Experiences with Air Canada?

Yes, last year had a very good experience: Vancouver to London.
I think last year they were rated the best North American airline to Europe, by somebody.

I always fly over to Europe with Air Canada (not that I have a huge choice of airlines here in Nova Scotia). You may want to make sure which 'arm' of AC you are flying with. AC Rouge gets many poor reviews for uncomfortable seats, little room and inexperienced attendants. If it's a regular AC flight, you'd probably be fine. I've never had an issue and have used them 4 times to London and once to California since 2008.

Overseas flights (the ones I have taken to London) have free pillows/blankets, two meals - depending on when you are flying - we always fly over thru the night - our only option - and they serve a 'supper' type meal and a breakfast; when coming home which is thru the afternoon, we got another supper or lunch type meal and a snack (hot pocket kinda thing is the typical offering). Frequent trips thru with the refreshment cart...and for our overseas flight, also one free checked bag. Now, when we flew to California (which is just as far as London for us here in NS), we had to pay $25 for a checked bag.

thomas,

I've used Air Canada flights almost exclusively for the last few years, as they or their Star Alliance partners have always had the timing and connections to get me to the destinations I want. I can't afford to fly business class but Economy has been reasonably good, and Nicole provided a good description of the type of service you can expect.

I'd like to add to the comments that Nicole mentioned regarding Air Canada Rouge. I spoke with a group of travellers from Vancouver during the time I was in Croatia last year. They had used AC Rouge for their flight to Europe, and they described it as the most dreadful flight experience they've ever had. I suppose this could be attributed to the fact that AC Rouge is still relatively new, and the airline may still be getting the bugs worked out of a new service. I check passenger reviews on a regular basis, and AC Rouge is one that I've been watching. My opinion of a no-frills service like AC Rouge is that the concept may work fine for short haul budget flights, but there's no way I'm willing to tolerate sitting in a metal tube for 10 hours with uncomfortable seats, mediocre food, poor service and no entertainment (unless I pay extra) just to save a few bucks.

I should add that I've now booked my flights for this year and will again be flying with Air Canada. I've decided to pay more and try their Premium Economy service, since that's available on the route I'm using. It was somewhat of an expensive upgrade, and I'll be interested to see how it improves the long ride across the pond.

One last point to mention - Air Canada has been voted as the Best Airline in North America five years in a row by the SkyTrax World Airline awards. Canadians love to complain about them, but hard to argue with so many votes from passengers.

I live in the Seattle area. I have flown Air Canada twice to China. From Seattle, I have to go through Vancouver BC, then connect to what ever city in China.

The first time was fine, except for the 6 hour layover in Vancouver, BC, on the return trip. It was a long day.

The second time, my flight from Seattle to Vancouver was delayed 1 hour due to deicing. I though, no problem, I have a 2.5 hour layover in Vancouver. Wrong! I had to go through Canadian Immigration which took 80 minutes. I must meet some kind of "profile" because I almost always have to go through the "special line". I made my flight by 6 minutes. My impression of the immigration officer was he was an arrogant ass who could have cared less if I missed my flight. Very stressful.

I had a middle seat in the middle isle for the 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong. The seat was cramped. I had two Chinese ladies on each side crowding into my space. I was bumped and rubbed on both sides for 13 hours straight. Very claustrophobic.

I am flying to China again in April. This time, I am flying Asiana Airlines.

I fly Air Canada to Columbus, Ohio because nothing else flies there really. Great flight to Toronto, then a little 35 seater Jazz plane to Columbus. My experiences the last 2 years with them have been really good. I liked the food, the entertainment system, and the friendliness of the staff.

My only complaints are that it is a bit confusing when you land in Toronto and need to get your bags for the rest of the trip to Ohio. You have to wind through the whole airport and it is a long walk. Boarding to go to Europe is a total chaos. They don't have anything like enough seats. People are all crowded together standing in huge lines. Not sure how they came up with this design, but it doesn't work very well and probably leads to delayed departures.

If I lived in Sacramento, I would look at Icelandic Air. That is my chosen airline to fly there. Quick hop to Iceland from Frankfurt, a 7 hour flight to Seattle, then a short flight to Sacramento with Alaska Air. It sounds like it is a lot, but it isn't at all. I would rather do that then sit on a plane for 10-11 hours at a stretch.

Just to expand on what I heard about AC Rouge - my husband had a co-worker who used them for a flight to Venice (I think he went thru Toronto) - he HATED it. Cramped and uncomfortable. But then again, I'm sure they fly thousands of people, and I find people are more liable to complain in a review - because it's more fun to complain and share your misery, right? That being said, Rouge wouldn't be my first choice for a long haul flight. I also just fly economy (because we always use Air Miles).

As for plane configuration, I guess it depends where you take off from. From Halifax to London (and vice-versa), we've always had the 2-3-2 configuration. We had to connect once thru St Johns, Nfld and I'm pretty sure it was a 3-3 (but this was 2010, so memories are vague). For our flight to California, we connected thru Toronto and the planes were 3-3.

I agree: Air Canada's in-flight service has gradually improved over the years (including the staff's attitudes) and I have noticed a keen attention to detail. Even when things go wrong -- and it can happen on any airline -- I've seen the situation handled efficiently, although nothing can make a missed connection into a joyous experience.
The Toronto airport is indeed a sprawl, with quite a bit of security too. American travellers can help themselves by going to the airport website for instructions on transfers. On a return trip back home, they face the added wrinkle of clearing US border procedures in Toronto, which requires a certain amount of care to get into the correct line-up to be inspected. Even so, with the $Cdn at its lowest level against the greenback, AC can be attractive. I haven't experienced the low-cost Rouge service but expect that its passengers get what they pay for.

I used to loathe Air Canada, but may be 18 months ago took an AC flight to England because the price was right. The cabin personnel had all been retrained to smile, to look efficient without looking cranky, and not go "humph!" if you asked for a second glass of wine. It was a surprisingly pleasant flight.

I have flown AC over both "ponds" and have really enjoyed their service. I flew their Airbus A330 service to London from Montreal. Very comfortable with good inflight meal service and state of the art entertainment systems. Would be a good choice.

Norma,
I like it when the flight attendants are trained not to say "humph!" if you ask for a second glass of wine. It's ten hours of torture for god's sake. At least the flight attendants are being paid for the torture and can get up and walk around.

I hear that each row only has one seat- 14 eh, 15 eh, 16 eh.