sadiqhassan

Hey guys,

First, let me say that pictures are coming (I promise!) I just need to find some sort of adaptor to get pictures from my memory stick to my computer.

December 23rd 2007
Air Canada AC 858
Toronto – London Heathrow
Boeing 767-300ER (XM’d)
Sch Dep/Arr 2255 #1115
Act Dep/Arr 2245 #1110
Class: Executive First (J)

Background

I usually visit my family in Pakistan only in the summer, but convinced my parents to let us go again this winter; I hadn’t got the chance to meet many of my cousins last year and there was a family wedding. Plus, I got an excellent deal on our tickets

I called AC to pre-select seats on our XM’d 767-300ER and the agent told us that we could not find our booking . I was rather shocked but they said that, because the ticket was on Emirates stock, our booking should be intact with Emirates and that I’d just have to select seats upon departure. I was even more worried by the fact that Manage My Booking didn’t show our AC transatlantic sector, but did show our Emirates onward flights from Heathrow
I planned to show up 4 hours prior to departure in case of any problems but I conveniently had my first ever car accident that afternoon and damaged the radiator of my car which meant we needed to stop every five minutes to add water to it. Needless to say, we were rather delayed getting to the airport and didn’t arrive till 9:00pm, with our eight pieces of luggage in tow.

Departure

Terminal 1 is starting to grow on me. At this time of night it was deserted; I hadn’t flown AC J in a while, so I stupidly got off at Zone A where the international J check-in used to be but then had to walk all the way to Zone K or L or whatever it was which was mildly annoying. The signs are somewhat clear in the airport but I didn’t like the fact that there were so many zones. Maybe they were necessary for the amount of flights leaving from T1 but it certainly didn’t seem so at this time of night.

We go to the check-in and, of course, the agent can’t find our reservation. We are sent to ticketing where we wait, with around 8 other passengers (all on flight AC 858,) to be processed. Knowing that the line wasn’t moving, I ran back to the Zone A concierge. They were polite but generally unhelpful and said that we didn’t have a booking for the flight (which we already knew.) Back at the ticketing desk, the agents were useless and slow. Finally at 9:45pm they came around and told everyone that they won’t be making the flight. In some stroke of good luck, we plead our case to a nice agent who took us to the check-in desk. These two agents then created a new booking (this was possible, since we were on a full fare ticket.) Then, they not only managed to get us on the flight, but they checked us in all the way till Karachi with onward boarding passes ^ ^ Normally the agents have problem through checking luggage, let alone giving onward boarding cards!
By the time we had finished checking it, it was 10:20pm.

We got through security (I later found out that I had a full 1.5L of water in my carryon which was never detected) and were given a buggy ride to the MLL. The agents there were very polite but insisted our flight was at 11:55pm but not delayed. After arguing for a bit she realized that she incorrectly thought we were going to Sydney () She said we didn’t have time for the lounge but we went in anyway.

The lounge is quite nice and new – I liked the decor very much. There was an adequate selection of snacks (very good cheese) and drinks. There was a nice assortment of different areas to sit depending on whether you wanted to relax, read, eat etc. Also, the washrooms were spotless and it looked like they were cleaned regularly. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to look around for very long as our flight was almost closing.

Ground Staff 7/10
MLL 8/10
Boarding Process 9/10

Cabin

We were one of the last passengers on board the ageing 767-300ER. Although it had been XM’d, it was showing its age. The washrooms were ancient and the light fixtures etc were faulty. On our seat was an amenity kit which looks as if it was recently re-designed and a nice big duvet. The AC blankets have to be my favourite airline blanket in the air.
I was surprised to see the cabin was pretty much empty. In addition to the four of us, there were two other males travelling together and a family of three with a young child plus one or two single travellers. We were in seats 1F/K and 2F/K. The extra storage space at 1K was welcome since we had a lot of paraphernalia with us.

I saw 2 SWUs at the boarding gate; I was surprised that more people didn’t jump at the chance to upgrade this flight – especially since it was so late in the year, the flight was empty, and since it was a new 767.
The captain announced on the PA that we would be leaving on time and that we were just waiting for some last minute bags to be loaded on to the aircraft. (that would be our bags ) The FAs had to do the safety demo by hand which I found to be quite entertainingly done.

Presentation 7/10
Amenities 9/10
Reading Material 7/10 (only one magazine was provided. It was a fairly good read, but nothing special.)

