For the primary section of my downgraded journey to Oman, I flew Air Canada’s Airbus A220-300 enterprise class on the roughly three hour flight from Miami to Montreal.
In the case of flying inside North America, Air Canada positively gives an elevated expertise in comparison with what you’d get on a US airline. For one, the A220 is a pleasure to fly, because it’s such a nifty aircraft. On prime of that, Air Canada gives a well-rounded product, with comfy seats, distinctive leisure, quick Wi-Fi, good meals, and pleasant service.
I’m comfortable I lastly had the prospect to fly Air Canada’s A220, so let’s get into the overview…
How I booked my Air Canada enterprise class ticket
I booked my Air Canada enterprise class ticket utilizing Air Canada Aeroplan factors, as half of a bigger itinerary. Particularly, I booked the next award in enterprise class for 110,000 Air Canada Aeroplan factors plus $154.44 in taxes and charges:
1/11 AC1207 Miami to Montreal departing 8:00AM arriving 11:36AM
1/11 LX87 Montreal to Zurich departing 4:50PM arriving 6:15AM (+1 day)
1/12 LX1622 Zurich to Milan departing 5:40PM arriving 6:40PM
1/12 WY144 Milan to Muscat departing 9:30PM arriving 6:45AM (+1 day)
Aeroplan factors are straightforward to come back by, as this system is switch companions with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Chase Final Rewards. On prime of that, there’s the Aeroplan® Credit score Card (overview) in the USA, which is kind of rewarding.
Air Canada enterprise class lounge & boarding
My Air Canada flight was departing from Concourse J of Miami Airport, which is the concourse utilized by many worldwide non-oneworld airways. Air Canada gives its enterprise class passengers lounge entry, so I used the Turkish Airways Lounge Miami, which I reviewed within the final installment.
Boarding was scheduled for 7:25AM, 35 minutes earlier than the 8AM departure. Positive sufficient, that’s precisely when boarding began, with enterprise class passengers being invited to board first.
Air Canada A220 enterprise class cabin & seats
Air Canada’s A220 cabins are attractive — that’s partly due to the trendy design of the A220, and partly due to Air Canada’s glossy interiors. These planes are geared up with a complete of 137 seats, together with 12 enterprise class seats and 125 financial system class seats.
Earlier than I even speak about enterprise class, I ought to point out what a pleasure the A220 is to fly in financial system, due to the 2-3 configuration. Which means there’s just one center seat per row, in comparison with the standard two center seats per row on most mainline plane.
Air Canada’s A220 enterprise class cabin consists of three rows in a 2-2 configuration. The one “catch” with this product is that the enterprise class seats aren’t fairly as large as on different mainline jets, because of the A220’s cabin being narrower. You profit from this in financial system, given the 2-3 format (in comparison with the 3-3 format on most mainline jets), whereas enterprise class is in the identical 2-2 format.
I assigned myself seat 3F, the window seat within the final row on the suitable facet. Air Canada has a good 37″ of pitch in its A220 enterprise class, so legroom is kind of good. The one catch is that the armrest is fairly slim, for the explanations I shared above.
So far as the seat options go, the armrest may be raised, and beneath it you’ll discover a storage compartment, in addition to the ability shops and headphone jack. There’s each a USB-A and AC energy outlet.
The seat controls are additionally on the middle console, with the selection to both recline the seat or increase the leg relaxation.
That’s proper, in contrast to airways within the US, Air Canada has leg rests within the premium cabins of a lot of its slim physique fleet. Along with that, there’s a little bit foot relaxation on which you’ll be able to place your toes, for added consolation. I don’t perceive why US airways haven’t persistently embraced this idea.
The tray desk folds out from the far armrest, and may be folded over in half, relying on whether or not you may have a necessity for the entire tray or not.
So far as different cabin options go, the overhead console on the A220 is tremendous fashionable, with each studying lights and particular person air nozzles.
Lastly, the A220 has massive overhead bins, so you should not have any points storing full dimension carry-ons right here. I seen that in boarding, the enterprise class overhead bins had been saved closed, whereas the financial system class overhead bins had been saved open. That’s a wise initiative on the crew’s half, to forestall financial system passengers from placing their baggage within the enterprise class bins.
