Review of Air Canada flight from Calgary to Vancouver in Economy

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my very first flight report. Today, I am headed across the Pacific as part of a tour around a few countries in Asia for the summer. For this series, my final destination will be Manila, Philippines with an overnight stopover in Tokyo, Japan. Approximately a week after that, I will be taking more flights headed to Malaysia and Singapore. This FR will cover the first sector on Air Canada across the Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver.

YYC INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

I arrived at Calgary International Airport approximately two hours before scheduled departure to check-in for my flight to Vancouver.

Involuntary Flight Change

Just a few days after I booked my flights, I received an email from ANA about a flight change on this sector. I was involuntarily moved somehow to AC219, departing more than 1.5 hours after my original flight. This meant that my connection in YVR will be reduced from 2h45m to just over one hour. 

Fearing that a missed connection will be likely in case of a delay on the new flight, I called ANA and explained to them about the situation. The agent was super helpful and was happy to change the flight back to this one at no charge; she even offered to put me on an even earlier flight than this one at no cost in case this flight gets significantly delayed. Talk about excellent customer service!

CHECK-IN and security

Unfortunately, my online check-in experience with Air Canada wasn't going well. The checked baggage allowance for the entire itinerary is 2 x 23kg per person since I am connecting onto an international flight in Vancouver. However, Air Canada wanted to charge $105 for the checked bags. Hence, I stopped the online check-in entirely and decided to do it at the airport instead to avoid the unnecessary fee.

YYC International uses self-serve kiosks to check-in and print boarding passes, as well as bag tags. Baggage drop is usually done by yourself as well. Simply place the bag on the conveyor belt and off it goes to your plane. However if something goes wrong, the Check-In Assistance desks are always available for you to go to for help. I couldn't get any pics of the check-in desks or security lane as it was very busy at the time. 

MODEL AIRPLANE SHOP

Since aviation is my passion, I try to collect model planes on the occasional basis, provided the fact that budget permits. If you have a layover in Calgary and decide to go landside and are also into collecting model airplanes, don't forget to check out the store, Who's Who In The Zoo, located in the Domestic Terminal. However, prices can get a bit steep, with amounts reaching as high as CAD$85 for a 767 in 1/200 scale. This is where I go to buy model planes if I have the budget. However today, I decided not to get one. 

GATE AND IN-FLIGHT EXPERIENCE

The gate agent announced that the flight was completely full, therefore some carry-on bags had to be checked in for the flight. Air Canada stopped my family and forced us to check-in three of the four carry-ons we had (excluding personal items). We thought it was not gonna be too much of a problem, until a terrible incident happened before boarding on the connecting flight. (more info on that in the next FR).

The gate that will be used for flight AC217. The flight was delayed by over half an hour, shifting the departure time to 1:45PM, but we didn't actually leave the gate until serveral minutes after that. 

Air Canada A320-200 (reg # C-FMSX)

Pushback and taxi to the runway. Some grounded 737MAX parked next to an Air Transat A330. 

There were two planes waiting for takeoff behind us, and after a few minutes of holding we were up in the air to YVR.

Complimentary earphones are distributed. 

IN-FLIGHT SERVICE

The flight time was only just over an hour, so drinks and pretzels were handed out by the flight attendants. It's enough for a flight of this duration. You can always have the option of purchasing food onboard, but prices can tend to be a little on the high side.

Mid-Flight 

Descent into YVR international. It was pretty bumpy most of the way down.

YVR International airport

Landing at Vancouver International Airport

Taxiing to gate, passing by some aircraft along the way.

SOUVENIRS AND COCKPIT VISIT

During the middle of the flight, I handed my Flight Logbook (I ordered it from https://www.knaviation.net/log-book) to the cabin crew and they were more than happy to fill it up, as well as hand over some souvenirs as a thank you for flying with Air Canada.

Flight deck of the A320-200. I had a short chat with the crew as well; the pilots were headed to the city for their rest period while the flight attendants will be headed to Edmonton next. 

Connecting Flight to Tokyo

Because of the delayed arrival, my connection time at YVR was reduced, however this was still enough time to make it to the gate for the flight on ANA to Haneda.

Little did I know that there was an unexpected and terrible surprise waiting for me and my family at the gate…. (more info on that on the next FR)