Good morning from Toronto-Pearson International Airport!
My name is Alex, and welcome back to the channel.
Today’s video is… not pre-recorded for once!
This was filmed in early June 2020, as Canada slowly begins to re-open.
I’m here in Toronto to fly to Montreal on something that’s quite unique in the world of aviation.
It’s an Air Canada A319, but not just any A319.
It’s one of their three all-business class A319s that fly with Air Canada Jetz,
their VIP charter subsidiary.
Air Canada Jetz was established in 2001, as an in-house charter airline offering premium
services with Airbus A320s and some 737s.
These current A319s are normally chartered by Canadian NHL teams during hockey season,
as well as some American ones in years past.
They’ve also had some high profile guests on board, as Air Canada says on their website,
like Phil Collins, U2, the Rolling Stones, and more.
Now obviously, none of those events are actually happening at the moment.
So, Air Canada decided to open up these VIP aircraft to the general public, flying them
exclusively on some Rapidair flights between Toronto and Ottawa, and Toronto and Montreal.
Business class-only aircraft that you can actually book are not that common in North
America, so this is a pretty special opportunity.
When they announced this in late May, I took notice right away, as did about a dozen of
you who messaged me about it *chuckle*.
It did seem a fitting first trip after being on the ground for four months.
That of course meant some precautions.
Domestic air travel, however limited, is still permitted within Canada, with some restrictions
for certain provinces and territories.
I knew I was healthy before leaving, and I had a Covid test done when I got back, and
it was indeed negative.
It’s a very different travelling experience than it was four months ago, but rest assured,
I took it seriously.
Our aircraft for today is a 22-year-old Airbus A319-100, registered as C-GBIA.
This aircraft was delivered to Air Canada in 1998,
and was moved over to Jetz and reconfigured in 2015.
If you’ve followed my videos for a while now, you might recall one from last summer
where I flew on a nearly empty A330 on the same route, and dubbed it “Air Canada’s Private Jet”.
Well as it turns out, this flight would be very similar, except for being on board their
ACTUAL private jet!
At the gate, it seemed pretty apparent that not many people would be on the flight.
In the end, there were just 3 paying passengers, including myself!
What’s kinda funny is, since there were so few people onboard, there wasn’t really
a gate announcement when boarding time rolled around, it was more of a general...
“Hey, you can board now if you want.”
So, without further ado, let’s go see what Air Canada Jetz has to offer.
As you can see, I had my choice of sitting almost anywhere!
However, I picked seat 12A in the back, right at this... table?
This is definitely one of the more interesting seats I’ve ever flown in.
Located just aft of the wing, the crew told me later that it’s where hockey players
would play poker on their flights!
Speaking of which, it wasn’t long after sitting down, that the wonderful cabin crew
on this flight introduced themselves, and handed out Air Canada’s CleanCare packages.
Another Covid specialty as it were, it’s something they’ve implemented on every flight,
and I’ll take a closer look at it, as well as the rest of the cabin once we’re in the air!
For now, here’s our departure from Toronto, making a very speedy takeoff from runway 06L.
Now that we’re in the air for this hour long hop to Montreal, let’s take a look
around this VIP A319!
There are 58 seats in a 2x2 configuration,
with four of those being the rear-facing seats at the table.
At every seat, there are two cup holders, some controls, and another retractable shelf
for drinks at the front.
In-seat power was also available.
The tray tables can be found in the armrests for every seat, even in this row, so you can
have a table with your… much larger table.
Speaking of which, the leaves of the table do have to be folded for takeoff and landing,
but when they fold out, there is a ton of space for… literally anything.
In addition to that, sitting in the rear-facing seats is a little trippy!
At every seat is a safety card and air sickness bag, and no in-flight magazine at the moment,
for obvious reasons.
The safety card here though isn’t actually any different than the normal A319.
There was also no snack or drink service on board the flight, but the crew handed out
granola bars and water bottles, in addition to the bottle included in the CleanCare package.
The package also included an extra mask, wet wipe, gloves, and this small bottle of hand sanitizer.
The lavatories in the back of the aircraft are normal size, and there’s plenty of galley
space for all of those delicious-looking VIP meals.
The overhead bins on these aircraft are also identical to those on the normal Airbus fleet,
but the seats certainly are not.
While they do look similar to Air Canada’s old narrowbody Business Class product, these
are entirely different.
Those seats aren’t nearly as comfortable as these are, and the legroom is outstanding!
The non-table seats also have controls for reclining and adjusting lumbar support.
The amount of recline is pretty insane, too!
I do have to say though, the crew were absolutely wonderful.
It’s clear they knew how special the Jetz aircraft is, and for ordinary members of the
public to be able to try it out was really something.
They were so friendly and more than happy to let me take as many photos as I wanted,
and one of them even gave me this special rondelle pin to remember the flight by!
One thing that I was a bit too preoccupied to take a look at, was the in-flight entertainment.
It appeared to be streaming-based, hence the big sticker at the main entrance, however
I suspect it’s similar to the existing wifi and streaming-based platform
on the rest of the fleet.
Although these are more like domestic Business Class seats than anything, Air Canada currently
sells the whole aircraft as Premium Economy.
For how much extra space you get, it does seem reasonable, however I fear the higher
price tag might’ve put some people off from trying this.
Even as I’m recording this, on their desktop website there’s nothing to clearly indicate
which flight is with Jetz unless you know to look for the one with only Premium Economy.
Regardless, this really was an incredible experience, but sadly, it had to come to an
end as we descended into Montreal.
I moved up front for a different view on this runway 24L arrival.
Although the circumstances around this flight were much less than ideal, I think it’s
safe to say this was one of my best flights with Air Canada!
The Jetz A319s are some very comfortable and very unique aircraft, and the cabin crew on
today’s flight were just fantastic!
It was their first flight in a while too, and it really showed -
they were just so nice the entire time.
The aircraft did also feel quite clean, I don’t have much of a point of reference
for that, and although I was wearing the mask and gloves for the whole time,
it did feel sanitary.
I think Air Canada opening up Jetz for physically distant flights was an excellent idea, it’s
a great way to promote the Jetz brand and potentially make a few extra bucks off of
those Premium Economy tickets.
As far as I can tell though, this will only be in place for the month of June, so it was
a very rare opportunity that likely won’t happen again,
unless you happen to start playing in the NHL!
Although the mainline A319s are leaving the fleet as part of the early retirements, Air
Canada Jetz will be keeping their 3 examples for the foreseeable future.
In a way, this whole thing was a bit of a win/win - one last flight on an Air Canada
A319, and the chance to fly on Air Canada’s actual private jet!
*ding*
As fun as this flight was, this video shouldn’t be taken as my personal endorsement
to start travelling again.
Frankly, that’s on you to take appropriate precautions, and for the Government of Canada
to reopen the borders when it’s safe to do so.
At the same time though, tens of thousands of people in the aviation industry,
are having a tough time.
In that way, it did feel good to travel again, and support our airlines.
It’s an incredibly complicated situation, and there’s so much more to it than I really
have the right to talk about in a YouTube video.
But at the very least, I do hope this gave you a look at a bright spot
in these unprecedented times.
Thank you very much for watching this special trip report with Air Canada Jetz.
If you liked the video, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe if you’re new,
and I will see you next time.