By 22:10 or so we arrived at the gate E74 wishing to board the only on-time flight of Air Canada planned that evening. Our ride to Santiago, a Boeing 787-900 registered as C-FRSA arrived 5 hours earlier from Tel Aviv so we were hoping for an on-time departure. There were already lines for each group boarding, including several passengers on the group 1 lane, reserved for Business class passengers. About 5 minutes later, an announcement was made, indicating that the aircraft was not yet there and therefore the boarding was delayed, and we saw the crew coming over to the gate area and waiting until the aircraft was pulled in.
Gate E74
Group 3-6 boarding lane
We started to talk with the two ladies waiting in front of us, also addicted to travel (one of them was heading to Ushuaia to do an Antarctica cruise) and the 40 min wait flew fast at the end.
We boarded the aircraft using a single jetway connected to door 2L minutes before 23:00.
C-FRSA 787-900 in Toronto
Air Canada 92 – Tuesday, December 27th 2022
Toronto Pearson Intl YYZ – 22:55 scheduled, 23:39 actual
Santiago de Chile Pudahuel SCL – 11:25 (+1 day) scheduled, 11:37 actual
Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner – C-FRSA – Seat 07G – Aisle, central section – “Signature” business class
We were greeted by the flight attendant positioned at door 2L and took our seats located at the central section of the last business class row.
Business class cabin 787-900
Seat 7G
Last row of the cabin
The business class cabin on this longer version of the Dreamliner is very similar to the 787-800, with the exception that there are 10 more seats and overhead bins available in the central section of the cabin. On this particular aircraft, the IFE was of a later generation, but the content was very much the same compared to our previous flight.
New IFE
Menu AC92 YYZ-SCL Business class Dec 2022
Menu AC92 YYZ-SCL Business class Dec 2022
Unlike the previous segment, the crew on this flight was not very friendly and the purser for instance, did not come to greet any of the passengers. Some of the crew members, including the purser, looked quite bored and not really wanting to be there to be honest.
We were offered a choice of sparkling wine or water and presented with the menu. Like on the previous flight, the amenity kit, the duvet and mattress topper were already placed on the seat, but there were no “COVID safety kit” available nor distributed during the flight.
One could think that those central seats are perfect when travelling as a couple, but it is unfortunately not the case as the central divider does not go down, which means that having a discussion together can be complicated. Although I would have preferred to secure two window seats if I could have the option (we got rebooked on that flight a few months ago after the cancellation of the original Monday evening departure to SCL, and the cabin was pretty full already), I was happy to try the central seats nonetheless but will try not to book them in the future. Note that individual air vents are still available, but impossible to reach without standing up, unlike on the window seats.
New IFE
This divider cannot go down...
We were not very hungry and while Myriam opted out on the dinner, I asked to crew to keep my dish (I opted for the seabass) on hold for later, hoping to get a couple hours of sleep.
Second galley lavatory
The newer version of the IFE has a few more features
Let's see if we will be flying in straight line like this...
Air Canada destinations
Right after settling in, I used the lavatory to put some more comfortable clothes and installed the mattress topper. Myriam did the same and fell asleep during the safety demo while I managed to stay awake for maybe 20 minutes more… I was surprised to having slept for so long as I woke up when we passed Panama, which meant about 60% of the flight were done, despite a few turbulences and also despite the noisy meal service shortly after takeoff and the lights being on for more than an hour. I don’t get why some crews put the full lights on when departing at midnight…
Good night !
The lights remained on for an hour or so
After I woke up I asked the flight attendant working in the front galley if I could have my dinner, and if this was possible, have the pasta instead of the fish. She immediately replied that they were out of pasta since only 4 were loaded but they kept the fish for me. She also commented that they had to discard the chicken as it was turning bad.
I woke up past Panama
The dinner was meh...
I got my dinner, all on one tray after 30 minutes or so. The smoked salmon starter was ok, but the seabass was way overcooked and not very good (I asked my friend who was on the same flight a week earlier and he said that the fish was fine, so I guess it was because it got heated twice ?). The cheese plate was fine (same as on the previous flight) and the cheesecake was really not to my taste. I finished the meal with a few of the snacks from the galley and watched an episode of Dragon’s Den and worked a bit on my laptop afterwards.
Stretched my legs while visiting the front galley. The size is roughly the same as on the smaller version of the dreamliner, but it has to cater 10 passengers more !
The food catered on board that flight was 4 pasta options, 8 fish, 12 chicken and 12 beef. Lots of food waste on this flight given the fact some passengers did not eat at all
Service memo for this flight
About an hour and half before landing, the breakfast service started with a choice of Omelette with sausage or pancakes. I opted for the pancakes and those were surprisingly good. Myriam choose the Omelette option which was good too but was still feeling hungry afterwards and got a serving of pancakes as there were some left. Both trays came with some fresh fruit and muesli.
Pancakes for my breakfast
Omelette for Myriam
Headphones were picked up about 25 minutes before landing and at this time the captain informed us that despite the late departure from Toronto, we should be landing only 10 minutes or so late as we had favourable winds on our way. Too bad we had middle seats as the outside views on the Andes were very scenic !
The final route YYZ-SCL
We landed at 11:35 and reached our gate 5 minutes later. Jetty was connected on door 2L which meant that we were one of the first ones to leave the aircraft.
We arrived at the new Pudahuel terminal and it is certainly an improvement compared to the previous terminal. The immigration area is wide and has outside views, and we had to wait about 30 min to clear immigration (there is a fast track for elderly, families with small children and disabled but not for business class). Surprisingly, there was no dedicated lane for Chilean citizens and residents.
Immigration hall SCL airport
Right after passport control is located the hand baggage screening from SAG (Agricultural services of Chile) and after that a new and nice duty-free store.
The first pieces of luggage were arriving when we reached the luggage claim area but since we forgot to fill up the electronic Customs/SAG declaration, we completed the paper version while waiting at our bags.
There was no priority in the bags delivery at all, but there were a luggage handler and an air Canada agent available at the belt; and the former was taking all bags with a priority tag on it to place them off the belt in a more accessible location.
Luggage claim area SCL airport
We ordered an Uber after customs and reached our hotel in Santiago, the Doubletree Vitacura in 30 min or so.
Nice corner room at the 15th floor at Doubletree Santiago Vitacura
The hard product was fine on this flight (besides the dinner, but I guess this is maybe because I ate it 5 hours later then supposed), the soft product (the crew service) was nothing to write home about.