The day is finally here, after packing in last minute, we made our way to Pearson. The priority check-in was a breeze. An interesting note is that you can in fact check in your luggage to your final destination if you are connecting at LHR to BA (Even if the tickets were bought separately). We decided not to take up the offer because BA offers free Same – Day – Change for Plus Fares (More on that in Day 1 Post)
Since boarding wont begin for another hour, we stopped by the YYZ’s international Maple Leaf Lounge. It’s not the suite (which is only available for revenue business class passengers as opposed to one flying on flyer points (each Mini – Around the world business class tickets can range between 150-160K aeroplan points plus $500-1000 in taxes and fees – you can learn more about how it works and how you can do the same here)
The lounge was quite nice, food were relatively okay, personally nothing to write home about but definitely not bad either. Generally the ones you would find in a $6.99 buffets down in the states. However, there were plenty of alcoholic available (Red, White, Hard Liquor such as Johnnie Walker Black Label, Absolut Vodka). I don’t know jack about wines so I won’t share my opinion how I felt about mine.
^The hot options available that evening were: Sweet Asian BBQ Chicken, Corn, Potato with Vegetables, as well as a fish option.
^Snack Bar with cookie and fruit options 
^Salad and do it yourself nacho station.
There is on ritual I always do whenever possible if I am flying for three hours or longer – take a shower and change into pajama. Most of the Maple Leaf Lounges offer this amenity and all you have to do is put yourself on a wait-list with a lounge staff at Domestic MLLs or with the front desk at International MLLs.
There are two shower-rooms available and luckily the line wasnt long because we were on one of the last international departures of the night.
Once that was done, we head towards the boarding gate and as expected on any Air Canada 77W flights, a swarm of people standing around, effectively blocking out the path to any of the zone boarding line. The gate agent attempts to get everyone to relax by informing them to wait until their zone is being called – which fell on deaf ears as more and more begins to queue once the original boarding time came and went. I suspect the reason was to be some VIPs on-board this flight as the GA mentioned there were some kind of security issues and I saw a group of people was escorted onboard. Didn’t spot any celebrities since ignorance is a bliss.
^Staircase down to YYZ’s international terminal. 
^The only way to gain a strategic advantage in the battle of overhead space in the ever more crowded plane seems to be queuing.
^Our Plane, a version of 777-300ER that seats exactly 400 People (40 in Business, 24 in Premium Economy and 336 in Economy)
This is also a good time to tell you about Air Canada’s recent rebranding of their business class product to Signature Class. Was the change sufficient enough to warrant a branding change? Not really, but that doesn’t make it a bad product. The only real change in my opinion was the new amenity kit (If you want a detail break down of each component of the new amenity kit, click here) and a comforter that was more for sanitary purposes than comfort.
Air Canada also “revamped” their menu . I choose the Duck Leg dish designed by David Hawksworth – it was the best plane food I have ever had: juicy, tasty and nearly perfectly cooked. I actually didnt think AC would be capable of delivering such quality after my prior experiences.
^Above: Menu for the late evening departures.
You can view the FULL MENU with wine-list here
Above: Salad and fruit/cheese plate before the main course.
Above: Duck Leg Main Course (It may not look delicious, but it most def was in every way)
Above: The new signature cocktail mix. I thought it was pretty good but you should not take my word for it.
Now, lets talk about the seat themselves, Air Canada’s fleet have been suffering Deflate Seat issues for awhile, and unfortunately I believe that my seat had a similar, but less serious version of the issue. It was reflated once the service director on-board had reset the seat (while doing the reset, he hides the panel with his palm as if its some top-secret code). But… the part of the seat was not inflated evenly, making it harder to sleep, it wasnt a deal breaker by anyways, but would otherwise have been a perfect trip.
See tomorrow’s post for a full view of Air Canada’s business class product.
Jumper Jack 