After a night in Toronto and checking out of the Hyatt Regency at 5 p.m., we headed over to Toronto Pearson where we’d be taking the 9:40 p.m. flight AC872 to Paris in business class on board an Airbus A330.
I wanted to get to the airport because our tickets would allow us to visit the Air Canada Signature Suite. I was really looking forward to this! I’d been before and I was blown away by better business class dining than I’d experienced in airport. I’ve also been to the Signature Suite in Vancouver and it was very special. So I happily plunked down extra miles for my family to visit.
Check-in and security didn’t take long, except that we got a particularly surly screener who flagged a bag for an unknown reason and started barking orders. They weren’t having a good day, but we were headed to Paris and they weren’t going to ruin ours.
We made the long trek out to the E gates, which was perfect because our departure gate was actually just one away from the Signature Suite, which is right beside the Plaza Premium lounge (which was at capacity).
Plaza Premium wasn’t the only lounge space that was full, though.
My previous visits to Air Canada Signature Suites have been amazing. The lounges haven’t been crowded. The sit down dining and service were fantastic. Even the buffet was a draw. This time the experience was different.
We arrived around 6// p.m. for our 8:40 p.m. departure. Access is only allowed within three hours of departure. I was surprised to find a line queuing alongside the wall to be seated in the lounge.
- They told us it would only be about 10 minutes. That was optimistic.
- The line got much worse behind us. It started at the steps down into the lounge (past the check-in area) and snaked back past the elevator outside the lounge. One man who waited a bit to get it blew up “Forget this, I’m going to McDonald’s!” and stormed off.
- We waited through multiple passes of water – one round was bottles of water another round was glasses of water.
While waiting in line I saw many people turned away from the lounge. They had partner airline tickets. They had credit cards. They were being sent to the Plaza Premium Lounge next door, or to Maple Leaf Lounge in the terminal. (My wife decided not to wait in line with us, hoping for a pre-flight shower while we waited, but the shower line at the Maple Leaf Lounge was too long and 150 minutes before our flight they could not accommodate her.)
Ultimately it took us a full half an hour to get seated, though if we’d been just a party of two we’d have been seated in under 20 minutes (people behind us in line weren’t as lucky). The lounge is really designed for solo and two-person parties, and to accommodate larger groups together requires tables beside each other to free up around the same time.
So even during peak transatlantic departure times, most passengers won’t experience something quite as bad as what we did. But the guy who decamped for McDonald’s was traveling solo!
Once we were finally seated, it took ages for a server to come over. She took orders, and figuring I wouldn’t see much of her I put in the full order including dessert.
I was disappointed that my favorite dishes, from the foie gras to the burger, were off the menu. I wanted the chocolate cake dessert but they had already run out for the evening. That left ice cream and sorbet. I chose the ice cream and though I asked after it later on, it was never delivered.
Still, they have some nice cocktails, and enjoyable wines here.
And the dishes that we had were quite good.
The space itself is still lovely! And as my boarding time approached the Signature Suite began to clear out. I was leaving right when so many other flights head to Europe, carrying passengers eligible to use the facility. So when I walked around before leaving, there were plenty of spaces. If you’re on one of the latest flights (or coming here during the day) you’ll have much better luck.
And despite the crowds there wasn’t a line for one of the private room restrooms when I went to check that out.
Nonetheless, the menu didn’t impress as much as it has in the past. Worse yet, the buffet was kind of sad. There wasn’t a single item on it that I wanted to try. And there’s no dessert on the buffet, either (I looked, since they didn’t have the chocolate cake I wanted from the menu).
There was salad, sliced meats and cheese, which all seem fine but hardly stood out as ‘must try’. I saw sliders on the buffet and thought “maybe that’s a substitute for the classic burger on their menu?” but these were vegetarian, which is hardly an objection but more bread than I wanted probably. And then there were vats of polenta and pasta with red sauce. These all seemed like things I’d find in a lounge of much lesser stature.
Given how much I’ve loved the Signature Suite experience before, I decided to spring for the extra 15,000 points per person that made the awards refundable without a fee and included access. Upgrades and saver awards come with Maple Leaf Lounge access, but not Signature Suite access.
