Review of Air Canada flight from London to Montreal in Business

Intro

The next portion of this around-the-world adventure would see me heading from London to Montreal on an Air Canada 787-9 in Business Class. It had been a couple of years since I had reviewed Air Canada, and I was excited to see how their long-haul signature class was holding up after a couple of good flights with them in the past.

Well, Air Canada was pretty good, but there were a couple of aspects to the experience that I wasn’t a fan of. 

Routing

SQ Lounge

I visited the SQ Lounge prior to departure. It was nice, but I prefer the AC Lounge.

Beautiful bar!

Boarding

With boarding set to commence at 8:40, I headed off to gate B39 (which is a 5-minute walk from the MLL) around 9:00 am. Feeling refreshed from the Maple Leaf Lounge and Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge, I waltzed onto the plane in no time, as the airline had already begun boarding group 4 at this point.

Business Class passengers and those with Star Alliance Gold gain group 1 boarding.

Unlike the 777, Air Canada sadly only uses one jetbridge when operating the 787s out of Heathrow, meaning that it took quite a while to get onboard. 

Eventually, and I mean we were moving at the pace of a turtle, I made it to the door where I was warmly greeted by that lovely Canadian hospitality.

The Seat/Cabin

The Air Canada 787-9 is laid out with 8 rows of business class in a 1-2-1 configuration, coming out to a total of 30 seats (there is no 1D,1G). 

Each seat features all the bells and whistles one could want for a transatlantic hop, with a larger counterspace for storage, USB-A charging ports, a cubby for storage, and a power outlet to charge larger devices. 

Small Cubby

However, I have two issues with the seat, and they are both directly related to not just Air Canada, but the reverse herringbone setup.

The tray table located underneath the television screen makes it difficult to sleep on your side. If you are a side sleeper, you won’t have much room to wiggle around.

I am personally not a fan of the footwell on this seat. I find it narrow and doesn’t give me the ability to manspread (which is acceptable in business 😅). 

Departure

As soon as I settled into my seat, a lovely flight attendant came around to offer me a pre-departure beverage consisting of sparkling water or champagne (sparkling wine, I presume as it tasted like it). 

Additionally, a few moments later, the purser came around to welcome each passenger onboard individually, something that isn’t often shown anymore in Business Class. Truly top marks here, Air Canada!

Right on the dot at 9:15, boarding was all wrapped up, and the captain came on to welcome us onboard and announce our flight time of 6 hours and 35 minutes over to Montreal today. Oof, I need a sleep after that Ethiopian flight, that is for sure…

As if life couldn’t get any better, we ended up pushing back 8 minutes early at 9:22 am, and made our way out to runway 27 for departure (the 9’s flipped already). Since I get asked the question, “Why do you always sit in the back of business class”? The reason is that I get that dopamine influx every time I hear those engines start. 

Sorry for the heavily edited photos here, just looks so cool with the two whales!

Somehow, someway, ahead of schedule at 9:39 am, we were wheels up out of London with some gorgeous views over Heathrow. Something about the viewing of Terminal 5 makes me calm and happy. 

The airline that got me into flying!

Amenities

Once airborne, I figured I might as well show you the amenities, considering I am writing a report. 😅

Upon boarding, I was pleased to see the infamous Air Canada bedding waiting at the seat. Each passenger is given a mattress pad, an okay* blanket, and a plush pillow. It’s not up there with Polaris bedding, but it does the trick. 

In addition, passengers receive an Acqua Di Parma amenity kit stocked with the essentials, such as an eyemask, toothbrush, and those kinds of bits and bobs, as well as a decent pair of noise-canceling headphones. 

Note to others: Air Canada skirts by without offering slippers on flights to Europe. It seems that the airline only offers slippers to Asia and Australia (maybe South America, I'll find out soon)… Really? What does it cost to provide them? An extra dollar?

IFE+WIFI

Settling in after takeoff, I figured that for once in my life, it was time to watch a movie. Air Canada offers a nice screen on the seatback in front of you, providing a wide range of content from the latest releases of movies to everyday casual watching of television shows. 

If you are feeling exceptionally lazy, which you are most definitely allowed to when flying, there is a remote located in the storage cubby from which you can control the screen.

For those looking to work, you’ll be happy to know that Air Canada provides wifi (unless it’s broken like ET) on most of their fleet. Simply head over to settings, connect to the wifi, and a screen should appear. 

