Air Canada Economy Class – 787-9 – NRT to YVR
-
Mark Beyer
- August 6, 2019
- Review Type: Flight
- Review Type Location: International
- Airline: Air Canada
Overview:
To close out the trip around the Pacific Rim, we flew from Japan to Vancouver on Air Canada.
We were interested to see if Air Canada could set itself apart from its neighboring American carriers and spice up the trans-pacific economy class flight experience.
Read the full review to see if they set a new standard with economy class!
Flight Details:
- Flight Number: AC4
- Port of Origin: Narita International Airport, Japan
- Destination: Vancouver, Canada
- Flight Time: 8:22
- Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Booking:
This flight was part of a quick seven day trip around the Pacific Rim! I booked a total of 7 flights for less than $1,100 and used some points along the way to get 3/7 flights in business class. Check out the full article here!
Lounge/Airport:
The lounges at Narita are limited. If not business class, there is a lackluster selection of other lounges. I had access to the KAL Lounge through my Priority Pass and it’s the only Priority Pass lounge that is airside at Narita.
The lounge is tiny and under serviced. Seating is limited and the space is confined. Food is only snacks and cups of noodles. Drinks are also limited. Probably the weakest Priority Pass lounge I’ve seen to date.
Boarding:
I headed from the lonunge to gate 41 to board. Even though I was economy, I was zone 2 through being Star Alliance silver and holding the United Mileage Club card. After walking the jetway, I made my way on board.
While walking to the Economy Cabin, I was able to take a peek at the Premium Economy seating which looks standard when comparing to competing international airlines.
The Seat:
My seat was 31A which is an emergency exit window seat. More like an emergency exit “aisle” seat. My row had no window other than a small sliver of the window in the emergency exit if I leaned forward or a small piece of the window behind me. Of note, there was a heavy amount of foot traffic around the seat due to its proximity to the restroom.
The entertainment screen raises up from the middle of the seat similarly to other emergency exit row or bulkhead seats on other airlines.
For the overnight flight, a pillow and blanket were at each seat.
The entertainment remote was built into the seat divider.
Every seat comes with AC power to charge phones, laptops, or tablets.
The USB port is located on the bottom of the entertainment screen along with a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The tray table folds out from the arm rest and is average sized for economy class.
The economy class bathroom was standard with a nice wallpaper design adding a fresh touch to an otherwise boring part of the plane.
Entertainment System:
The entertainment system on board was as expected. The menu layout was fairly simple and straight forward being able to navigate to certain screens.
The included content on board was up to date with plenty of new releases being included along with some older movies. The TV shows were limited but most shows had a few episodes to offer.
Meal Service:
Meal service was shown on the entertainment screen before departure which was new to see and a nice plus. The options were chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetable or a Japanese beef and noodle dish. I went with the chicken.
The chicken was tender with a bit of fat on it. The mashed potatoes were fantastic and the vegetables were as you would expect if you steamed them at home. The gravy was also perfect.
The plate also came with potato salad, bread, and chocolate cake. The potato salad was good and the cheesecake was also decent all things considered. The bread was disappointing and almost seemed stale. Another nice thing was that it came with a water bottle which I saved for later.
Breakfast included scrambled eggs or a Japanese congee dish. Unfortunately, I was sleeping and was not woken up for breakfast service but managed to get it just 45min prior to landing. The eggs were a tad on the salty side, but the potatoes were good. The sausage was alright. Bread roll was decent and so was the fruit bowl.
Service:
The flight attendants were friendly and could easily spark conversation. They also took care of business and did what they had to to make the economy cabin run smoothly.
The more I bounce between cabins, economy class FAs have it the hardest in my opinion having to deal with the riff-raff and other petty/crazy things people do while flying.
Also as a heads up, the cabin is kept very cool, coolest I’ve been on.
Overall:
My experience on board Air Canada was average, especially in economy. Unfortunately, this trip started off with a below average lounge which didn’t help anything. The service on this flight was particularly good with an amazing few Flight Attendants which made the trip all that much better.
When crossing the Pacific, it seems like all North American carriers do it the same.
Our take home point: Take the cheapest economy flight because theres no big difference in North American carriers.
