Trip Report: Air Canada, Toronto Pearson to New Orleans (June 2018)

Trip Report: Air Canada, Toronto to New Orleans
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I was traveling from Africa back to America and was connecting in Toronto for my last flight.  My first flight was operated by Ethiopian Airlines and I was connecting to Air Canada.  Since both flights were booked on one ticket, and both are Star Alliance members and thus have a partnership, it would be a seamless transfer in Toronto.  My bags were tagged in Africa and I received my Ethiopian-issued boarding passes for my flight, so in essence all I had to do was 1) collect my bags and hand them to Air Canada or 2) just transfer and go to Air Canada to receive their boarding pass.  When I landed, the process could not have been smoother – I did not have to collect my bags and had them to Air Canada as all I needed to do was transfer from one get to another (and clear U.S. security).

I had received my Air Canada reservation number prior to my departure and had downloaded the app where I could manage my reservation.  There was a charge for pre-selecting my seat, so I waited until I got to Toronto to see if I could change my seat.  Even though I was already checked-in, I talked with an Air Canada representative who said I could use the kiosks or the app to change seat and receive my Air Canada-issued boarding pass (I also spoke with them to ensure my bags had been transferred successfully).  The entire process could not have gone smoother.

The flight was scheduled to depart Toronto at 1:15p and arrive into New Orleans at 3:05p.  The flight was operated by an Embraer RJ-175 with a scheduled flight time of 2hr50m.  As I had a long time between my flights, I was waiting near the gates well before the scheduled departure time.  I am glad I downloaded the app because it was through the app that I found out that the gate had been changed (an announcement happened later on); from my understanding this happens a lot with Air Canada at Toronto (another reason to download the app).  All the passengers made it to the right gate well in time before departure.  Boarding started around 12:45p, which I thought was a bit late but it was fine considering it was a small plane the load was light.  The plane was configured in a 1-2 business class and a 2-2 economy class.  The first few rows of economy were designated as ‘Preferred Seats’ which meant they provided additional legroom and earlier boarding.

First impressions of the cabin were very good as the plane looked like it had been well-maintained and recently updated.  The seats looked like they were new-ish slimline seats and each seat had its seatback PTV.  In Africa, I was initially assigned a seat in the back of the plane but through the app I changed my seat to an aisle seat in the middle of the plane.  The seat itself was decent in terms of size and comfort, it was not too small but not too large, and the legroom was decent. I am a tall man (6ft) and my knees were not hitting the back of the seat in front of me (a good sign).  As with regional jets, the overhead bin space was limited so this was the only negative thing.  The seat itself had a personal PTV screen (which was a decent size and looked updated) and had a USB port next to it.  Below the screen was the foldout tray, and below that was the pocket with the airline magazine, duty free magazine, and air sickness bag.  As I said, overall first impressions were very good (especially since most U.S.-based regional jets do not look anything like this at all!).  The plane was about 70% full which meant that those of us in the back each got a row to ourselves.  As weight distribution is a key factor, especially for regional jets, before the boarding door closed the gate agent came to move passengers around.  I was moved from my seat in the middle to one of the Preferred Seats right behind business class.  This was a bulk-head seat which meant that my bags had to go in the bin for take-off and landing, but the legroom in this seat was really good.  The seat was still not as wide as I would’ve liked it, but it was a very comfortable seat. 

We pushed back, a safety video was shown on the screens, and we made our way to the runway for our on-time departure.  Once we reached cruising altitude, the crew started with their service.  For this flight (and most flights within Canada and the U.S.), Air Canada provided complimentary water, soft drinks, tea or coffee and pretzels but everything else needed to be purchased.  Despite the long flight, drinks were served in glasses and not cans although later on in the flight the attendants came with water.  After the service, passengers sit back and either talked, read, or watched the PTV screens.  The screens were a decent size, were very responsive to touch screen, and had a good selection of movies.  The only negative about the entertainment was that it would not remember where you were, so if you paused it or stopped it, it would start from the beginning instead of asking you to resume where you left off (as I have seen other airline entertainment systems do).  This was a small issue as overall the system was responsive and had a good selection.

Overall, I was very impressed with the Air Canada service.  Given my experience with U.S.-based airlines and regional jet service, I had very low expectations and Air Canada exceeded those.  The seats were comfortable, the legroom was decent, and PTVs as well as USB ports were provided.  The service was decent as one flight attendant (the one in business class who came back to help) provided much better and pleasant service versus the one who was based in economy.  Based on this experience, I would not hesitate to fly Air Canada short- or long-haul.