I arrived at Toronto’s terminal 3 after a long, and rather unpleasant Via Rail trip from Kingston to Union Station in downtown Toronto. Check-in was nothing other than standard. I made my way to the Empress Lounge, and was quite impressed. The décor in much brighter and pleasant than the Toronto Maple Leaf Lounge. As I noted in the Canadian Airlines thread, the selection of liquor is not quite that of Air Canada. I find Air Canada’s wines to be of much higher quality. I do, however enjoy the fact that Canadian puts out more than simply cheese as the afternoon lounge snacks. Air Canada’s MLLs are quite disappointing in this regard.
I made my way to gate B19 at 17:15 for my 17:45 flight on the B767-300, and guess what I found? A ‘Proud Wings’ painted aircraft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I stepped aboard after the Business Class pre-boarding call, and was very awestruck at what had been done to the interior of this plane. Club Empress was one of the best looking aircraft cabins I have ever seen. The amount of pitch was slightly better than ACs A340-300, and my seat 5A did in fact recline to nearly 180 degrees. The seat fabric in J class was well chosen, and I really like the grey colour scheme that Canadian has chosen. Pre-flight cranberry-apple juice was distributed in plastic cups (I was a bit surprised). Safety video is still not updated, and it is just too amateur.
After take-off, FAs came around with the drinks that were ordered prior to take-off. The sub-par Zinfandel made its first appearance. This was quickly followed by the hot towels and dinner
. To begin, we had jicama, red pepper and corn salad (Quite nice). The entrée selections were: chicken breast, grilled and served with apple Calvados sauce, or, baked turbot fillet accompanied by fried garlic with capers, or, grilled beef tenderloin complemented by tarragon demi-glace sauce (which is what I ahd, and found once again that this cusine is too good to be true for an airline. The meat was medium rare – how do they manage that on a plane?). Accompaniment options were baby red potato wedges, penne with alfredo sauce, vegetables a la bouquetiere and finally, zucchini with tomato concassee. Cheese and dessert, which was Gelati Italian ice ended the meal. The presentation was wonderful. The cheese was on a cart in the asile, and served at the seat (as well as the main course and accompaniments, of course). The way Canadian serves J class meals is reminicent of the old Wardair days, but even better. It is a delight to know that some companies still know how to do things the right way
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Arrival into YVR was smooth, other than my “Priority” baggage being amung the last onto the cliam belt. I made my way to The Waterfront Centre hotel downtown, where my Aeroplan Elite card did no good getting an upgrade, as the hotel was near full. My room with a King bed ended up being two double beds, and my water view ended up being a view of part of the Pan Pacific Hotel, and a little of the shipping terminal. I was not particularly impressed when the staff insisted that this was in fact a water view, and did not listen to reason. I think this hotel may be off my list!
Following day I made my way to the brand new Fairmont Vancouver Airport Place Hotel right in the terminal. I checked in around 5pm, as I had nothing left to do in Vancouver, and I had a flight early the next morning (08:30! Some of you may not consider this early, but hey, I’M A STUDENT!) Again no upgrade with the Elite card, as the only rooms that were not still under construction were the Fairmont rooms. Very nice mind you. There is a pannel next to each room’s door that will light up either “Do Not Disturb”, or “Make Up Room” according to what you have selected on your in room controll pannel which also controls the temperature, and can turn on/off every light in the room, or just selected lights. I had requested a north facing room, as to overlook the mountains and the flight activity. The transboarder portion of the terminal was directly benith me – I loved it! Even with the engines of a 727 roaring away, there was very little noise in the room. The internet jack in the room was not working yet, so that was a bit of a bust. Now for the best part: the bathroom. This thing was a piece of art. Separate shower and tub, lovely granite counter with sunken sink. I could live in there. This is certainly the nicest airport hotel I have ever seen, and definatley a top winner overall. I say it’s a must try for any of you passing through Vancouver.
One nice piece of information that I did find while reading through the guest directory is that Aeroplan Elite/Super Elite and Canadian Plus Club, Gold, Executive Platimun can use the Fairmont Workcentre with computers and internet for free even when not a registered guest at the hotel. Normal price for the public is $10/hour.
Monday morning at 6:30, my wakeup call wakes me up , and I ready myself for the DC10 service to Toronto. I am confirmed in 11B, but was only waitlisted for J class and was told to stand-by at the airport. Well, I checkout of the hotel at 7am, and make my way to the domestic terminal for airline check-in. Very large lineup, included in which was Mr. Kevin Benson (CEO of Canadian). I found this quite the specticle, as did a few others who knew who he was. I don’t know what I found so strange about it – just this whole Onex thing, and the, so far as I see it, the quiting nature of Mr. Benson and his management team. Agent checks me in, and places me on the standby list for upgrade. I was the #14th Gold on that list. There were 2 ExecPlats who were at the top of the list. I went to the Empress Lounge for about 10 minutes until I got to worked up over this upgrade thing that I just went to the gate. As they were announcing more and more upgrades going through, I was hopeful… and then: “Ladies and gentlement, business class in now full, all passengers with a seat assignment, please board the aircraft now.” As I was boarding I overheard the gate agent say to her co-worker that there was a fullfare J on the way to the gate and they had no J seat to give him. They decided that they would tell him that he was simply too late (even though it was still 12 minutes until departure, and cutoff time was 10 mins I thought?), and there was only a middle economy seat for him!!!
3 hours and 40 minutes later we touched down in Toronto, and I was off to the train station. All in all, a good, but too short a trip!