Travel in the Era of Covid-19: October 2021 Fall Trip to Canada
Part II: Domestic Travel in Canada – Air Canada









Part two will focus mostly on “Air Canada”, and sorry the flights will be out of sequence from Part three, as I want to just put all the Air Canada trips in one part. In general, I flew up front on all my Air Canada segments, as I was able to match into its Super 50K elite prior to the starting of this trip. Since I have 24 e-credits, I am able to use those up. For the transcontinental segments, I bought PE fares, and for the YUL-YYG, it was a paid business class fare because I was able to link it to my QR ticket with almost the same price as a RT to YUL ticket. The airport experiences including check-in, gate, and Maple Leaf Lounges were all pleasant and everyone was so nice and patient. MLL was a bit of mix bag, especially in Toronto, but that has to do with the capacity control, staffing issues, and various Covid-19 safety measures. The most difficult part was the return from YVR to YUL, when Air Canada chose to continue to make all domestic and international priority passengers onto one single check-in queue. Not to mention just having two agents during their busy noon/1pm bank too. The staffs were still apologetic. The onboard experience was mostly restored to pre-pandemic level. Everything was covered and some courses were served together, but the service was mostly good. For some reasons, they could not get enough hot water on the EMB-175 flights, so I did not get a full cup of tea on the two segments with EMB-175. The “welcome back” cookie was nasty and I don’t understand why Air Canada can screw up packaged cookies. God knows what the budget is. I did not eat them after the first time I had it. Nonetheless, Air Canada is definitely the premium carrier in Canada and its overall product reflected its status. I still prefer flying Air Canada to other Canadian carriers. I have yet to fly the new Porter Airlines, but given how much it has already cut back post-Pandemic, I don’t have much faith. My sole segment on Porter has to be cancelled in the end, but I will try it again next year in 2022.

October 8, 2021
AC 7462 YUL-YYG Lv1310 Arr1540 Embraer EMB-175 C-FXJF/ “545”
Album link: https://photobucket.com/u/Carfield76/a/ ... 585760b7c9

I really did not want to write too much about this flight, as I did not take too many pictures at the airport. Check-in was easy and despite the agent was having problems with checking me in, her colleague helped her out quickly, everything went well. The MLL at YUL was nothing much to talk about and I was not a fan of the doggy bag.

The flight was delayed because of crew issues, which continues to plague Air Canada during Covid-19. The plane was sitting here for the whole morning.


We did not board till 1:08pm, two minutes prior to our departure time. The business class cabin was half full but economy cabin was full. Clean care kits and headsets were offered to all passengers, and business class passengers got a bottle of water too.

We finally managed to push back at 3:35pm and then we took off from R/W6R at 1:49pm. Flying time was an hour and fourteen minutes with a cruising altitude of 35,000ft.


A cold meal was offered in business class, which was a cold Asian-style beef salad with bag of almonds and cookie. The food was okay la but as I mentioned on another thread, cold leftover Chinese fried food was not good for consumption. They need to stick with a roast beef deli style salad or chicken salad. Avoid heavy sauce or frying the meat! You need to stick with grilled chicken breast or sliced turkey breast. Use a vinaigrette for passengers to add on the side. My other cold snacks on other AC flights were better.







Descent began at 3:42pm Atlantic time, which was one hour ahead of Toronto, and we landed on R/W03 at 4:03pm.






We parked at spot 3 a few minutes later. I love this kind of arrival experience, despite the weather was a bit on the chilly side.




Just a warning to all PEI visitors, you must apply for a PEI pass prior to arrival.
You will need to upload your vaccination record and provide lots of information.
Here is the link: https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/se ... a-pei-pass

You will also be tested on arrival too and given the light load on our regional jet, the process was not too bad. The staffs were friendly and they told me that you won’t be contacted unless you are positive. However I knew some folks did not have the PEI pass, which will make your arrival experience a bit longer than necessary.

Baggage Claim



After a really lovely long weekend at Charlottetown, I took Air Canada back to Vancouver via Toronto. I originally planned to go to New Brunswick too but given their sudden spike two weeks prior to departure, I just decide to extend my visit in Charlottetown, and therefore I traveled on the Canadian Thanksgiving Day.
Charlottetown Airport:


October 11, 2021; Monday
AC 8333 YYG-YYZ Lv1210 Arr1332 Embraer EMB-175 C-FUJA
Album link: https://photobucket.com/u/Carfield76/a/ ... 5d95efd495

Charlottetown is a charming regional airport. It has gone through some expansion and renovation to accommodate more flights. Flair Airlines has started twice weekly flights to Toronto, and WestJet also started seasonal flights to Calgary too. For the winter, it is back to two daily flights on Air Canada – one to Toronto and one to Montreal, PAL airlines thrice weekly to Halifax, and then WestJet weekend flights to Toronto, as well as Flair twice weekly flights to Toronto. Some leisure airlines supposed to start some winter flights down south too. The restaurant was just a single floor building with a good-sized check-in area. There is a restaurant/diner/gift shop in the public area, which also has a smaller similar outlet inside the secure area. The gate area was a bit crowded when both Air Canada and WestJet had flights departing within an hour to Toronto, but for normal operation, it is sufficient.




