Review: Air Canada Business Class 787 Vancouver To Toronto

You're smart to choose the 787 for your transcon leg across Canada. AC offers quite a mixed transcon product, as the 787 flights are generally a connecting leg from Sydney to Toronto. Most of their flights are operated on a mixed fleet of Airbus A319/20/21 which offer a more standard domestic business w/ recliner seats and a more limited food offering

Looks like a good flight!

Food orders are taken by status on Air Canada, hence the jumping around.

AC has a premium Transcontinental Service (with a premium on paid business) on flights to/from Toronto and Montreal to Calgary, Vancouver, San Francisco, and LAX when these flights are operated by their wide-body aircraft.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/onboard/comfort_transconbusiness.html

Such a holiday treat! have been waiting for your SA series for a while. Let the fun begin!

In the safety video, notice the Inuit mukluks in the overhead bin, and the box of live lobster under the seat. Very Canadian indeed! Love the review of the reverse herringbone seats and AC service - I'm flying the AC777 to Paris this summer in that configuration and you have given me lots to look forward to!

Dude: Jim Carry, Mike Meyers, John Candy, Martin Short,Scott Thompson, Dave Foley, Rick Moranis, Samantha Bee, Dan Ackroyd and Seth Rogan all of them CANADIAN stand up comedians. Hello!

@nick Ha, I thought the same! But then again, if I've learned anything from the many trip reports I've read on this blog (all of which are fantastic!), it's that Lucky's taste in pop culture is, uh...well...

Too bad you saw a batch of comedians you didn't like, but the Just for Laughs comedy festival features comedians from around the world, not just Canadians, and I am pretty sure not even majority Canadians.
I would also note that Canadian humour is generally a little more subtle than typical American humour as well as often being cleaner. Not a lot of Carrot Top or Andrew Dice Clay in the pantheon of Canadian humour.
@Nick, I would note that your examples of Canadian comedians is a list of comedians from a generation ago, a golden age for Canadian comedy. Quite possibly a new generation of Canadian comedy has succumbed to the US crass cultural behemoth.

Misleading review. It's akin to reviewing UA p.s. service and extrapolating it to all domestic United J.

"You’re smart to choose the 787 for your transcon leg across Canada. AC offers quite a mixed transcon product, as the 787 flights are generally a connecting leg from Sydney to Toronto."

AC flies the 777-200 LR for their SYD-YVR runs (as AC 33/34), not the 787. For the new YVR-BNE, that is a 787-9.

But, yes, generally AC flies much smaller planes for their transcons, with an extra fee if you want to get one of the lie-flat J class flights.

Prefer WestJet and since the major devaluation with AirCanada, I quit them after 15 years and gave my business elsewhere.

Being Canadian, I feel like AC has gotten a bad rap, especially in the West of Canada. But they blow their competion away in both quality of service and amenities in both classes of service. Westjet started as a low cost carrier and maintained the same level of service while raising prices to match AC.

"Most of their flights are operated on a mixed fleet of Airbus A319/20/21 which offer a more standard domestic business w/ recliner seats and a more limited food offering"

true about the seats, but same J menu , same J food

I find it strange that everyone is shocked with a good trans-con product nowadays. Delta's newly moved A330s offer a fantastic reverse herringbone transcon product. Their service is consistently fantastic although the food is just okay. Even their 767s aren't the worst thing in the world. American and its A321s also have a great hard product and the rest of their operation is improving everyday. United is terrible, it has always been terrible and always will be. Finally, JetBlue is the best airline in the Americas and their transcon is the best way to get coast to coast. Great food, better service. Every airline outside of Asia could learn something from them in the service department. Air Canada's transcon product is not tangibly better than any of these. Their food is okay, just like everyone else (except JetBlue). Their service is pretty good, just like Delta (but still not as good as JetBlue). The biggest issue is that if you are based in the US, like most of the people flying transcon, it is just inconvenient to fly out of Vancouver/Toronto.

I just flew Virgin Australia's new business class cabin on the LAX- SYD sector and the suite product (as VA calls it) looks similar to this Air Canada one - the seat control, the large compartment for USB / chargers and monitor control and also the tray table that doesn't fully stow away.

