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Taken September 2003 from Calgary to North Bay via Toronto

We booked our tickets for this flight several months ago on an apparent "seat sale" due to the fact that the Calgary-Toronto-North Bay on Air Canada was cheaper than Westjet's Calgary-Hamilton ticket. North Bay and Hamilton were both cities that we needed to visit on this trip, so it did not matter where we started.

Flight out was on a seriously run-down A320. Several cabin panels had their plastic coating peeling off and the rest were spray-painted a light brown fade effect that seemed to be chosen as a cheaper alternative to cleaning, as it appeared that the brown paint was applied over existing dirt. The seats were dirty and worn out. Not a good first impression at all. The flight was late by about 15 minutes due to an apparent mix up by the gate crew.

Once in Toronto, a lack of clear signage had me re-clearing security to make my connection, as I chose to use a moving sidewalk to get to the other terminal, rather than a bus, which is apparently secured. Quite odd.

Flight up to North Bay was on a Beech 1900, that also featured an air of heavy use, but was at least clean.

On the way home we were put on an Dash-8 that was fairly comfy and clean, however a scowling and surly flight attendant made the flight less enjoyable than it could have been.

At Toronto, our flight home was on a 767, and was delayed by about 1 hour. Again the cabin seemed somewhat tired, but at least the seat pitch was generous. The armrest on my seat was broken and only attached at the back, making it useless. The area between the seat in front of me and the fuselage was one of the grottiest I have ever seen featuring smarties (one green, one purple) a plastic knife, a creamer lid and at least 1/8 of an inch or variously colored crumbs and other detritus. The cover for the seat rails was also missing in this area, adding greasiness smeared about by other peoples stockings. Outrageous! The audio program did not match the listing in the in-flight magazine and I'm not sure if a meal of cold chicken and chick-peas really constitutes a meal service.

As much as I dislike Westjet, Air Canada was a major disappointment for a "full service" airline. Now what choice do I have?