One other factor I actually admire about Air Canada’s A220s is how there’s a correct bulkhead between enterprise and financial system, and in addition how “actual” curtains are used, each between cabins, and between the cabin and the galley. This makes a giant distinction in comparison with what you’ll discover on most US airways.
All-in-all, I discovered the Air Canada A220 cabin to be nice. Air Canada raises the bar for the ahead cabin on slim physique plane in comparison with US carriers. The one draw back to the A220 is that the enterprise class seats really feel a bit narrower, provided that the cabin isn’t fairly as large.
Air Canada enterprise class facilities
So far as facilities go, there weren’t too lots of these on this flight. Bottled water was distributed throughout boarding. Air Canada doesn’t do pre-departure drinks on its slim physique plane, which personally I don’t thoughts, however I do know some others don’t like.
Breakfast menus and drink lists had been additionally distributed — I like how Air Canada gives these on all meal flights, because it makes the expertise really feel a bit extra premium. Even past that, it’s simply sensible, given how poorly many flight attendants describe meal decisions.
Earbuds had been additionally distributed throughout boarding. These had been relatively low-cost, so I’d suggest bringing your individual headphones, if doable.
One factor value mentioning is that if you find yourself flying between Canada and Florida on a large physique jet, you truly get the complete lengthy haul expertise, with pre-departure drinks, bedding, a extra in depth meal service, and many others. It’s so spectacular how Air Canada gives that. Learn my Air Canada 787 enterprise class overview from Toronto to Miami.
Air Canada A220 enterprise class leisure & Wi-Fi
One other space the place Air Canada excels is with regards to inflight leisure. I’ll take it a step additional — I feel Air Canada has among the many greatest inflight leisure of any airline.
Air Canada has seat again leisure all through its mainline fleet. In A220 enterprise class, every seat is supplied with a 13″ excessive definition touchscreen monitor, so the display high quality is superb.
Air Canada’s leisure choice is in depth, with over 2,500 hours of programming, together with every thing from motion pictures, to TV reveals, to stay TV. So not solely is the choice big, however the system can be straightforward to make use of.
After all my favourite factor about having a private leisure system is with the ability to monitor the progress of the flight by means of inflight leisure. Air Canada’s system is properly customizable, as a way to zoom in or out as a lot as you’d like.
Air Canada’s A220s additionally characteristic Intelsat 2Ku Wi-Fi service. Whereas the speeds aren’t fairly nearly as good as with Viasat (for my part), they’re nonetheless excellent. What’s pricing like? Properly, initially, Air Canada gives free messaging for Aeroplan members, in order that’s a cool characteristic. Past that, there are 4 pricing choices:
- You will get a “stream cross” for 10.25 CAD for an hour, or 15.50 CAD for your entire flight
- You will get an “final cross” for 13.75 CAD for an hour, or 20.75 CAD for your entire flight
I discover that pricing to be honest, although I additionally discover the excellence between the “stream” and “final” cross to be a bit odd. The final word cross is clearly imagined to be quicker than the stream cross, but it surely looks like Air Canada is perhaps overselling a bit, if the streaming package deal is the slower one (for the reason that Wi-Fi wasn’t so quick that I discovered streaming to be very straightforward).
Air Canada will get very excessive marks for inflight leisure, as the mixture of nice seat again leisure and quick Wi-Fi is hard to beat.
Air Canada A220 departure from Miami
Boarding of this flight was environment friendly, regardless of all enterprise class seats and almost all financial system seats being occupied. Boarding was full by 7:50AM, 10 minutes forward of scheduled departure. At that time the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of our flight time of three hours, and our anticipated early arrival.
At 8AM on the dot we started our pushback, and at that time the security video was screened. As we pushed again, we had been subsequent to an Air Canada Rouge A321, after which we additionally had an important view of an Aerolineas Argentinas A330 (which I nonetheless actually need to fly!!!).
At 8:05AM we started our taxi, after which we had only a brief journey to runway 8R, the place we had been cleared for takeoff at 8:15AM.
