Review of Air Canada flight from Montreal to Frankfurt in Economy

Time really does fly

Hello and welcome the final Flight Report in my Canada series! After an amazing 2 weeks in the country, it's now time to head back to Europe.

However, as usual with me, this won't be a straightforward journey back to the UK. If you remembered my first few FRs you'll know that I booked a round trip from Paris to Montreal, which means that my trip back to London will take me via Paris however I opted to go there via Frankfurt on the return (rather than Vienna again). For the return leg I actually had 3 options: Swiss A330 to Zürich (ZRH), Lufthansa 787 to Frankfurt (FRA) or Air Canada 777 to FRA. Lufthansa was a hard no for me after they changed the flight from an A340 to the 787, Swiss would've been my choice however I eventually went with Air Canada as I really wanted a planespotting day in Frankfurt (to photograph all of the quadjets courtesy of Lufthansa). Plus this would only be my 2nd time on the Boeing 777, my first being with Air France where I was stuck in the middle seat on a 10 hour flight from Asia (not fun at all).

This would actually be my penultimate flight, with a Lufthansa flight between FRA and CDG being the last (I'll take the Eurostar to London after). There won't be an FR on the Lufthansa flight as I was way too tired and I've got another (way more interesting) Lufthansa itinerary booked for later this year. 

Finally, as for price, I paid a total of around €400 in total for a round trip between Paris and Montreal. While this itinerary involved multiple carriers, it was booked on Lufthansa. As far as I'm aware, all economy basic passengers have to pay for seat selection and a checked bag (which costs €65 one way). I didn't pay for the checked bag for this flight however I did pay for seat selection to avoid the same fate I had on the Air France.

From 2023, I aim to offset all of my CO2 emission from flights. All emissions are calculated using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and I will be funding projects approved by The Gold Standard. The CO2 output for this flight is:

YUL-FRA-CDG: 380kg
Total for 2023 (so far): 1827kg

Montreal trudeau airport (yul)

The airport is served by a frequent bus service (aptly numbered 747) that runs from Downtown to the airport every 15 minutes or so. The bus costs $11 in cash, or you can just buy a day ticket for the same price (which allows unlimited bus/metro travel in the Montreal area). However, if you really want to take the cheapest option, you can take the metro to Lionel-Groulx, 211 to Dorval Terminal and 204 to the airport for around $3.75.

The check-in area is upstairs on the first floor.

Check-in area for US bound passengers.

Last photo outside of the airport before we go through security.

Once again, security was really efficient. It took less than 10 minutes to go through.

View of the apron.

The domestic gates.

The gates at the end of the terminal.

A nice view of the taxiway leading to runway 06R/24L.

One last photo of the domestic area as we head back across the terminal to the international gates.

The international zone comprises of gate 52-68 and access is granted through another boarding pass check. You'll find the duty-free stores right after.

A really good selection of stores, as well as restaurants/bars can be found here.

The whole place is super modern with huge windows for planespotting. It's clear that this area is much newer than the domestic area.

Let's do some planespotting!

Air France Boeing 777-300ER (F-GSQS) heading to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG).

Lufthansa Boeing 787-9 (D-ABPC) also heading to Frankfurt (FRA)

Swiss A330-300 (HB-JHI) heading to Zurich (ZRH)

A 2nd Air France Boeing 777-300ER (F-GSQO) heading to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG).

Air Transat A330-200 (C-GUBH) arriving from Holguin (HOG)

And finally, a pair of Air Canada Boeing 777-300ERs with the closest one (C-GOFW) heading to Milan Malpensa (MXP).

Some more photos of the terminal.

A kids play section can also be found at the end of the building.

As you can see, the place is really nice and modern.

the flight

Our plane was parked right at the end of the terminal building so, once again, there wasn't a good place to take a photo. However, I was planespotting right before coming to the airport so here's a photo of our plane landing from Frankfurt:

Some information about our plane:

Type: Boeing 777-300ER
Registration: C-FIUL
First flight: 22 June 2007
Age: ~16 years

Nothing interesting to note really, she was delivered to Air Canada in June 2007 and remained with the airline ever since.