Seat

Having enjoyed this seat last summer on my outbound trip, I knew what to expect. AC had already won be over, but I was eager to find out what my two sisters and mom thought of the configuration. The general consensus was that AC had a winner. The seat was comfortable for both sitting and sleeping and it was quite easy to talk to / see the person across the aisle from you if you wished to have a conversation. The seat was quite versatile and had many different arrangements for lounging, eating or sleeping.
The in-flight entertainment had improved noticeably from the summer. The selection was much better and I could actually find something I wanted to watch. However, the air show / games are still not activated

The primary criticisms that my family noted were:
The additional ‘shelf’ storage at 1K is vital for travellers with lots of stuff. Otherwise, the seat pockets are too small to really put anything in and there isn’t much other space.
The pesky table was impossible to get out. The FA had to help all four of us, and had to resort to force to try and get it to come out.
The headphones were of good quality, but the FA didn’t hand out the covers unless asked. Also, you could not plug in your own and there wasn’t anywhere to store them when not in use. They just had to dangle about.

The general disrepair of the cabin. IMHO there is a huge difference between the 767 and the 777 in this regard. My mother had to switch seats 3 times before finding one that wasn’t faulty (first because of the reading light, then because of the IFE screen and finally because of the headphones.) On such an empty flight, this was not a problem but on full flights it would be a huge inconvenience.

I had endured quite a stressful day, so I wasn’t really able to sleep. I watched movies instead on my laptop because the IFE screen was just too small for me (makes me sound spoiled, I know .)

Comfort for sitting 10/10
Comfort for sleeping 10/10
Storage 6/10

Catering

I have yet to experience a really great (or even adequate for that matter) meal on Air Canada. The food ranges from mediocre to inedible regardless of class of service. (Update: My return flight from Heathrow to Halifax in Y had excellent food. Not only edible, but delicious!)

The menu was as follows:
Light Meal:

We lucked out with the sandwiches because they were all fish or vegetarian. They were edible but small and poorly presented. I was still extremely hungry after the meal as I did not have dinner on the ground.
Presentation 5/10
Taste 6/10

Self – serve Bar:
I got all excited, but then realized it was only on 777 aircraft

Breakfast:

Atrocious. I had the frittata and everyone else had the omelette. Both were inedible. The eggs tasted ‘off’ and the vegetables were undercooked. The portion sizes were too small IMHO and the presentation was average.
The ‘fresh fruit’ did not taste fresh and I didn’t really enjoy the selection. There were too many melon-type fruits while I was hoping for fruits such as pineapple, strawberry and mango.

Presentation 6/10
Taste 3/10

IFE

As I said before, I saw a noticeable improvement in the IFE compared to last summer. The Hollywood and Avant-garde sections of the IFE had a good selection of recently released movies which was a nice change. The system was still slow, and the system kept crashing which was annoying.
I still find the screen to be quite small – when I am sitting back in my seat I have to strain my eyes to watch.
I am quite disappointed that they still haven’t added the moving map display or the games – any idea when this will be done? I hate not being able to know where I am!

Selection 7/10
Reliability of system 7/10

Cabin Staff

I am not sure what to say here. We were only the people on our side of the plane and the FA did not look too pleased to have to baby sit 3 bratty kids. Nevertheless, she still acted professionally and didn’t skimp on the service at all.

The FAs didn’t really smile and I was not addressed by name. Overall I’d say they were competent if not memorable. I have, however, noticed that the average age of cabin staff has fallen significantly in the J class cabin. In the past year, I have been noticing many more ‘young’ cabin crew members serving the J cabin. Time will tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Friendliness 7/10
Quality of Service provided 9/10

Arrival

We landed 30 minutes early but had to wait for a gate to become open – I was a little surprised at this, especially since it was already 1045 in the morning. There was a long walk to the connection area and we waited there for almost 40 minutes as there was no premium line. It would have been quicker to exit and re-enter via the fast track security.

Overall

Overall, this was a satisfying trip with Air Canada. The new cabin certainly is a huge improvement over the old product, and the whole product now has a fresher appeal. This trip wasn’t particularly memorable – I was hoping for significant improvements in food and IFE – but still got me from Toronto to London in comfort. I think that I can safely say that Air Canada now offers a ‘top’ J class product.
I was a little concerned that my booking randomly got cancelled but it was all sorted out in the end and the agents who sorted that out were outstanding.

