Review – Air Canada A320 – Toronto to Montreal – Business Class

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May 27, 2016

Toronto to Montreal is a very quick flight, in fact it’s only 48 minutes in the air and 1:09 gate to gate so this review is a short one. Even so, there are benefits to flying in Business Class (AKA J Class) but I wouldn’t recommend expending additional points to fly in J for this short of a flight.

As a point of interest, flying a short haul flight on Air Canada using Aeroplan will cost you 7,500 points one way. Business is double at 15,000 one way. So unless you have a ton of points and really, really, really want to experience J, steer far, far away from J class redemptions. The only reason we were up in J was because it was part of a larger reward where we basically traverse the world and touch 5 of the 7 continents.

As soon as we were at cruising altitude, the flight attendants made their way through the Business Class cabin and provided breakfast to those that wanted it. I thought I would take the chance as I was feeling a bit peckish and wanted to see if the rumours of the terrible omelette were true.

After experiencing one bite of the omelette, I noped out. The flavour was indistinguishable from anything I had ever eaten before. I tried the sausage with similar results. The only thing I ended up eating was the fruit and it was not great either.

So far, Air Canada hasn’t given me much reason to want to fly their Business Class product domestically.

Mercifully the flight attendant could see that I had no interest in breakfast and took the meal away reasonably quickly. The next thing I knew, we were landing in Montreal, the first part of our vacation!

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Review – Maple Leaf Lounge – Toronto

By

Jayce

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May 27, 2016

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This entry is part 2 of 12 in the series Lounge Reviews

We had about 2.5 hours in Toronto where we were connecting to our first mini-destination on our trip around the world, Montreal. Because we were travelling in Business Class, we had access to the Maple Leaf Lounge in Toronto. Now Air Canada’s largest hub is Toronto so you would expect that the flagship MLL would be a good one but I found it to be very middle of the road.

While the space itself was quite large, there wasn’t anything that really stood out for me about the lounge. The food spread was something that you would find at a Holiday Inn breakfast buffet but on the positive side, there were showers in the lounge that I took advantage of.

Unfortunately the view of the apron was obstructed by a wall, so views from the lounge weren’t great.

For the most part, I find that Air Canada has a long ways to go before they can touch the experience you get with Asian, Middle Eastern and European carriers.

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Review – Air Canada 767-300 – Calgary to Toronto – Business Class

By

Jayce

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May 27, 2016

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Getting on an airplane at 12:05AM is not the most pleasant experience. Having that flight delayed until 1:08AM makes it even worse. Add to that the flight from Calgary to Toronto is only 3 hours and 7 minutes often makes the redeye a tough pill to swallow.

Normally I wouldn’t take a flight at this hour, especially towing around a 7 year old but sometimes you make compromises when travelling on award tickets. Luckily, we were booked in Business Class on the flight so as soon as we took off, we all went to bed.

Air Canada’s 767-300 has a 1-2 reverse herringbone configuration so my wife and daughter took 2 seats facing each other while I sat in the single seat aisle. When travelling alone, the “throne” seat on the 1 side of the 1-2 configuration, offers excellent privacy and plenty of room, however, if you are travelling as a family, the reverse herringbone makes it difficult to communicate with your family without feeling like you are encroaching on the space of the other people in the paired aisle.

As I woke up only about 20 minutes outside of Toronto, I opted not to eat breakfast on the plane. AC domestic food is not the greatest and on this particular flight, they served the AC omelette, which at the best of times is unappealing.

Outside of being an hour late to push back, the flight was comfortable enough but if I weren’t flying Business Class as part of a larger trip, I would be hard pressed to recommend Air Canada’s Business Class Product … at least domestically.

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Review – Maple Leaf Lounge – Calgary

By

Jayce

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May 26, 2016

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This entry is part 1 of 12 in the series Lounge Reviews

Calgary is home for me and while I’ve stopped chasing airline status a long time ago, the Maple Leaf Lounge was always one of the aspirational things that I wanted access to when I started down the path of travel hacking. There’s just something about being able to go somewhere where the general public isn’t allowed that has a certain appeal to me. It’s a more comfortable experience and something that I always look forward to.

The Calgary International Airport has been undergoing major renovations for the past few years to make way for the new International Terminal which boasts the longest runway in Canada at 14,000 feet long by 200 feet wide. Calgary has purpose built this runway to attract more airlines, specifically Asian airlines, to the airport.

As part of this expansion, the MLL has undergone significant upgrades and is one of the newer MLLs in Canada and is located on the Departures Level, Concourse C, right after security.

We arrived at about 10:00pm for a 12:05am departure and the lounge was very quiet with very few customers. This was certainly a plus as many reviews of this lounge complain about overcrowding even with the expansion.

The lounge itself is quiet beautiful and feels very large with excellent views of the apron, something that I really like. Along with the renovated room, MLLs are beginning to include phone charging stations, something that I find quite useful because sometimes I just can’t be bothered to riffle through my bag for my charger, only to find that all the outlets don’t work.

Unfortunately due to the hour we arrived, there was no food except for bags of pretzel sticks and a few leftover bananas. While I can understand why this was, would it have killed Air Canada to have some food available to their customers seeing as the lounge is open until 1AM?

Also something new is that the bar is staffed by AC personnel so you don’t pour your own drinks. Don’t know if this is a good or bad thing but I would have rather AC spend the money on food than a staff member to stand behind a bar. To each their own I guess.

They did have Guinness on tap which is something you don’t see very often … at least in my experience of lounges.

One thing that the MLL in YYC lacks is showers. It’s a personal opinion but I believe that all lounges, whether they be airline operated or contract lounges, should have a shower available to its clients. There’s nothing better than taking a shower, changing into a fresh set of clothes and then getting on a plane.

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