Both the hard and soft products on Air Canada business class (called Signature Class) are above average. This puddle-jumper flight (Montreal to Lyon) felt far too short! Though I’ve flown Air Canada’s product previously, I would keep coming back when presented with the opportunity.

Connecting at Montreal

I’m not used to making connections between two international flights. On one end you have countries like the United States, which requires all passengers (even those connecting) to clear customs and immigration in full. On the other, you have most of Europe, which treats non-EU connections like domestic US connections. No visa, no passport check, nothing. Canada is somewhere in between (a TWOV program is in place too).

After getting off my flight from the US, we passed through a long walkway towards the immigration hall. While arrivals turned right, I turned left down a narrow passageway and staircase. There was a confusing mess of line dividers but an automated gate accepted my connecting boarding pass. Then I scanned my passport through one of the small machines, and I was through, right to the international departures hall. I didn’t have to recheck my bags or speak to any agents.

Boarding

Today I was flying out of gate 51, which was a very short walk from the immigration door. I popped into the Maple Leaf Lounge for a quick snack on the way and to freshen up.

To say the gate area was busy would be an understatement. Gates 50 and 51 are technically international gates but are BEFORE the barriers dividing international and domestic flights. To keep the areas sterile, there are glass windows and doors dividing the two gates “exclave”. I think these doors can open to service domestic flights if needed. I didn’t take any pictures, but here is an image I found to help illustrate (h/t to Milesopedia):

And pardon my chicken scratches, but hopefully, this will make more sense:

The red mark was instead a large closed door. The blue area is not part of the international terminal. The international section is technically BEYOND the barriers circled in green, normally gates 52-68. So to access international gate 51, you had to be on the other side of the green barriers on the OTHER side of this wall. Now you see how tight it is.

But oh it gets worse…gate 50 is in the same situation, and it’s actually behind this picture. So to get to gate 50, you had to pass the green barriers (if not already), go around to the other side, shimmy past all the gate 51 people, and walk down the narrow path between the glass wall and the terminal wall, before getting to gate 50. The bottom line is, it was CROWDED! Very poor design, in my opinion.

Anyways, boarding commenced shortly by zone number about 5 minutes late.

The Seat

Air Canada’s Signature Class is configured in a 1-2-1 pattern using the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats. Each business class seat has direct aisle access, which is a huge plus. For this flight, I assigned myself seat 5K, a window seat to the right.

Waiting at each seat was a bed pad and duvet, an amenity kit, a bottle of water, and a pair of noise-canceling headphones. Each seat also had a remote control, USB charging port, regular North American charging port, and seat controls. Each seat also has an individual reading light near the literature pocket behind the shoulder. Under the left armrest (which can be raised/lowered) was a small cubby, the perfect size for the amenity kit (which I proceeded to forget after the flight…oops).

These seats are fully lie-flat, extending to the footwell to create a long comfortable bed. I’m over 6 feet tall and had no issues lying completely flat. If you sleep with your knees curled, you might be uncomfortable as your knees will touch the tray table.

Inflight Service

With a larger cabin, one crew member served each aisle of Signature Class. After greeting each passenger by name and handing out menus, each passenger was offered a choice of champagne or water. Of course, to feel fancy, I chose champagne (I mean, we’re going to France after all).

We pushed back one minute early at 9:29 PM. However, given the icy and cold conditions in Canada in December, we spent about 15 minutes on the deicing pad. This caused a slight delay and we finally took off after 31 minutes.

For some reason, our flight took a route that went significantly further north than others hopping the Atlantic this evening. We flew an extra ~300 miles compared to the most direct route. Below was our flight track:

Compare this with, for example, the flight from Montreal to Paris:

I want to take a moment here and highlight how extensive Air Canada’s in-flight entertainment catalog is. They do a very good job of including titles from different cultures, across genres, and different years. It took me a solid 10 minutes just to scroll through everything and decide what I wanted to watch.

Dinner service began around 35 minutes after takeoff. I didn’t get a picture of the menu, but there was one appetizer and salad. Then there was an option of either short rib, salmon, vegetable bowl, or pasta tortellini. For dessert, it was a choice between a slice of cake or a small ice cream.

The appetizer was a duck breast paired with a mixed greens salad. The flavors were well-balanced, but the salad was heavy on hearts of palm, shattering my hopes of being healthy 😉. I got a glass of red wine to go with the red meat.

For dinner, I opted for the short rib. It was served with mushrooms, a carrot, and a serving of mashed potatoes. The short rib was a little on the dry side, but flavorful. The sauce helped balance it out. The mushrooms and carrots I didn’t touch, but the potatoes were surprisingly good!

For dessert, I don’t eat much ice cream. So I opted for the cake, which wasn’t too sweet. I ordered a cup of tea (don’t worry, it didn’t keep me awake). Pardon the small bite taken out of the cake, I guess I just couldn’t wait to try it!

After finishing the newest Mission Impossible movie, I drifted off to sleep rather quickly. Though the headphones were quite large to sleep with, they did a very good job of blocking out excess noise. I slept pretty well for about 4 hours until we hit some very rough turbulence near Ireland.

Breakfast was supposed to start 1.5 hours before landing, but the flight crew had to stay strapped in for an extra 25 minutes. So they worked diligently to serve us as quickly as possible. They passed by with trays of scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, and some fresh fruit.

We arrived in Lyon around 25 minutes late. Quite a few passengers (including myself) were making already tight connections, so this delay didn’t help. But hey, at least we all made it!

Final Thoughts

Air Canada’s Signature Class product is consistently above average. It isn’t glamorous like Emirates or Singapore Airlines by any means, but it does the job and does it well. The bedding was quite comfortable, the food was good, and the IFE was extensive. While I’d certainly choose to fly other “superior” business class products, I wouldn’t hesitate to opt for Signature Class again.