Any comments welcome

Cheers,

lucky9876coins

Very nice report, thanks for writing!^ Sounds like the meal service was awful. A bit surprised there's no proper dinner service.

wali

Why do you have "don't fly emirates", on the bottom of your page?
I thought you were a big booster of EK?

What happened that changed your mind?

wali

ACYYZ/SD

It's been tinkered with many times over the years. Full Dinner, Light Dinner, Brunch, Breakfast. Departure time is 2255, and with an increasing number of planes being "XM-d", sleep is the desired priority. Now more than ever, nobody is interested in a 2 hour bar/dinner service at that hour. Even the light snack/sandwich service has a large number of refusals in favour of rest.

ironmanjt

Yeah, I'm shocked as well. I've taken this flight three times the past year (in Y) and they do a "full" Y dinner. Surprised J is so sad....

cstead

I've flown LAX-YYZ and SFO-YYZ redeyes in J several times and always had what passes for a decent snack. What was offered here sounds downright sad Its funny that I've heard so many complaints about AC food on FT, but all of my personal experiences with it have been average to above-average (my worst meal on AC is still better than my best meal on UA, for instance)

Seat 2A

Many of AC's 767s are indeed getting quite old. I wonder when and what they'll be replaced with? Very nice report, by the way. ^^

Genius1

The 762s, 763s and 333s will all be replaced by the 787. Not sure of time scale though.

sadiqhassan

All details explained here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=780204

Cheers,

sadiqhassan

I remember back when the night flight departed at 2355 (as AC 862 IIRC) and we were served breakfast upon takeoff. That felt quite weird!

FWIW, I would prefer a full dinner over a light dinner because a light dinner will 'disturb' the cabin as much as a full dinner would, and pax can always choose to skip courses. The snack on my flight was extremely light; granted most people would have eaten (I hadn't since I left house around 7pm) but I still think it shold be offered.

Cheers,

ACYYZ/SD

Sadiq -

I've been around for a while, and trust me that customer preference has very much dictated the service on this flight. At this hour of the night on this flight (flying time often under 6 hours), it is considered a short overseas sector. When hot dinner was being served for years the refusal rate was staggering.

Breakfast is never scheduled to be served at local midnight time (YYZ), and if it did indeed occur on AC858 (always the last departure), somebody goofed!

I regularly operate the late YYZ-FRA flight, and even with the light snack service, refusal rate is surprisingly high. On an aircraft with XM suites, this number goes up dramatically.

It may not be your preference, but the masses prefer the big meal (breakfast) when they are awaking at their normal breakfast time.

BlondeBomber

I flew YYC-LHR and LHR-YVR this past week and enjoyed both.

Staff was pleasant (SE orders taken first, called by name, thanked everyone in J cabin for flying AC, smiled a lot, came through the cabin a lot looking for service to provide without disturbing people --if they saw you looking at them, would ask if you needed anything).

Food actually was good to very good, pot roast was very good but salmon brochette while generally good was a bit dried out. Rolls were fresh and moist. Breakfast croissants were moist and not dried out as they have been. I agree fruit could improve--other carriers do it much better.

Wine was passable--it has been better though. Whites seem particularly bad these days. Featured Merlot was a solid 7 out of 10 Could use a better selection of aperitifs/liquers etc. I miss my Drambuie which I have been drinking on AC J class flights since the early 1980s--no longer available (guess I must be a dying breed)!

Washrooms were clean. Flew non XMd A330 both ways.

Fly YYZ-LHR and LHR-YYZ this week, at least once on the 77L. I like the new suites so that will be a treat. Hope the staff is as pleasant as it has been.

sadiqhassan

I knew something fishy had to be going on However, I'm pretty (95%+) sure it was AC862 - this was several (~10) years ago. It was so bizarre that I still remember

Fair enough. I think it is probably because in my culture we usually eat dinner much later than a 'regular' Canadian - 9-10pm. Indeed when I fly a middle eastern carrier, dinner is usually served even on 11pm departure flights.

Cheers,

TheEyeTie

Nice TR. I need to go YYZ for a conference and may try the new product on AC based on you reviews.

SanDiego1K

Any plans still to load the pictures? I am particularly interested in seeing the interior of the cabin.

I wonder if all 767s are as shabby as the one you flew.