First time flying AC: review
Aug 11, 2014, 2:12 pm
#16
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: UA 1K MM, AC 50K MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 278
Hot towel to clean pod area
I've had other pax actually ask if they can use some for their own seat.
Aug 12, 2014, 6:01 am
#17
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: YYT
Programs: AC E35k, HHonors Silver
Posts: 743
Aug 13, 2014, 12:56 am
#18
Join Date: Jul 2005
Programs: SQ *Gold
Posts: 871
This sounds smart... great advice!
Aug 13, 2014, 12:59 am
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: YVR
Programs: AC SE 2MM; UA MP Premier Silver; Marriott Bonvoy LT Titanium Elite; Radisson; Avis PC
Posts: 35,255
Just wanted to throw up a quick review of a first timer to the realm of AC.
I bought a pair of AC J tickets earlier 2014, back when Star Alliance had that crazy J sale to Europe.
Trip: MCO - YYZ on AC Rouge; YYZ - FCO on AC; FCO - YYZ on AC; YYZ - MCO on AC Rouge.
AC Rouge:
Overall, pleasantly surprised. Yeah, the J on those planes kinda sucks...very much an intra-Euro styled flight (blocked middle seat; regular seats for pax). What I was pleasantly surprised with was the staff. Happy is an understatement. They were cracking jokes on the intercom, bending over backwards for pax, remembering pax by name and destination, asking questions, etc. The hard product was nothing to write home about, but the soft product was at least an 8/10. Food wasn't Michelin star or anything, but for a 2.5 hour flight from FL to YYZ, I was shocked they'd serve anything at all that wasn't pre packed sandwiches and/or snacks.
AC:
Very, very, very disappointed, both in hard product and soft product. Easily the worst J seat, and worst J setup, I've ever been on.....I genuinely don't think they could have done a worse job if they tried. Never been a fan of DL's basic hard product, but AC's makes DL's look like Cathay Pacific! In full recline mode, the seat has a bar right behind your lower back. It's impossible to get comfortable. To make matters worse, the seat is too short. I'm exactly 6 feet...not huge, not short. I couldn't sit in the seat without my feet touching the end. Really bad...could get no sleep..
The soft product was even worse. The food was identical to AC Rouge (which is fine for a 2.5 hour US-CA flight). Basically the same meal but this time it was burnt and dry.
The staff was awful. Two long hauls and we had 1 nice person working the J cabin (they ended up moving him into Y and we never saw him again). Rude, inattentive, disrespectful, and sarcastic. It was almost like they didn't want to be there and had no interest in being a flight attendant.
Long story short:
I'd fly AC Rouge again for a flight under 3-4 hours.
Wouldn't fly AC on a TATL/TPAC ever again, even at $1.4k for J. Terrible.
I bought a pair of AC J tickets earlier 2014, back when Star Alliance had that crazy J sale to Europe.
Trip: MCO - YYZ on AC Rouge; YYZ - FCO on AC; FCO - YYZ on AC; YYZ - MCO on AC Rouge.
AC Rouge:
Overall, pleasantly surprised. Yeah, the J on those planes kinda sucks...very much an intra-Euro styled flight (blocked middle seat; regular seats for pax). What I was pleasantly surprised with was the staff. Happy is an understatement. They were cracking jokes on the intercom, bending over backwards for pax, remembering pax by name and destination, asking questions, etc. The hard product was nothing to write home about, but the soft product was at least an 8/10. Food wasn't Michelin star or anything, but for a 2.5 hour flight from FL to YYZ, I was shocked they'd serve anything at all that wasn't pre packed sandwiches and/or snacks.
AC:
Very, very, very disappointed, both in hard product and soft product. Easily the worst J seat, and worst J setup, I've ever been on.....I genuinely don't think they could have done a worse job if they tried. Never been a fan of DL's basic hard product, but AC's makes DL's look like Cathay Pacific! In full recline mode, the seat has a bar right behind your lower back. It's impossible to get comfortable. To make matters worse, the seat is too short. I'm exactly 6 feet...not huge, not short. I couldn't sit in the seat without my feet touching the end. Really bad...could get no sleep..
The soft product was even worse. The food was identical to AC Rouge (which is fine for a 2.5 hour US-CA flight). Basically the same meal but this time it was burnt and dry.
The staff was awful. Two long hauls and we had 1 nice person working the J cabin (they ended up moving him into Y and we never saw him again). Rude, inattentive, disrespectful, and sarcastic. It was almost like they didn't want to be there and had no interest in being a flight attendant.
Long story short:
I'd fly AC Rouge again for a flight under 3-4 hours.
Wouldn't fly AC on a TATL/TPAC ever again, even at $1.4k for J. Terrible.
I have been avoiding Rouge all this time but perhaps I will give them a try with my free Florida+ Pass credits.
Aug 13, 2014, 1:01 am
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: YVR
Programs: AC SE 2MM; UA MP Premier Silver; Marriott Bonvoy LT Titanium Elite; Radisson; Avis PC
Posts: 35,255
Aug 13, 2014, 8:54 am
#21
Formerly known as tireman77
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 5,501
I can't say I've noticed other J cabins of similar age/wear to be any better.
Aug 13, 2014, 9:54 am
#22
Flying Blue Director
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: CDG/AMS
Posts: 1,864
To the OP: I'm sorry you had an unfavourable experience on AC. As mentioned the lack of cleanliness is unacceptable, and while I can't change your opinion of the hard product (though I will say we do get many more positive reviews than negative ones), we always appreciate comments on how we can improve the soft product. I do hope you'll give us another chance in the future.
