Air Canada » Economy » User reviews

captain.cupcake flew Air Canada Economy, on a B777-300ER (08/04/2012 19:42)

This was my first and last flights with Air Canada.

On checking in at Heathrow my partner and I were greeted by surly, rude scowling staff.
Boarding was very slow and not very organised.

We booked and paid extra for exit row seats but were very disappointed to find no window on row 31.

After an on time departure the meal service was started. The food was cold and too salty. We overheard a number of other passengers complaining.

The crew were off hand, rude and patronizing to say the least.
The IFE in my seat would not work and my partners was intermittent at best. We asked the crew if they could reset the system but got a reply of 'sorry we don't do electronics' not what I would expect from a major carrier.
It turned out that no IFE was working on seats ABC down the entire aircraft.

We did land ahead of time - the only good thing that day! Checking in at Vancouver we met the rudest agent in aviation history!.

On our return we had the same seats - 31AB. These seats were broken and would not recline, not good on a 10 hour flight.

No announcement was made about meal service starting. My partner was waiting to use the bathroom when the meal service started. The crew refused to move to allow him and other passengers to pass resulting in him waiting 20 minutes to return to his seat. When the crew reached our seats they would not leave a meal for him as he was not seated yet he was standing behind them!

The meal inbound was worse than the outbound. We has some meat and rice dish. The rice was hard and not fully cooked and the meat was cold and tough.

I was a flight attendant for 15 years and so am aware of the demands put on crew. It really doesn't take much to make passengers feel valued.

If you want a carrier that gets you to your destination on time but are not concerned with comfort or a decent service the Air Canada would suit you!
NEVER AGAIN

Charles-P flew Air Canada Economy, on a B767-300ER (25/11/2011 10:03)

I had heard bad things about Air Canada but was pleased to find a comfortable seat, nice crew and reasonable food. I paid a small premium for a bulkhead seat in economy as Business was fully booked however I noticed there were two free business seats that were given to friends of the crew.
Reasonable IFE with a mix of the usual comedies (Friends etc) and 20 odd films including some Canadian Films that made a nice change. We were late leaving Calgary as a thorough de-ice was needed but this time was made up and we got to Frankfurt on time. The flight was about half full so there were lots of spaces for other economy passengers to stretch out.
In conclusion - reasonable value for money but disappointing to see Business Class seats being given away by crew when I would have paid.

Dadou73 flew Air Canada Economy, on a B767-300ER (24/10/2011 14:59)

I wasn't supposed to fly with Air Canada on my journey from Toronto to Geneva, but the very nice ground crew found me and put me on Air Canada 830 from Toronto to Geneva via Montreal and I was very happy of this flight, very friendly and professional cabin crew, incredibly good entertainment system, good food and clean and quiet cabin for an old 767-300ER ! I'll fly with them again !

Jan2009 flew Air Canada Economy, on a B777-300ER (30/07/2010 20:18)

retoborer flew Air Canada Economy, on a B777-300ER (04/06/2010 03:49)

This time I had to fly Economy as my Agent was not able to rebook the Ticket to Business despite that Business was not fully booked.

Seat are great for a big guy like me. FA very friendly and approachable especially the Asian Crew not only for Western as well for Chinese Passenger. AC was good and relative modern the seating arrangement of 3-3-3 is great 18.5 Inch seat wide is the biggest in the industry and compared with Emirates and other Airline very comfortable.

Only minus point is the Reservation Department which is pathetic if you want to upgrade and pay full fare for a new ticket are not able due to so it is very frustrating.

Once complaint to to Air Canada in Canada you get a non relevant answers which only aggravates you.. If you want to spend additional 4000US and the Airline is not willing to work with you (mind you not asking for upgrade more as full fare price) and you Staff is not willing to assist you I would consider this as having a Major attitude Problem

However the treatment on board as well on the Ground was superior I wish some of the top Airlines would have this approach.

tiggerbrown flew Air Canada Economy, on a B767-300ER (15/03/2010 19:55)

Flight looked quite full but having paid for exit row seats (think they call it Preferred Seats) we had plenty of legroom which was just perfect. Bum-width was ample too.

