Trip Report: Air Canada 787 Vancouver to Sydney Premium Economy

17^th Oct 2022

aircanada 787 vancouver sydney premiumeconomy

It's Air Canada, a Boeing 787, and one of the longest trips you can take - in this case all the way from Vancouver down to Sydney. I'm going to be doing it in Premium economy to test out the quality of Air Canada.

Fifteen and a half hours, seven thousand seven hundred miles,or 12 and a half thousand kilometres in new money. That is the distance of the Sydney to Vancouver flight. This flight actually starts in, and uses, the same aircraft, in Toronto. However, for me, the day started in Dublin, at 10 in the morning, landing in Vancouver at Midday, after a mere 8 hour hop over the arctic, and then with a few hours to stop over, took the airport train into downtown Vancouver to check out the steam clock, and the metro from the waterfront with lovely seaplanes.

Leaving the vast oil painting that is Vancouver, it was time to head to the airport.

Almost all covid restrictions are over - however, even in transit you have to take the lottery of random PCR testing for the fully vacinated, and a postive result means being locked up for ten days. Even if it's just a former infection, one in 20 passengers is being hit with this, meaning a transit through Canada is a huge lottery.

However the Vancouver Metro is fast, efficient, and in glorious hot autumn sunshine, just a very brief walk to the international terminal.

As I trotted up to check in for my second long haul flight of the day, I was warned that my flight was likely to be delayed. Now, considering we were due to take off around midnight, that really wasn't good news...

but it gave me a chance to wander around the big long terminal in bright sunshine looking at the large number of aircraft from around the world that had popped in, and then watch the calming stream which runs through the centre of the terminal, and which seems to want to make every passenger run for the bathroom every five minutes.

Now Premium Economy doesn't give you access to the lounges, and neither does Virgin Australia Velocity Gold - but I had a couple of different Star Alliance Gold cards after my travels around the globe. And that got me into the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge.

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver

The new Maple Leaf Lounge at Vancouver Airport is a delight. Large, light bright and welcoming, straight after reception there is a large Air Canada logo cut out of pine slats on the wall.

A large lounge, with a great view over the runway. It was refurbished a few years ago, and so is one of the new style lounges, and a vast improvement on the old lounge.

The bar is in a dominant position ahead of you and has seats along its length, and wrapped around the side, which are arranged in an inviting manner when the lounge is quiet, and which turn into a chaotic maze making it impossible to get to the bar when it is busy.

There was plenty of food in the buffet, with traditional Canadian dishes like Pizza and Pasta.

Lounge furnishings are by Canadian designers Brent Comber (North Vancouver), and Birchwood Furniture (Calgary) with a vague 1960s plywood vibe.

There's buffet dining, with Canada's signature 'wine wall' with bottles of wine - just for show - in a nice display cabinet.

In the alcove is a heated island cabinet, plus a salad bar, while there is also a display kitchen, which makes up the two hot dishes of the day.

The Lounge really empties out once the London and Frankfurt flights leave, plus those of other star alliance carriers.

However, my flight was badly delayed. It should be leaving at 11pm in the evening, but a missed catering truck meant it was leaving a lot later than that.

Now, it's not that the lounge isn't a great place to hang out, and those cocktails were going down really well. But finally at 1am the catering truck arrived, and boarding was called.

Air Canada Premium Economy

Air Canada's Premium economy has gone all out with a 19 inch width, and 38 inch pitch. There is also an 11 inch video screen. However it is very much a standard, off the peg, style Premium Economy, with little to recommend it over other carriers.

Premium Economy will always be way better than real economy, which has a 31 inch pitch 3-3-3 layout and a 17 inch width.

But the uprated catering is simply a little perk, with a small card with the menu for the next 16 hours.

Now, some airlines, have gone all out with their Premium Economy, and treat it a Business Minus.

However Air Canada are having no truck with such luxuries, and regard Premium as economy, plus a bit of space. And that's all it is.

I had a look at Air Canada Business Class, it is much nicer.

But the Premium Economy seat had to do, as he headed out over the Pacific for our 16 hour trek. Air Canada say their economy travel is like 'travel like you've never experienced it before', but I'm not sure about that.

