Dec 2, 2017, 8:59 pm
Last edit by: canadiancow
As per AC Signature Suite page - July 2, 2021
* Air Canada Signature Class customers travelling on an Air Canada-operated flight (to Europe, Asia and South America) originally booked and ticketed in the following booking classes will be eligible for access to the Air Canada Signature Suite: J, C, D, Z, P. Only Aeroplan flight rewards booked as a Business Class Flexible Reward or a First Class Flexible Reward in J, C, D, Z, P, I booking classes are eligible for access. All bookings in R class (including, but not limited to, eUpgrades, Last-Minute Upgrades, and AC Bid Upgrades), Aeroplan flight rewards booked as a Business Class Lowest Reward or a First Class Lowest Reward, Star Alliance Upgrade Awards, Business Class flight rewards booked and ticketed by partner airlines, and I (including Star Alliance Upgrade Awards), as well as bookings made during irregular operations where the customer was not originally booked and confirmed in one of the eligible booking classes, will be excluded. Eligible customers may not invite guests. Access to the Air Canada Signature Suite is not available to customers travelling on promotional tickets or employees.
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/fly/premium-services/signature-suite.html
canadiancow's photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/0nui9iIVxRH5nczi1
Video of Signature Suite along with menus and food shots. https://youtu.be/QDdKM735n3k
* Air Canada Signature Class customers travelling on an Air Canada-operated flight (to Europe, Asia and South America) originally booked and ticketed in the following booking classes will be eligible for access to the Air Canada Signature Suite: J, C, D, Z, P. Only Aeroplan flight rewards booked as a Business Class Flexible Reward or a First Class Flexible Reward in J, C, D, Z, P, I booking classes are eligible for access. All bookings in R class (including, but not limited to, eUpgrades, Last-Minute Upgrades, and AC Bid Upgrades), Aeroplan flight rewards booked as a Business Class Lowest Reward or a First Class Lowest Reward, Star Alliance Upgrade Awards, Business Class flight rewards booked and ticketed by partner airlines, and I (including Star Alliance Upgrade Awards), as well as bookings made during irregular operations where the customer was not originally booked and confirmed in one of the eligible booking classes, will be excluded. Eligible customers may not invite guests. Access to the Air Canada Signature Suite is not available to customers travelling on promotional tickets or employees.
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/fly/premium-services/signature-suite.html
canadiancow's photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/0nui9iIVxRH5nczi1
Video of Signature Suite along with menus and food shots. https://youtu.be/QDdKM735n3k
New VIP lounge YYZ int'l: Air Canada Signature Suite
Mar 18, 2018, 7:58 pm
#1111
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
)
Mar 18, 2018, 7:59 pm
#1112
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: YVR - MILLS Waypoint (It's the third house on the left)
Programs: AC*SE100K, wood level status in various other programs
Posts: 6,213
At the suggestion of the Cow, I stuck my head in during a 90 minute break between flights on the way to CDG last week.
The short version - nice people, nice experience. The thing that struck me most was the quiet. Wayyy nicer than the YYZ Intl MLL. But the great snacks and decent bar service were impressive as well. Even the rest of the PAX seemed better behaved.
I don't transit YYZ across the Pond much, but next time I might just engineer a longer layover to get the full experience.
The short version - nice people, nice experience. The thing that struck me most was the quiet. Wayyy nicer than the YYZ Intl MLL. But the great snacks and decent bar service were impressive as well. Even the rest of the PAX seemed better behaved.
I don't transit YYZ across the Pond much, but next time I might just engineer a longer layover to get the full experience.
Mar 25, 2018, 2:46 pm
#1113
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: AA PP, OZ *G, Hyatt Expl, Marriott Gold, Lots of Ex-statuses
Posts: 317
Okay fellas, I'm in the lounge now and WOW. The a la carte dining is mindblowing. Michelin quality meal - the foie gras was the best I've ever had. The pea falafel also fantastic. For dessert I had butterscotch pudding and it was straightforward and fantastic. The lounge is really cool, plenty of seating, not too loud, but not too quiet either. I saw the comparisons to the LH FCT, but sometimes the FCT just feels really quiet whereas here it feels like the right size.
Definitely the best business class lounge in the world. The only one close IMO is the Zurich E terminal J lounge which has that awesome outdoor patio, but the food and ambiance here puts it over the top. 2nd best lounge food ever after the AF La Premiere F lounge. Service great all around.
Even my US-YYZ flight was pretty good. Spacious seats on the A319, nice/friendly crew, kept offering water/snacks, all around solid. Not sure why you guys .... on AC so much, they are leagues ahead of UA
P.S. Some of the buffet options like the butterscotch pudding and the pumpkin soup are also part of a la carte dining. But the buffet pudding is much smaller than the a la carte pudding. So if you visit, I recommend you order things from the menu that are not in the buffet. Conversely, I wish I had eaten the buffet pudding instead of the a la carte pudding, which was a huge serving :-)
Definitely the best business class lounge in the world. The only one close IMO is the Zurich E terminal J lounge which has that awesome outdoor patio, but the food and ambiance here puts it over the top. 2nd best lounge food ever after the AF La Premiere F lounge. Service great all around.
