Is Air Canda a good airline?
 

My friends and I recently (last month) purchased tickets to London (from Portland, Oregon) and got an awesome deal--$513. We are leaving in June...

We are flying on Air Canada, and have never flown with them before--Is there anything we should be aware of? Is it a nice airline with a good reputation?

OOPS! Air CanAda, not Canda....

I work for Air Canada--I shall have you know that AC is known to be one of the safest airlines in the world and the comfort of seats are slightly better than those of the American counterparts. The meals are pretty good and our seat sales have been amazing. Great deal! Just make sure you confirm your reservations 24-48 hours prior to departure as we are experiencing financial difficulty we may have changed our flight schedules. Have a great trip.

Flycrab
Air Canada employee
Montreal, Canada

Flycrab,

Thank you very much for your quick response! You have put my mind at ease, and I'm very much looking forward to the trip--

I hope our flights haven't been changed though :) (I'll keep my fingers crossed!)

Your welcome!! :)

Flycrab

Eskimogirl

About 18 months ago, due to the failure of their opposition, our national airline in Australia, Qantas, leased some Air Canada planes and crew to help out so they could take up the excess passengers.

I took a Qantas flight, business class, to New Zealand, and it turned out to be an Air Canada plane and crew. It's only a 3-hour flight, and while the flight itself was OK, the service was appalling, close to non-existent! I presumed it was just the Air Canada way. Never again!

Qantas was never affiliated with Air Canada --so the aircrafts and staff leased were those of the now defunct Canadian Airlines Internaitonal--and it is no wonder why the service may have been poor!

I didn't say Qantas was affiliated - they just needed to lease planes and crew - and Air Canada apparently had those to spare. It certainly wasn't Canadian Airlines. The crew wore Air Canada uniforms, and the plane had Air Canada markings.

I second every word of Margo's description. Never, never, never again! The service on the flights I took with Air Canada was a shame, the food terrible, the procedure of transit in Toronto was torturous! One of the flights we took was from Baltimoe-Washington. They require to arrive 3 hours prior to departure. When We arrived there on time, We found a sign on their counter stating that "The couter will open 1 hour prior to departure"... We had to sit there and wait for 2 hours with all our suitcases.
Since 3 other friends of mine experienced the same ordeal, I am sorry to say that it most probably was not an unfortunate experience.
Since then I am making sure that none of my friends and family makes use of their bad services.
Sorry, Flycrab!

My experience with this airline was similar. Food was terrible but we wouldn't complain if service was pleasant but it was the most rude on our flight to St. Lucia
We used them for a few different flights and we NEVER noticed that seats were larger that on any other airlines except AA
Hmmm!A comfort of seats is a little better. What does it mean? If anything our seats on a flight from Toronto to Calgary were very uncomfortable and why so narrow? But I understand why Flycrab makes such statements. As she stated she works for Air Canada. It is possible that seat sales have been amazing since there is no longer any competition.
And do not forget that the Toronto airport is known as the most user unfriendly airport anywhere not just in Canada.

Sorry, Eskimogril
You will be fine as long as you know what to expect And maybe, just maybe your flights will be exceptionand better than those we took. Good luck

As posted by FLYCRAB
"comfort of seats are slightly better than those of the American counterparts"

Even if everything else you said was true, your credibility falls apart with the above statement. AC coach seats, in terms of room and comfort, are average at best, and definately not even close to the extra room on AA.

I've flown them twice from US to/from Canada and they were just a typical airline, no better or worse than others, as I recall. Their seats were not any better than the usual cramped ones nowadays in coach, but that wasn't a transatlantic flight. I have seen on those airline stds web sites that the seats do supposed have a slightly bigger pitch than some of the usual (BA, AF, VA, United, etc, which are only about 31"). I've read variations from 32-34" pitch. Should be as good as most airlines and that's a great price.

