Good evening from Montreal-Trudeau International Airport!
My name is Alex, and welcome back to the channel.
Today, I’m flying with Air Canada back to Calgary, Alberta, on board their Airbus A220.
However, this was filmed in July 2020, so automatically, the on-board experience is
gonna be a little bit different.
With that in mind, and with all the appropriate precautions in place,
I thought this would be worth taking a look at.
Now, I have flown with Air Canada during Covid already, specifically on the Jetz A319 back
in June, but that was more about the aircraft and less about the actual differences of flying
with Air Canada in 2020.
That said, domestic travel is still permitted within Canada, with some restrictions depending
on the province or territory.
I had just flown here from Calgary on the Transat A321neo, and considering how much
it impressed me on the inaugural flight, I really wanted to try the A220 again.
Here’s our aircraft taxiing into gate 49, a two month-old Airbus A220-300,
registered as Charlie Golf Juliet X-ray Yankee.
This was the 6th Airbus A220 to be delivered to Air Canada, built just 30 kilometres away
at what used to be Bombardier at Montreal-Mirabel Airport.
These entered service with Air Canada back in January, and they’ve proven to be quite
useful during the last few months.
They help minimize costs thanks to the low fuel consumption, in addition to serving as…
well, bargaining chips.
Regardless of these very different circumstances, I’m glad to be flying one again - it’s
a Canadian-built game changer of an aircraft, and it’s one of the most comfortable narrowbodies
in the skies today.
So, let’s go see if that still holds up.
My seat for today is 12F, in the bulkhead row at the front of Air Canada’s
Economy Class cabin.
As the bulkhead row, this is one of 20 “Preferred Seats” on this aircraft, with some extra
legroom as well as this phenomenal engine view!
Speaking of legroom, there is an absolute TON of space here!
Even for taller people like myself, this is the sort of space you’d expect to get on
a widebody!
That said though, there is this solid bulkhead between Business and Economy, so the stretching
room is a bit restrictive.
These seats all have adjustable headrests, and stretching room aside, there really is
a ton of space here!
One thing I do like about the A220 versus other new aircraft,
is that they still have proper air vents!
As everyone settled in, the cabin crew came around handing out these ‘CleanCare+’
packages, and I’ll take a look at the contents after takeoff.
Now in those last couple of shots, you do see me wearing gloves.
In hindsight, that might be a bit overkill, but I changed them
often, and disposed of them safely.
We did have a brief delay thanks to a slightly late inbound arrival, as well as some...
interesting looking weather in the area.
Eventually, the cabin crew called “boarding complete”, which is the best possible thing
you can hear while still having two free seats next to you!
Soon enough, we pushed back for what would be an incredible stormy departure
off of runway 24L.
With those stunning views of the clouds behind us, let’s take a look around the bulkhead
row a little bit more.
In the literature pocket, Air Canada just had an air sickness bag, and this safety card
for the A220.
The tray table can be found in the armrest, and folds out to a surprisingly comfortable height.
Although fixed armrests do reduce seat width a bit, the A220 Economy seats are so wide
it doesn’t actually make a difference!
In Air Canada’s CleanCare package, you’ll find an extra pair of gloves,
some earbuds,
hand sanitizer,
a bag of pretzels and a bottle of water,
some extra wipes,
an extra mask,
and this message from Air Canada’s chief medical officer.
For a four hour flight, this was all there was for food.
The crew did come by a few more times with additional water bottles, but there was just
the single bag of pretzels.
As far as I could tell, Business Class did get a meal in a box, but I was kinda surprised
that there was no buy-on-board whatsoever for Economy.
I’m very glad I brought food with me!
Supposedly though, you can get a meal box on domestic Economy flights if you pre-purchase
a meal online.
I’m not entirely sure when that started though, and I don’t recall seeing anything
like that when I booked this flight.
Anyway, with some new, slightly small but very stylish gloves, let’s take a look at
the in-flight entertainment.
This is Air Canada’s latest IFE system, having introduced this software a few years
ago on the 737.
Personally, I’m a big fan of this system -
the selection is huge, and it’s pretty easy to navigate.
It’s also got this excellent moving map!
You’ll also find two headphone jacks, and two USB ports, with one being Type-C.
A slight downside of the bulkhead is that these screens don’t tilt at all, which can
make watching things a little difficult depending on the angle.
Although this is a fairly long flight across the country, we were only flying at 28,000 feet.
That led to a couple bumps along the way, but also some fantastic cloud surfing and
lighting as we chased the sunset westbound.
One thing worth mentioning is, while masks are obviously required at all times for passengers
and crew alike, the cabin crew on this flight were also wearing surgical gowns.
Again, much like Transat’s face shields, quite dystopian, but if it keeps them safe,
so be it!
The Economy Class lavatories on the A220 are both located in the aft galley, and have a
decent amount of space.
They’re also pretty well lit, but I do kinda wish Air Canada had gone for the bigger lavatories
with the windows.
On the A220-300s, Air Canada has 137 seats in two classes.
As you can see on this flight though, I’d estimate there were maybe 50 people on the
plane total.
I still think the A220 might be the best new narrowbody aircraft out there,
I can’t get over those massive windows and how nice the cabin looks.
A movie or two later, and the sun finally set as we crossed the Alberta border.
The mood lighting switched accordingly as we began our descent into Calgary,
for a stunning dusk arrival on runway 17L.
Overall, this was a pretty decent flight with Air Canada!
Service-wise, the crew on board were quite friendly, for what little we saw of them.
The in-flight entertainment worked pretty well on this flight too,
and I did get through a couple movies.
That new system is fantastic, and a far cry from the older one on the A320s.
Although Air Canada stopped blocking seats for social distancing, it was nice to
have the extra space with only 50 or so people on board.
The lack of any buy-on-board service though was a little surprising.
WestJet and Air Transat have since resumed that on their domestic flights, so if you
do fly Air Canada in economy and you want something to eat,
make sure you pre-order it.
Regardless though, it’s not a huge deal in the end, since I did bring my own food.
Row 12 on Air Canada’s A220 though, is probably the best one in all of Economy.
The stretching room may be a bit restrictive, but you really do get a lot of space, and
that engine view is fantastic.
Plus, the enormous windows, the mood lighting...
honestly, in the right seat, there’s a lot to like about the A220,
and it’s quickly becoming one of my favourite Air Canada narrowbodies to fly.
So, although the onboard experience is quite different these days, in terms of passenger
comfort, I can say with confidence that the A220 still holds up.
*ding*
Thank you very much for watching this trip report with Air Canada.
As always, please leave a like if you enjoyed the video, subscribe if you're new,
and I’ll see you next time.