It’s been a while since our last Air Canada Business Class review (here in 2022), so we thought we’d write up another one. I personally have gotten older, slightly more entitled (to business class travel), but it’s good to see that Air Canada’s longer haul business class has still stayed the same. Which to be clear is a good thing, as I personally rank it above United / American’s long haul flights. This review will be a bit shorter, given not much has changed, and to be honest I’m a bit more busy with work these days. Apologies.
Flight: AC 549
Departing: New York (EWR)
Arriving: Vancouver (YVR)
Operated by: 787-9 Dreamliner
Cabin: Business Class (Air Canada Signature Suite)
Annddd…the flight begins in Newark (EWR), which is a nightmare to get to from New York. On the bright side, this flight is timed relatively well, departing at 6:30PM and arriving at 9:30PM. Just be sure to get going a bit early due to traffic.
Business class passengers get access to the United Club - the place is MASSIVE! I wasn’t able to get good photos given how crowded the place was, but I did get a few pictures of the food. This is a step above most generic United Clubs, and I dare say on par with a Maple Leaf Lounge.
Being a business class passenger, and boarding zone 1, meant (luckily) bypassing the massive line and having your own little check in line.
Seat
This current flight was extremely full in business class (thanks Eupgrades), and fairly empty in economy. Proud of my fellow Canadians for standing up for their country. Prices from Vancouver to New York have fallen to below $200! one way.
The seat itself is Air Canada’s classic executive pods. One thing that was missing was an amenity kit, which I had hoped to receive since Air Canada transitioned to Acqua Di Parma Amenity Kits (similar to Ethiad’s). Alas, I was told that given this was a transcontinental flight it wasn’t available.
What was available was the trusty set of headphones, and Dollarama Naya water.
Air Canada’s pods have a good amount of leg room, as well as a sturdy table.
Overall, a good, solid way to spend 6 hours flying across countries.
Food and Drink
Air Canada has a really neat menu design that’s sleek, and incorporates both English and French. What’s less sleek is their still terrible sparkling wine choice - seriously, it retails for $13 a bottle! At least get proper champagne lol.
The starter was…wait what not the salmon! It turns out Air Canada loaded the wrong menus, so the flight attendants had to go off memory. Anyways, this was a fully vegetarian starter, with hummus, goat cheese, some weird olive thingy, tomato salad. Fairly disappointing.
Nevertheless, the beef redeemed the meal, and I particularly enjoyed the sauce.
And finally, the trusty cheese plate and brownie thingy. Both were good.
One peculiar thing about this flight was that while the flight attendants did come around with a snack basket, they didn’t leave the snack basket out. And, they only had 1 meat stick.
The Service
Was good intentioned, but fine. The flight attendants, similar to my previous flight, didn’t address me by name (which is fine). Interestingly, there were quite a few frequent flyers on this route (Consultants? Lululemon or Arcteryx execs?), and the flight attendants were quite friendly to them. So kudos!
The Point
Air Canada business class continues to be a solid way to cross the Atlantic. Now, when compared to its competitor Jetblue Mint, I will say that price should be the deciding factor (and whether you hate Newark). I think Jetblue Mint has a slightly better seat and friendlier crew, while Air Canada has a better loyalty program and better food. Air Canada sometimes does price it’s business class much higher than Jetblue (to the tune of $400-500 on a $1000 flight), so watch out for that. Overall, still a good, solid way to come back home to Canada!
