flying_geek

So first of all, thank you for all the comments. We just survived the YUL-MIA flight. The cabin temperature was warmer than Miami - a flight attendant once told me they do that to make pax more tired and less demanding. Yes, it was another rouge flight and i can not remember such an uncomfortable flight in Y since i flew standby from Kansas City to Miami maybe 15 years ago on AA and I was trying to get out before a possible Tornado and the only open seat was a window less seat that wouldn’t recline at the end of the plane next to the engine - it might even have been an old TWA DC-9, though probably and MD 80. In 1997 I flew Dub-STN on Ryan air once - that was worse too.

I feel compelled to point out that I have a little perspective - I used to live in Toronto for 5-6 years starting mid 90s. Back then, company policy was Y under 4 hours, J when more or a red eye. My family has a similar travel policy now ;-) - when I was living in Toronto there were a couple of both Canadian and US border agent that greeted me by name. My preference in those days was Canadian Airlines (while it lasted), but I had plenty of AC flights under my belt.

This year we flew AA Y MIA-LAX-KOA - we did get upgraded (was a fairly safe bet) on the MIA-LAX segment - but we were perfectly fine on the LAX-KOA segment and the fare was ridiculously low. Point being, I am perfectly OK with Y in many cases and I wasn’t expecting any wonders - I am UA gold on and off - and LH will try to block the seat next to me - while AC did want $15 per selected regular seat. Maybe that is because the locator included my son - but then that’s sucky IT.

While of course we have been traveling a lot less during Covid, there still has been enough to compare - and this experience was just poor. I mean, we had had a row of elites (little one is only UA silver), but one AC 75 and one AC 50. We dared to ask for the entire Can of club soda. “I only have 3 left for the rest of the plane”. “OK. How about a regular water and an apple juice” (my son likes that mixed) “I can give you the regular water” - more or less throw it on the tray table and moved on. We got the apple juice out of a different flight attendant.

Anyhow, we were thoroughly underwhelmed. On the other side, we liked most hotel stays a lot better in Canada than what I would have expected in the US. But I would fly AA or DL over that AC experience any day - I think I’d rather why South West actually.