Good morning from Calgary International Airport!
My name is Alex, and welcome to another trip report.
Today, I’m headed off to Vancouver with Air Canada, on board their Airbus A321.
Air Canada has 15 Airbus A321-200s in the fleet, flying on a variety of routes, in their
usual 2-class configuration.
Now, I am admittedly a sucker for cheap upgrade prices, and today was no different since I
was booked in Economy.
Checking in for my flight though, Air Canada was offering upgrades from Economy to Business
for just 120 dollars!
Business Class with Air Canada gets you some extra perks like lounge access and actual
food on board, so for this early morning flight, I had a feeling it’d be worth it.
And I do mean early, this is Air Canada’s very first flight of the day to Vancouver
so what I lost in sleep I gained in… a slightly cheaper airfare which I then immediately spent
on a Business upgrade.
Anyway, questionable financial decisions aside, Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounge in Calgary
is one of the few that they have open at the moment, but as you can see there was more
than enough personal space at this ungodly hour.
Their table service is still how they’re doing things at the moment, but within minutes
of ordering on my phone, I had some food beside me!
I went for a breakfast frittata which was surprisingly good.
That coupled with the first of many cups of coffee was a great way to start this trip off.
Today’s flight is departing from Gate C54, which would ordinarily have a really nice
view of our aircraft, but the rest of Concourse C is closed off for construction.
Regardless, today’s ride over the Rockies is an almost-20-year old Airbus A321-200,
registered as Charlie Golf India Uniform Bravo, originally delivered to Air Canada in 2001.
I’m a big fan of Air Canada’s A321s for a couple of reasons, and I’ve flown them
quite a few times now, but never in Business Class!
So, without further ado, let’s go check it out!
My seat for today is 4A, in the last row of AC’s Business Class cabin.
Air Canada’s A321s seat 190 people, with 174 of those in Economy Class.
In Business Class, there are 4 rows with 16 seats in the usual 2-2 configuration.
As expected, the legroom in row 4 is plentiful, and the engine view from here is pretty solid.
The headrests are all adjustable, and the centre armrest is huge, with plenty of space
for drinks.
There’s also a small retractable shelf for more drink storage, in theory.
Power outlets are available just below that, along with the headphone jack on the inside
of the armrest.
The seatback pocket is huge, with tons of space, as well as a slightly squeaky but nevertheless
useful, footrest.
You’ll find the tray table in the other armrest, along with a USB port next to the
IFE screen.
On the side of the seat as well is a coat hook.
Pretty soon, the very friendly cabin crew member serving Business handed out a bottle
of water, Air Canada’s usual CleanCare kit, and some headphones.
Right on time, we pushed back and AC’s new safety video played, which is excellent, by the way.
Here’s our departure from Calgary off of runway 35L!
As you can probably tell, that takeoff sound and the climb thrust on the A321 is one of
the reasons I like this plane so much!
After that amazing-sounding takeoff into the grey void that surrounded Calgary for what
felt like a month, let’s take a look at some of the details.
The tray table in these older Business Seats is very functional, and rests pretty high up.
In the seatback pocket, Air Canada still just has an air sickness bag, and this newer version
of their safety card.
In the CleanCare kit, which seems to change from route to route, Air Canada provided a
complimentary mask, some wet wipes, and some hand sanitizer.
As expected, although you can see a hint of blue sky and morning colours, the Rockies
below aren’t visible in the slightest.
Also as expected, AC’s older in-flight entertainment is just alright, but although it’s easy
to just point out the flaws, there’s something about the moving map that feels super nostalgic.
Maybe it’s just having flown AC with this system on board for as long as I can remember!
Soon enough, some blue sky actually appeared as the cabin crew brought around what is…
Genuinely the first hot meal I’ve had on a plane in a year and a half!
Armed with another cup of coffee, in this breakfast meal is AC’s classic warm omelette
with potatoes and sausage, a packaged croissant, a bowl of fruit, yogurt, another wet wipe,
salt and pepper, some jam, butter, and…
Actual metal cutlery again, not to mention it’s all served on real plates!
Now admittedly it did help that I had the whole row to myself, so I was comfortable
eating, but this was a fantastic breakfast!
The omelette was warm and delicious, the fruit tasted fresh…
It was just really great to have a proper Business Class meal again!
As much as I’m enjoying this flight, you can tell the interiors are slightly dated.
Air Canada’s A321 fleet is around 20 years old on average, which, when it comes to AC,
means they’d probably have another 5-10 years left.
I’ve heard on a few occasions that Air Canada really likes the economics of the A321s, and
with them having cancelled their MAX 9 orders, part of me really hopes we get to see a new
A321 cabin in the MAX and A220 style!
With the slightly wider Airbus cabin I think that’s bound to be one comfortable airplane.
That is, as long as they have plenty of Preferred Seats in the back.
Pretty soon we were on our descent into Vancouver, with a few peeks at the scenery below through the clouds.
Here’s our approach and landing on YVR’s runway 26R.
Well, that was another fantastic flight in Air Canada’s Business Class!
Calgary to Vancouver is always a nice route to fly since it’s just long enough of a
flight to get some sort of service on board, but not too long to need any entertainment
besides the views outside.
I find that Air Canada’s Business Class is consistently good, depending on the aircraft
type of course, but I still enjoyed it even in the older seats!
This flight was originally supposed to be flown by one of Air Canada’s older A320s,
but given that I hadn’t done Business on the A321 before, I was okay with the change.
I’ve heard that you might not always get a hot meal on flights later in the day between
Vancouver and Calgary or Edmonton, so it seems like that breakfast may be a sure thing on
the morning flights.
In any case, with the lounge access, bigger seats, a proper hot breakfast, I think this
was worth the splurge.
Thank you so much for watching this trip report!
Air Canada’s Business Class is always fun to fly in, and this flight really was no exception.
Take care, and I’ll see you next time!