Check-in was fairly straightforward. There was a priority line, and I had to drag my check in bags to a separate security drop-off point after the agent weighed and tagged my bag. Security was a breeze since I decided to go in before the WestJet crowd arrived.



Gate area




The inbound from Toronto arrived slightly behind schedule at 11:29am and boarding began at 12:13pm, which was three minutes after our departure time. This time, we used stairs, instead of a ramp to board the plane. I presumed that we had no special need passengers this afternoon, so using the stairs would be more straightforward.

C-FUJA in old livery and I love being up close to the plane.




This plane still has the old interior and as usual, bottled water, clean care kits and headsets were already in the console.




WestJet WS 330/1 to and from Toronto was served by Boeing 737-800 Winglet C-GWSR today.
Just got some good shots so I mind as well shared them.







Door was closed quickly at 12:13pm, but it took a while to get bags loaded. We pushed back at 12:30pm but taxi was short. We took off from R/W21 at 12:34pm for then hour & fifty-eight minutes flight. The routing took us towards Montreal at 30,000ft and then climbing to 32,000ft for the rest of the flight.

The weather was sort of gloomy and I was glad that the bad weather only arrived at the end of my trip.

Goodbye Charlottetown!






A hot lunch was offered on this short flight and while there was no more printed menu on these regional flights, I knew the choice from the menu listed on the website and on the app itself.

Lunch
Served shortly after takeoff



Appetizer
Heritage Mix salad, julienne delicious apples, pomegranate seeds


Main Course
Beef tenderloin, demi-glace sauce, fingerling potatoes, green beans





Cheese manicotti, tomato and artichoke sauce, shredded mozzarella

Dessert
Carrot Cake


We apologize should your preferred choice not be available.
We cannot guarantee any food items served on board to be allergen free.

200E203 1725 EAST

Once again, the F/A was apologetic that she could only produce me a three-quarter cup of hot tea. I just stuck with water for the rest of the flight.

Descent began at 1:12pm Toronto local time, which was an hour behind from Charlottetown. We landed on R/W24R at 1:32pm.



Spotted the C-FIVS, which was the Boeing 777-300ER that would take me to Vancouver!



C-FUJA here at YYZ before flying to somewhere in the US later in the afternoon

AC 119 YYZ-YVR Lv1600 Arr1755 Boeing 777-300ER C-FIVS
Album link: https://photobucket.com/u/Carfield76/a/ ... 3d8fa05739





While most of my travels within Canada has been quiet, these transcontinental routes are opposite. The flight was pretty full given that it was the Canadian Thanksgiving Day. Business class went out full and I saw elites asking if upgrades were available. Of course an earlier delayed flight meant that many passengers were moved to this flight. Since I had a good amount of transit time, I went to the MLL, which was really over-flowing with passengers, despite not even at full capacity. I could not find a chair to sit till I went all the way to the area beyond restaurant. The queue for the bar/food was beyond long. They needed more than two staffs to hand out food. Since everything is packaged, I really don’t know why passengers can’t just pick them up themselves. I did not take any photo because it was just too crowded. In the end, I just decided to take a walk around the terminal and got a coffee at Starbucks.

Airbus A220-300 – I was not supposed to fly this aircraft type when I took this photo, but fate had things planned out a bit different.



Boarding began at 3:12pm at gate D41. The usual water, clean care kit, noise-cancelling headsets, menus, and signature service bedding pack were already pre-placed at each seat. However I was disappointed to see that they no longer passed out amenity kits.



Door was closed at 4:05pm and we pushed back at 4:12pm.

Boeing 737 Max 8 next door


Traffic was light and after this Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER arrived from Europe, we took our turn at R/W23.



We took off at 4:29pm for the four hours and eleven minutes flight. We stayed at 34,000ft until we passed Sault Ste Marie Airport, which we climbed further to 36,000ft.

Lunch was served on this flight, and the menu was identical to the previous segment, except that we got an additional appetizer. The salad was not listed at the menu, but it was the same as the flight from the previous segment.




Service began with a beverage first, that was accompanied a bag of almonds.


Everything was covered as usual, and both the starter and entrée was served together with a packaged bread roll and packaged cookie.








The cheese manicotti was okay. Since I had beef on the previous segment, I decided to have the pasta dish.




For dessert, I just had the cheese plate!



For the rest of the flight, I just read a bit, and then about an hour and twenty minutes prior to arrival, a snack pack was passed out. A final beverage service was offered too. The snack pack has the usual chips and Lindt’s dark chocolate bar.




Descent soon began at 5:13pm Vancouver/West coast time.



We landed on R/W26R at 5:40pm, and parked at gate 52 a few minutes later.






