First time on AC
 

I have my first ever Air Canada trip coming up later this month, SFO-YVR-SFO. Outbound is a 737 (old CP equipment?) and return is an A320.

Outbound meal service is listed as "dinner" - what should I expect? Return service is "snack" so I will assume that means no meal.

Assume you are flying Economy/Coach. And given all the changes with catering, nothing as it was. That said, during legitimate meal times, on flights of more than 2 hrs, you can expect a reasonable hot airline meal: pasta or chicken at lunch, omlette at breakfast. As for a snack, it will likely be a deli sandwhich of some sort, not just peanuts or pretzels. Sometimes it will come with a macaroni/cole slaw type salad and chocolate. If you can provide your actual flight times, we might be better able to tell you what to anticipate. The old CP 737s are being withdrawn more quickly than anticipated, so you may actually end up on an A319 or 320. In any case, all will have inflight entertainment systems.

With the recent changes, snack rarely means anything more than a bag of potato chips or a cookie. Hot dinners are still around, though, and are usually quite good for airline food.

I will clarify my flights for you - I'm taking a 5:15p departure, arrival in Vancouver at 7:30p (dinner). Return I depart YVR at 6:55 and arrive in SFO at 9:00p (snack).

Thanks for the information!

Stu is correct in that you will definitely have a hot dinner on the flight to YVR since it is smack in the middle of the major dinner period. However, on the return flight you are outside the main meal periods, so you are likely not to get even the deli snack I described. That would be given on shorter flights during meal times. So don't plan on anything to eat going back beyond pretzels and the like, but you can find some nice places to eat at YVR in the central courtyard prior to check-in and clearing US Customs/Immigration.

I think a 732 SFO-YVR will not have inflight entertainment, it was always unusual to get one LAX-YVR (anything <3hr).

andrew

Are you flying J or Y? I personally think that the J seats on the 737 are more comfortable than the A320. However, it's only a 2 hr flight so it shouldn't be too bad.

Entertainment system on the 737 is a hit or miss... I've been on YYZ-YEG on a 737 where there was no entertainment system but the good thing about the 737 is that all J seats have in seat power. {The good old days... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif)

CP 737 IFE -- LAX, yes. SFO, no. 100% in 5 years of regular flights on these routes.

IFE at most twice in sixteen flights on CP 732s YVR-LAX (or LAX-YVR). That was June/99 to Jan/00. Don't recall the status southbound on my MHD in May.

The magazine advertised in-flight entertainment (or was it in-seat power?) on flights 3hr+, YVR-LAX was 2h50 or so.

andrew

No entertainment on any 737 of 3 hours or more. Recently YYC-ORD, YYC-IAH, LAX-YYC nada.

Nice try but YYC-IAH is a 4 hour flight on the A319 and it has been flown by the A319 for quite a while. You might want to check carefully next time before you decide to make a general statement such as "No entertainment on any 737 of 3 hours or more".

Didn't CP operate the 737 on the YYC-IAH route?

I've flown the CP 737 on 3 routes - YYZ-YOW, YYZ-YUL, and YYZ-MIA. None of the flights had an entertainment system. I'm curious to know exactly how many 737s in CP's fleet contain entertainment systems. The seat maps always showed the video screens.

On a positive note, the Y seats on the CP 737 are quite comfortable compared to 737 seats on other airlines.

FlyerAl: You might be right about CP flying the 737 from YYC-IAH. I kept thinking about AC. I still can't imagine they would use a 737 without an IFE on a 4+ hr flight.

Especially if you managed to get the exit row seat where there's no seat in front of you! {Btw I think that's the first positive comment about AC/CP I've heard from you FlyerAl! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif}

There are a number of 737's without an entertainment system. AC tries to keep these on short haul routes like YYC-YVR and YVR-SFO. Sometimes they have to substitute one on a longer route (>3 hrs) for operational reasons, but that's an exception rather than the rule.

I have flown YYZ-MIA several times on a 737 in the past year, and it always had an entertainment system.