Here's an excerpt of my mom's email to me about their experience on AC this last week:

"We got to Chicago without glitch, but when we arrived at the departure gate discovered that there were mechanical problems with the Air Canada plane and they had to haul another out of the hangar to replace it -- a little over an hour's delay. We finally boarded the replacement plane, one of those numbers that you board from the ground, only to be herded off again when there was a problem with the door mechanism. This time we had a two-hour wait, a drag, but at least it happened during the final leg of the trip. We weren't so lucky on the way home. This time no one from the airline even showed up at the flight desk to board us. One of the stewardesses finally got on the airport phone -- they couldn't get to the airplane either -- this was a few minutes after the flight was supposed to have started boarding. Finally, a few minutes past the time the plane was supposed to have taken off, a harried looking young man with keys arrived, boarding didn't start until about 15 minutes later. I am beginning to understand why it is that Air Canada is in bankruptcy procedures. They came at us with a rather lame excuse about "security procedures" which in no way I can see would account for the absence of personnel at the flight desk.....as I recall, there was no apology presented either. Originally, we had about 45 minutes in Chicago to make our connection, this margin was reduced to 5 minutes, we did try to make it, but we had to go to an entirely different part of O'Hare, there was no way, and since Air Canada was just affilliated with United, there was no chance that they might delay the take-off for us. That was the last flight of the night for San Jose, so we ended up waiting until a 9:00 flight to San Francisco, didn't get home until around 1:30/2:00, which was 4:30 AM by our inner clocks. Yawn.

As a Canadian now living in the US and have flown Air Canada more than I care to remember I have found that there customer service is terrible but I personally find the planes themselves more comfortable. Flying Air Canada internationally in economy was far more comfortable than flying Delta. I'm very tall and find that I always have more legroom in Air Canada. As far as airline food goes Air Canada's was better than Delta's. In my opinion all the airlines have been slipping a lot in service with all the cutbacks.

We flew once with AC to Paris from Seattle and decided Never Again. The flight was actually an Air BC flight up to Vancouver, BC, then transferring on to an AC flight to Paris, stopping in Toronto. Although everyone from AC assured us our luggage would be checked through, in fact we had to recheck it in Vancouver. In Vancouver and Toronto, the flights were delayed and oversold. We arrived in Paris; our luggage did not. It took three days to show up (all our luggage was clearly tagged and checked in with time to spare). Although we were entitled to $$ for the delay, the AC staff in Paris tried to fob off two biz class amenity kits as total compensation. Fortunately, a very nice person from Air France (!!) intervened and forced AC to ante up. He said AC is known at CDG for mishandling a LOT of luggage, esp. on flights from Toronto. Our luggage was also lost on the way home (this time only two days behind us). The AC staff response to the situation was a curt "be glad you're getting it back at all." AC? No thanks!

Flown Air Canada many times.
Seats are bigger than charter airlines - cannot say about US airlines.
Safety: good record (NOT as good as Quantas though)
Punctuality: pretty good in my experience. I have never had a flight delayed for longer than 1/2 hour.
Planes: clean and look well maintained
Service: Hit or miss. I have had horrible service and excellent service.
Last trip I took - service was excellent on outbound flight but just OK on return flight.
BTW - that is a great deal you are getting - so I would not obsess too much on service issues. The chances are good that everything will be just fine.

Yikes! You guys have me worried now...but I guess I can't complain since I did get quite a good deal on the tickets. I think I will plan to carry on my luggage though---I don't want to spend the first part of my vacation worrying about that!

If the service is bad, I'll just be an extra demanding customer..lol...they love that.

Maybe we are the exception but we flew from San Fran. to London with a change in Toronto. Have no complaints. We asked for bulkhead seats and had no problem getting them. We both requested special meals and they were just a tad over average. We arrived in London on time. Would I fly them again? You bet.

I have flown AC several times as well as many other airlines...Domestically, AC is not so great...However about 1 1/2 years ago flew from Calgary to London return and both ways they were just fantastic...I was surprized...Many Europeans were on the flight home and all commented on the service, the cleanliness, and the leg room...But generally speaking AC has a great safety record, lately has really good seat sales and is alot better than alot of other airlines..
Certainly they are not the world's greatest airline, but they are just fine...They need to take some lessons on service from Japan Airlines however...I would not hesitate booking internationally with AC.