The next two flights that I want to write about is just a quick roundtrip to Calgary from Vancouver. I wasn’t sure if I was able to requalify for that status match program with all these one-way flights. I decided to buy this cheap same-day roundtrip flight to Calgary. I used my upgrade coupons since I had plenty of them. The 7am outbound was a bit tough but I am a bit of early riser now, so I fell okay.

October 19, 2021
AC 202 YVR-YYC Lv0700 Arr0920 Boeing 737 Max 8 C-FSJJ
Album link: https://photobucket.com/u/Carfield76/a/ ... 0aceef99c8



Check in was a breeze at 5am in YVR. I used the desk since I wanted a real paper boarding pass. I even got the return boarding pass printed out. I already knew my flight was quiet since I kept on checking the app. There were only two revenue passeners in business class. Even economy class was quiet.

Since the MLL did not open till 6am, I killed time walking around the terminal and getting a real coffee at Starbucks.

I spotted this A320.


I also took advantage of the early hours taking a few photos of the MLL. The lounge wasn’t changed too much except they removed some chairs and tables for social distancing. The breakfast takeaway menu was so filled with sweet and unhealthy food that I just skipped. There was a made-to-order menu but I never got the food, despite there were only four people in the lounge. However it was nice to enjoy the quiet lounge overlooking the plane that would take me to Calgary.












Boarding began at 6:25am at gate C50. I was among the first to board the plane and luckily I got a few minutes to take a few empty cabin shot.

This business class cabin on the Max looked good.







Economy Class



Business class ended up with a few more passengers but it remained less than half full. Door was closed at 6:56am and we pushed back on time. We took off from R/W8R at 7:15am for our hour and four minutes flight to Calgary. Our cruising altitude was 35,000ft for the most of the flight, except when we slightly descended to 33,000ft after hitting some chops.

Honestly the weather was spectacular after a rainy weekend here in Vancouver.
I hope you enjoyed the photos, which I definitely went overboard.








In terms of onboard service, Air Canada brought back the hot breakfast service in business class even on these short flights. Who knows that “Parsley Omelet” was good to see after a Pandemic?











For the rest of the flight, I was just glued to the window.















Descent began at 9am Calgary local time, and we landed on R/W17R at 9:19am.





Taxi was long, as we deplaned at the area that usually served USA flights. Gate C94 was really far from the usual domestic terminal. However I did not mind the scenery along the taxi.








C-FSJJ at gate C94


As I said earlier, it was a long walk towards gate C50. But there were plenty of interesting planes to look at. However it was strange to walk past the international area, as I was just here a few years ago boarding a flight to London on BA.

AC 211 YYC-YVR Lv1150 Arr1215 Boeing 737 Max 8 C-FSDQ
Album link: https://photobucket.com/u/Carfield76/a/ ... dc5ad386b0



Calgary MLL
Thankfully the situation at the Maple Leaf Lounge at Calgary airport was still quiet when I first arrived. It became busier as we hit the afternoon bank of flights. This time, I was able to order of these special dishes from the electronic menu.













I was able to spot the plane arriving from Vancouver. The plane started the morning from Edmonton to Vancouver, and then to Calgary from Vancouver, before going back. C-FSDQ looked good.










Boarding began at 11:17am and I got the same crew as this morning.
The same bottled water and safety care kit were already at the seat.


This time the flight was 100% full in business class and almost all full in economy class.

Door was closed at 11:39am and we pushed back almost five minutes early. We took off from R/W17R at 11:59am for our quick one-hour flight to Vancouver with a cruising altitude of 34,000ft.






A cold snack was served on this flight. This time a charcuterie plate with cold cut and cheese was served.






Descent began at 11:36am Vancouver local time, and we landed on R/W26R at 11:59am.
We parked at gate C44 at 12:05pm.







It was a lovely roundtrip this morning and Air Canada’s Boeing 737 Max 8 was okay up front. I just wish the toilet was a full-sized one. I still hate those tiny sinks on these new Boeing 737 Max and NG flights.

There were two more segments that I did not write about, but if you want to check out the photos from those albums. Here are the links:
https://photobucket.com/u/Carfield76/a/ ... d5c3465fa9
https://photobucket.com/u/Carfield76/a/ ... 2eb694b999

I really appreciate Air Canada especially after flying that roundtrip on Air Transat. There is a reason why Air Canada is still a premium airline. It was good to see all these hot meals returned and now I only hope that they will bring back the amenity kits. Most importantly, Air Canada needs to separate out domestic and international priority check-in at all these major airports. Going international now means going through a more thorough document checks, not to mention confusing, as you navigate all these different countries. The situation at Vancouver was really bad, especially all those going domestic just needed a few minutes to have their bags tagged. Of course having only two agents working a busy bank of flight made no sense. Then the agent had to leave her desk looking for supervisor dealing with these non-Canadian passengers going to Asia. Well Covid-19 has changed all our lives and airlines hopefully can work out the kinks before the traveling public returning in vengeance.

I hope you enjoy part two. Let move to Air Transat next.

Carfield