After a less than impressive visit to the Air Canada Signature Suite, we were headed down to our gate next door for our flight to Paris. Disappointment in the lounge might have put me in a sour mood, but I was actually very excited for this flight to Paris.

You see, for several hours I thought I’d wind up flying overnight in what Air Canada sells as a premium economy product instead of business class. We had flown into Toronto the day before and spent the night at the Hyatt Regency. And I woke up to an email from Air Canada.

We’re very sorry, the new aircraft operating your flight does not have a Signature Class cabin or lie flat Pods.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Your seat will be an angled lie flat in our exclusive Business Class cabin… If you’d like to change your flight, please call us at 1 888 247 2262 and we’ll be happy to find you another option in your preferred cabin.
  
• If you decide to travel on this flight, we will review your ticket for any applicable refund, and our Customer Care team will reach out to you within 7 business days.

In 2019 Air Canada acquired ex-Singapore Airlines Airbus A330s from TAP Air Portugal, and never updated the interior. They’ve been selling the old Singapore Airlines regional business product as premium economy. It’s been years since I’d flown in these seats:

However, the seat map still showed the original Air Canada configuration. Looking this up online, the aircraft tail assigned to my flight looked to be one of these former Singapore planes. But I sorted out that the original aircraft swap that triggered the e-mail was actually being swapped out again. So I’d have the fully flat seat across the Atlantic to sleep in.

It’s amazing how an email like that can reset your expectations. It made me thoroughly excited for the business class I had expected to have all along except for a few hours in the morning. I’d even considered re-routing, but there just weren’t seats for us to change to (and with the Air France non-stop sold out, I didn’t want to add a connection with a baby in any case).

Onboard, we did wind up with Air Canada’s standard ‘Signature Class’ business cabin. It’s attractive and a quality product, even if I think there’s room for improvement.

Service began with predeparture beverages of water or champagne after boarding had completed. There was a premium amenity bag and lotion, but the amenity kit’s contents are quit light.

I really do find this to be a comfortable seat, but wish there was more storage space.

We departed about 12 minutes late. The first 45 minutes of the flight had a decent amount of turbulence, and the start of service was delayed. That meant cabin lights were on far longer than normal. I was exhausted and asked to save my meal and slept.

When I woke up a flight attendant approached me and asked if I’d like my meal, and it was brought out on a single tray.

I had actually pre-ordered a Thai beef dish that was tasty.

My kids both slept most of the flight and the flight went by quickly – from Toronto it’s such a short trip. Soon enough it was time for breakfast, and since I ate (just a bit of) my dinner midflight I wasn’t famished. That was perfect because while I wouldn’t say breakfast was good exactly (food I’d be happy with on the ground), the potatoes were really tasty. And being able to have espresso in the morning is clutch as well.

Air Canada’s business class product is solid. It’s the same basic Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat that American Airlines uses on many of its widebodies. China Airlines uses it. Qatar has used it. But it doesn’t have the latest in tech, and it lacks doors (which British Airways, Air France KLM, Delta, American and others are moving to).

They’re expected to introduce a new business class seat when the Boeing 787-10 enters their fleet. I expect to see something like the Etihad or Starlux seat, but that’s not based on any inside knowledge, just an expectation that the airline’s current seat manufacturer’s best products have a leg up on the competition.

I would take their current seat over United’s and it’s comparable to American’s. It’s light years ahead of Delta 767s, but not as good as on many of their A330s and A350s. And I really like the ‘dine anytime’ flexibility. On this flight I just wanted to nap right away, but I was up quite a bit and having a few bites of the main meal rather than packaged snacks is a huge plus.

When I flew Air Canada to Sydney I enjoyed my pre-flight meal in their Signature Suite and took my main meal midflight (honestly a meal at start and end of a North America – Australia flight just leaves too long of a gap without a meal, this is a solution, but Air Canada did have hot food too on demand which was great).

So on the one hand I don’t find Air Canada’s service to be stellar, I do find their willingness to honor meal flexibility to be outstanding.

At the end of the flight we were off the plane quickly, and while a number of aircraft came in at the same time there really wasn’t any sort of queue for immigration – although one formed fairly quickly behind us.

Baggage came off the belt quickly and we were on our way into Paris.