The evening before we took a trip to watch River Plate vs. Club Atlético Belgrano at the Estadio Monumental, and even there you can spot planes, owing to it's close proximity to Jorge Newberry Airport (AEP).
The morning after, we headed over to Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) in an Uber.
There was lots of rain this morning, we'd done particularly well to avoid the bad weather in Buenos Aires, but it came down fast on the day of our departure.
AC91 begins in Buenos Aires and departs up to São Paulo before continuing on throughout the night towards Toronto.
We used the self check-in kiosks. They were very simple to use.
They print the bag tags and you just affix these yourselves.
You also get access to Air Canada's Priority line, we waited no longer than 2 minutes to drop off our bags.
I also managed to snag seat 1A. Result!
A business class ticket with Air Canada gains you access to FastPass, Buenos Aires' fast-track security lane.
You also get access to a dedicated express immigration channel, which was very impressive, too!
Air Canada's nominated business class lounge is the Star Alliance Lounge, located on the Upper Floor.
It's a nice, quiet lounge with lots of natural light.
There's also plenty of seating options available, too.
There was a small spirits section including this lovely Patagonian gin brand, Bosque.
There was also wines and this fridge of beers including Quilmes. My new favourite lager.
Alfajors were in abundance.
There was fruit, cheeses, meats and olives.
This fresh salad bar.
Local empanadas full of either steak or creamed corn. These were very tasty.
There's also a dedicated area fenced off for Lufthansa or SWISS First Class passengers, or those with HON Circle status.
Here's our aircraft flying us up to São Paulo this evening, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
With a business class ticket you're placed into Zone 1 but my only small gripe is that Zone 1 and 2 are merged together, removing the point of Priority Boarding in my opinion.
Here's my seat for today, 1A. I'm a sucker for Row 1 when flying Business.
1A feels and looks slightly larger than other suites, but I might be wrong.
The legroom is really great, too!
Time to depart and get out of this damn rain!
And an on-time departure it was, too!
Settling in the seat is really comfortable. The fabrics and space really lend to a fantastic initial impression of Air Canada's 787-9 business class.
Shortly after departure, despite the turbulence, a hot towel was handed out.
The seatbelt sign however, remained on.
And yes, it was VERY bumpy!!
After we got through the clouds and levelled off, that pesky turbulence subsided enough for service to begin.
Whilst I waited, I checked out the in-flight entertainment system. It's very intuitive, responds well and there was lots of content on offer.
The moving map can also be ported across to the smaller remote. I like this feature.
The crew then came round and set my table up including this fabric white linen tablecloth.
Lots of drinks were on offer, I asked what the crew recommended and Rami, the service director, suggested a Canadian beer.
Dinner consisted of a warmed croissant with President butter.
A rather large helping of a chicken pot pie. This was great but could have benefited from a jus or gravy of some sort.
There was a tasty fresh fruit salad consisting of melon, mango and kiwi.
And a pack of Favo de Mel chocolate cookies. These were also great.
All in all, no complaints from me especially when considering the length of the flight.
The Colson Moors Canadian lager was also a sterling recommendation. Thanks Rami!
The toilets were spotlessly clean, as well.
They also had these Edition Voyage amenities, including this Amber Cologne hand cream. It smelt lovely!
I then put the seat into fully lie-flat bed mode.
It's a wide bed and even on the short fifth-freedom sector, Air Canada provides a full turndown service with all bed linen, mattress topper and very comfortable pillow.
There was also plenty of space in the footwell. A rarity these days!
And… it was so good, I may have snagged a cheeky power nap!
When I woke up, the sun had begin to set.
I had a lovely little chat with the great cabin crew looking after us. Rami (centre) was the Service Director and Mitz (right) was also serving in the business cabin. Both were exceptional. Funny, kind, caring and warm - a real standout of this flight was the wonderful crew and the service they offered.
After popping back to my seat from the toilet, I'd noticed a large bag of snacks left in the well of my seat. Rami and Mitz said they'd put together a small package for me and my husband so we had something to eat in the hotel this evening, before flying back from São Paulo tomorrow. What a lovely gesture!
We then had to circle São Paulo for quite some time owing to scattered thunderstorms in the area.
And I've never seen lightening like this before. It was electric (pun intended!).
Finally though, our skilful flight crew got us on the ground safely and with minimum bumps!
And that meant our short journey between Argentina and Brazil had come to an end. Thanks Air Canada, a fabulous experience, a great product but most of all, crew that really care. Thanks for reading/watching and as always, I'll see you next week.
