 days later we checked in for online Toronto to Los Angeles we were asked to pay for our cases to check in $75 not expected. The flight though was very poor. Our return trip on the 2 Sep from LA to Toronto was just as bad but the Toronto to London was the worst. Too many people getting on with oversized bags and being allowed too plane was very over crowded. also our inflight entertainment wasn't working in any of our 3 seats the staff just shrugged their shoulders and handed out contact details for customer service. The plane was old and dirty we will not be using Air Canada again.

YXE-YYZ-DUB-CPH CPH-YYZ-YXE in economy. Paid an excellent price for this route. Flight to Toronto uneventful good service flights on time. Air Canada is my first choice for transatlantic flying but after 2 flights in my itinerary I will definitely reconsider especially the one to Dublin. It's not that the flight was uncomfortable the entire experience was just average. Flight attendants seemed uninterested and the plane was probably the oldest in the fleet. The arm rest of my seat had something that looked like industrial-strength foil holding parts together. I think this flight is over-looked since it is a seasonal route. This route is also being transferred to Rouge next year so maybe it'll improve. CPH-YYZ absolutely no problem newer aircraft friendly flight crew. Boarding at CPH was somewhat interesting - over 200 people left to sit in the hallway and departure lounge only opened shortly before boarding. YYZ-YXE late leaving YYZ due to an issue with the cargo door. No problem - safety first. Next time: Lufthansa!

I flew YYZ-WAW with a stop in FRA. The YYZ-FRA portion was operated by an AC 777-300 aircraft. This was on July 23 2013. I was happy with the service I received. I did on-line check-in and printed my boarding pass prior to arriving at the airport. To print my baggage tags I went to the check-in kiosk but the kiosk unfortunately did not want to print out all my tags meaning I could not go to the quick express bag-drop queue. This wasn't really a problem though because as a Star Alliance Gold customer I can use the quick Executive Class check-in queue to drop off my baggage. Check-in agent Heather was very nice and friendly! She actually gave me individual attention to the fact that my baggage should be labelled as fragile. I then went past security and with a friend I went to the Maple Leaf / Star Alliance Gold lounge. Lounge had a calming and not too busy atmosphere very pleasant and recommended! The flight itself was great! Cabin crew were attentive (although not the very friendliest AC cabin crew I have encountered but still very good) and the in-flight entertainment options were actually I think the best part of the flight. My pre-ordered vegetarian meal came quickly and in general it was a good flight!

AC 895 Dublin Ireland to Toronto. Good check in staff. Flight on time. Booked Air Canada ahead of other airlines. Expected good service as the National Carrier but was very disappointed. Food not up to much and cabin crew did not make much of an effort. They seemed quite bored. Return flight AC894 Fast check in and very courteous. Flight was awful due to weather conditions. Food very boring and small portions. Breakfast was a slice of banana bread and juice / tea / coffee. Planes are very old on this route. Air Canda will have to up their game next year when Aer Lingus start operating! Certainly no value for money.