My only negative experience on AC occurred 4 years ago when my daughter was returning home from a junior year abroad on a special student ticket on AC; there were limited student seats on each flight. It was absolutely impossible for her to talk to AC in Paris and get a flight. AC had a system where you were put on hold indefinitely. Each time my daughter tried, she used up a telephone card.

She emailed me and I did it from the US and emailed her back. No one should have this sort of problem and I hope AC has fixed the problem contacting them in Europe. My daugher sent me several frantic emails before her flight was straightened out. And, even over a month in advance, she had to come home a week after she wanted to.

These are things they do not tell you when you send a child to do a junior year abroad.

The economy seats, like most economy seats, are tolerable if not exactly comfortable.

I don't think a 3 star Michelin chef could make food taste good at 33,000 feet in a dry cabin. But for airline food, it's okay.

International service, being usually long-haul flight, is generally better than domestic.

Some planes are newer than others, which also makes a difference to comfort.

We've had our luggage delayed 24 - 72 hours 3 times (on separate occasions), and ALL THREE TIMES it was on Air Canada.

NOT a fan.

The Canadian government has legislation in place which restricts the amount of foreign ownership of airlines with bases in Canada. Thus, they have created a protected environment that has produced a virtual monopoly by Air Canada. What happens to service in a monopoly? It ceases to matter, as all compliants are answered with, "there's no one else. Like it or lump it." They have also been trying to salvage their corporate butts for over two years by laying off staff willy-nilly, usually front-line staff. So, when you have fewer employees to do the same amount of work and those employees do not know if they have any job security whatsoever, staff morale nosedives. Thus, be prepared to deal with rude, surly, indifferent and apathetic gate agents, flight attendants, baggage personnel and the like. However, I do understand your desire to scoop up this deal - that is an unbelievable price! Just rise above the nasty AC employees and enjoy your trip!

As a canadian I am often forced to use AC on international flights, not enough competition so we do not get good deals as you seem to have. Flying from Toronto to Madrid and paid 1400 canadian per ticket,so you are exceptionally lucky. Our tickets were bought 3 months ago and since my friend who is travelling with us paid even more. Service is Indifferent as is on most North American airlines.It is as if the crew are doing you a favour. Check in at airports local or foreign is Always slow they somehow Never seem to have adequate staff. On more than one occasion my confirmed seating has been released to someone else. They often will not have our special meals. We have 2 kids and usually of the 4 special meals at least one is not available, not the food is anything to get excited about but with kids it at least keeps them occupied for 20 mins or so.And the time it takes to get ones luggage is ridiculous especially when one lands in Toronto.I used to live out west and flew Canadian into Calgary regularly and did at least 4 flights per year,they were efficient polite and certainly our first choice, too bad they were taken over. I once flew from Newfounland to Toronto and the lady across the aisle had 2 kids who were toddlers all the crew in our cabin were intolerant of these kids and exceptionally rude to this rather stressed out young mother.

I seem to be in the same position as you, having purchased a round trip from Chicago to London for $352.26 tax included. I haven't flown AC and now am not sure I want to but the price was too good to pass up.

Hi, I flew around the world a few years back on a mixture of Air NZ and KLM flights, but for our Amsterdam-Toronto leg we found ourselves on an Air Canada flight. Food and comfort were on a par with many other airlines I've used, and service was OK - not up to Air NZ, but way better than Qantas with whom I've also flown many times.

Interesting comments. How do you define a "good" airline? Perhaps they should be rated against some set standards. Airlines do offer a choice of service. Does a low fare make it a "good" airline? Seat room satisfaction is a function of personal size. Today, airlines are not charging enough to cover actual costs. Short term tactics to stay in business cause most customer complaints. Please consider your travel options if there were no airlines. Imagine a rail trip to an East coast port, then the sea voyage, next the trip to London. Ten days? UPS will pre-deliver your luggage. But the cost is high. Forget the food service, bring your own. Most complaints about food arise because customers can't smell its aromas.