SFO-YUL in AC J
 

San Francisco-Montreal
June 21, 2008
AC 760 J A319
Seats 2AC
11:45A PST - 8:05P EST

Although I fly SFO-YUL on business once every 6-8 weeks, I rarely fly AC as upgrades aren't available for anyone other than AC elites, their single daily non-stop is not conveniently time for business travel, and their J fares are ridiculously high. However, for 40,000 Amex miles for a weekend leisure trip, it's a good deal for my wife and I to visit the family.

Online check-in from home was relatively easy, and involved little more than inputting passport numbers and verifying seat selection. Not as user-friendly as CO but much better than AA which doesn’t permit OLCI for trans-border flights! :td:

We bypassed the AC counter in T3 but on the way to security did notice that they were still using the old manual flight information board that they simply moved over from T1. We had to exit T3 on the way to security to bypass the hoards of pax lined up to pay their $15 checked baggage fee at the AA counters. Another brilliant AA idea, but I digress.

Security was a breeze using the AA Priority Lane on our way to Gate 61…a perfect gate location if one belongs to the Admirals Club. Unfortunately, AC is *A not OW. J pax are invited to use the RCC, a completely useless “perk” since the RCC is at least a mile away down the next (UA) concourse. Gate 61 is a vast improvement over the T1 gates... more space, more seating and right across from the KTVU2 newsstand and food concessions. The gate featured the new TV monitor flight information, a far cry above the old T1 gate 23 manual boards which suffered from numeral shortage and shared gate 25, which (I pass on my way to CO) occasionally used hand-written flight information.

The inbound YYZ-SFO arrived early so our flight (with the same YYZ-based crew) was on time. J boarding was handled efficiently with a priority call and only token gate lice to navigate. The friendly lead (male) FA greeted pax at the door and asked for our BP (perhaps thinking that we had somehow snuck by the twin gate agent scan and check?) and reminded each of us our seat number. Since I specifically selected bulkhead seats 2A and 2C (seatguru.com green seats), I didn’t need to be reminded. But at least he was pleasant and welcomed us aboard.

It was the first time I had seen the new AC interior livery… a much more pleasing blue than the old crappy green-grey blend. Apparently Canadians are not nearly as aggressive about claiming overhead space as my concerns were unwarranted especially since the other the other bulkhead was unoccupied. We settled into 2AC and our extra spacious legroom, waiting for the back of the plane to board.

The lead FA came around with complimentary Toronto (?) newspapers but no preflight drink (even water) offered even though we sat fully boarded at the gate for another 15 minutes. Push-back, short taxi and we were wheels up at 12:05PM.

The lead FA came by for our lunch selection, a choice of “Beef (no further description) or Chicken Teriyaki” and then pretty much disappeared for the next hour, leaving J service to a newbie (hired 5 weeks ago), on what I can only assume was his first solo J service. Although pleasant, he was clearly frazzled even though there were only 9 J pax.

Once airborne, I brought down my carry-on which made a most comfortable footrest!

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Part 2 next...

Lime? Oh, you mean the green one?
 

Part 2...

I ordered my usual G&T from Newbie inquiring as to whether AC finally carried limes. Although he had assured me that yes they did indeed have limes, he brought my G&T with a lemon. When I again asked if he had a lime instead of lemon, he responded with “oh, you mean the green one?” :rolleyes: Yes, that would be the one. Sorry, no lime, just lemon (Aka “the yellow one”). Fortunately, I came prepared having remembered AC’s aversion to limes and had brought lime slices from home. I pulled them out telling him “yes, the green ones like these”. :)

The one nice difference from my last AC J flight is that they’ve stopped the ridiculous use of a drink cart for 3 or 4 rows of J pax. I wonder if they had to get FA union approval for that one?

Now years of AA have conditioned me to good in flight nut service (warm, in a ramekin and with your 1st drink) but no such luck today on AC. After Newbie came by for a second round, I politely inquired about nuts. “Oh. yes we do have some, just a moment”. :rolleyes: Two minutes later, he came by with a tray of Blue Diamond Almonds. Not sure when he was planning on serving them if I hadn’t asked. Perhaps he enjoyed them and was hoping to snack on them himself later on. If that was the case, he was SOL as the J cabin quickly devoured his entire supply.

