LOL at the incessant "AC is the best NA airline" that continues to come from Canadians, especially those once upon a time flew one AA coach flight or who know someone that knows someone that flew AA and didn't like it. Seriously, unless you travel a lot and you've actually flown both AC J and AA F multiple times in the past year, anyone continuing to spout the "AC is the best NA airline" line is ignorant and/or in denial.
Yeah, why let the facts stand in the way of a good story, eh? Every MD80 and 738 has power, either AC or DC. That you don't come prepared is your problem.
OK, You asked. I'll respond. I will preface this by saying that there are indeed things that AC does well, but there are a lot of things that they don't do well. My comments relate to domestic travel as I have no TATL/TPAC experience on either and don't plan to as long as CX, SQ, LH and LX are in business.
Online booking
Reasonably similar as both are easy to find and book the cheapest fares, check seat maps. AC offers 24 cancellation, but AA trumps that with a 24-48 HOLD.
Advantage: AA
Requesting upgrades.
AC has a convoluted multi-step process. AA is simple, just check the box during the booking process.
Advantage: AA
Check-in.
OLCI for both are easy, although AC suffers in the US-Canada flights as OLCI is rendered somewhat useless (at least at SFO) as the GA requested all OLCI pax check in at podium anyway, for passport verification. Sheer stupidity to make everyone lineup for one gate agent, when it can easily be done at boarding. AA or DL don't require a special cattle call to the gate podium on trans-border flights, why AC?
Advantage: AA
Lounges.
Another myth is that MLLs are better than Admirals Clubs. While AC offers better free liquor and free food, Admirals Clubs agents are infinitely better, Wi-Fi is actually high speed, seating is generally more comfortable, showers are better and more plentiful.
Advantage: Tie
First Class Lounges
Let's compare both AC and AA's First Class lounges. Oops, that was a low blow. But for the record...
Advantage: AA
Transborder connections... YYZ vs. ORD/DFW.
No contest. Even if one didn't have to clear security twice to get from YUL to SFO, connecting at YYZ is one of the least pleasant travel experiences one can imagine. What a dump. The trans-border terminal is poorly planned and the best restaurant in AC's biggest hub is the Molson Café?
Advantage: AA
Boarding.
AC boarding starts with the always irritating "families with small children and those pax needing a little extra time", then Executive Class. That alone give them 5 demerit points. AA always board F pax first even if there is a contingent from the Shriners Children's Hospital.
Advantage: AA
Cabin divider and privacy.
What cabin divider and what privacy? How about the complete lack of a cabin divider on AC. Every AA F cabin has a solid wall separating F from Y, which is the way it should be. And then there is the Grand Canyon like space between the AC J seats, eliminating much of the privacy between rows in the forward cabin.
Advantage: AA
Seating
The seats on AC's A319 rival AS and the new CO seats for the absolute least comfortable front cabin seats in the sky. Rather than cushiony and comfortable, these thin seats feel like your back is resting against cloth-covered sheet of plywood. Sneer all you want about the MD80/738 seats, but I find them very comfortable. I don't like AA's 762 J seats or even the F seats, and I would not fly internationally on AA's 6 across 763 J. AC's MX's 767s are far better but then I would't fly TATL/TPAC on either airline.
Domestic Advantage: AA
TATL/TPAC Advantage: AC
Coat hanging.
On AA, I can hang and can access my coat from the hanger behind my seat (that would be in front of an actual cabin dividing wall @:-)) so I don't have to have in my lap for the last 20 minutes of flight.
Advantage: AA
Drink service.
AA offers a double round of cocktails while, IME on AC its one and then dinner. And while AC finally stocks limes, they are thin slices not wedges rendering them strictly decorative. AA is generally faster to the punch with drinks and generally does not roll the drink cart down the aisle and serve from said cart. Do we really need a cart for 14 pax? Crews vary and you have bad apples on all airlines, but waiting an hour for a drink on a SFO-YYZ redeye (while hearing drink service in Y) is pretty pathetic.
Advantage: AA
Nuts
AC's cashew-almond mix was good, just not very much... small ramekin of room temp mixed nuts but only about half the size of AA's ramekin. AA offers warm nuts and refills, usually with the second round of cocktails. @:-)
Advantage: AA
IFE?
Yes, AC offers it at every seat... nice but, unlike WS, F9, VX and DL, no live TV. But I've seen most of the good movies and a generally bizarre selection of TV shows don't interest me. I have an ipad and iphone. Personally I don't need IFE if there is no live TV.
Advantage: AC
Wi-Fi?
Yeah, I'm a comedian. What, you think this is DL or AA? Yeah, who needs wi-fi anyway?
Advantage: AA
Tray table and set up
No tablecloth and small and very flimsy tray table.
Advantage: AA
Meals.
Give AC credit for serving a full meal on a red-eye, but I'd eaten a substantial dinner at home, so I wasn't really hungry. And AC's breakfast on YYZ-YUL was excellent, better than AA's midcon breakfast. And AC offers a menu on more flights. But none of my 3 recent AC J dinners were even in the same league as AA in terms of quality and flavor.
Breakfast Advantage: AC
Redeye Meal Advantage: AC
Menu Advantage: AC
Dinner Advantage: AA
Recent AA dinners.
Wine.
Neither are very good but at least AA doesn't offer a Riesling as the only white on a 5 hour dinner flight, like AC did on YYZ-SFO.
Advantage: AA just for the Riesling thingy.
Frequent Flyer Program?
Do you really want me to go down this road?
Not even close.
Advantage: AA
Did I miss anything?