Flight time today will be aroud 6 hours 30 minutes and here is our route:

The seats on this 777.

The IFE (which we'll look into later) and the tray table.

The legroom - again average.

On the seats is a blanket…

… And a pillow.

Along with the USB port on the IFE, there is also a universal power outlet in front of the seat.

First views out of the wing.

I really didn't expect to see dark green as the main colour for Air Canada's interiors, but I really like it. However, this, along with the patterns/decorations on the walls is giving me very tropical vibes for some reason, like it should be on Thai or Malaysian instead. Maybe that's just me though?

Anyway, as boarding continued, here's another Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER (C-FKAU) heading to Brussels (BRU).

And another Air Canada A330-300 (C-GEGC) heading to Fort Lauderdale (FLL).

We sat on the gate here for quite a while. This, according to the captain, is due to the aircraft waiting for connecting passengers and their baggage.

But finally, we pushed back around 50 minutes late.

Taxiing past some more Air Canada heavies, with a Lufthansa A350 to Munich (MUC) in the background.

Qatar Boeing 777-300ER (A7-BAO) heading to Doha (DOH)

One final photo of the airport.

Finally, we are off to Europe. Bye bye Canada!

Lovely views of Montreal immediately after takeoff.

St Lawrence River at night.

Climbing through the clouds with a lovely bright moon lighting up the wing.

Soon after the crew came handing out headphones.

And shortly after that, dinner was served. The menu is available to view on the IFE.

And here is the meal itself. The classic option of chicken or pasta was offered. Since I went with chicken on the Austrian flight here, I went with pasta. It is pasta with some kind of mushroom sauce (which was really nice), along with a vegetable salad, a chocolate cake, a bun and a bottle of water. The crew also came around with drinks shortly after. All in all, it was a super nice meal - everything tasted amazing and no complaints really.

Let's have a look at the onboard Wi-Fi.

Here are the prices:

-

Frequent flyers can also puchase a monthly plan:

And finally, let's have a look at the IFE:

Before we start, I have to mention that while the IFE has USB charging ports under, none of them actually worked (at least for me and the vacant seat next to me). I'm not completely sure if this is an issue on every seat or if I got super unlucky. 

But anyway, Air Canada offers a super nice selection of movies and TV shows, along with a good range of podcasts and music. Comparing it to the other long-haul flight of this trip, Air Canada's IFE completely blows Austrian's out of the water when it comes to selection and variety. There is a huge range of new and old, with plenty of options for everyone (including kids).

Arrival and connecting information is also available.

Along with a fully interactive inflight map.

All in all, a really solid IFE system. Sadly I slept through most of the flight so I didn't get to use it at all really. It's just a shame that the USB ports weren't working, but it didn't matter too much for me as I had a power bank. 

Some daylight finally as breakfast was being served.

It included a croissant and a yoghurt, which was nice. Drinks was also available, I just went with water as I was way too sleepy for anything else at that point.

As a side note, I love how everyone is happy to eat whatever is served on a plane with little regard to time. (It's like 1AM Montreal time when this was served).

Over London, my home and (eventual) final destination.

The English Channel can be (faintly) seen through the clouds on the right.  

First views of mainland Europe.

Starting our descent into Frankfurt.

Amazing weather in Frankfurt - perfect for some planespotting during my long layover. ;)

On final for runway 07L.

Welcome to Frankfurt! We landed 30 minutes late.

A short taxi later, we arrived at the gate.

Frankfurt airport (FRA)

Arriving passengers are deposited inside the departures area, with another 10-15 minutes walk to the exit.

Passport control were fairly efficient and another short walk later, we are into the arrivals area. I didn't have any checked luggage so I went from the gate to here in around 30 minutes.

That concludes my first long haul trip since the pandemic. Visiting Canada was something I wanted to do for a long time now and it was amazing to finally go. I honestly can't wait to go back (and probably pay the US a visit too).

But for now, thanks for reading and I've attached a double planespotting bonus (Montreal and Frankfurt) at the bottom. Feel free to check that out and I'll see you in another FR very soon!