The price came out to 28 CAD for the full flight or 10 CAD for an hour (I believe), but that is much too rich for my A-negative blood type. 

Meal Service

Prior to departure, the lovely FA working my aisle came around to offer me a choice of meals on today's flight. Although the flight leaves at 9:30 am, I was very pleased to see lunch being served on today's flight, as breakfast is usually a disappointment on a plane. While Air Canada is dine-on-demand, I inquired if I could have my lunch after takeoff.

Air Canada’s menus are actually very well designed and chic. Unlike flipping through tens of pages to find the food, everything you need is on one large, foldable menu. 

Roughly 40 minutes after departure, the cabin crew came around with a drinks cart offering us a choice of beverages. I’ve weirdly gone off champagne and taken up Aperol Spritz (don’t ask why). I went with the Spanish red to complement my main, as well as a sparkling water (with ice, I am part American, you know 😉). 

One thing that I am not the biggest fan of with Air Canada is how long it takes for service to come out (just because of redeyes, today was fine). Another 30 minutes later, we received our starters, in which I selected the Arabic Mezze. Okay, not up there with Qatar Airways, but certainly outdoes the other US3 for starters…

Unfortunately, while you are able to pre-order from Canada-London, it seems that you cannot pre-order on the return leg. Thankfully, even in the last row, they had my first choice available, the beef brisket.

An hour and 40 minutes after takeoff, the main course was distributed, and quite disappointing. I eat a lot of dry beef on planes (perks of flying so much 😉), but this was especially dry. My tip: don’t order the beef on AC! 

To conclude, I had a food coma for dessert.

All in all, I have to say that the meal was on the slower side, which is fine for a day flight, but the same still applies for the short redeye. The concept of the food was good, but the main course sadly turned out quite dry. However, I will say props to the lovely FA who kept my drinks topped off constantly without me even asking!

Nap Time

After a rough night's sleep on Ethiopian thanks to no overhead air vents (Air Canada does have them), I was ready to get some kip for the next few hours. Placing the seat into bed mode, I found it hard to get comfortable due to the design of the tray table on the reverse herringbone, and the fact that I am a side sleeper (who also loves to cuddle a pillow 😂, Air Canada, I need my cuddle pillow pleaseee). 

Additionally, the bed doesn’t go fully flat on AC, as there is a slight angle, tilting your head upwards. Just keep that in mind.

However, I did manage to get a couple of hours of sleep and woke up as we were about an hour and 20 minutes outside of Montreal. This is the perfect seat for napping, but due to my conditions for sleeping, I prefer the likes of United or the American 777-300s. 

Lavatories

Insert Noel Philips' voice: it's a loo with a view! (actually my favorite you-tuber for flight reports) 

After waking up, I headed off to the restroom to use the facilities. Business Class passengers can access the toilet near door 1L, door 2L, and door 2R. These were kept in good condition, albeit lacking amenities. 

Service

The service on Air Canada is either very good or needs major improvement, in my experience. Thankfully, on today's flight, the service fell into the former category! Here are a couple of aspects that stood out to me:

Passengers being greeted individually by the purser

The lovely FA working my aisle was charming, always presented a smile, and engaged in small talk

The pre-landing cup, without me asking, was top drawer and showed attention to detail

Upon landing, we had a short wait for the jetbridge, and the FAs were chatting with the passengers in the galley instead of just standing there.

Unlike some other Air Canada flights, I never saw an FA on their phone, and they were constantly coming through the cabin to offer drink top-ups.

All in all, a very pleasant flight!

Arrival

Side note: Air Canada offers a pre-arrival snack consisting of finger sandwiches, but it didn’t sound too appetizing (in many ways 😮), so I decided to skip it. Additionally, Air Canada puts a snack basket over row 1, offering the likes of Kitkats and Chips throughout the flight. 

Around 10:45 am local time, the captain came on to announce that we were beginning our initial descent into Montreal, and that if we needed to use the lavatory… yada yada I could recite this by now.

See, the cabin crew was so nice that she brought me around an Aperol Spritz in a landing cup without me even asking… Talk about exceptional service.

We ended up touching down at 11:15 am in Montreal on a gruesome day, weather wise at least, and had a 7-minute taxi over to Gate 50.

Now this is a route I would LOVE to fly!

For some odd reason, the jetbridge wasn’t working, and it was another 10 minutes before we were off the plane and on the way to the Maple Leaf Lounge!

Stay tuned for the final review of this trip! Hope you have enjoyed 🙂.