Even my US-YYZ flight was pretty good. Spacious seats on the A319, nice/friendly crew, kept offering water/snacks, all around solid. Not sure why you guys .... on AC so much, they are leagues ahead of UA
P.S. Some of the buffet options like the butterscotch pudding and the pumpkin soup are also part of a la carte dining. But the buffet pudding is much smaller than the a la carte pudding. So if you visit, I recommend you order things from the menu that are not in the buffet. Conversely, I wish I had eaten the buffet pudding instead of the a la carte pudding, which was a huge serving :-)
Mar 25, 2018, 3:05 pm
#1114
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: YYZ
Programs: Only J via Peasant Points, 777HDPeasant or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance and Narcissism.
Posts: 5,951
Onboard service imho is not really an issue of AC. Dismal OTP, ground staff and poorly trained call center staff are real issues.
As far as league ahead of UA... not sure if its really the case when you take an average of UA''s overall product, OTP , service level together.
As far as OTP goes, we know for a fact that UA is significantly better than AC in this area..
In terms of lounge, I find AC's international MLL to be inferior compare to CA, but obviously Suite is an exception here. Which can be debated if its purely a result of paid J only or not, but its nice to see them making efforts to make their international hubs more compelling for international traveling, esp for those who travel to EU, who can now have a really good meal before flight.
Last edited by Jumper Jack; Mar 25, 2018 at 3:11 pm
Mar 25, 2018, 3:18 pm
#1115
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: AA PP, OZ *G, Hyatt Expl, Marriott Gold, Lots of Ex-statuses
Posts: 317
Maybe because UA did not restrict Polaris to paid J only? (Okay chill guys, it's just a tease)
Onboard service imho is not really an issue of AC. Dismal OTP, ground staff and poorly trained call center staff are real issues.
As far as league ahead of UA... not sure if its really the case when you take an average of UA''s overall product, OTP , service level together.
As far as OTP goes, we know for a fact that UA is significantly better than AC in this area..
In terms of lounge, I find AC's international MLL to be inferior compare to CA, but obviously Suite is an exception here. Which can be debated if its purely a result of paid J only or not, but its nice to see them making efforts to make their international hubs more compelling for international traveling, esp for those who travel to EU, who can now have a really good meal before flight.
Onboard service imho is not really an issue of AC. Dismal OTP, ground staff and poorly trained call center staff are real issues.
As far as league ahead of UA... not sure if its really the case when you take an average of UA''s overall product, OTP , service level together.
As far as OTP goes, we know for a fact that UA is significantly better than AC in this area..
In terms of lounge, I find AC's international MLL to be inferior compare to CA, but obviously Suite is an exception here. Which can be debated if its purely a result of paid J only or not, but its nice to see them making efforts to make their international hubs more compelling for international traveling, esp for those who travel to EU, who can now have a really good meal before flight.
Why do you say that AC's MLL are inferior to United Clubs? LAX is the only airport I can think of where the UC is better than the MLL. Ignoring the Polaris lounge (which I haven't been to), and the old SFO GFL (which is closed), I don't think any UC is better than a MLL. But I may be biased since I've only flown through YYZ/YVR.
Mar 25, 2018, 3:36 pm
#1117
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: YYZ
Programs: Only J via Peasant Points, 777HDPeasant or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance and Narcissism.
Posts: 5,951
Mar 25, 2018, 3:37 pm
#1118
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: YYZ
Programs: Only J via Peasant Points, 777HDPeasant or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance and Narcissism.
Posts: 5,951
Mar 25, 2018, 3:57 pm
#1119
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: AA PP, OZ *G, Hyatt Expl, Marriott Gold, Lots of Ex-statuses
Posts: 317
Mar 25, 2018, 4:29 pm
#1120
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: YYG
Programs: Aeroplan 50K, Club Accor Gold
Posts: 441
Assuming my flight to YYZ isn't late on Friday, I'l be looking forward to trying the SSL before flying to Hong Kong. I'm assuming I shouldn't bother with the omelette and chicken sausage on my first flight? (I am very tired of it anyway!)
Last edited by islandcub1; Mar 26, 2018 at 5:48 pm Reason: Spelling.
Mar 25, 2018, 5:22 pm
#1121
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 2,912
They may have better OTP, but they do it by sacrificing in other customer service related areas. We see and hear too many stories where (rightly or wrongly) one of the big three American airlines do something wrong by the customer just to keep their OTP numbers high.
Mar 25, 2018, 6:10 pm
#1122
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: YVR TLS
Programs: Air France Flying Blue, Altitude SE-100k, AAdvantage, United Mileage Plus, WS rewards, BonVoy Titan
Posts: 912
3 hour stopover in April at YYZ to CDG, looking forward to the super duper lounge, after reading the good reports here. Is the International lounge in YUL considered the same as the super duper YYZ lounge? The YUL INTNL lounge was great...
Last edited by james dean; Mar 25, 2018 at 6:10 pm Reason: spelling
Mar 25, 2018, 6:32 pm
#1123
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: YVR
Programs: AC SE100K, Marriott Titanium & LTP, NEXUS
Posts: 613
Mar 25, 2018, 6:36 pm
#1124
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,302
I would expect YYZ to get an MLL upgrade at some point, but the SS is unique, due to its access requirements.
Mar 25, 2018, 7:19 pm
#1125
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 297
Food was just OK, not that great. I was on a paid business class YYZ to CDG.