The Air Canada Signature Suite in Toronto was one of the things I was looking forward to about this trip! Truthfully, because of the crowds, poor service, and buffet that reminded me more of a United Club than upscale dining experience, I regretted the decision to spend the 60,000 extra miles on four tickets.
If I’d visited any other time than a Friday night just after 7 p.m., the experience would certainly have been better. But running out of one of only three desserts (when it’s just cake), and a really disappointing buffet, would still have made it a disappointment.
Fortunately, Air Canada Executive Vice President Mark Nasr tells me that they’ll be expanding the space this year – including the kitchen, and adding staff. Since only paid business class and a subset of Aeroplan award business class passengers, and not upgrades or saver and partner awards – retain access, that should make a difference at peak times like what I experienced.
Truthfully, after they expand I’ll probably go back – but maybe just when I’m by myself, to see it in action, before risking long lines with my family or multiplying the extra cost involved until I know that it’s worth it.
Yeah, they should really abolish or at least privatize that CATSA….
For avoidance of doubt, @Chris, CATSA contracts with private companies to perform the security screening services.
I’ve never suggested that contractors are uniformly friendly. See, for instance, Menzies airline gate agents.
Did I get this right–you check out a hotel (with a shower I presume), go to the airport, and about one hour later your wife wants to take a shower at the airport? I’m sure she must have been too busy before leaving for the airport, finalizing billion dollar consulting contracts or whatever.
@ Gary — 60,000 miles (so maybe $750 USD) to use a lounge? One should expect to be disappointed at that price.
@Gene – 15k x 4 = 60k
Yawn
If you want a good meal, go to a restaurant, not the airport!
60,000 for just lounge access?!
The main problem is that AC is a sh!t airline when it comes to delays. With horrible delays out of YYZ on the evening longhauls, people are left to linger, crowding the lounges. Not their fault that AC is always delayed (worst OTP in North America years running!)
God forbid one has a connection in Europe, not only will you miss it, but it will be impossible to get rebooked. Good luck finding AC staff to help in FRA or LHR.
Gary, what’s your rule of thumb for # of drinks before and during an overnight flight? The goal being to have a proper buzz but not a killer hangover / headache when you wake up in Europe. And at what point in the journey should you stop drinking?
The surly screener in Canada is in line with a recent experience of mine on dates with a Canadian woman. Although I wanted desperately to eat her out, she was such an ill mannered individual, it makes you wonder where the stereotype of the polite Canadian ever came from.
Good that Mark has a plan in place to resolve it this year.
I also wonder if they’ve been offering more discount fares connecting from the US, and this has led to more utilization.
That, and simply more awareness among core passengers.
Sadly my trip to Canada last year just didn’t feel as ‘Canadian’ and warm as it did before. I thought the US had gone too far on the being a slob in a lounge thing and ‘influencer’ kind of vibe…YYZ Maple Leaf lounge was overrun and people were dressed for the beach.
Since YUL, YYZ, YYC and YEG, and YVR are all dominated by Air Canada, there are many, many elite members in Aeroplan since all their flying is concentrated into 1 airline.
I have to yet to find an AC lounge in Canada worth paying extra for, or worth getting there early to experience it.
@ Gary — Yes, I know. Still ridiculous.
Curious, did you get the flex ticket just for the lounge or did you think you might need the flexibility? I think the extra $200/person worth of points for the lounge is an insanely high price to pay (and I have a lot of aeroplan points). It is a pretty high price to pay to avoid the $150 (CDN) change fee for the less flexible J fare unless you think you might change multiple times. If you will take advantage of both flexibility and lounge? Maybe, but that is an edge case at best.
I would really only take the flex fare if I was using a priority award or maybe if I was traveling with someone on a paid business fare
@farnorthtrader – waived cancel/redeposit fees is always a plus but i wouldn’t have spent the extra miles for that. I wouldn’t normally spend the extra except (1) I have loved my Signature Suite visits in the past and (2) I haven’t been to the Toronto one in awhile, so it was an opportunity to update my priors on the experience.
