Review of Air Canada flight from Toronto to San Francisco in Business

Routing

Transit Experience

There were no lines at immigration and Global Entry probably took longer than the regular lanes due to the extra walking required. Exiting immigration, you are sent back into the F gates.

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge

After exiting immigration, the MLL in the trans-border area is accessed by an elevator.

Upstairs, I scanned my boarding pass and could go left or right.

The lounge wasn't particularly crowded and had free seating, but the density seemed very high with little privacy between seats.

I went to the other side of the lounge and sat here in this hotel lobby-esque seating area that was less crowded. The seat color choices are questionable and speak to the age of the lounge.

Having just ate on the plane from YUL, I did not pursue the buffet, but it is worth noting that the MLLs are dry until 11:00.

I only had a coffee while in the lounge and it was very bad, there must have been an issue with the machine since my cup had a healthy amount of floating grounds in it. Overall, the lounge experience was very poor and far from what they offer at outstations at LAX/SFO. I wouldn't recommend a long layover in YYZ in the trans-border area.

Airport Experience

Not wanting to spend any more time in the lounge, it was down the escalators to the gate level.

Reaching the gate area, it was clear we would not be leaving on time, so I did another loop of the terminal. Again, since this is the quarantined trans-border area, there was little to do airside.

Boarding

Our aircraft over to SFO today would be C-FDUW, a 1 year-old A220-300 that was delivered to AC in November 2024 and has their standard J12 (2-2) and Y125 (2-3) configuration.

These aircraft have 3 rows of business in a 2-2 configuration. At time of booking, the flight was very empty, but at OLCI the night before, there were only 2 seats left, which would be the source of much headache on this flight.

Boarding eventually started and we quickly reach the threshold of the plane. The welcome on board was in English and French.

We find the same MiQ seats found on their MAX 8s, but in a much skinnier format losing both seat width and center console width. While the A220 may be more comfortable in Y moving from 3-3 to 3-2, upfront the squeeze can be felt with the 2-2 cabin being compressed to fit the narrower fuselage.

Reaching my row, pre-placed were water bottles. Earphones would be handed out later, which would be declined.

View out the window as we continue boarding with lots of narrow bodies preparing for trans-border flights. While this criticism has nothing to do with the in-cabin service, the ground service by AC at YYZ was terrible (partially exacerbated by passengers). After sitting in my seat, a couple shows up behind me and tells me that I am sitting in their seat, which after showing them my boarding pass that I am in the correct seat they go up and complain to one of the FAs. The FA then comes back and asks to see my boarding pass, to which she confirms my seat was double assigned. She tells me to stay seated, takes my boarding pass from me, and asks the other couple to follow her to the galley where she calls the gate agents after boarding is completed. The gate agent enters the plane, approaches us, and says "Who is Mr. X and who is Mr. Y?" I confirm my identity as Mr. X and the other person says they are not Mr. Y, but Mr. Z and that they had swapped boarding passes with their friends. They then start explaining some complicated situation to the FA that resulted in Mr. Y then having to come up as an AC elite explaining what is going and the agent eventually explains they had accidentally allowed him to upgrade Mrs. Y/Z into my seat. Mrs. Z was then sent back to a Y seat to sit with Mr. Y and Mrs. Y and then Mr. Z was plopped down next to me, who was a sour customer the rest of the flight. The agent looks at both of us and says, "Why can't you just sit in your assigned seats?" and then storms off the plane. The attitude towards me, an innocent 3rd party is just unacceptable and I was never apologized to for the inconvenience.

Seat Tour

Seat pitch is good, but the placement of seat supports does restrict under seat storage. My new "friend" then quickly slides his bag under the middle area further restricting my space, thanks. There is also a fold down footrest, which is not very useful at my height.

The seat back has a large, crisp screen.

Fully adjustable and well padded head rest.

The right arm rest has narrow storage underneath along with the AV jack and outlets (USB-A and 110V universal).

The seat is quite comfortable despite being narrower and has buttons to control both recline and the leg rest.

Under the IFE screen, there are additional AV jacks and power points (USB-A and USB-C).

The left armrest houses the tray table.

The PSU features lights and air vents, but no miniature screens found on other A220s.

Push Back, Taxi, and Take-Off

Despite boarding late, we were pushing back on time. The safety video plays as we start our push back.

Can't believe AC still has these B787s in the old livery.

MS and AI B777s.

UA E175, which we would follow on our taxi as the rain continues to come down outside.

Approaching the runway as a PD E195-E2 takes off.

5X MD-11 grounded following the crash of its sister days earlier.

DL CRJ-900.

Aligning onto runway 23.

We took off at 11:08, ~15 minutes behind schedule lifting up over a rainy Toronto.

Meal Service

As soon as we leveled off, the crew was out to perform the meal service. Hot towels were distributed.

As they were collected, a bar service was performed from the cart along with warm nuts.

Reaching Lake Michigan as the entrees were brought out.

AC allows pre-order of meals online and while there are very limited options, there is at least one option that is online only.

The service is done via tray with no table clothes. All three components of the meal are served at the same time and more drinks were offered so I went to try the Portuguese red.

I went ahead and tried their pre-order option: Sweet and Sour Pork. It was okay, but I found the meat texture to be off since it probably was overly velveted with a baking soda taste remaining.

The salad was okay.

Cappuccino cheesecake for dessert, which was a very frugal portion and overly sweet.

Condiments are salad dressing, butter, and salt/pepper packets.

After the meal, I took a coffee.

Entertainment

The IFE screen on the A220 has a lot more language options.

The navigation and content are both good as would be expected on a North American carrier.

The menu can also be found on the IFE since paper menus are no longer offered.

AC offers free Wi-Fi for business class passengers and Aeroplan members. It is fast and available gate to gate. Otherwise, it is CAD 8 for the whole flight, which is still very cheap.

Mid-Flight

The cabin mid-flight.

Not much to see on this route, crossing endless farm land over central Canada/US.

The crew was out regularly checking on people and providing more drinks.

The lavatories are nicer on the A220 than MAX 8.

Pre-Arrival Service

About an hour to arrival, the crew came out and did the pre-arrival service, which consists of drinks and the snack basket.

I opted for a beer and took some pretzels from the snack basket.

Arrival into SFO

Crossing over Yosemite as we start our descent.

Calaveras Reservoir as we approach the Bay.

San Jose with SJC visible in the center.

Aligning for our approach over the Salt Ponds.

Moffett Field.

Aligned for our short final.

Redwood Shores.

Foster City.

We would be landing on runway 28R parallel to an AS E175.

Clearing the sea wall.

We touch down on runway 28R at 13:18, ~10 minutes ahead of schedule.

A UA B772 landing behind us, which apparently had abandoned its trip to Xiamen, where UA has been outsourcing its maintenance. UA pilot forget their passport again?

We quickly pull into a gate at Concourse D.

It was a quick deplaning and I start the walk out of the terminal and to the ride-share pick-up zone.

I'll conclude this series here as I make my way home.

Flight Information

Air Canada, AC741
Equipment: Airbus A220-300 [C-FDUW, delivered November 2024]
Departure: 10:45 (ATD: 11:08)
Arrival: 13:30 (ATA: 13:18)
Flight time: 5:10