Flight/Origin-Destination: AC 848
Date: 24-Dec-2010
Cabin: Y

Pre departure
Was check in quick and efficient? Friendly enough.
If there was a delay, did the gate agent provide timely updates? No delays. All well-organised.

Onboard - Y cabin:
Were the crew professional & well groomed? Yes. One of the best crews I have ever had. Excellent service.
Was the IFE activated on the ground? Yes
Approximately how long after take off did it take for the first meal service/Onboard cafe to begin? Too long. Approximately 1.5-2 hrs (back of cabin). Not particularly impressed by AC's way of serving meals starting at te front of Y and moving back. All of the other airlines I've flown in Y typically have people serving at the beginning of each cabin, instead of AC's method of starting in the first cabin and slowly moving into the second Y cabin. Some of the airlines even manage to squeeze a drink service in. The drinks cart took ages to get around. Most people around me were done dinner by then. Not very good at all. But its been on AC like this for as long as I can remember, so I don't expect anything to change.

How was the quality of the meal/Onboard cafe?
Edible, but the portions have decreased so significantly that I felt moved enough to write this report. I don't typically bother about food on planes, but this flight was a stark contrast to my last flight in AC Y before I left Canada for 2 years (Feb 2008).The salad was tiny, but edible enough. Nothing to write home about (Corn, slightly raw edamame (I think)). The meal portion was tiny (think half a chicken breast with two spoons of rice and a little bit of sauce). And the dinner role - the first thing I noticed - was half the size of a dinner roll on any other airline. It was literally 2 inches by 1 inch. And about 3/4s of an inch high. Too much butter for it. My last experience in Y was in Jul this year (AI) and their portions were ridiculously generous in comparison. Breakfast was even worse. A small cake (think enriched flour and lots of sugar - the two cheapest ingredients in the world) and....well...a napkin. Juice served out of a carton. Whatever happened to those natty AC breakfast boxes with a danish/muffin, yogurt/fruit and juice. I know they were around in Feb 08. I didn't care much for them then, but at least they offered the hope of sustaining a person through the miserably long immigration queues at LHR. This cake was paltry in comparison - giving you a sugar rush bound to wear off long before you get to the immigration officer. Appalling really. Especially after the LH-esque kiddy meal/hot meal service. Really made me miss 9W and VS,with their generous portions.

Did the cabin crew offer water regularly throughout the flight?

They were on a water run pretty much every time I surfaced from my crying-baby disturbed sleep. Really good.^

Post departure
If you have checked baggage, did it arrive within reasonable period of time?

Took a while to arrive after the usual long wait at immigration, but I suspect that has more to do with LHR and Xmas.

Overall experience/any other comments
Crew were impeccable. One of the best crews I've had on any airline. Well groomed. Impeccable service with a smile. More than enough willingness to accomodate customers. Very, very pleased. But the food, dear god, the food was just not adequate. Edible, yes, but I would love to see the nutritional values for it, because while the caloric value was probably well within the 'healthy' range, purely because of the small size, I suspect the sugar component was significantly above what most people call 'healthy'. And it wasn't nearly enough to carry one through the post landing immigration/luggage collection phase that rarely takes less than an hr.