Review: Air Canada A320 – Business Class

San Francisco – Montreal on Air Canada in business class

This is the end of our round-the-world loop with 155,000 Aeroplan miles in business class:

Checking in

For this last flight, we got up early. The San Francisco International Airport is almost deserted at this early hour: no line in the general line or in the priority line.

The registration of our bags will be very fast.

En route to the United Club Lounge in Terminal G

We walk through the long halls of Terminal G, a vast playground for Alexandra.

The restaurants are still empty at this time.

Our flight is announced on time: 7:45 am.

The transition to security will also take place quickly.

We then follow the signs towards the exhibition.

Finally, the lounge is located at gate G98, opposite our boarding gate G97!

Fortunately, the escalators are there to navigate the long corridors of the international terminal.

We arrive at the United Club lounge near door G98.

To discover our report on this United Club show, go to this article.

Shortly after our passage to the lounge, we go to the boarding gate. The plane, an Airbus A320 with registration C-FZQS is already there, still in the old Air Canada colors.

Air Canada business class boarding

Boarding takes place at gate G97 (always the same gate for this flight to Montreal).

Business class passengers will be called first (Zones 1-2) as well as parents traveling with young children. As usual, a last view of the aircraft before boarding.

Like most of its North American fleet, this aircraft offers in-flight Wi-Fi (for a fee).

This is the old business cabin(the new one will be on Air Canada’s new B737 Max aircraft). In fact, this is the type of cabin you are used to seeing on the entire Air Canada short/medium haul fleet and will remain in place for a few more months/years.

Traveling with a baby, we were assigned to the first row of the plane.

Alexandra is already making herself comfortable in her “big” business class chair.

I don’t really like this seat for business class travel. For example, you may be hindered by the partition to extend your legs:

… or have trouble looking at (or accessing) your screen, especially if you are traveling with children

The only consolation for the Avgeek that I am: to be in the front row for the view on the cockpit.

The flight attendant then informs us that the 4 seats at the back of the business class (before the economy class) are available and invites us to take a seat there (acknowledging that it is more comfortable).

Indeed, it is more pleasant for the space with the legs (to be able to slip them under the armchair of front or to use the footrest):

Small test of the milesopedia coaster to judge the size of the screen (very correct for a medium-haul flight):

But look at the difference with the one offered in business class on an Air Canada Boeing 777 (which is remarkable!):

Back to our plane of the day: USB plugs are available next to the screens (and each seat has an electric plug).

A quick trip to the bathroom: parents will be reassured. A changing table is available, we can take off!

Take-off

We leave our gate with a B787 Dreamliner in United colors at our side.

Also, we cross the competitor: an Airbus A350 of Singapore Airlines – registered 9V-SMF – the 10 000th aircraft produced by the European manufacturer.

Fun factDuring our trip to Vietnam, I had taken a picture of the 9,000th aircraft produced by Airbusan Airbus A321, delivered in 2015 to Vietjet – registered VN-A651 ! Nice increase in speed since the A350 of Singapore Airlines above was delivered a little over a year later!

We will take off from San Francisco under a gloomy weather

But we will quickly cross the cloud barrier to find the sun during all our flight:

In flight

Shortly after takeoff, breakfast service will begin.

• Parsley omelet, chicken sausage, cottage cheese, roasted red potatoes, red bell pepper relish, fresh fruit and yogurt
• Pancakes, maple butter, chicken sausage, applesauce-cranberries, fresh fruit and yogurt
• Healthy option (seasonal fruit, cheese, yogurt and oatmeal)

Good sugar to start the day! 🙂

The service will be very professional. I must say that this is the first time I noticed this on Air Canada: the flight attendant called me by my last name every time he intervened. It’s great to see the service being “personalized”.

The flight went off without a hitch. The end of the vacations was fast approaching for everyone:

We take advantage of it to observe the American territory slightly snowed:

Arrival in Montreal

We are approaching Montreal on time and even slightly ahead of schedule.

The snow and the cold are obvious:

We are in Montreal: the airport logo and the Air Transat plane remind us of this!

Before reaching our gate, we pass behind a brand new (2 months) Air France B787 Dreamliner – registered F-HRBD – which is about to leave for Paris. Maybe we’ll have the chance to borrow it soon!

Bottom line

An excellent flight on Air Canada in business class between San Francisco and Montreal. We particularly appreciated the service on board… but we are still looking forward to seeing a rejuvenation of the cabin, as it now exists in the Canadian airline’s B737 Max!