It was now time to play with the new AC IFE. The good news is that they have one, which is better than the non-existent IFE on AA MD80s and CO 73s. Unfortunately, VX must have cornered the IFE brains with their fabulous i-pod like RED, so AC was apparently relegated to the B design team. Touch screen controls yes, but rather than at my fingertips, the controls were on my screen which was on the bulkhead wall some 4 feet away!

Warning, don’t even think about surfing channels since the same 3 and ½ minutes of commercials run each time you change a channel. After watching the same BDO Dunwoody, CIBC, Ford, XM, enRoute Film Festival and Penfolds commercials 3 times, I finally settled in and started enjoying my (and MegatopLover’s) favorite recent movie “Charlie Wilson’s War”. Primitive pause and rewind feature, although rewind/fast forward seems to have two speeds, “watching grass grow” and “hyper-speed”. But I was pleasantly surprised that the movie was not censored and included all the original T&A and foul language. Yes, I am a pig!

The Audio portion of the IFE was not working today… it was Saturday so perhaps it had the weekend off.

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Please try again later… apparently much later, like on another flight?

The map feature worked just as well:

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OK, so the fun of the new livery and IFE is beginning the wear off and fray, just like the carpet by my seat:

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Meal service began with a (smelly) hot towel and… the J cart! Well, I guess that was the union/management compromise.

No tablecloth, just the tray with a plastic salad bowl. Uh-oh, this is not a good sign. However, wine and warm rolls were immediately offered, with frequent re-fills.

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The chicken teriyaki was quite tasty and served in a nice china bowl, directly from the galley and not off of the cart.

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Desert was small pre-wrapped commercial cookies… OK especially since my wife didn’t want hers and better than the dopey gelato I remember from last year, but not nearly as good a sundae.

More good news about the new livery is that it included a shear cabin dividing curtain. The bad news on this flight it that it wasn’t used. Why have a cabin-dividing curtain if you’re not going to use it? You just invite the inevitable parade of Y pax to the J lav. And a veritable parade it was with a rookie FA not knowing or wanting to stop anyone. I imagine that this was not a typical phenomenon as on our return, with a more seasoned (and exceptionally good) FA the curtain was closed and there was zero cross-cabin traffic.

We touched down at YUL on time at 8:00P and taxied to gate 72, the best gate in the trans-border concourse (which at its last gate extends nearly to the Ontario border), directly across from C&I. As usual, C&I was virtually empty so we breezed through without me having to complain about my not being able to use NEXUS since I was traveling with the Mrs. We were out in the limo at 8:15P and at our downtown hotel by 8:40P, in plenty of time for our 9:30P dinner reservation.

All in all, a much more pleasant AC experience that in past few years, but certainly not worth the posted $4,400 RT J fare, which I can’t imagine they actually get very often.

Thanks for the report! Yes I agree with you $4.4K is a waste of money to be investing in their J product (considering the quality you get in return). I only fly in AC J for NA-NA sectors using my upgrade certs (with revenue economy booking) I am entitled through my Top-tier Aeroplan status.

That makes sense. In fact, I was thinking of using my aeroplan number on an upcoming SQ RTW trip. With the F COS bonus, I would easily net Prestige and come close to the 35,000 mile Elite level.

Thanks for the trip report.

It hardly sounds like on stellar performance from AC.

AC J FA to 80 year old mom "I don't lift carry-ons"
 

As a follow-up, my mom flew AC 761 (YUL-SFO) last week to meet my dad and I as we finished our SQ RTW, and she reported the following exchange with the (nasty, mom's words) J FA as she settled into 2A...

FA: You need to put your carry-on in the overhead.
80 year old Mom: I can't lift that up there.
FA: Well I don't do that!

FA eventually did "do that", and 2D helped her with it at SFO.

Other than that, she enjoyed the flight, and her little mini suite with an empty seat beside her.

:td: No excuse to be rude.

Exactly my experience with AC. LAME service :td: :rolleyes:

AT least he didn't charge you. When I inquired about snacks in J, the FA charged me :td: :rolleyes: :td: :rolleyes:


At least you were served the salad separately. I was just served with one tray with everything on it. In addition to the pathetic salad in plastic plate/bowl, the entree was literally a 3 bite portion :rolleyes: :td:

Lame for an int'l transcon :td: :rolleyes:

After my YUL-LAX J experience, I now refuse to fly AC. I thought UA was lame sometimes, but AC truly made UA SQ quality. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the report though :)