San Francisco-Montreal
June 21, 2008
AC 760 J A319
Seats 2AC
11:45A PST - 8:05P EST
Although I fly SFO-YUL on business once every 6-8 weeks, I rarely fly AC as upgrades aren't available for anyone other than AC elites, their single daily non-stop is not conveniently time for business travel, and their J fares are ridiculously high. However, for 40,000 Amex miles for a weekend leisure trip, it's a good deal for my wife and I to visit the family.
Online check-in from home was relatively easy, and involved little more than inputting passport numbers and verifying seat selection. Not as user-friendly as CO but much better than AA which doesn’t permit OLCI for trans-border flights!
We bypassed the AC counter in T3 but on the way to security did notice that they were still using the old manual flight information board that they simply moved over from T1. We had to exit T3 on the way to security to bypass the hoards of pax lined up to pay their $15 checked baggage fee at the AA counters. Another brilliant AA idea, but I digress.
Security was a breeze using the AA Priority Lane on our way to Gate 61…a perfect gate location if one belongs to the Admirals Club. Unfortunately, AC is *A not OW. J pax are invited to use the RCC, a completely useless “perk” since the RCC is at least a mile away down the next (UA) concourse. Gate 61 is a vast improvement over the T1 gates... more space, more seating and right across from the KTVU2 newsstand and food concessions. The gate featured the new TV monitor flight information, a far cry above the old T1 gate 23 manual boards which suffered from numeral shortage and shared gate 25, which (I pass on my way to CO) occasionally used hand-written flight information.
The inbound YYZ-SFO arrived early so our flight (with the same YYZ-based crew) was on time. J boarding was handled efficiently with a priority call and only token gate lice to navigate. The friendly lead (male) FA greeted pax at the door and asked for our BP (perhaps thinking that we had somehow snuck by the twin gate agent scan and check?) and reminded each of us our seat number. Since I specifically selected bulkhead seats 2A and 2C (seatguru.com green seats), I didn’t need to be reminded. But at least he was pleasant and welcomed us aboard.
It was the first time I had seen the new AC interior livery… a much more pleasing blue than the old crappy green-grey blend. Apparently Canadians are not nearly as aggressive about claiming overhead space as my concerns were unwarranted especially since the other the other bulkhead was unoccupied. We settled into 2AC and our extra spacious legroom, waiting for the back of the plane to board.
The lead FA came around with complimentary Toronto (?) newspapers but no preflight drink (even water) offered even though we sat fully boarded at the gate for another 15 minutes. Push-back, short taxi and we were wheels up at 12:05PM.
The lead FA came by for our lunch selection, a choice of “Beef (no further description) or Chicken Teriyaki” and then pretty much disappeared for the next hour, leaving J service to a newbie (hired 5 weeks ago), on what I can only assume was his first solo J service. Although pleasant, he was clearly frazzled even though there were only 9 J pax.
Once airborne, I brought down my carry-on which made a most comfortable footrest!
Part 2 next...