Air Canada

My spouse and I were flying Premium Economy (PE) YWG-YUL-LHR-YUL-YYZ-YWG late August (Outbound) and early September (inbound). Air Canada as a concession to passengers flying in aircraft without PE seating assigned us to "preferred seats" which in this case was 12A and 12C which were immediately behind the business class section of the cabin. Boarding was reasonably efficient but hampered by the rush of passengers scrambling to find storage for their massive carry ons. As we had no under seat storage we also had to scramble to ensure our few small carry ons were stowed. Our IFES and almost everyone else's on the port side of the aircraft did not work; AC did give us vouchers which when filed on line gave us a 5% discount on future bookings until spring 2015. Legroom was comfortable and our seats had 3" more pitch than other Economy class seats; but this is a small aircraft (better than a CRJ) and things still felt cramped. It was just tolerable for the 2.5 hour flight to YWG.

I sat in seat 23E from YVR-YYZ and this seat configuration is horrible. This is a middle seat and you are constantly pressing against your neighbours on both sides. There is also a support strut directly in front of you so your feet are in a "shared" space. This is a big step backward for Air Canada on a long-haul flight and I will take every possible precaution to avoid this configuration in future travel.

For an 8 hour flight to Paris from Montreal the seats were pretty good. I also liked Air Canada's new 3 cabin interior on this flight. The seat recline was pretty good and I was able to sleep for awhile. enRoute systems were amazing much better than the older system.

Air Canada have gone with a very poor seat design both from the perspective of comfort and functionality. The width of the seats has been reduced and there is no usable armrest space. Plus in their wisdom controls for the PTV screen have been placed on top of the armrests (so you are inadvertently putting the overhead light on calling the flight attendant or changing channel). In addition the headphone jack for the PTV is next to the screen so the cabin staff are catching cables when serving trays (in the limited space) etc.

The XM interior that Air Canada introduced a few years ago remains one of my favorite. It provides everything you would expect out of a North American Economy class seat. The pitch is beyond generous and I am able to easily stretch out and the width is acceptable. The entertainment system is also excellent offering a wide variety of entertainment options. Beyond ordinary economy class.

Air Canada reconfigured some B777-300 to squeeze more seats. Economy class was changed from 3x3x3 configuration to 3x4x3. Seats shrank from 18.5" wide to 17". It's impossible to not touch the neighbors. Also less space for legs and I suspect the seats recline less.

Flew in 18B 11-28-13 YYC-YVR which was bad enough but AC used to fly the E190 PDX-YYZ and back which is dreadful for a flight that long in a narrow body. AC has no respect for their Star Alliance FF so I avoid flying them if possible because there's no Economy Plus seating with them. They even tried to charge me for luggage this trip. The CRJ is more comfortable than the E190 in my opinion.

Food was so-so. Water offering was quite skimpy. Toilets very small. Seats got very hard by the end of the flight. Viewing screen was very difficult to see.

Good legroom no in flight entertainment component box under the seat in front as with some airlines). Seat recline satisfactory and adjustable headrest of good quality and adjustment.

Heathrow to Vancouver and seats were comfortable enough and legroom good. Seat recline was ok could have been better though.