Making the decision to try Air Canada 787-9 economy for the very first time wasn’t easy.

  • On one hand, I’ve heard many interesting things about it.
  • On the other hand, I had no real reason to go to Canada. The thought of having to try and explain the definition of “AvGeek” to a stone-faced Canadian border patrol agent was not something I was looking forward to.

Despite my anxiety, I decided to cowboy up and go for it. I’m glad I did. Air Canada’s long-haul international economy product is good. Not great, but good.

AC792
Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Toronto, CA (YYZ)
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Aircraft: 787-9
Registration: C-FVNB
Duration: 4 hours 10 minutes
Seat: 37A (economy class)

Air Canada 787-9 side view
Air Canada 787-9 side view illustration by NorebboStock.com.
LAX-YYZ route map
Our route from LAX to YYZ as AC792 this afternoon

A full review of my Air Canada 787-9 economy experience from Los Angeles to Toronto

A 4 hour flight between LAX and YYZ isn’t exactly what I would consider to be the ultimate test of a Boeing 787. That said, it was the perfect amount of time to get a sense of what it would be like on longer flights. And if I totally hated it? No problem! YYZ (and regaining feeling in your lower extremities) ain’t all that far away.

Arrival at LAX Terminal 6

Air Canada had only recently moved to Terminal 6 at the time of this writing. Everything was so well established that wouldn’t have known it when walking through the front door. It looked like they had been there for years.

Terminal 6 LAX baggage claim level
Welcome to *checks notes* Terminal 6 at LAX! I wish they would make it more obvious.
Air Canada check in LAX
Air Canada baggage drop and check in here at LAX. I was actually thinking a “this is nice” or two as I was standing here looking at it, completely unaware of the hell that I would soon witness.

Look. I love LAX, but Terminal 6 isn’t exactly the best place to hang out before a flight. There are people everywhere, the windows are small, and there’s nowhere to sit. I highly advise not showing up early.

Terminal 6 interior LAX
Inside Terminal 6, right before walking through the rotunda which leads to the Air Canada gates. Admittedly, this section looks pretty nice, but tell me: how many seats do you see? T6 is awesome if you enjoy standing – or pacing back and forth for hours on end.
Terminal 6 bar LAX
Thanks for the bar, but I’d much prefer to sit and relax instead of getting **** faced drunk right before my flight. Then again, maybe the architects knew full well about how hellish this terminal is and that a bar would be the only thing that could keep everyone from flipping out? Geniuses. Every one of them.

This Air Canada 787-9 flight to YYZ was timed perfectly to match the departure time of their flight to YUL (or was it the other way around?). Making matters worse is that they were departing from adjacent gates large enough to accommodate nothing larger than a CRJ-200.

Air Canada 787-9 nose LAX
I realize that I probably looked like an over-excited 6 year old as I ran up to the window for a closer look, but I just really like 787’s, ok?

The boarding process

Gate 68B was a total zoo as they initiated the boarding process. So zoo-like as a matter of fact, bad I was almost starting to think that we were in for a massive delay. Thankfully the gate agents are experts of their craft, and they managed to get everyone herded in the right direction. Mooooo!

Terminal 6 overcrowding LAX
300 people crammed into this tiny little gate area and not one of them (including me) had any idea what was going on. All the Delta executives reading this must be laughing hysterically and high-fiving each other for swapping terminals with Air Canada.
Gate 68b terminal 5 LAX
How nobody lost an eye (or broke a leg) I’ll never know.
Walking down gate 68B jetway at LAX
Uh oh. I’m already seeing body bags.
Air canada 787-9 forward boarding door
“Sir, are you really sure you wanna do this? There’s still time to turn back.” I appreciated his honesty.

Economy class seat overview

Because the 787-9 is used their longest and most prestigious routes, Air Canada configured the economy class cabin to be spacious and comfortable (at least when compared to, say, Air Canada 737 MAX 8 economy).

Air canada 787-9 a economy class cabin
I didn’t come all this way to turn around and fly WestJet instead. Air Canada 787-9 economy or bust!
Air canada 787-9 a economy class seats
Economy class, row 37. This doesn’t look all that bad actually. I’m going for it.
Air Canada 787-9 economy seat pitch
Wanna know why I’m not upset that my small backpack won’t fit all the way under the seat in front of me? Because the legroom is a heck of a lot better than what I experienced in Air Canada Rouge A321 economy.
Air Canada 787-9 mid cabin lavatory
The economy class cabin of the Air Canada 787-9. This looks pretty nice, and I’m especially liking the mid cabin lavatory. Thinking of the unmentionable things my fellow passengers will do behind those walls right out here in the middle of the cabin is just…funny.

Those of you who have flown Air Canada A330-300 economy will be right at home in these seats. They’re nearly identical – right down to the fabric pattern.

