JIMCHI

Wife and I will be flying YYC-YUL in business class for the first time. It's a A320 aircraft. Are seats 2A & 2C better seats than say 3A & 3C ? My wife appreciates a foot rest (which I understand this aircraft has in rows 3 and 4) and likes to watch the AVOD. But we also like to be able to get up to use the lav without having to ask the person in front of us to raise their seatback.
And since meals can't be pre-ordered, are meal orders on this route taken front to back or back to front?
Thanks for any advice.

24left

Meals orders in AC Business Class are generally taken in order of AC status. So you might see the Service Director or FA move around the cabin and not take orders by row. You are correct and AC does not offer the ability to pre-order meals, other than Special Meals.

Also, fyi, You can look up the menus (most of the time) on this page on AC's website. Menus are only posted for about 2 weeks at a time.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...e-service.html

I put in a random date of July 8 and it showed menus were available





And here's is the menu for AC 318 as an example (this link will only be live until the flight or when AC removes it from the page)

https://www.aircanada.com/content/da...485%20WEST.pdf

canadiancow

Meals will be front to back after priority customers have their order taken.

As a PLH route, they will cater ~17 meals for the 14 seats, so if you're in row 2 you should be able to get whatever you want.

JIMCHI

So as full fare passengers, with probably most of the cabin filled with upgrades, we'll be the last to order, despite paying over CA$1100 for each of us. So after they take all those orders, do they start with us peasants in business class from the front or back? Any suggestions on seat choice? Thanks so much for the heads up. You would think that pre-ordering like AA and AS do would make it so much easier for everyone- what can be so difficult?

24left

Why would you assume the cabin would be full of upgrades? AC does not hand them out like candy and people who upgrade are either using earned upgrade credits, or paid for a LMU - Last Minute Upgrade - at check in, or did a Bid Upgrade.

You may or may not see a deadheading pilot as they are entitled to the J cabin as part of their contract.

And BTW, AC FT has various threads discussing meals in various cabins for Domestic/Transborder and International Meals

For eg (and most recent page)

Summary of North America Executive class meal service


As for pre-ordering meals, quite a number of us here have been vocal for years (ok, maybe a rant here and there) about why we can pre-order on SQ or BA or even AA. I recall the answer once was that it was tested. Vague enough for me to assume AC logistics and/or their caterer could not handle it or maybe AC was not interested.

canadiancow

If you paid $1100 CAD, you're not full fare. That's below my "don't think, just buy" price for a flight like that. I have routinely paid more than that for economy (and then upgraded).

And I don't know why you'd think the cabin would be full of upgrades. It's a PLH route because they tend to sell the seats.

JIMCHI

AA has allowed pre-ordering for several years now. Works perfectly. AS does it as well. It must be AC "isn't interested". BA also does it from LHR flights.

Adam Smith

And AA only lets you choose one of the two meals they would have offered you on the plane anyway. And it doesn't work perfectly, as they've lost my pre-order on a couple of occasions.

On a PLH route, AC offers 4 meal choices:

• Beef (sometimes lamb)
• Chicken
• Fish
• Vegetarian (usually a pasta with too much spinach)

The US carriers, including AA, also have a tendency to not have anywhere near that diversity of choice (e.g. sometimes it's chicken dish #1 or chicken dish #2 ). They also usually don't over-cater, and may only load a small number of one of the dishes - I was on a UA international flight recently where they catered 12 chicken, 3 beef, and 1 pasta for 16 J seats. By the time they got to me in 2E, it was chicken or nothing.

​Neither system is perfect.​​​​​​

If you sit in 2A/2C, your odds of getting what you want are quite high.

As for your attitude on "full fare", others have already largely addressed that, but I will say this: why do you think it's more fair for the airline to start orders based on where someone is sitting in the cabin? Others may have purchased last-minute (truly full fare) for $2500 and be sitting farther back than you. Should they then be entitled to a meal choice before you?

Once in J, AC generally does not discriminate based on how one got in to J (the main exception being the SSL at YYZ). They've decided that priority meal choice is a small perk they can offer to frequent customers - most of whom are spending many thousands of dollars a year with AC - to help retain their loyalty. (If you want to get in to a measuring contest, I've probably spent $35K on AC and *A partners so far this year)

24left

@JIMCHI
And I'm sure you read my last line where I mentioned AA and BA....and SQ, because your reply seems to indicate that you missed that part of my post.

ACYYZ/SD

LMU's are identified and coded on the manifest and as such, meal orders are taken accordingly. There are pitfalls with the pre-order system. Like special meals, they become part of the planned meal complement, and should a Customer no-show or change their plans within a certain time window, that meal has to be "pawned" off on somebody.

WaytoomuchEurope

I sometimes feel a little sheepish if I'm in say...4C (narrow body) and SD comes to take my meal order, then person in 4D starts requesting their meal and the SD days "Oh I will have to come back and ask you"

Perhaps the better way would be to take 4D's order and then come back if ultimately unavailable.

Of course I'm talking about a situation that I've seen occur no more than 3 times so perhaps making a policy about said situation is ridiculous.

In any case, meal selection is a benefit I enjoy, but I know I'm not the only SE that tells the SD to come back if they run out of my selection. I'm fine to free up some crappy beef I've had countless times for the guy who never flies J and is about to be disappointed to have to eat chicken.

flyquiet

Nobody going to comment on OP observation that the 320 has footrests in 3 and 4 but not 2?
I find the footrests practically useless because they are almost flush with the floor when I put my feet on them, so I have never noticed them not being there in 2. Bulkhead sure (although why they couldn't fix a footrest onto the bulkhead always perplexes me).

Stranger

JIMCHI

Thanks for all the advice. I'm sorry if I came off antagonistic about the meals. I'm a "fussy" eater which is why pre-ordering on AA is a boon to me. But I understand the other point of view that AC's top customers need to get priority selection on meals. I gather that seats 2A & 2C are probably best for us. Thanks again, and I apologize.

RatherBeInYOW