Aug 13, 2014, 9:56 am
#23
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: YYT
Programs: AC E35k, HHonors Silver
Posts: 743
Age & Wear is one thing. A number of posters have commented that the AC J pods are getting a bit tired & I'd agree with that. Dirt is quite another matter. As passengers we might be happy to sit in a worn but clean seat/pod. Sitting in a dirty one with some pax feeling the need to clean it themselves? Even if that happens on other airlines, it should be unacceptable, no?
Aug 13, 2014, 10:10 am
#24
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Why? Why? Zed! / Why? You? Elle! / Gee! Are You!
Programs: Irrelevant
Posts: 3,543
This has been SOP for the past couple of years now. As others have mentioned, cleaning of the tables and seating has become a necessity, for both narrow body and wide body J area. The sad fact is that some not so clean people occupy these seats at times and leave them quite dirty and soiled by the end of their flight.
I suspect that due to the quick turn around times very little effort is given to any sort of cabin cleaning other than a light grooming to pick visible large items of trash and make sure the seat belts are properly placed. AC may have rules stating that more should performed as part of the cabin grooming procedures, the reality is that they are not being performed on a consistent basis.
I suspect that due to the quick turn around times very little effort is given to any sort of cabin cleaning other than a light grooming to pick visible large items of trash and make sure the seat belts are properly placed. AC may have rules stating that more should performed as part of the cabin grooming procedures, the reality is that they are not being performed on a consistent basis.
Last edited by jaysona; Aug 13, 2014 at 10:16 am
Aug 13, 2014, 10:33 am
#25
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: OZ Diamond, Jiffypark Manhattan Gold
Posts: 4,485
That said, there's no reason that overnight the plane should start the day anything less than spotless. Any INTL turnaround as well since they are on the ground longer, but I'm sure you know that.
The groomers have a terrible terrible job, some passengers treat the plane like their personal garbage bin, but between better PAX behavior, and FA attentiveness DURING the flight, most garbage can be taken care of. 1 quick walk through of the plane during a turnaround as well by the FA will should indicate whether a vacuum is needed or anything else. I get they aren't doing that in these situations.
Point being, even if it's not 100% spotless, when a passenger boards a plane mid day, first glance should be that it's clean
.
Aug 13, 2014, 1:18 pm
#26
Formerly known as tireman77
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 5,501
Age & Wear is one thing. A number of posters have commented that the AC J pods are getting a bit tired & I'd agree with that. Dirt is quite another matter. As passengers we might be happy to sit in a worn but clean seat/pod. Sitting in a dirty one with some pax feeling the need to clean it themselves? Even if that happens on other airlines, it should be unacceptable, no?
If someone is traveling with cleaning wipes, they more than likely have a lower tolerance that I do.
What is an acceptable level? How would you even define it?
Aug 14, 2014, 10:00 am
#27
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,313
If they're dirty enough to be noticeable on a sanitizing wipe, this isn't one incident of not being groomed properly. That kind of dirt would take quite a while to build up.
I usually use the hot towel for my headrest and tray table, but I've never done more. Sometimes the tray tables are disgusting. I want to put my tablet down (and, you know, eat off it), and it's blatantly obvious that something was spilled on it previously that day, but no one ever cleaned it up.
I usually use the hot towel for my headrest and tray table, but I've never done more. Sometimes the tray tables are disgusting. I want to put my tablet down (and, you know, eat off it), and it's blatantly obvious that something was spilled on it previously that day, but no one ever cleaned it up.
Aug 14, 2014, 11:57 am
#28
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: OZ Diamond, Jiffypark Manhattan Gold
Posts: 4,485
Agreed that a dirty seat is not good and I've seen some pretty grubby ones, but everyone has a different threshold for dirty. I never use Purell while some people are washing their hands with it every hour.
If someone is traveling with cleaning wipes, they more than likely have a lower tolerance that I do.
What is an acceptable level? How would you even define it?
If someone is traveling with cleaning wipes, they more than likely have a lower tolerance that I do.
What is an acceptable level? How would you even define it?
Aug 14, 2014, 12:25 pm
#29
Formerly known as tireman77
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 5,501
To me sticky is a line in the sand, I'm fine with other kinds of dirtiness but man I HATE sticky. The other line is crumbs. There's no reason people should be ending up with vast quantities of crumbs on the floor, I realize you sweep em off the tray table but come on, just eat a little cleaner and sweep into your hand then into the garbage, it's not hard. Crumbs on the seat are even worse to me because that's a clear indication the FAs didn't even look, otherwise they would've done a quick swipe across the seat.
As for darkening a sanitizing wipe, I have a feeling most people wiping down the steering wheel of their car, the TV remote control in your house or their cell phone/office phone, you may be surprised how 'dirty' they are too.
Aug 14, 2014, 2:39 pm
#30
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: AC SE100K , 1MM, Hilton Diamond, KLM
Posts: 579
Cleanliness of seating area in J
Agreed. Sticky and crumbs are indeed one the bad side of the line.
As for darkening a sanitizing wipe, I have a feeling most people wiping down the steering wheel of their car, the TV remote control in your house or their cell phone/office phone, you may be surprised how 'dirty' they are too.
As for darkening a sanitizing wipe, I have a feeling most people wiping down the steering wheel of their car, the TV remote control in your house or their cell phone/office phone, you may be surprised how 'dirty' they are too.
Also the occasional time that pillow cases were not replaced or on a flight with PODs that the blankets are not wrapped which would to me indicate that they have been used before.
Flying out of HNL back to YVR I must say that the plane is much cleaner than when it came out to HNL and I have experienced this at least 6 times in the last year.