Seatback screens had huge selection of films & music to keep me happy all the way from LHR to YYZ.

Only drawback, as I believe is already warned about, is that the overwing exit row seats get *very* cold. Wrapped in 3 blankets I was almost ready to pop my outdoors jacket on. Despite that I would still endure the cold for the extra room.

Corporate-gal flew Air Canada Economy, on a B767-300ER (15/03/2010 11:21)

Check-in: I checked in online, chose my seat with relative ease and was presented with four options for my boarding pass: text or SMS, e-mail, interactive link or printable boarding pass. I chose the latter. Although I did not need to go to the check in desks at Heathrow Terminal 3, the queues as I pass by looked orderly and not too busy. There were plenty of desks open, plenty of staff on hand and the self-service check-in points were being well utilised.

Lounge: I used my Continental President’s Club membership to gain access to the Maple Leaf Lounge (Lounge B). This appeared to be for all Star Alliance carriers although it seemed to be SAS concentric. There was a reasonable range of breakfast snack and drinks including non-alcoholic fruit juices, coffee and tea, as well as beers and wines. The WiFi is free and you simply log on using the username and password clearly displayed on the small notice boards around the bars; I made full use of this facility before I noticed that boarding had commenced.

Boarding: Boarding was well organised, although when they called Executive First and Star Alliance passengers it was not clear whether they were referring to Air Canada tier status or Star Alliance. However, I ventured up to the door, stated I was Star Alliance Silver Elite with Continental and I was allowed to board.

Aircraft and Seating: The aircraft used on this route is version 2 (on the Air Canada website) of the Boeing 767-300, with the new Executive First herringbone layout and the one long cabin in Economy with the galley positioned around rows 17-19. I was in seat 13K, which was the only row in the front of the Economy cabin that did not have a window. This would probably be an ideal seat if you simply want to sleep on a night flight. The seat pitch on the 767 is confusing to say the least, albeit the layout throughout Economy is 2-3-2, rows 12-17 on the outboard seats, i.e. the two sitting together, have seat pitch of 33”, with the middle rows having only 31”. Throughout the remaining majority of the aircraft, the seat pitch is 31” or 32”. Therefore if you want a bit more leg room, then the outboard seats up the front of the cabin are the best bet.

Food and Drink: A hot lunch was served about an hour after take-off and this was not preceded by a pre-dinner drinks/snack service. All drinks are free, including alcoholic beverages. I chose the chicken, which came with a pasta salad starter and was served with veg and mashed potato. The desert came in the form of a soft cookie. Although no pre-dinner drinks service was provided, another round of post-dinner drinks was forthcoming. The crew also passed through the cabin regularly offering water.

Service: Service was friendly and efficient, but was not awe inspiring.

Entertainment: A good selection of films listed in various categories was offered, as well as on-board radio and a selection of music, of which there was not a lot of choice which appealed to me. I therefore watched a couple of films and did some work instead. The screen is quite large and whilst there is no separate control handset, the controls are all via the ‘touch-screen’ method instead, offering full AVOD facilities.

Overall: A reasonable quality ‘full’ service airline, with an acceptable range of entertainment, comfy seats and decent food.

dublindave flew Air Canada Economy, on a B777-300ER (04/01/2009 23:06)

The new Air Canada 777's are now even more appealing in Economy Class due to the endless hours of TV shows or movies on offer on the screens available in every seat in this class.

I just flew in US Airways Envoy and it has only 1% of what Air Canada's Economy TV had to offer.

If you can grab a seat in rows 61 or 62 by the window at the rear of the plane. At this point the plane starts to curve and so the gap between you and the seat in front has a greater pitch.

mohammad2 flew Air Canada Economy, on a B767-300ER (14/12/2008 16:46)

Not too bad

maxudaskin flew Air Canada Economy, on a A320-200 (30/09/2008 03:43)

Clean and comfortable. Not the best legroom, but not too bad. Overall, 5/10. Service is impeccable and the pilots are friendly.