AC859 LHR-YYZ 10 APR 10 (BUSINESS)
Posted: 22 Apr 2010, 03:14I was picked up at 2.30pm to get to the airport for 3pm, well ahead for my 6pm flight. I was on the waitlist for a *G upgrade, and I was aware the flight was fairly busy, so wanted to get there with plenty of time to spare.
I went to where the *G checking was, to find it was now a different airline, so I had a wander around, and found it right at the front, apparently they do have a habit of moving it around for the last flight of the day.
As soon as I handed over the passport, I was asked, "You do know about the 4 hour delay, don't you ?".
No I did n't, if I had, I would n't have arrived at the airport so early, I could have enjoyed the fine weather and gone to the BBQ my family went to, My driver had gone, so I elected to carry on. I only had an Economy ticket at this point, as I was told to collect my boarding pass at the gate, if I was lucky enough to get a seat in business.
I went up to the Fast Track, and asked if my Air Canada Gold card would allow me to use the channel, I was asked to show the card, and I was able to join a queue that consisted of just 1 passenger. The normal security lines were not too busy, but this was a bonus.
I got to the Air Canada lounge, which is share with SAS, and talekd to the AC rep to work out why the plane was 4 hours late, as I was not told the reason at check in, despite asking.
He did n't really know, and guessed at weather. Saying the plane was held up in Halifax, NS. I have colleagues there that say the weather was fine, so I think another EU compensation letter is due, my last flight to Toronto was cancelled, and I did get a cheque after 5 weeks.
The lounge is nothing special, Beer, Wine and a few nibbles. At least it had free Wifi to pass the time. The 5 hours did actually go pretty quickly and I decided to head to the gate early to see if there was a J boarding pass for me.
I skipped the line, and headed for the priority security line, and found there was a boarding pass waiting for me, and after a swap of an upgrade voucher, I was able to sit down for a few minutes before they called the flight, and in true VS fashion, despite announcing that women, children and people needing more time would board first with the J and *G passengers, mostly everyone jumped up and tried their luck. The AC staff did a good job of holding back the crowd, while the priority boarding passengers were allowed on board.
I've not been in J on AC before, and it is very much like VS, except it does n't look as tired, mainly due to the different use of material. The seat converts into a bed, like BA's NNCW, which basically slides down, rather than the VS flip flop affair.
There was a pre-flight glass of fizz, which was good, but not as tasty as the VS offering, and we were away on time. The flight manager walked round, introduced himself, and greeted every passenger by name, and I was pretty impressed, as the flight was full in my cabin.
The food however, was a bit of a let down, the starter was pretty tasty, and was salmon, but the chicken was tasteless, and just looked dreadfull, I know a lot of people don't like the VS offering, but this was similar to VS Y, and very much sub VS W.
As the flight was so late leaving, and instead of getting into Toronto at 9pm, was scheduled to get in at 1am, I decided to take full advantage of the lie flat bed and settled down to some sleep. The belt was fastened, and there was some turbulence a few times, although I did n't see any CC moving through the cabin. I did get some sleep, and awoke as they pretty much started the descent.
We arrived 3 hours and 40 minutes late, which means a €300 cheque rather than a €600 one, but my main concern was the luggage, and if there were enough staff to handle it.
Immigration was pretty quick as always, and we were assigned belt 5, which at 1am in the morning, is the furthest you could possible be. And thne the wait began, nothing cam eoff for over 20 minutes, which I have not seen at YYZ, and priority baggage did not appear to be in effect. Another 15 minutes or so, saw my bag arrive.
I left the hall, and went to get my car, and for the 5th time running my Avis preferred service had failed to work, and my car was not waiting. Avis cannot explain why this keeps happening, but it does, so I need to write to their VP responsible to give the gift of customer feedback and ask for their help in fixing it.
I had called ahead to my hotel, and had guessed I would arrive at 2.30am, and I pitched up at 2.35am ready for a good sleep.
Overall, not a bad flight, the crew were average, nothing like a VS crew, the food was average, but the bed was good, the delay could have been handled better and the luggage was a little slow, but we had arrived pretty late into the evening.
My plans for Sunday were pretty much put on hold, and I headed to work on the Monday, ready for the return flight on Friday. That never happened, because a small Volcano in a particularly troublesome country decided that it needed to let off some steam.