@Joe – honestly I don’t drink for the buzz, I’ll drink if there’s something interesting to try or that seems to pair especially well with the food on offer.
Yow! For the equivalent of $750, I could recommend some far better restaurants in Paris. I’m assuming you went for the blog.
That aside, everyone should expect this problem at peak departure times from the largest airport in the country.
Part of the problem is they’ve issued a new “invite only” AX card that allows entry on non-paid AC international tickets (Y/O/J) I believe.
I understand the lounge to be just a restaurant, right? With no reservation, a 30 minute wait to sit down at a busy restaurant at prime rush hour seems to be pretty light in my opinion. Obviously AC should scale their lounge capacity commensurate with their operations, but for a sit-down restaurant on par with a prime CBD location restaurant feels like something not worth complaining about. I’m sure the wait felt worse in the moment because you’re used to just immediately entering every lounge combined with the usual stress of traveling (not saying this in a sassy way btw, I empathize with you). It’s good to note the wait time to manage expectations, but complaining feels like a stretch.
15k miles per kid to feed kids lounge food. You’re rolling in miles, expecting the miles to devalue or both?
Is it fair to say your wife was not happy with the situation and that this doesn’t make for “happy wife, happy life”?
What was the kids’ take on the food and experience?
$900 worth of points to visit a lounge? Yeah, even if it was amazing, it would not be worth anything close to that.
Must. Have. Lounge.
I know you have a ton of points but 60k for a lounge does not seem like a good use of miles esp for 2 kids and esp when you could have done MLL for $0.
Doubt I would even do this for the amazing EK or Qantas much less SQ. Especially at an O/D airport as opposed to a 6 hour connection or something.
Lesson learned??
@Boraxo – So I really wanted to return and update my sense of the place, especially as food elsewhere has improved. That’s personal, but I guess also for the blog. And it was convenient to do that while I was going to be in Toronto anyway! But it meant doing it with my family, and I wasn’t going to ditch them in the Maple Leaf Lounge and just ticket myself separately at the extra cost on a different PNR, leave them behind and check this out.
I looked at it like the extra 45k points was better than scheduling a separate trip to visit! So it seemed like a value once I’d settled on “I need to return.”
Judged against the value received? Sure, kind of insane 🙂
When it becomes the 51st state, maybe they can get some better food 🙂
Gary,
Am surprised you didn’t think of Mr. Murphy. If it could go wrong with your family traveling, it would.
I am sorry to say, but of all people, I thought you’d be the one to truly understand the value of points, unless you have unlimited supply in which case I apologize in advance for my comments. Since I haven’t been on AC in ages and my last experience in the herringbone biz class where you are sitting/lying down in a way you can’t possibly see outside the window was horrible – I still thought you were talking about the suite seats.
I spent all of my AC, AA and Virgin Atlantic (earned through hotel bonus awards- i.e. free) and CC miles exclusively flying First Class and you still can with a lot of work and on specific routes but it’s possible. The astronomical value that those points can return is incredibly more valuable.
My first ever point redemption was NRT-BKK-NRT in Thai First using AC points for 50K Aeroplan points. There was no way going back when it came to points redemptions. Since I moved over to AA – it was only JAL, CX or Malaysian, Qatar, Etihad (always regretted it though) after BA introduced theft surcharges. ANA on Virgin and Singapore and Thai on AC. But the point is that even now the value of 60K
Now if you were flying to US – I would assume you have Nexus/Global Pass as anyone in your business should it takes 5 minutes door to gate. If you were flying internationally I think biz class passengers and status passengers have expedited security clearance to – so that is equally 5 min door to gate.
You could have booked a suite at the Fairmont at the airport ordered all you wanted from the menu and still be $1,000s of dollars ahead by redeeming those points as I described earlier.
Finally, I am sure you’ve written articles about this many times – lineup in front of the lounges everywhere.
Better luck next time!
Additional comment – if this was YYZ, then Sheraton is right there as well. Not nearly as nice as Fairmont but cheaper and the same 5 (10) minute door to gate applies.
