V-Flyer

Quick TR from a recent trip down the back on Air Canada.

Despite the best efforts of London Underground to make me late - what they called a 'regulated service' (regulated to be slow?) on the District Line, then a gaping hole in the Picc line service at Hammersmith, and what seems like several laps of the airport on the Picc Line now they've re-opened the link to T4, I still managed to get to Heathrow in time to get the flight.

Air Canada check-in was fast and efficient - well, I was using the J-cabin check in, being a Star Au card holder - but even the Y check-in didn't seem mobbed. Got my requested 23K seat, in the middle/overwing cabin, and asked if I knew where the 'London Lounge' was (which I did, of course!). The agent was very friendly. Five stars.

Headed upstairs to security, dreading it. Being in Economy, that meant using the main search comb. But the God of zig-zag queues and X-ray machines was smiling on me, and I found myself in a quiet security area. Seriously, I've seen longer queues at fast-track. They've now put long roller-conveyors in to feed the x-ray machines, so you don't have to try and hold onto your bag while you turn things out of it, which seems to make things move much quicker. Maybe BAA really are getting the hang of this, or maybe it was a quiet day?

Met up with the friend who was travelling with me on the flight, he'd arrived earlier, and registered in IRIS while waiting for me. I managed to dodge the 'random shoe check', and we headed off for the London Lounge.

Some Singha beers (good advantage of sharing the lounge with Thai!), crisps and whatnot later, it was time to head down to the gate to join the flight. They were early boarding the J cabin just as we got there, and then they started filling the Y cabin from the back. Boarding seemed very smooth, no scrum, no stress and we were onboard our A330, C-GHLM.

Despite the fact this wasn't one of the 'Extreme Makeover' aircraft - so it had no AVOD, just mainscreen films and TV - I was quite happy with the comfort of my seat. My knees didn't touch the back of the seat in front, could stretch out, and had plenty of elbow room. Thanks SeatGuru! [;)]

Soon enough, doors were closed, and we soon realised that the flight was only about 60% full. I could see the J-cabin was full - mostly with upgrades, judging from the pile of upgrade vouchers (AC still use paper vouchers) at the gate podium! However, Y was probably half-empty. We pushed back on time, and taxiied out to Runway 09R for departure, with a right turn out to take us over Bristol, South Wales and Ireland. After this, without a skymap, I lost my bearings, hardly surprising.

The cabin service seemed to start really quickly after takeoff - with a run of the drinks cart, followed by a hot lunch/dinner. I wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The tray consisted of a generous bowl of green salad with a bottle of balsamic dressing, a choice of two hot meals - either a lamb noisette with new potatoes, or a chicken in mushroom sauce with 'noodles' (a bit like German spaetzle), a cookie from what seems to be a Canadian version of Otis Spunkmeyer, and some chocolate. A small bottle of water in a fairly high-quality 'take away and refill again and again to protect the environment' bottle was also on the tray. I think that was it, though it felt like there was actually more on the tray. Maybe that's all I can remember, as the Singha and Sleemans Cream Ale were doing their trick by now.

I had the chicken - which looked and tasted like a relative of Virgin's Y chicken - the preparation of the chicken piece looked similar to VS, but in a mushroom gravy (rather than VS' cream sauce).

It wasn't at all bad for a Y meal.

Tray pickup was fairly quick, there was a 'top-up' run with the drinks cart, and coffee or tea were served.

The crew members serving our aisle were mostly in their late 30s and 40s, helpful and friendly, and a couple of them had a wicked sense of humour and rapport with the passengers that wouldn't have been out of place on VS.

Water runs were made very frequently during the flight, at least once, sometimes twice per hour. My friend and I were also kept well topped up with beers. Our flight attendant would come past with water, and say to us 'I'll be back, boys...' - at which point she'd come back with a tray with beers on for us. [8D]

The entertainment really wasn't up to much. One film was 'The Guardian', which seemed to be an aquatic version of Top Gun featuring Kevin Costner. I didn't really watch it.

Part-way through the flight, we got ice cream - 'Mon Glace' like you sometimes get on VS. The beers also kept coming...

One thing I noticed was that someone in the back cabin reeked - we went back to the galley to get some coffee (AC do 'Second Cup' coffee - it like a Canadian Costa or Starbucks - the blend they supply to AC for on the aircraft is quite good, has a good taste at altitude, which probably takes some doing!), and passiing through the back cabin there was an undescribably bad funk! Either really bad BO or stinky, stinky feet. You learned to hold your breath walking past those few rows. There were some people who looked like they had been travelling for days in that part of the cabin though!

After a while, I think we just wanted the flight to be over though. The lack of decent IFE and inseat power, and not physically being able to drink anymore were taking their toll. Thankfully, we'd already made landfall in Labrador and heading for Toronto.

A hot snack was served before we landed - some hot pastries from a fairly new baked goods company called 'Monty's Bakehouse' - they make things like 'premium' sausage rolls, and are targeting the mass catering industries like airlines, refectories and canteens. The choice for us was either BBQ chicken or 'veggie' of some sort (probably cheese and something). They actually weren't bad as a hot in-flight snack, despite looking suspiciously like a savoury version of a McD's apple pie in their cardboard 'pillow pack'. The quality seemed okay, no mystery meat, but pieces which were recognisably shredded chicken.

We landed a little early, but then got held up waiting for a gate - we had a last minute gate change, and had to sit for several minutes waiting for the stand to be cleared and the docking guidance turned on. The Captain took off from the aircraft at a rate of knots once we were parked - he was commuting back to Montreal. There was then a long walk from the gate to immigration, but the new terminal at Toronto is very modern, bright and well designed. It looks like they are in the middle of putting in some sort of new express moving walkway. It wasn't operating, but it's design is very different and doesn't have the usual rubber belt handrails. We just had to use the normal 'slow' walkways!

Immigration was a breeze, cheerful friendly immigration officer dealt with the formalities and then you head down an escalator into a huge baggage hall with a very high ceiling... where we waited, and waited. Eventually, after about 20 minutes or so, we got a message - the cargo doors on the plane were frozen shut. Probably because of the outside temperature being -7C and standing waiting for the parking position for so long.

They were working to get the doors open, but it would take about 20-30 minutes to thaw out and de-ice the cargo doors enough to open them.

An Air Canada baggage person kept talking to people on the radio and occasionally relaying information when there was something new to say. Thankfully, and after about 30-40 minutes, we got the message that they had got one of the holds open and were bringing the Priority bags now. The Priority label did work - my bag was somewhere among the first 20 or so off the plane, despite the delay. However, it was a good 70/80 minutes we were kept waiting for the bags, and you would think that they were used to the cold in Toronto!

I hadn't flown Air Canada for a number of years, and my expectations were pretty low, but actually, it wasn't a bad flight at all. The seat was comfortable, with good legroom, no feelings of being cramped. The crew were good, especially our quick witted lady who kept our glasses full all flight.

That said, I wonder what the service would be like on a full plane? I suspect not as good, as the crew would have had to work much harder and not have as much time for everyone.

They are currently in the process of a much-needed upgrade of their fleet, which will include AVOD at all seats, and lie-flat J seats, similar to VS.

I think I'd still pick AC over BA for a trip to Canada.

Cheers,
Mike