One other factor I like concerning the A220 is the wing and engine view, and seat 3F gave me the right vantage level from which to take pleasure in it. Whereas it was a fairly nasty day beneath the clouds…
…it was attractive above the clouds, as all the time.
Despite the fact that the climb out was easy, it was about half-hour after takeoff earlier than the seatbelt signal was turned off.
Air Canada enterprise class breakfast service
After takeoff, the meal service started, with breakfast being served on this flight. Yow will discover the menu and drink record under.
About quarter-hour after takeoff, heat towels had been distributed — the towels had been thick, and had a really good scent.
Meal orders had been taken on the bottom, and the meals was served lower than half-hour after takeoff, in order that was actually fast. For breakfast, I chosen the parsley omelet with parmesan cheese and spinach, pan fried rooster sausage, hash brown potatoes, and tomato cumin chutney. That was served with a facet of fruit and yogurt. There was additionally a range from the breadbasket, with the alternatives being white, multigrain, or sourdough.
Air Canada has been serving this omelet for eons, and it’s type of a working joke amongst frequent flyers on the airline. Nevertheless, I’ve gotta say, it’s top-of-the-line omelets you’ll discover at any airline, for my part (which, in equity, is a extremely low bar).
Drinks had been additionally provided with the meal, and I ordered a cup of espresso.
The service director was working enterprise class, and he steadily handed by means of the cabin to see if anybody needed anything to drink. In a while within the flight I had a glass of glowing water, however that was the extent of my consumption.
Air Canada A220 enterprise class bathroom
The Air Canada A220 has a bathroom on the very entrance of the cabin. Oh my gosh, that is such a pleasant toilet, particularly given simply how small toilets have change into on so many 737s. The rest room is legitimately a good dimension, and these days that’s a degree of differentiation.
Air Canada enterprise class service
I admire how Air Canada has a service director on every flight, liable for the service. On this flight, John was the service director, and he was implausible. He welcomed every enterprise class passenger by identify throughout boarding and in addition launched himself, and he was attentive all through the flight. He was simply an all-around good vibe, so I’ve nothing however good issues to say about service.
In equity, I discover that very like on US airways, Air Canada has a difficulty with service consistency. Some crews are nice, whereas others aren’t. I do normally admire the idea of a service director, not less than, in order that there’s somebody who passengers can cross on any suggestions to. In the meantime within the US, the lead flight attendant is actually simply somebody who will get paid an additional couple of {dollars} per hour to make bulletins and do paperwork.
Air Canada A220 arrival in Montreal
I beloved gazing out the window in the course of the flight, as a result of we had superb views up the shoreline within the Northeast. Bonus factors to anybody who can establish the under airport (that is a sophisticated avgeek job). 😉
At 10:35AM the captain introduced that we’d shortly begin our descent, and could be touchdown in round half-hour. At that time the seatbelt signal was turned on.
I beloved the views on descent — it certain was a frigid day within the Montreal space, and I used to be comfortable to simply be connecting, although the views had been beautiful. Brrrr…
The strategy ended up taking a little bit bit longer than anticipated, and landed at 11:10AM. From there we had a brief 5 minute taxi to the arrival gate, the place we nonetheless arrived over 20 minutes forward of schedule.
Whereas I didn’t have an exterior view of the A220 in Miami, I had an important view on arrival in Montreal. I like Air Canada’s livery on the A220, particularly with the cockpit “masks.” Doesn’t the A220 have such huge jet vitality?!
Upon arrival, I cleared the transit safety course of, after which headed to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, previous to my SWISS A330 enterprise class flight to Zurich.
Backside line
Air Canada’s A220 enterprise class is gorgeous, particularly by North American requirements. The A220 is mostly an important aircraft to fly, and Air Canada has top-of-the-line variations of this. I admire all of the little issues that Air Canada does to set the expertise aside, from leg rests and foot rests, to nice leisure, to menus.
Flying with North America on a “customary” slim physique doesn’t get significantly better than this. The one unfavorable factor I can consider is that the A220 has narrower seats in enterprise class than different jets, because of the narrower fuselage.
What’s your tackle Air Canada A220 enterprise class?