I am glad to hear you have the same opinion as myself. I have been there twice and never overly impressed. Last time I told my wife I spent 15,000 miles or at 1cpm $150 each and my wife said DON’T. Next time just take me out for dinner.
Service in the lounge is just OK and I also was disappointed they didn’t have the hamburger.
Meanwhile, at a refugee camp in South Sudan.
Firstly, the extra points gets you a 100% refundable points ticket. Very important. Secondly, this lounge has never let me down. So, sorry you had a bad experience, but that is not the norm. And miles better than the Maple Leaf. Will be checked out the Elevation Lounge YYC next month. And yes, the Hawksworth burger is limited.
Why do you regret every one in your family?
Let @Gary eat cake!
What a whiney review.
Well I’m glad the foie gras Burger is off the menu. If you miss it try watching a video on how foie gras produced and you’ll probably lose your taste for it. Maybe just try the salad next time.
The Plaza “Premium” Lounge next door isn’t very premium at all. Granted the shower rooms are nice (I’ve used them), the food is a few steps below what you got in the AC lounge and the bar is a tad more limited. I was definitely missing the YVR Transborder lounges when I transited YYZ…
I don’t get why people use lounges. Even flying 1st international I avoid them. Everyone trying to get their “free” stuff is super gross. Just buy yourself dinner, try to minimize time at the airport and quit going through a bunch of machinations to get cheap junk disguised as a premium offering.
I’m surprised it can both fill up and have that much of a backlog. My understanding is that access is restricted to cash business class tickets and refundable points tickets on AC metal (not Star Alliance code-shares). Also, only for overseas flights.
For the evening time slot, this is basically just European flights. Asian/ South American flights seem to be mostly earlier in the day.
Very rough math… 15 eligible flights x 30 business class = 450 (reduced by upgrades/ most points tickets), spread out across 3-4 hours.
Wouldn’t have thought that adds up to enough potential visitors to create this issue. This isn’t like the MLL which includes elite flyers across multiple airlines and credit card holders that can far exceed the availability.
In reply to Brandon Clarke:
“I don’t get why people use lounges.”
Personally for me – washrooms and whenever possible a shower and water bottles or at least clean water. But I put a limit how much I would pay for one if I had to. Doug Parker lost LATAM so that means no free lounges in South America no matter what your status is on AA unless you fly from Chile, Brazil and Argentina to North America. Some lounges there are reasonable and basically after you buy a latte and a sandwich they pay off, an yes you get to use showers.
I’ve heard countless customers say Air Canada staff and travel experiences suck
I’ll assume most are correct and skip it
Primarly I hear your sh*t out of luck is anything goes wrong
I really dislike people taking their families to lounges. In my book this practice should be banned by the airlines. Strictly one or no guests per status passenger.
As for your disappointment with the food, if you want to have a nice dinner with your family, go to a good restaurant, not an airport lounge.
@Ryan “Strictly one or no guests per status passenger.”
Access to this lounge is not based on status, but class of service and fare type
@Gary it’s because you’re American and they knew you were coming that your experience was a poor one. can you get any of those miles back with a formal complaint? Once I used an AA SWU in order to get flagship first dining @ JFK but my flight was late so I had to skip it. I filed a complaint and got a personal phone call and a complimentary SWU to make up their miss. It was greatly appreciated.
Lol seriously?
Boo hoo you couldn’t get your foie Gras, first world problems, no one feels bad for you. You waited in line, had a gourmet meal I wonder what they eat for dinner in Gaza? Or the homeless people here in Toronto. Here’s a tissue …
@Zman “I wonder what they eat for dinner in Gaza?”
sumaghiyyeh
He’s entitled to his entitlements.
About Gary spending 60,000 points to visit the “upscale” lounge . . . he did so you don’t have to. Gary occasionally writes a firsthand experience travel blog with trip reports, hotel reports and even lounge reports that are tailored to the majority of his readers. I think that’s why many of us changed to his blog. Thanks Gary.
“ full half an hour” isn’t that an oxymoron?
My understandings was that the Signature lounge is for Business Class ticket holders only. Fares bought on points and upgrades do not qualify. No guest allowed even for Super Elites. What am I missing from this story?