Porter Airlines YTZ-YUL

Porter is a fairly small carrier operating out of its home base at Toronto Billy Bishop airport (the ‘island’ airport) to destinations throughout Eastern Canada and Eastern US. It is quite unique, not least due to its spectacular home airport, but also due to its focus on premium service, despite being a one-class carrier.

We took a taxi to the airport ferry terminal, which is really just a small building from which a ferry shuttles passengers and crew back and forth to the airport, only about 50 metres away across the water. The ferry crossing took all of a minute, and whilst there was a bit of a queue to board the ferry initially, it wasn’t too bad. The convenience of this airport compared to Pearson more than makes up for the minor inconvenience of the ferry crossing, and the view of the city from the ferry is certainly different.









We emerged from the airport-side ferry terminal into the check-in hall, which was spacious and well signed, with separate areas for US and Canadian destinations, and a couple of desks for Air Canada, the airport’s only other commercial carrier. There were a couple of people checking in before us, but it wasn’t long before we were also being checked in by the rather miserable agent. No attempt was made to give directions to security or ask whether we had used the terminal before.

Security was a no-queue affair, and once down the escalator we were within the spacious departure lounge. The lounge features a business centre with iMac computers, a refreshment area with complimentary soft drinks, tea, coffee, nuts and biscuits, and a small shop from where sandwiches and salads can be purchased. The rest of the lounge has two distinct seating areas – one less private, with armchairs, and a larger area with privacy screens around groups of four chairs. As this lounge is essentially an economy class waiting area, it’s pretty good, but comparing to a business class lounge it doesn’t stand up well. The lounge was pretty crowded, but there was a reasonable view of the several domestic gates on tarmac level.



We took a seat in the more private seating area, and caught up on emails etc. thanks to the free wifi. Before long boarding was announced, and we made our way through Door A to board at Gate 4. Initially, Door A wouldn’t open, and we had to wait a couple of minutes before an agent realised and came and released it.

Date: May 2012
Route: YTZ [Toronto Billy Bishop] – YUL [Montreal Trudeau]
Aircraft: Dash 8-Q400, C-GLQZ (2010)
Seats: 3A, 3B

Our carry-on bags were offered to be checked at the gate, but we declined as the flight looked pretty empty. Indeed, there were only around 14 passengers on the 70 seat aircraft, such that it felt very much like a (noisy) private jet! We were welcomed onboard and took our pre-selected (for a CAD10 fee each) seats on the right hand side of the aircraft (3C, 3D). After checking with the cabin crew member, who subsequently checked with the pilot to confirm takeoff runway and weight balance, we moved to the left hand side for the view of the city as we took off.

A manual safety demonstration was carried out, before our captain informed us of our route and pushback commenced. We took off with a truly fabulous view of the city, although unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos due to the crew member seated in the jump seat a few seats in front of us and nobody in the surrounding seats to block the view.





This was my first time on a propeller aircraft, believe it or not, and I did find it fairly noisy, although the whole experience was very novel. The takeoff in particular was rather brisk and deafening at the same time. The washroom was absolutely tiny, uncomfortably so.





The seats Porter have fitted within their Dash aircraft are upholstered in cream leather, and have an ‘executive’ look and feel about them. They are pretty comfortable for sitting in for a few hours, featuring a 34” pitch, so similar to BA Club Europe (BA’s European business class). The 2-2 seating throughout the aircraft adds to the private feel, and the large-ish windows make for easy viewing.









Shortly after takeoff, the two crew members hand delivered the meal box, which featured a ham sandwich, a couple of cookies and a chocolate, along with a bottle of water. A drinks run was done via trolley, with orange juice provided in a real glass. Beer and wine was also available (complimentary). The catering was very fresh and tasty, and really far exceeded my expectations for a flight that only lasted just over an hour. Comparing to a similar flight length on BA in Euro Traveller (European economy class), when one would receive a drink in a plastic glass and some nuts or a biscuit, Porter really does seem superior.







We landed slightly early into Montreal, and glided down the runway until touchdown around halfway down, which meant some very harsh breaking was required. I guess this was to reach the terminal-end of the runway quicker, but it did slightly unnerve me when I saw the piano keys for the opposite end of the runway to which we had landed and were still travelling around 50mph.

I found it amusing that our little Dash 8 got an airbridge at YUL – indeed, the airbridge was so large for the door size that a little ramp had to be placed between the bridge and the door.

Our flight was not clearly signed in the baggage reclaim hall, but we soon spotted our bags doing the rounds around 5 minutes after arriving in the hall. It was a short walk to the taxi rank, from where we were whisked to the IC Montreal.

Summary

This was a very novel experience, not least due to YTZ being a unique airport environment. The Porter philosophy of providing a premium experience for all worked well from a passenger perspective. Everything from check-in through to disembarkation was pretty smooth, and I appreciated the little touches such as the real glass during the meal service, and the opportunity to use a lounge before departure as part of what is essentially an ‘economy’ service. If you’re in the area and are looking for an alternative to Air Canada, I’d highly recommend Porter.

Next: InterContinental Montreal and our time in Montreal