Air Canada Premium Economy amenities

The Amenity Kit proudly listed the contents as 'Bag', which is odd as the contents are what are in the bag, not the outside of it!

At least you get a Premium Economy amenity kit, with Toothbrush, Colgate toothpaste, eyeshade, socks, and earplugs.

Air Canada Premium Economy IFE

I've been sampling Premium Economy in many different carriers, from Air New Zealand, to United, Singapore, and now Air Canada, to test how they stack up on the longest of long routes, and that means spoending a lot of time viewing the inflight entertainment, Alas, Air Canada is not the best.

There are sit in the ear earbud type headphones.

With a single-pin audio jack so you can use your own - which I recommend. Air Canada ones are very cheap. There is power at every seat as well, with mains and USB charging.

The 11 inch video screen seems very small. It does the job, although the promised 'Hundreds of hours of top-rated on-demand entertainment' according to air Canada translates into a mid ranking new releases, and lots and lots of boxed sets of American TV series you may not have heard of.

Air Canada Premium Inflight Meals

There are inflight menus in Premium Economy, but they aren't great.

Dinner is served an hour into the flight, which we took off so late is about half past 2 in the morning. Few passengers were particuarly in the mood, me included, and also including the crew, who went about the meal service with the minimum of conversation, just asking if I wanted the Beef or Chicken, and ploked down a plastic tray.

The options included Chicken Breast, with creamy leek sauce, roasted potatoes.

I went for Beef tenderloin, with red wine sauce, polenta, vegetables. Presentation was severely lacking, with the meal just slopped around the plate. But it was quite tasty, better than I expected, soft, tender, and not overcooked.

The unusual delight on the tray was the Celeriac salad - this most unusual and poetic of vegetables may not look like much in a greengrocer, but it was lovely tasting, and a credit to the airline.

The meals had metal cutlery as well, and all rounded off with a Cappuccino cheesecake.

Less of a credit was the hot roll which was so hard baked it could sink a duck twenty paces.

The woeful element was the wine. On the flight from Dublin, the crew took delight in serving Business Class wine, in glass tumblers, in Premium Economy, but on this flight, the crew said they just didn't have time for that - on a sixteen hour flight - and just offered red or white, with a plastic glass, the same as economy.

The Sutter home vineyard was definitely brewed down the price, and that pretty much summed up the crew, who after taking the tray with a 'you done?' vanished for the next 7 hours.

During the flight I managed to grab a beer:

And eight hours into the flight the crew came around with sandwiches:

Then, two hours before landing, breakfast was served.

There was a Fruit salad, and either a Crepe omelette Florentine or an Oatmeal pancake.

Along with a cup of coffee, and an apple and peach compote.

And with that we began a decent into Sydney

Air Canada Premium Economy review

Air Canada Premium Economy is rated, well, pretty average to be honest.

On most carriers, flying Premium is all about the seat, and Air Canada is no different in that respect. However, how hard is it to make the experience just a little bit special? Air Canada have completely failed on that score, and can't even be bothered to serve the perks it should be offering, like the remains of the Business Class wine.

The seat is actually OK, and far better than economy, particularly in the bulkhead row, where it is possible to stretch out a little bit more.

But other than that, the experience was decidedly average, particularly on such a long flight, where the food and drinks were little better than economy.

The highlight was definitely a visit to the Maple Leaf lounge, but that is nothing to do with Premium Economy, and is more to do with having a Star Alliance Gold card. This perk actually made the start of the trip quite fun, but one that few passengers will get to enjoy.

See the full Trip Report: Air Canada 787 Vancouver to Sydney Premium Economy video:

Trip Report: Air Canada 787 Vancouver to Sydney Premium Economy video Click to play

Lux-traveller paid its own way for this Trip Report: Air Canada 787 Vancouver to Sydney Premium Economy, and travelled incognito.

Trip Report: Air Canada 787 Vancouver to Sydney Premium Economy
Lux-traveller.com rating:5 out of10
Seats:	4 - OK Premium Economy seats with a little more space
Food:	4 - Decidedly Average
Service:	5 - Does the basics, little more
IFE:	5 - Acceptably tolerable