Flight Review: Air Canada A330-300 Economy Class from Montreal to Toronto Pearson

Flight Review: Air Canada A330-300 Economy Class from Montreal to Toronto Pearson

Flight Information
Date
: May 11, 2018
Flight No.: AC835
Route: Montreal Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau to Toronto Pearson
Airline: Air Canada
Type: Airbus A330-300
Registration: C-GFUR

Air Canada operates more than two dozen daily flights between Montreal and Toronto making the city pair one of the busiest domestic routes in Canada. While some flights use Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport located right in the city center, most of the flights use the larger Pearson airport.

The flight I ended up taking between the two cities (which departed more than 25 hours later than the one I was originally scheduled to fly on) took me from Montreal’s Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport to Toronto Pearson airport onboard an Airbus A330-300 and it was a continuation of the airline’s flight from Geneva in Switzerland.

Just like with my flight from Paris to Montreal, I had a chance to bid for an upgrade prior to departure, but given the shortness of the flight, I decided to stick with economy class.

Air Canada Upgrade Bid
Upgrade offer that I received after booking.

Checking-in at Montreal Airport

After spending the morning at a park near the airport, I went back to my hotel to pick up my suitcase, and then straight back to the airport where I arrived around 3PM – with more than enough time to spare before my 5PM departure.

Montreal Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau
Departures board at Montreal airport.

After getting my boarding pass as well as a luggage tag from one of the automated check-in machines, I was sent to a baggage drop off area. Except, when I got there, I was sent to another one on the opposite end of the terminal…

Nonetheless, within a few minutes, I found a staffed baggage drop off area and was directed to one of the automated machines. After a bit of fiddling, my bag was accepted by the machine and so I could proceed airside.

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Air Canada Check-in
Air Canada’s automatic check-in kiosk.

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Air Canada Luggage Drop-Off
Automated luggage drop off point.

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Similar to the US, there is no outbound immigration control when departing Canada, and so both domestic and international flights depart from the same departures lounge. The exception to that, interestingly, are flights to the United States which pre-clear immigration in Canada and so depart from a separate secure area.

While waiting for my flight to start boarding, I visited the National Bank Lounge which is part of the Priority Pass network.

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Air Canada A320-200 at Montreal Airport
Air Canada A320-200.

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National Bank Lounge
National Bank Lounge.

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Boarding an Air Canada Airbus A330-300

I left the lounge at 4:25PM and by the time I got to gate 51 where the flight was departing from, boarding for my zone, zone 3, was already in progress.

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Gate 51 at Montreal Airport
Gate 51 as seen before I headed to the lounge.

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Air Canada Airbus A330-300
The Air Canada A330-300 that took me from Montreal to Toronto.

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Walking down the jetway, I stepped onboard the Air Canada A330-300 equipped with a total of 292 seats in three classes.

The aircraft’s business class cabin situated between doors 1 and 2 featured a total of 27 herringbone seats in a “1-1-1” layout. That was followed by a small premium economy cabin with three “2-3-2” rows for a total of 21 seats. And finally, there was the economy class with a total of 244 seats in a “2-4-2” configuration.

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Air Canada A330-300 Business Class
Business class with herringbone seats.

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Air Canada A330 Premium Economy Class
Premium economy class.

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Air Canada A330-300 Economy Class
Economy class.

The first thing I noticed after settling down in my seat was that the seat pitch was quite tight. On the positive side, besides the IFE screen, the seat was also equipped with USB and standard power outlets.

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Air Canada A330-300 Economy Class Legroom
Legroom.

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Air Canada Seat Back
Seat back with the screen and power outlets.

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Air Canada Short-Haul Domestic Economy Class Service

Boarding was completed at 4:51PM, and we got on our way at 4:56PM – slightly ahead of schedule. We took off at 5:11PM, and less than ten minutes after that the seatbelt signs were switched off and the in-flight service commenced.

First, by sales of earphones. I wonder how many passengers actually buy them on a one-hour domestic flight…

While the crew was busy selling earphones, I took a quick look at the in-flight entertainment system. While the menu was roughly the same (although a bit toned down) than on the 777-300ER, the system was almost unusably slow.

As far as the content is concerned, it was a slightly cut down version of the 777-300ER’s IFE as well. But there was still more than enough content to keep a person busy on even a long-haul flight.

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Air Canada A330-300 IFE
IFE system.

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Air Canada A330-300 Movies
Movies

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The in-flight service continued (and ended) with a free drink and pretzels service.

Pretzels and Coke
Pretzels and Coke.

Landing at Toronto Pearson Airport

Not long after the pretzels were served, at 5:54PM, the seatbelt signs were switched back on.

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Approaching Toronto
Approaching Toronto.

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47 Miles Left
47 miles left.

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About ten minutes after that, the cockpit crew lowered the landing gear, and at 6:06PM, we landed at Toronto Pearson airport. The flight came to an end at 6:13PM when we parked at our gate.

Air Canada A330-300
The A330-300 after our arrival in Toronto.

Air Canada A330-300 Domestic Economy Class Summary

Air Canada provided a perfectly suitable service for a one-hour domestic flight. While the earphone sales made the flight feel a bit “cheap,” other than that it was alright. The fact that the aircraft offered power outlets was welcome as well.

That said, if the flight wasn’t part of a larger itinerary, and I was just looking for a way to get between the two cities, I would have just booked whatever the cheapest option was. And, I would definitely also look at the possibility of flying to Billy Bishop airport in Toronto which is walkable distance from the city center.

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