My wife and I went to Ireland for our 10-year anniversary as part of a Collette tour. Collette had a limited number of flights we could take and we ended up using Air Canada on our way there and United on our way back. My previous review of Air Canada was not favorable but this trip somewhat made up for it.
We had a layover in Toronto before heading to Dublin so I had two flights with Air Canada. To start off, we left from Sky Harbor in Phoenix and were surprised that Air Canada's ticket counter was open more than two hours before our flight. That wasn't the case last time which was a nice change.
The flight from Phoenix to Toronto wasn't particularly special. Perhaps it was my fault when booking but my wife and I were not able to sit next to each other. We had chosen our seats from a seating chart but our plane was a Boeing 767 which if you are not familiar is a larger plane with two aisles. I was on the left side of the plane and she was in the center section about 1-2 rows back. The passenger sitting next to her had some mind of medical situation so they moved her to the back of the plane so my wife had an empty seat which was nice because there wasn't much room to keep our carry-ons. We wanted to upgrade our seats but for some reason Air Canada doesn't do this like other airlines, we had to put a bid in and wait until the day before we left to see if we won. We did not. There was a meter on their site showing the probability of a seat upgrade based on how much you bid. The best probability started around $600 per person which I think is highway robbery.
The flight from Toronto to Dublin was a red-eye and we were able to upgrade our seats so we were in the front of the plane. Unfortunately, this meant there was no place in front of us to store our belongings and the only space in the overhead bins were a bit further back from our seats. Also because we were in the front of the plane, we were near where the flight attendants were and I overheard their conversations. The flight attendants were women who appeared to be in their mid-late 20's and I heard them say they had been flying since early that morning and were exhausted. They must have been running on adrenaline because I've never seen such hard-working flight attendants in my life. Perhaps it was because we were in business class but they were very attentive and pleasant.
They offered us iPads to watch movies on and provided really cheap earphones which distorted badly when I tried using them. I had bought some BlueTooth headphones for the trip but they said they weren't allowed which was odd because I had used them on the previous flight when paired to my iPhone. The iPad was locked down so I couldn't pair them so perhaps that was the reason.
We had ate in Pearson Airport in Toronto right before boarding the plane and as usual for any airline, they ask if you want something to eat as soon as you reach cruising altitude (instead of in the middle of the flight which would have made more sense) which was not exactly convenient so I declined the meal. I was exhausted but am not capable of sleeping on planes and with a 7-hour flight ahead of us I changed my mind hoping I could still get something. Fortunately that was not a problem. I can't remember exactly what it was but some kind of chicken dish but I remember it was quite good. During the flight both of the flight attendants made sure that I had enough beverages and snacks. Before we landed they offered us spice cake which wasn't exactly a great breakfast but at least it was something.
While not a perfect flight, I have to commend the flight attendants because while they looked exhausted they still did their jobs with a smile on their face and were an absolute pleasure to fly with. It was a much better experience than our flight back home on United which I may detail in a separate review.