Air Canada 787-9 USB port economy class
USB outlets at every seat makes it so that you won’t have any excuse to arrive at your destination with a dead phone.

The departure

We ended up pushing off the gate 17 minutes late. There was no explanation for it, but I’m pretty sure it had to do with the rainy weather (which doesn’t exactly jive with the culture here in SoCal).

Air canada 787-9 pushing off the gate at LAX
$20 says that everyone over there on that flight to YUL hated our guts just as much as we hated theirs. The gate area was just nuts!

It took 16 minutes to taxi to runway 25R, and we took off at 12:23 PM. Better late than never I suppose.

Air Canada 787-9 takeoff LAX
Fun fact: the 787-9 is so quiet during takeoff that disgusting noises from other passengers made this part of the video really interesting. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.

Food and drinks

Was it from the shift need to hope that I’d at least get a free snack on this 4 hour flight to Toronto? Apparently. Because of this, I ask again: what is the purpose of Air Canada Rouge when there’s no difference in onboard service compared to the main brand?

Not only that, even WestJet serves complimentary snacks on all flights in economy (as I discussed in my Air Canada vs WestJet comparison). Why the heck is Air Canada being so stingy?

Air Canada economy class food menu
Sorry, free snacks don’t exist back here in Air Canada economy class. However, the menu is just as impressive as what you’d get on Air Canada Rouge. Wait a sec. Did I just say something nice about Rouge?!
Air Canada in flight service
Don’t you hate it when the flight attendants are inching closer to your row and you *still* can’t decide what to get? That’s pressure – especially since it looks like she’s going to demand an immediate answer.
Dirty tray table air Canada
By the way, my tray table was disgusting. I lived to blog about it though.
Air Canada meal for purchase
Dinner. Not bad for $4 (Canadian)! My ability to choose food items that doesn’t stink up the entire cabin is ninja-like.

In flight entertainment

Even by 2018 standards, the in-flight entertainment system felt a bit sluggish and outdated. There are video screens at every seat. But they’re very dim and pretty much impossible to see in bright sunlight. The selection of movies and TV shows was mediocre at best. I didn’t even watch anything other than the flight map.

Air Canada 787-9 economy video screen main menu
The main menu of the video entertainment system. Don’t get excited. The rest of the user interface is pretty lame.

Despite the low-quality video screen, I appreciated the fact that the cabin crew came by with complementary earbuds.

Air canada 787-9 in-flight entertainment map screen
Watching our progress across the entire US (pixel by pixel) was made easy with this feature-rich in-flight map. Heads up Michigan – you’re about to get buzzed by an Air Canada 787-9!

Seat and cabin comfort

There’s plenty of leg room, the mood lighting is on point, and it’s a ton of fun to play with the button that controls the window tint. The 787-9 is a really neat (and very comfortable) aircraft. Dare to check out my Air Canada A321 business class review if you want to see what it’s competing against.

Air Canada 787-9 economy class comfort
Whether you’re big or small, chances are really good that you’re gonna be happy you chose the 787-9 over the A320 or 737-8 MAX. Besides, how cool is it to tell your friends “yeah, I just flew in on a 787” (all smug-like of course).
787 engine and whing viewed from the window
The 787-9 is super quiet (even when sitting behind a wing like this). Like, library quiet. It’s so quiet in fact, that I felt more productive on this flight than I have on any other in recent memory. I didn’t want to work!
Air Canada 787-9 mood lighting
The Air Canada 787-9 gets a solid 8 out of 10 on the SANspotter mood lighting scale. It’s nowhere near as skin staining as my Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 economy experience was, but hey. Nothing will ever tap that.

The descent and arrival into YYZ

The tail winds must’ve been strong, because we were only two minutes behind schedule by the time we began the descent into Toronto. Either that or they pretty much cannonballed it all the way east (with no regards to the speed limit).

Air Canada 787–9 approaching Toronto at night
Steady…stay on target…“Can’t see sh*t Captain!”
Air Canada 787-9 landing at YYZ at night
Welcome to Toronto. I think. Who knows? Maybe I ended up on that YUL flight by accident after all.

It was 7:17 PM by the time we landed. From there it was a quick and bumpy 6 minute taxi to gate.

Air Canada 787-9 economy passengers retrieving luggage after the flight
“That’s it?” The body language of my fellow passengers seems to imply that they were expecting something more. For what it’s worth, I was quite satisfied with this experience.

Pros and cons

The Air Canada 787-9 is far and away one of the most comfortable aircraft in the fleet – even in economy class. This ended up being such a nice flight that I was actually kind of bummed that it was only four hours long. I gotta do this again.

