George Nugent Travels

Having changed my itinerary for coming home from Calgary I was torn between flying with Westjet or Air Canada.

Since I could not decide I took to Instagram and asked my followers to decide for me. They selected Air Canada (although it won by a single vote).

I therefore booked flight AC138 to Toronto Pearson.

Three Days Before Departure

I was walking from my Airbnb to the shops, sorry, the “Real Canadian Superstore” when I received a notification from the Air Canada App.

“We regret to inform you that flight 138 has been cancelled”

Normally when an airline cancels your flight they will send you details of a new flight straight away, giving you as much time as possible to decide if you still want to travel.

Air Canada is different, instead they’ll tell you the flight is cancelled but to wait for them to send you details of a new flight.

Two hours later they rebooked me of the following itinerary.

I had a few issues with this booking. The first was the connection time in Winnipeg. I’ve never been in Winnipeg airport before and was also travelling with a checked bag so did not feel that 38 minutes was time.

The second issue was that a much better option was available to me, and this ended up being the option I selected.

Although it was a longer journey time I was fine with that as it gave me more time to account for any delays.

With this new trip booked and confirmed there was nothing left for me to do until Wednesday night.

Wednesday Night – Check In Time

I checked in for both my flights the night before and was able to do this easily on the Air Canada app.

Like the other Star Alliance airlines I have flown check in only opens 24 hours before departure, a far cry from the 60 days before with Ryanair.

I was asked to confirm my details and how many bags I would be taking before getting m

The Calgary Airport Experience

Given my early departure time I left my Airbnb located just to the east of the city at 0525 and walked to the C-Train station. After getting off the train in downtown I took the 100 airport bus at 0601 and arrived at the airport at 0637.

The Air Canada check in area is located upstairs and is the furthest away counters from the bus stop.

You will eventually find it by locating the maple leaf logos on the wall and an array of self service baggage kiosks.

After printing your own baggage tags and boarding passes you take your bag to the carousel and place them on. The tag you have placed is then scanned and your bag is taken away for processing.

Once this is completed you make your way to security. I was once again selected for random security checks, and once these were completed the very friendly security agent allowed me to use the priory lane.

Once through security I made my way to gate A12 and say waiting for my flight to board.

Like most Canadian airlines Air Canada use boarding groups which are decided by travel class and status. I was in group 4 of 5 for this flight.

AC 8128 to Edmonton

This flight was a first for me, as before boarding this flight I had never travelled on a DeHavilland Dash 8-400.

This particular aircraft (C-GKUK) was 12 years old and operated by JAZZ on behalf of Air Canada Express. This aircraft was originally delivered to Air Canada and is fitted with 74 economy seats.

The cabin crew greeted every passenger as we boarded and the captain made a welcome onboard announcement and informed us of our route for the flight.

We pushed back from the gate and departed Calgary at 0834, approximately nine minutes behind schedule.

Despite the short flight time of 35 minutes the crew offered all passengers a complimentary soft drink, as you can see I selected orange juice which is served in a branded Air Canada cup.

All passengers were also offered a Biscoff biscuit which was passed out at the same time as the drinks.

This cabin crew worked very hard to ensure that every passenger was served and had time to finish their drink before we landed in Edmonton.

The professionalism and customer oriented approach shown by the crew gave me a good feeling about my next flight.

Edmonton Transfer Experience

After landing in Edmonton I received an SMS from Air Canada welcoming me to Edmonton

This SMS also contained information on my connecting flight as well as a link to further information for transfer passengers.

AC 166 to Toronto

My second flight was Air Canada 166 to Toronto Pearson.

This particular flight was operated by a Boeing 737 Max 8 (C-GEPG). This aircraft was four years old, however, it was not delivered to Air Canada until August 2022 due to the global grounding of the 737 Max fleet. This aircraft was equipped with 16 business class seats and 153 economy seats.

Boarding for this flight was a chaotic mess. Firstly the concept of boarding groups was lost on 75% of passengers who decided that group 5 was before group 2.

The second issue was the gate agents decision to board using 2 jet bridges that joined before the aircraft door.

As a result people were confused and started joining random queues with no real idea of where they were going.

Luck was on my side as I was the last person to book onto this flight. When I was asked to select my seat there was only one left, 30F, a window seat.

This brings me to my next point. A passenger asked me to switch from my window seat to her middle seat in the row behind. I refused on the basis of if I was the last passenger to book and this was the only seat available, then it must have been available when she booked.

Two other passengers also refused to switch seats until somebody decided to move from an aisle seat.

Every seat on the Air Canada 737 Max comes with a seat back entertainment screen. I only use these for the inflight map, but it seemed responsive enough when I used it and it was also a decent size.

The seat itself is a little short on leg room, I started to find it uncomfortable after a couple of hours, but I would not say it was bad enough to not use the seats again.

As for the cabin crew on this flight, I did not see much of them. Throughout the flight they passed through once with a snack service and once to collect trash.

Despite this, the crew redeemed themselves as we were landing in Toronto. We were running approximately 40 minutes behind schedule meaning some passengers were at risk of missing their connecting flight to Thunder Bay.

As there were no other Air Canada flights that day the made sure that these passengers were the first off the flight when we got to the gate (the Thunder Bay flight was eventually cancelled though).

It’s small customer oriented moves like this that benefit passengers and can help remove some of the stress when it comes to air travel.

So Why Does The Thumbnail Say Average?

In all honesty nothing really stuck out as being an amazing feature of Air Canada.

The aircraft was slightly better equipped than Flair, and a lot more than Lynx Air, however, there was nothing really different apart from that.

The on ground experience with the original cancellation was weird, why tell me it’s cancelled but make me wait for an alternative?

At check in Flair were using staff rather than machines, which creates a bond between brand and customer, this was missing from my check in experience in Calgary.

The experience certainly was not bad, it just was nothing to brag about. I accept this is what most people want, but with Canadian aviation being more competitive than ever, and the four largest domestic carriers all using the same fleet it’s the small things that stand out.

Booking Details and Price

After taxes this flight cost me £178.10. This fare included a standard seat and one complementary checked bag.

When I compare this to the flight I purchased from Toronto to Calgary with Flair which was the equivalent of £177.96, I can say that Air Canada would be the option I recommend to you.

This is because you get things like baggage included and also have the ability to earn status with Star Alliance airlines.

Overall Air Canada provided a pretty solid flight experience, but due to their unique way of dealing with flight cancellations some travellers may find it slightly stressful should this happen to them.