Review of Air Canada Rouge flight from Toronto to Victoria in Economy

This is my first Trip Report on here so apologies if there are a few mistakes.
I boarded onto my Airbus A321 fully knowing what was to come. I had been reading as well as talking with people months before this flight asking if I should pay to upgrade to an exit row with more legroom. I’m 6’4” and have a hard time fitting in most economy class seats. C-FJOK was my ride back home to Victoria. A newer Airbus A321 would do the trick. Legroom looked decent when I boarded but once I had arrived at my seat I could barely fit. Knees were up against the seat back for 5+ hours and the women in front of me basically jammed her seat back all the way right after takeoff. I call these people “Knee Crushers” as they have no consideration for the people behind them.

Our A321 pushed back on-time and at 8:26 pm EST we took off from RWY06L at Pearson Airport in Toronto. After a very smooth and fast climb, the seatbelt sign was turned off and the service began.
Tonight’s Inflight service included the option to purchase food and snack items from the first cart. The 2nd cart included the complimentary beverages. I had a full can of Coke and opened up the pack of pretzels I received on my RapidAir flight from Montreal. Service was very slow, and the crew had to stop every few rows and back up because of passengers needing to use the lavatory.

My seat from the flight was 39D which is an aisle seat. I had originally booked 39F (window) but switched as the flight would be during the night and I wanted to get up and stretch. The seat had a plain seat back with no IFE, but a little storage compartment on the top, and the seat back pocket. Tray table was standard and it could move towards you wish was not necessary as you are very close to the seat in front. Tray table was somewhat clean with only a few mysterious stains on it. The upper storage compartment had a very nasty gob of something in it which I tried to avoid. Seat is very hard and not comfortable at all. Basically no padding which caused my upper legs to have a very bad pain in them for most of the flight.

IFE was very poor. The “Rouge Player” app is garbage with only Movies and TV. No map or anything which sucks on long flights like this. I started a movie but quickly stopped it as I was not in the mood for one. Basically you should download some shows off of Netflix to watch during the flight as the selection isn’t that great. You will need the latest version of the Air Canada app in order to use player. If you don’t have a tablet or phone to watch shows on then you can rent an iPad from the crew for a small fee. About 2 hours before arrival, I did find a page where you could see the remaining flight time which was kind of pointless but at least there is something.

About 1 hour prior to arrival into YYJ, the crew came around with the second round of drinks. Although a small snack would have been nice, only RapidAir flights get a free snack. I had a can of Sprite to drink. Shortly after the service, cabin crew came by to pick up our garbage.

After a few bumps over the Rocky Mountains we began our descent into YYJ. Crew came around once more to collect any remaining garbage and secured the cabin for landing. After a hard hit and a bounce we came to a stop on RWY 27 and taxied to Gate 1. It seemed to take forever for people to get off the flight. Baggage claim only took about 10 minutes till I got my bag back.
Overall if it wasn’t for the horrible legroom and lack of good IFE I would definitely take Rouge again. My advice for those travelling on Rouge. Book an aisle seat or one with extra legroom.