Pros

  • The seats are actually quite soft by current day economy class standards. My butt didn’t hurt a bit.
  • Even way back in economy class (behind the engines – where it’s usually the noisiest), the 787-9 is relatively quiet.

Cons

  • In-flight entertainment is lacking. Not only is the video screen low-quality, the catalog of content isn’t all that great either.
  • Snacks and drinks are extremely limited (at least on domestic / North America flights).

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19 Comments

  1. Wonderful review Scott! In the past few years, Air Canada has backed down on snacks on-board their flights. Every time I have flown a wide-body across the country (777-200LR/787-8) I have not received a snack. “Rapidair” flights (Toronto-Ottawa/Montreal and Toronto City-Montreal) have full drink and snack service. Some of their Air Canada Express flights do have a snack and drink service. When flying Victoria-Calgary on the Q400 i only received a drink, but Calgary-Kamloops which is a shorter flight and on a smaller aircraft I had both drink and snack. Not sure if they will reinstate the snacks on mainline flights, but one can only hope!

    1. Thanks Brandon! It’s kind of funny how it usually plays out in this industry – when airlines are new, they are generous with all kinds of perks (such as snacks). As they age and become more established, the perks are stripped away until there’s really nothing left other than basic transportation. Air Canada needs a serious competitor IMHO, and I can only hope that WestJet will eventually grow into that.

  2. Great report. I would have happily met you for a coffee. I’m only 20 minutes away from Pearson.

    It will be interesting to see how the Westjet 787 offering will differ. The cabin pics look good. A lot of controversy about the cancellation of the YYT-DUB route, though.

    1. Thanks Randy – yeah, too bad I didn’t stay in Toronto very long. It’s been many years since I’ve had a proper look around, so maybe next time. But yeah I can’t wait to give that WestJet 787 a try!

    1. I haven’t had the chance to try a 737-8 MAX yet so it’s likely I’d choose that over the 787 if I had to do this again anytime soon. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard many good things about the MAX…

        1. never mind, I’ll take a A320 over the death cruiser. And one time when I was flying to TPE from YVR on ACA 787-9, on the way, a volcano erupted 5 minutes after we passed it. So if we had flown 5 kts slower it would be, ditching in the ocean.

          1. You’re like the only person I know who hates the 787. Haha! It’s not that bad of an airplane actually!

  3. Excellent and fun review as always. I am looking for a flight from LAX to Toronto currently and there is still one 787-9 service per day. You mentioned that the 787-9 Y cabin was “quite spacious and comfortable”. But published spec (i.e. seatguru) shows the Y seats to be only 17-inch wide (i guess that’s average width for 787) with a dismal 30-inch pitch (which seems below average for both domestic and international standards). Just wondering if the seats felt more spacious than these numbers suggest?

    1. Thanks Dennis! Yeah, I’m fortunate enough not to be super tall (just 5’-10”) so I don’t normally have issues in tight airline seats. Except when it comes to Air Canada Rouge and any United A320 I’ve experienced lately…

      Honestly I didn’t have any issues with these seats, and I was perfectly comfortable for the entire flight. It was much better than Rouge in my opinion. As long and you’re not really tall you should be fine!

          1. oh ya, what is your favorite type of aircraft, by favorite is the Boeing 777-200ER.

  4. Hi Scott – So i took the 787 flight from LAX to YYZ, and it was better than expected. At 6’1, the legroom was actually ok (perhaps due to slim-line seat and my low expectations) for the full 4.5 hour flight. For a long-haul flight, I think the seat width could be more problematic if you have a seat-mate (of any size).
    By the way, the return trip was on a 30 year old 767-300ER

    1. Glad you had a good experience Dennis! I completely agree about how iffy this might be on a long haul, but I am hoping to try it soon (just to see if it’s survivable). Haha! Hopefully the 787 was better than the 767 though.

  5. I’m glad that I’m not alone in thinking that the 787 is great, even in 3-3-3 Economy! As you say, it’s quiet and spacious (or at least it feels that way thanks to the Sky Interior and large windows).
    Speaking of the windows, I actually like the dimming system! It’s really nice how you can block light for your seatmates, yet still be able to get a decent view. The 777X dimmers look even better: they dim faster and actually go fully dark. I just don’t like the fact that the crew can lock them.
    And is it weird that I like both loud AND quiet engines? I love sitting at the back of an MD-80, next to the JT8D’s or hearing the growl of the GE90, yet I find amazing how quiet and relaxing the current generation of engines are. I especially appreciate it on an overnight flight.

    1. I actually hadn’t heard that the 777X windows will go full dark. That’s pretty cool (although, like you, I don’t like that the cabin crew can control it). Eventually all aircraft will have electronically-controlled dimmers, but I’m just glad that I’ll be dead and gone before that happens. Haha!

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