I’ve had the massive good fortune to spend more than my fair share of time in Air Canada Signature Business Class Cabins on international flights from Canada to London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Asia. As Canada’s flag carrier, Air Canada has been my go-to airline since I started business travel, where I’ve been a 100K member for many years.
Ultra Exclusive benefits? What is it like to travel in Air Canada’s luxury business-class cabins, enjoy the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and their ultra-exclusive Air Canada Signature Suite Lounges with surprising gate-side pickup in a Porsche and BMW?
This is a round-up of my flight experiences from over 50 flights in Air Canada’s up-front cabin on long-haul transatlantic flights aboard Air Canada’s Boeing 787 and 777-300ER, and their little-known Airbus A330-200 aircraft. These are my experiences only and this is not sponsored by the airline in any way.
What Benefits and Surprises Await Air Canada Business Class Passengers?
Top Quality Louge Experiences
The benefits that keep me coming back to Air Canada (aside from a sense of national pride!) are the pre-trip amenities like the Air Canada Lounges, and where available, the incredible, exclusive Signature Suites in Toronto and Vancouver.
I’ve been to nearly every brand of airline lounge, including United’s Polaris Business Class Lounge, and Qatar Airways lounges in London and Doha, and I can say that I’ve never had a better experience than AC’s Signature Suites. The only way I can describe the Signature Suites is a sense of quiet luxury. They have the feel of a nicely lit, lovely restaurant with freely available top-shelf liquors, champagnes and cocktails, with a la carte dining menus and a small well attended to buffet for a quick bite.
Priority Check-In
Another perk that is equally matched by other business class offerings is the Air Canada priority check-in at major Canadian airports and several international destinations.
The check-in and baggage handling is typically much quieter with exclusive check-in areas for Air Canada and Star Alliance Business Class passengers. Business Class passengers get Priory Baggage handling, which usually results in getting your bag quicker at the other end. Star Alliance Gold and above passengers regardless of class of service may use the check-in as well.
Air Canada Chauffeur Service
A Surprise in store at Toronto Airport. On my many trips out of the country, I’ve been lucky enough to get called for the Air Canada Chauffeur twice. AC states that this service is on “a surprise and delight basis”, and it is!
When deplaning from my connecting flight at Toronto Pearson, an Air Canada agent flashed my name on an iPad near the aircraft door. They took me down the bridge stairs adjacent to the aircraft to an awaiting Porsche Panamera. The service delivers you to the Signature Suites Lounge by luxury vehicle with chauffeur service across the airport Tarmac. It really was a special treat.
What Do I Love About Air Canada Business Class to Europe and Asia?
Air Canada Business Class Seats
The seat offers full aisle access to all passengers, avoiding the dreaded ‘climb over’ of other passengers. Full lie-flat beds with massage function are adjustable for comfort by air inflation and measure 6’7″ long (203cm). They are among the best seats I’ve flown in. See the layout here at Seat Guru.
At 6’3 tall, I have no problem stretching out in the lie-flat seat. My only complaint with the seat is that the footwell is slightly too short for my larger-than-average size 13 feet. This leads to a cramped feeling (for me) when lying flat. Seats in row one often have an open-to-above foot area and I prefer to choose those seats when I can.
Entertainment system
On long flights, Air Canada delivers a top-notch entertainment system, with plenty of newly released movies, a good back catalogue of older movies, and a great rotation of bingable TV series. The catalogue has offered some really funny, obscure Canadian shows as well. In fact, a lot of the TV shows I’ve grown to love over the years I discovered on Air Canada flights. From what I can tell AC has a pretty similar catalogue domestically on the 737 Max as well.
The music offerings on Air Canada are, in my opinion, just ok. It used to be top-notch with a great diversity of hand-curated albums from some really exceptional well-known, and indie bands. Over the years the catalogue has led me to discover some amazing music. I felt as though Air Canada had a soundtrack of sorts for their airline. This has been phased out with boring music channels that are completely lacklustre.
Food and Beverage Service
Canadian Chef David Hawksworth has been in charge of creating menus for Air Canada’s Signature Business Class and Maple Leaf Lounges for the past 10 years. The food has a subtle west coast flare and is usually tasty. The chef is known for using local, fresh ingredients in his restaurant’s menus, and this flavour profile is hinted at onboard. However, this doesn’t always translate as well to aircraft catering as I am not sure we are getting farm-to-table meat and produce from Gate Gourmet catering.
The menus typically offer appetizers featuring items such as duck or shrimp, with mains offering a choice of beef, chicken and pasta dishes. I have always enjoyed the dessert, cheese and fruit courses after the meal, served with digestifs of port, cognac, Grand Marnier and tea and coffee.
Air Canada Concierge Service
The Air Canada Concierge has been excellent in my experience, providing a direct number (changed yearly) for top-tier passengers that allows for personalised booking and rebooking of flights, handling emergencies, etc. They were able to handle a major flight change for me when EasyJet left me stuck in Amsterdam without a flight back to London where I was meeting my AC flight home. They quickly handled my outbound flight change to Amsterdam and I was spared a lot of frustration.
Where has Air Canada Business Class failed to meet expectations?
Service on Air Canada can be hit and miss. I’ve seen variations from the normal service patterns that have been frustrating, leaving me as a passenger waiting for service, or a drink. This seems to be at the discretion of the in-flight service director, however, service is usually pretty prompt and friendly.
Entertainment on AC has lost its personal touch and has become more generic. I miss the curation of some of the best music I had heard in flight. We are now left with generic music channels.
I would love to have a bit more of an interesting food menu as the food seems to have stagnated (for me at least) over the past 10 years, even with frequently refreshed menus. And, I really miss the enRoute magazine, I wish that was available in the business class cabin like KLM’s Holland Herald still is in their KLM premium cabin.
Conclusion
After a decade or more of flying Air Canada’s business class, both domestically and internationally, I still am a big fan. It doesn’t offer the same value as Qatar Airways or Singapore Airways which are standouts in this class, but Air Canada offers a good product. This product can be very overpriced at times, but I keep coming back for their high-quality service when their flights are priced a