Mike S - yes right always same ice cream box - same food - AC when are they going to change FOOD arrangement both domestic and intern - but at least AC is 10 times better than ex SAS pls in Europe and 5 times better than UA/AS US domestic.

AC made a big deal over the espresso machines with Lavazza coffee they introduced on the 787, yet I see you're drinking regular drip. Was the espresso/cappuccino service not offered or was the machine broken (which they seem to be on a regular basis)?

That service isnt gonna remain that way for very long if donald trump is elected and americans flee to canada... 😉

@ Arcanum -- I could be mistaken, but I believe they only offer the espresso and cappuccino drinks on longhaul flights, and not when the plane flies within North America. I had one on my other flight, so stay tuned for that.

You can't forget Russell Peters either as one of the great Canadian comedians.

It's also worth noting that Air Canada is substantially more $ per km / mile than the US carriers. They just happen to be flying North of the 49th parallel in a limited market. It's not unheard of a trans Continental fare in business class to go for above $2,000 round trip.

"If you fly a US carrier, on the other hand, you’ll typically only get a paper thin blanket and no pillow, even in first class."

Incorrect. On AA transcontinental service, the pillow and duvet provided are the ones used on international sectors.

Wonder if you had an ex-Canadian Airlines crew. IME they're among the best in the AC system.

I refuse to fly Air Canada. Yes, I am Canadian. Unlike your experience, Lucky, mine have been consistently middling to poor in economy and business class. There is no real regard for customers, nor the desire to foster long-term relationships with leisure and business clients. I take all of my US and international business to AA and One World partners, and I fly Westjet domestically.

Air Canada is a disgrace.

Seriously, I've been traveling for over 40 years and you can't beat the product and service on AC. AC always had a great product and when they purchased CP, they inherited a superior service driven organization, which gave them the best of both worlds.

On the domestic US side Rouge competes extremely well with the best of USA carriers, but internationally, going across the boarder to make international connections on AC is the right move.

I think people forget, but flying use to be the start of your travel experience. Make it part of your personal treat , you work hard and deserve it, and spend a bit more for the better experience. Getting there is more 50% of experience and usually 25% of the price.

You only live once.

@worldtraveller73 I have never seen of any under ca$2000 ex-YVR transcon Js except during Christmas holiday, where did you find under $2000 ones?

"I caved and had the vanilla gelato and freshly baked chocolate chip cookie"

Given how you practically select the sweeter desert option when you fly, you must cave in often 😉

In this Canadian's experience, one never knows what to expect from an AC flight....it can either be a great experience or a rude one - it all depends on their inflight crews. Some crews are as good as we've had almost anywhere whereas other crews are as bad as we have ever seen. Each flight is a crap shoot.

I agree about the AC flight crew experience being a crap shoot. Once in a while I have had some fantastic customer service while on AC. However, more often than not, they come across as not having woken up on the right side of the bed, which is unfortunate for a service industry employee.

AC is just sending that plane to Vancouver so you need to compare the service to other airlines that fly premium coast to coast!
AC is crap! Horrid service bad meals and the flight attendants have won awards for being the rudest in North America

I flew AC on their 787-8 on ZRH-YYZ route. The service director, like you experienced, made a point to introduce himself to each of the passenger. Good food, good entertainment system and content. Overall, a very satisfying flight. The connecting leg, even though it was only on narrow body A321, was not bad either. Same great IFE, same great service. AC is still my #1 choice for North American-based carrier for premium cabin.

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Was that one of the jokes at the Just for Laughs festival?

Westjet "Plus" is hardly a lie flat seat on a 787/89.

Flew the 787-9 and 787-8 between YYZ-TLV and yyz-del. Impressive business class and infinitely better than anything else offered in NAs and Europe.

I haven't flown Air Canada but I recently flew Westjet and the Crew and service was delightful.

Hi Lucky, I am planning to take AC business but on your opposite route (YYZ to YVR). There are two available options 787 or 700? which will you generally recommend?