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| - Not having 1/2 stars is a challenge on Yelp. I would say 3.5 stars. What is Air Canada anyway? It is a North American carrier, Canada's flag carrier, and where the sensibilities from their Brit heritage come across accompanied by concessionary announcements and whatnot for the Francophone population. It lacks the folksiness of a U.S. carrier in that the cockpit and the flight crew address you with the typical Canadian "about, schedule, pasta* " pronunciations and end their sentences with a lilt. The service aboard is indeed competent, but the formality and attempts at friendliness are a little artificial.
The food is reliable, though not great. They are usually punctual. The aircraft are clean and tidy, at least at the beginning of the journey. Lastly, because of Canada's cultural mosaic, as opposed to America's melting pot, one can meet some interesting people from all around the world living in Canada on board.
I have a major and minor gripe with this airline:
a) On a Toronto-Seattle flight on a Sunday night, the lines at YYZ check-in were long and people were stressed. So were the Air Canada counter attendants. When I got up there, the lady at the counter was a total bitch about my roll-aboard cabin luggage. It escalated into a raised voice situation. I was going to prolong the scene, ideally attracting the attention of a supervisor, and seeing that I got boarded. Instead, a nearby counter just opened and the guy who was witnessing this event motioned me over and checked me in effortlessly. I have NEVER seen anything like this in all of my AC flights, with most of them featuring reliably steadfast service.
b) I am a member of their Aeroplan program, and have used up most of my flight miles at this point. Domestically, or within North America, I have never had a problem getting a ticket. Cashing in the entry level (60,000 miles) economy ticket to Europe takes work and should be done very early, almost a year before it comes up. The other thing is that I, the passenger (!), wound up suggesting all the possible Star Alliance carriers (Lufthansa, United, US Air, Scandinavian, TAP Portugal, etc.) for possible permutations to get me "across the pond." The two times I've done this, the conversation lasted 45 minutes, but I got my ticket using 60,000 miles. They don't have as many options as they should loaded into their award ticket system, in my opinion.
* - it's "pah-stah," NOT "peh-stah"
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