Home > Air Canada > 2003 > Review

Taken September 2003 from Amsterdam to Vancouver

In general the flights (with a stopover at Toronto) were basic, but decent.

On departure at Schiphol, there was a delay due to mechanical problems. 30 minutes after the boarding time there was an announcement made that the flight was delayed due to 'regular' maintenance. Everybody could see that outside, KLM technicians here replacing parts on the engine. That's 'regular' for Air Canada?? This caused a small overall delay of approx. 30 minutes.

Both domestic flight were just late, also about 30 minutes. On the return flight to Amsterdam the incoming plane was late which again caused a delay, but the flight time was shorter so we had an on time arrival.

The number of movie/TV screens in economy class is limited. Therefore a lot of people don't have a good view of the screens. Can be very hard to follow the movie, depending on your seat location.

At first you think the legspace is OK (I'm 1.85m), but when the people in front of me started reclining their chairs (which you can hardly blame them for) my legs got jammed. Also the seats did not offer very good back support. Not good on a long flight.

Food service on the international flights (Amsterdam-Toronto vv) was OK. On the domestic flights (Toronto-Vancouver vv) it was close to terrible. I now understand why some people brought their own food on board...

One special remark about Toronto Airport (relevant because it's Air Canada's main hub). Pearson is being renewed. This currently results in a big chaos. We arrived at a temporary terminal and were brought to the main terminal by a bus (with a frantic driver). Especially collecting the luggage was a nightmare. There were at least 10 flight arriving at the same time, while the small room could only handle maximum of 2 flights. The exit was completely jammed and it took us 30 minutes to leave the room.

Departing at Toronto International was also very busy with long lines at the slowly working cabin baggage check. It took us over one hour after arrival of the plane to get to the gate of the international flight.