Review of Air Canada flight Toronto London in Economy

Airline Air Canada
Flight AC858
Class Economy
Seat 20K
Aircraft Boeing 787-8
Flight time 06:45
Take-off 28 Nov 14, 23:55
Arrival at 29 Nov 14, 11:40
AC   #20 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 377 reviews
TripUp
By 11427
Published on 9th January 2015
Hello Folks,

This is my first attempt at writing a trip report, I had a friend's wedding to attend in Mumbai this past December, considering how expensive tickets get around the holiday season, I booked well in advance, the only criteria I had was that the flight leave as late as possible from Pearson International Airport, that way I need not take a day off at work. At the time of booking, Air Canada/Air India was the best option with a 11:20 PM departure, and I lucked out as both the sectors were on the Boeing 787, I have heard so much of the airplane, I was glad that I could experience the aircraft with two carriers. However sometime in October 2014, Air Canada rescheduled the flight to 11:55 PM, with only a 2 hour halt at Heathrow and with a transfer required between Terminal 2 to Terminal 4, I was constantly checking flightaware.com to monitor past flight duration, hoping that the flight maintains a constant duration.

Sorry I do not have any pictures of Pearson Airport or the boarding process, but I did a web check in and boy was I glad, I was expecting a deserted airport at 10 PM, but it was really busy, there were a few flights leaving late at night, however very few check in counters were open. Security was a breeze though.

Air Canada, AC858
Equipment: Boeing 787-8
Departure: 11:55PM (Actual: 12:20AM)
Arrival: 11:40 AM (Actual: 12:00 PM)


Air Canada Web Check In Boarding Pass - Very convenient to check in online and print from home, I could go to baggage drop and leave my bags.

photo CaptureBP

I was excited for my first flight on the B 787. On entering the aircraft I noticed how spacious it looks, the windows were considerably bigger, and so were the overhead bins. Taxiing at 11:20 PM and we were in the air at 11:35PM. I instantly felt the positive impact of the higher cabin pressure, as the take off did not cause any ear aches. All in all my initial thoughts on the airline were positive.

Air Canada was debuting their newer inflight entertainment system, the touch screen was 9 inch and highly responsive and provided gate to gate entertainment

photo IMG_20141129_055906

A very significant design flaw in the entertainment design was the placement of touchscreen controls, they were placed on the arm rest, and throughout the flight people were accidentally setting off the reading light.

photo CaptureArmRest

The first meal service started around 35 minutes, since the flight was a late departure the drinks service was accompanied with the meal. Meal portion was insufficient and lacked any sort of flavor. I only managed a picture of the pre-arrival breakfast, a miserly Banana bread

photo IMG_20141129_052623

For a 6.5 hours flight, the washroom looked worse for wear. No attempt was made to clean it midway.

photo IMG_20141129_053837

The auto dim feature on the windows was pretty cool, here I have it set to the highest and lowest tint.

photo Capturecollage

Economy Cabin

photo IMG_20141129_053539

Mood Lighting in effect

photo IMG_20141129_055844

View of the General Electric GEnx-1B Engine

photo IMG_20141129_062553

The rest of the flight was uneventful and descent started at 10 45 AM local time

photo Capturemap

Spotted these two birds at London Heathrow

photo IMG_20141129_063451photo IMG_20141129_063457



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Verdict

Air Canada

6.0/10
Cabin6.0
Cabin crew6.0
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering5.0

Toronto - YYZ

5.0/10
Efficiency5.0
Access5.0
Services5.0
Cleanliness5.0

London - LHR

7.8/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

Overall, Air Canada just about does the job, in flight service felt mechanical and the meals were inedible. But decent inglight entertainment, above average cabin comfort and great on time performance will propel me to travel with them in the future.

Information on the route Toronto (YYZ) London (LHR)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 13 avis concernant 3 compagnies sur la ligne Toronto (YYZ) → London (LHR).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Air Canada avec 7.5/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 6 heures et 58 minutes.

  More information

5 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 126504 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6658 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this first report! Having controls in the armrest is never a good idea...not sure why airlines/seat manufacturer keep doing it. The flight should be reference as AC858 so I added the AC for you. despite the bad food it looks like you enjoyed your first ride on a 787. Thanks again for sharing and Welcome to Flight-Report!
  • Comment 126510 by
    marathon GOLD 10106 Comments
    I wonder if the designer of the seat knows what an armrest is for, with such a dumb location for the screen controls. My educated guess is also that whoever validated this seat at AC never travels in economy.
    That breakfast is sick joke - oh well, you could not get sick with that :)
    Thanks for this interesting report, and welcome among the contributors to the website !
  • Comment 126533 by
    jetsetpanda 2283 Comments
    Welcome and thank you for sharing your experience with AC.

    Pity about the design of the armrest. AC has the most frugal breakfast on transatlantic Y.
  • Comment 126536 by
    Porcepic 99 Comments
    Thanks for this nice report. I also had the opportunity to recently experience these new cabins on a YUL-CDG and had the same problem with the controls, except that in my case my neighbor has turned the volume at its max level a couple times lol. What a pity considering the IFE is close to perfection today!
  • Comment 160110 by
    ROY 53 Comments
    Is the pitch between the seats was ok?

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