mb4wong

Hey Smangalam,

I've been flying YVR-YYZ every other week over the last couple months.

The YVR security and check in process never takes me more than 10 minutes from bag-in to finishing security. The MLL is still doing at-table service for hot foods (limited to only 10am-2pm and 5pm-close) and at bar service for cold foods (sandwiches), snacks and drinks. Capacity is getting close to full over the last couple visits but if you're travelling alone, you'll definitely get a seat, just maybe nothing with a nice view. Last I flew there was no temperature checks but obviously masks are part of the entire process.

Flights have been full for the last 2 months except for one exception of AC199 from YYZ-YVR. But nothing particularly special to take note of.

There's been lots of delays for bags at YYZ so be mindful of that. I have priority baggage but it still took 45 minutes for bags to come out.

Happy flying!

smangalam

Thanks so much for that. Really helpful! I’m flying AC105. How’s the MLL at Yyz in the mornings? Worth getting breakfast there? Also, I’ve ordered the meal tray for the flight, is it safe eating on the flight?

mb4wong

It's fine to eat on the plane; I eat almost every flight and just promptly put my mask back on once done eating.

I've been in the MLL in YYZ in the mornings, I'm on the same 830pm flight haha. But if you have MLL access, you could also just grab food from there and eat it on the plane too which is what I normally do.

In terms of food selection, I suspect you'll be limited to the cold foods (usually two different kind of wraps, some form of salad, vegetables and humus, etc) and chips, cookies, granola bars, etc.

smangalam

Cool. Thanks again. Wasn’t expected anything different with the food selection. I assume the MLLs would have the usual boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, oatmeal etc. for breakfast.

24left

@smangalam
It might be worth your time to read some of the threads on say page 1 and 2 of the AC forum. For example, there is a thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...ng-etc-81.html Look at posts going back say a month or two. Look at the wiki. The MLLs have not had "usual boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, oatmeal etc. for breakfast" for more than a year. There are often long lines, and you don't get to touch any food.

There are ongoing issues with staffing for the airline and especially at YYZ. If you're travelling with family, you might want to gather up info that would affect your travels so that you are prepared. Good luck.

drvannostren

Yea, I'm not sure what class you're in or what your financial outlook is, but there were some pretty attractive offers for PY and J at check-in. I didn't partake (I'm a little cheap and poor haha) mostly because I didn't think there'd really be much service to speak of.

One other thing I'll mention is my flights have all gone from decent load to FULL seat maps. I flew MEX-YVR that flight was legitimately probably above 90%, but I got a middle seat free next to me. My flight YYZ-BOG suddenly had a full seat map while I was in the lounge. Turns out they were just blocking seats. So you might not need to fret too much if the seatmap suddenly looks very full. I know I obsess over seat selection up to the last minute.

Otherwise a totally normal flight, I was worried about slow customs in Bogota...it was a breeze as we arrived before anyone else. The service on the flight WAS a little lame, but honestly in economy it's not much worse than usual. Food comes in a box, but there were 2 options and both were hot. The biggest difference was a smaller selection of drinks and no second drink service, just water. A little snack was served before landing, a cookie & almonds. Lastly, it's been a while since I've flown AC long haul...I THOUGHT they used to serve hard alcohol in Y for free (unlike UA) but when I asked for vodka I was told they didn't have hard booze.

margarita girl

For anyone traveling to the US, my brother decided to get to the airport 2.5 hrs before his flight. This is what he sent me. (I asked if he had been asked for his Covid documents or CDC attestation certificate.)

yyznomad

What day/time was this?
A friend traveled back to the US recently out of YYZ T1 on AC. She said it took her over an hour. This was a Tuesday morning, arriving at T1 around 6:00am.

margarita girl

Today. He arrived at T1 around 10:15 am.

tracon

Thursday morning, 8a.m., YVR security was 30+ minutes.
There's a WS 787 that departs from C Pier at 9:00 when the other AC transcons depart.
CATSA did have all check points open and were moving passengers through at a good pace.
Apparently the checkpoint for B pier was lengthy as well.

I flew 8055 YVR-YYJ it was half full.
The 4 other flights I took across the country and back were full.

yyztozag

Flew ZRH-YYZ today. J crew were pretty good and service was (sort of) back to normal. They had chicken and pasta - chicken was out by the time they got to me but I heard it was really good. The pasta was borderline inedible which was a shame because the appetizer and dessert were great. This was my first full COVID flight and my FFP2 masks came in handy, especially with some pax coughing and/or wearing chin diapers. Customs line was short (less than 5 minutes), even with an EK A380 having landed just before us. Side note - they now hand out Ragusa chocolates instead of Laderach ex-ZRH, which I prefer. Overall a good experience but they need to be harsher on covidiots. I think that the vaccine mandate will help weed out some of them.

lcohen999

IAH-YYZ yesterday was somewhat normal and went out full, except for 1 seat. The UA lounge right across from the gate is still closed

Only one meal option in J. No IFE and no WiFi (which makes a morning business flight...annoying).

One shift from my earlier US based flights. At checkin, they wanted to see your negative covid test where earlier they just wanted to see if you were vaxxed. That translated to the border agent only wanting to see my ArriveCan and not my negative test.

lcohen999

on my flight mentioned below, there was one pax with one of those fake masks made of mesh. How she got through checkin, security, bordering and crew checks I am not sure.

Wasn't in the mood to start something as she was not sitting close to me

YOWgary

I put this one on YVR, not AC, but it fascinated me to see this scene five minutes after I passed the half-hour lineup to get into the MLL due to its strict social-distancing requirements. With a full 788 and a full 789, this is a little over 550 people. It's not like YVR is short for gates right now.

This isn't me ranting about COVID safety, just random policy. One result of this chaos is that both flights are slow to board, and seem unlikely to be ready to depart 17 minutes from now.

TTC900Rocket

Looks like a weather system is affecting YYZ around the dinner hour. Our plane just landed and has been holding on a taxiway for about 20 minutes. I see several planes ahead of us, and the gates all seem to be occupied.

I am in an SQM run (2 separate bookings) and will probably miss my flight to YVR; should I rebook in person or call reservations to fly another day?

Going home or to a nearby hotel is an option as I am pretty tired from the day’s flights.

Thanks for any advice you can provide!

Edit: I do see several other flights, but probably no aisle seats left, so as soon as I deplane, I’ll call reservations to arrange a flight over the weekend, instead.