Nothing much from the flying maple leaf
Written: Sep 26 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice economy class seats, good leg space
Cons: Service (physical and human) needs improving, big time.
The Bottom Line: Air Canada is an OK airline except for its service, but at the end of the day, they get you there.
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| eddie_ho_sa's Full Review: Air Canada |
Frankfurt to Toronto, Economy Class
I was transferring to Toronto via Frankfurt, so I had to check in at the Air Canada desk in Frankfurt Airport so I could get a boarding pass for the transfer. Recently, Air Canada has had many strikes and threats of strikes (what they are best known for), and therefore they introduced many cuts. What eventually happened was that many ground staff were removed, which unfortunately affected my flight. The Air Canada counter that was serving Air Canada transfers only had one representative at the desk, and she was taking up to 10 minutes per passenger. I went there 4 hours before the flight, a little while after the counter were opened, and there were about 12 passengers in front of me. It took them a whole hour to get to me, and by that I was more exhausted than I was from all that standing (and the previous flight on the not so comfortable Lufthansa). As expected, there was line standing behind me stretching all the way down the hall, and after I left, I didn’t really want to know what happened to the rest of them. There were 2 flights that morning to Canada, and if they only had 1 representative serving transfers, then Air Canada would have to pay a lot to serve upgrades, etc for passengers who missed their flight. In addition, the Lufthansa desks in Frankfurt airport did not serve Air Canada’s flights even though it was an Star Alliance Desk. So much for checking in! So, although Air Canada is part of Star Alliance, it doesn’t do much good to airlines who code shared with Air Canada.
The terminal that Air Canada used was shared with Lufthansa, and was very modern. The German architecture and the illumination were a marvel. Even the light covers were made by Bosch, upon closer inspection. All duty free shops and stores sold in Euro, but the US Dollar was accepted at a rip-off rate. There was also a public shower where you could refresh yourself for 5 Euros. Not too bad to keep one company for a transfer time of 3 hours.
Boarding was done in order by rows, and having a seat that was close to the front, I boarded near the end. I entered the Airbus A330 that was very well upkept, and had the seating layout of 2 – 4 – 2 (instead of the 3 – 4 – 3 in the Boeing 747’s), which meant that window seaters didn’t have to feel so squashed.
Seats were green in colour, decorated with the Air Canada maple leaf sign, and were somewhat old. The legroom is good enough for me (I am 6 foot 2, and if you want to know about legroom, don’t fly Lufthansa), and there was a leg rest that you could pull down at the bottom front. In fact, the legroom is among the top of all airlines, maybe slightly less than AA. I did not get an exit row so I am not sure if there was a leg rest in those rows. The incline was also nicely designed as when you incline, your seat starts moving forward. However, after a couple of hours I found my incline back to the upright position meaning the incline mechanics were not that strong. It does get annoying when you trying to get a good sleep.
On the seat was a pillow and blanket, no further amenity kits, which is surprising for a 9 hour flight. There was also no menu like how the other airlines would have, and headphones were handed out rather than being provided on the actual seat.
The safety instruction video was comforting as they used very warm colours and instructions were read out in English and French. It is very interesting to see different airlines’ safety instructions as it clearly represents the airlines’ origin culture. The image was shown in black and white with important parts (such as the seatbelt) highlighted in yellow orange. This is the first time I’ve seen something like this done with safety video.
Air Canada’s in flight entertainment was very much lower than average, yet really interesting. The aircraft did not have any private TV’s so one had to look up at the small CRT screens located every so often along the rows. The reason I said it was interesting because in addition to the movie “Agent Cody Banks” (which I’ve seen 100 times over the past month of travelling), they also had Batman I, a movie that I don’t remember seeing for more than 10 years probably? Maybe it’s the cuts that made them play an old movie? Yet, it was really nice to be able to watch some of the classics again. The programming was not as well laid out as Lufthansa’s, and they showed the normal lot, the cartoon, news, etc. There was no advertising like in Lufthansa’s programming on mainscreen movies.
Moistened hot towels were handed out after takeoff, and drinks were served later on. They served it by the cup and would only give you the whole can if you asked for it. I usually ask for a can of coke and a bottle of water, but they were very unprofessional with their response. When I mean unprofessional, they were not as polite as they should be, yet, not rude. For example, after the flight attendant gave me a bottle of water, he joked to his colleague in front of everyone, “He wants a whole can of coke and now he wants a bottle of water”. It was meant to be a joke but I was not very impressed at that remark.
Another passenger was however, treated rudely. The passenger wanted liquor, and he was charged for it. But, one flight attendant had a different price from another, and who wants to pay $5.00 CAN for a small bottle of beer? In other airlines, all drinks, including alcohol was free, and the flight attendants were disrespectful to him.
Lunch was served in the 3rd hour, which contained the usual food and didn’t taste like any other thing but airline food. You had the usual two choices, with the usual sides and in this flight one of them was turkey, which I had. In this flight they gave us plastic knives instead of metal knives like Lufthansa. So not all Star Alliance aircraft operates the same way, I guess.
The entire flight was in the day and lights were not dimmed. Luckily I had an eyeshade and earplugs which kept me happy throughout the flight. However, when I felt hungry I went to the galley only to discover there was no snacks available. The flight attendants were not responsive and didn’t care about my hunger, and said a meal will be served in 3 hours, but then later on they fixed me a snack of biscuits. This also showed that Air Canada’s service is below average as they can be unprofessional and somewhat impolite (not rude).
There was some turbulence in the flight but otherwise everything was fine.
After the second lunch which was a sandwich served with a bar of very nice chocolate, drinks were served. This time with the drinks, I was not so lucky. The unprofessional flight attendant that I was talking about earlier on spilt a whole can of sprite on me while serving the passenger behind me. He did not even apologise but he did give me some towels, and showed me to the business class toilet, and that was that. I later complained to the head of flight attendants in that flight, who then organized a reimbursement of CAN $15.00 to me. (I was hoping to expect a free upgrade). This was the time that I decided the service on Air Canada is fatal, and they must be properly trained (and may I say groomed). I was very disappointed afterwards, but the thought of the $15.00 I earned was comforting. The lady sitting next to me joked that she wanted to get a can spilt on her too so she could earn $15.00. So, if you want a chance to earn some money on any airline, take the aisle seat, but you might have to give up your clothes for it.
The flight was eventually 3 minutes early, but it took a very long time to get off the plane and leave the building. First, the plane was parked at some remote terminal where we had to walk like for 5 minutes, then take the bus to the main terminal, then enter the old and about to fall apart Air Canada terminal, and then there were immigrations. What a headache! Terminal 1, the Air Canada terminal, was built in like after the war, and there was no escalators or automatic opening doors. Lights were broken and construction dust all over the place. They are however, constructing a new building, which will hopefully improve the situation by the time I go back again.
In all, to go to Canada you don’t really have much choice. It’s other Air Canada or a code-shared flight operated by Air Canada. The monopoly seems to be the worst thing of Air Canada, as after the take over of Canadian Airlines, the service doesn’t seem to have improved. In addition, Air Canada still has problems of its own, whether it’s labour relations or technical problems, they have not solved them, and they are on the verge of bankruptcy. I would not recommend Air Canada if you have a round trip flight for example, go for some other airline that flies to Canada. They are not a great airline, and in the economical world of today, anything can happen to them tomorrow.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
eddie_ho_sa
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Reviews written: 4
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