Mikey Mike Mike

In February I flew from Toronto to Sydney on the daily direct flight with a 2 hour stop in Vancouver. My partner and I were split opinion wise on how to fly. I favoured AA via LAX. My partner won the day with the AC direct flight with the mantra - what could go wrong and I'm 50k so it will make a difference??!! Well the answer is - PLENTY!!
After booking the flight, we found (and it's kinda logical being wiser after the event) that it's one flight number and so one boarding pass and one seat reservation. The flight is sold both as a YYZ to YVR flight (and popular in PE with Biz people) as well as a hub flight from YVR as all points of AC converge in YVR and shuffle the customers for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Japan. The consequence was no twin in a 2-4-2 formation available for both legs though different twins were available for either leg. We weren't allowed to change seats. The gate in Toronto suggested we ask in YVR and YVR gate said we should have asked in YYZ!! We boarded late in YYZ on the 777-200LR which in economy is 10 across. (see below). Drinks and an improved entree showed the rigidness of service. only 24 meals loaded - a mix of veal stew and veggie pasta. In the second row i didn't get my meal choice as the total meals loaded = PAX and so the split is never going to be good for the last row - or in my case the second row!! Drinks are only served with the meal. (Boo!!) I personally like a fast drink, before the meal service. Upgrades for both legs were bid at the max allowed and we didn't win in either direction. The bid is for both legs only, as are upgrade credits - so you can't even upgrade one sector. We left Vancouver with space in Biz too - so annoying. 16 hours is a long time, and after the main meal leaving vancouver I had a long long sleep. I woke excited that I must be near the end, but we still had 12 hours to go! A sandwich wrapped in cling film served mid flight (same as economy) as was the breakfast. I walked back to Y and the 10 across on a 16 hour flight is just inhumane. Legs and arms spilling into the narrow aisle with PAX literally wedged in - particularly in the middle seats.
On the return flight - we managed to get a twin for both sectors. The flight was delayed 5 hours as on the aircraft was delayed de-icing leaving YVR and the crew ran out of hours. it ran later with a scratch crew. same service with a improved first meal and then the morphing into economy. No meal vouchers offered in SYD despite the delay being over 4 hours. As we departed and landed 5 hours late in Vancouver, we were amazed to find (but only once on the ground) that the second leg ran on time with a substitute dreamliner so we missed our own flight / second leg. (if you follow my logic) We were put onto a new flight with split seats in PE - but on the original aircraft so we could see the seats we vacated 90 mins earlier but with other people in them. The inflexibility of the flight and it's fragility make it a bad choice from YYZ to SYD. Better for sure if you're hubbing via YVR as it is two flight numbers. I still follow the flight out of curiosity on the AC app and flightradar 24 and it's on time - esp from Sydney perhaps once a week, with the YVR to YYZ often cancelled if it runs too late. On the plus side, the sydney leg has senior crew who were a bit grumpy but very competent and fast. (they do two YVRs to SYD a month and they are pretty much done hours wise.)
The moral victory on why we should have gone AA (which we hear is a superior PE experience) was hollow for me, with the decision jointly made NEVER to do this flight again. You have been warned!!

Jagboi

My favourite carrier to that part of the world is Air New Zealand. Connecting in Auckland is a breeze.

yyznomad

Aside from the OP's quasi-incoherent rant (the parts I understood were the parts s/he/ was explaining about this we already know about 33/34) about a flight from half a year ago, there seems to be some items in which s/he didn't realize such as meal order by status. Also, it wasn't entirely clear at the start, but it seems that pax was in PE as per the 2-4-2 description and fuming of a non-full J. What the OP states seems to be on part with AC advertised service regarding PE, as well as posted experiences here on FT.

OP, how much was your PE to J bid, btw?

YEG USER

CZAMFlyer

Ah, I remember fondly the days when AC 33/34 was a new service (and those same 200LRs were several years newer themselves). It was a pleasant journey back then, without the impossible-to-upgrade issues of today, and when the domestic service was sufficiently pleasant that YYZ-YVR flyers didn't clamour for the transcon pods the way they do now.
My most relaxing AC 33 flight Down Under was up front on a high-Y upgrade - I slept almost 8 consecutive hours. These days I generally prefer a connection to avoid the conditions the OP described above.

One memorable journey between Canada & Australia took almost two weeks (via Alaska/Siberia) but that had little to do with Air Canada delays, and more due to the idiosyncrasies of weather and Russian ground handlers in Anadyr: "Da, we fuel you right away...next Thursday..."
​​​​​​​It might have been quicker to go by boat.

CZAMFlyer

I understood it easily.

The delay makes the observation no less valid.

CZAMFlyer

When flying from YVR to SYD, try an AC alternative: AA/QF via LAX, UA via SFO, NZ via AKL or even the 'long way round' via an east Asian city.
Personally, I hold out a smidgeon of hope that Qantas assigns one of its 789s to the YVR-SYD nonstop; we may then see a 'tightening' of service on AC 33.

Jimmie Jet

LondonElite

eigenvector

A word of advice on AC PY: either save your money and get a preferred seat in Y, or pony up for J. Spending thousands extra for PY will almost always leave you disappointed.

skybluesea

@Mikey Mike Mike

on YVR-SYD this post may be true, yet, plenty of other mid-range routes (8-10 hr) where PY just fine.

AC routinely has intl PY fares near Flex - typically I fly TATL J eastbound, and PY westbound since had good night sleep before boarding, usually on morning flights. On TPAC, north asia only, outbound on PY, and return in J works great - arrive asia late YVR time, get to hotel for reasonable night's sleep, although involves early morning wake-up.

and just as importantly, I value my client's travel budgets as much as they do, so even though can do J beyond 4 hours, NO need when overall journey pattern has PY as a reasonable option.

ps...OP, your post reasonably understandable...if the test here is perfect grammar and diction, 99% of posts are "porbelmtaic"

mapleg

Unless you need 125% miles for one reason or another.

acysb87

I would cut the OP some slack and be gentle as that person is a relatively new poster here.
The YVR/SYD flight is not one I have flown to date but YYZ/HKG is one that I have flown aboard.
14-15 hour flights are very long, even in J. I do not want to experience PY or Y on those flights.

yyznomad

You know what, you're right. It's a new poster and I should cut some slack.

In any case, having been on AC33/34 many times (past in J and near-recent in PY), I've never had the same experience as the OP describes (from what I gather). So either I've been lucky, (no perceived issues with catering, have been relatively on time, etc.) or OP was unlucky. However, having higher status than the E50K mentioned by the OP probably helped.

OP, you might not be aware, but for the meal order, it is often that meal preference is given in order of status (regardless of where you sit) especially when there are not enough meals for everyone to have their first choice. This might have been your case back in February.

Micp3208