skedguy - 15/09/2011 09:42 GMT
The boarding process was completely mishandled as they attempted to board people with kids and the elderly / handicapped first. However there was a rush to the check in lines and the agents proceeded to check every one in regardless of cabin. So much for priority boarding.
Once on board there was adequate room in the overhead bins for my carry on and I was offered a news paper before takeoff together with a choice of juice or water.
Push back was on time and we had a relatively short taxi and took off after 5 minutes (exceptional for SFO).
After takeoff we were informed of the services available in the main cabin and their buy on board facility. Headsets (cheap bud types) were handed out together with a menu.
We were informed that the Thai Chicken curry had been replaced by Salmon so it was back to the steak option. Asked for a glass of Champagne but was told it was no longer served on North American flights. Classy! Settled for the red wine which was a Latin American Malbec and was quite drinkable.
Dinner arrived all on one tray and with a stone cold roll rather than the promised “warm breads” on the menu. No seconds on breads which I would have appreciated. The meat was not too tender but quite flavorful. To finish you could be forgiven for having visions of cheese and dessert. Well you would be bitterly disappointed. What used to be the mid flight “treat” has now become the featured dessert in Air Canada’s apparently unending quest for cheap over quality. Yes the fresh baked cookies (again no seconds offered and it looked like they were selling the leftovers in the main cabin) and ice cream were better than nothing.
However, if AC has any pretensions about competing on quality this flight laid them to rest in a very deep grave.
Sad! For a time it looked as if they were attempting to compete on quality (at least in the front cabin) but apparently not in North America.
I guess if your competition is from US carriers this is only to be expected. This sort of flight is why niche carriers like Porter and Sunwing are growing like weeds in AC’s major Toronto hub.
