World Traveller 73 
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has offered a number of great promotions over the years. These have included shipping free checked baggage cases of wine from wine regions and free skiing on the day of arrival by showing a same day Alaska Airlines Boarding Pass. Alaska Airlines has launched their latest promotion which involves a partnership with Mountain Collective Ski Resorts by offering additional Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles with the purchase of a Mountain Collective Ski Pass.
Hit the Slopes and Earn Miles: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Skiing Promotion with Mountain Collective
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan remains one of my favorite frequent flier programs to earn and redeem in. Unfortunately, we’ve seen a recent adjustment in the program with the cancellation of the MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercard. This week, we’ve seen the announcement of their latest promotion which is specifically targeted at travelling downhill skiers who are Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Elite Members.
Earn Up to 10,000 Alaska Mileage Plan points with purchase of a Mountain Collective Pass:
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has announced their latest promotion. This was sent directly by email to Alaska Mileage Plan MVP, MVP Gold, MVP 75k and MVP 100K members.
Alaska Airlines is offering up to 10,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan bonus miles, with the purchase of a Mountain Collective ski pass for the 2023-2024 winter season.
This is a unique promotion that compliments travel on Alaska Airlines, along with benefiting skiers in order to earn points.
The Offer:
The offer allows for Alaska Mileage Plan Elite members to get 10,000 bonus Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles and one extra ski day at a pre-selected resort when purchasing through a specific link.
Unlock a world of adventure with just one pass, redeemable for two days each at 24 ski resorts across five continents. Mountain Collective is a dream come true for snow-seeking globetrotters. Fly with Alaska and our airline partners to use your pass at legendary ski destinations like Sun Valley, Jackson Hole, Big Sky and Niseko United.
As a Mileage Plan™ elite, you’ll get 10,000 bonus miles and a 3rd day free at a resort of your choice when you snag a Mountain Collective Pass.
Terms and Conditions:
The terms and conditions of the offer are pretty straight forward, with mileage posting across two phases that should be fairly automatic.
Limited time offer terms and conditions: All Mileage Plan members who purchase a new Mountain Collective pass for the 2023-2024 season between August 3, 2023 and September 25, 2023 will receive 5,000 bonus miles along with a 3rd bonus day at a location of their choice, to be selected at purchase.
Members must make a qualifying purchase via the URL provided in this email. Offer not valid for customers with an existing Mountain Collective pass for the 2023-2024 season.
Bonus miles will post to the member’s Mileage Plan account by October 15, 2023, provided the Mountain Collective pass has not been refunded. Mileage Plan elites (MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, or MVP Gold 100K status) will receive an additional 5,000 bonus miles (10,000 bonus miles total).
To earn these additional 5,000 bonus miles, members must hold elite status as of October 1, 2023. Bonus miles do not count toward elite status qualification. All Mileage Plan terms and conditions apply. All Mountain Collective terms and conditions apply.
The offer must be redeemed by September 25, 2023.
Overall, this is a pretty reasonable offer if you were planning on getting one of these passes anyway.
What is the Mountain Collective?
The Mountain Collective is the “other” ski resort group that competes against Vail Resorts Epic Pass. The Mountain Collective offers two days of skiing at a host of resorts, along with a third ski day at one ski resort that is specifically linked to this bonus offer.
In contrast to the Epic Pass, which is a true season’s pass to about 40 worldwide resorts and also offers limited access to additional international resorts if specific conditions are met, The Mountain Collective only offers two days at each of it’s resorts, with additional days at 50% off full price. There are 24 resorts within the Mountain Collective allowing 48 days of skiing.
The Mountain Collective Resorts:
The Mountain Collective Resorts include the following areas:
United States of America:
- Alta Ski Area
- Arapahoe Basin
- Aspen Snowmass
- Big Sky Resort
- Grand Targhee Resort
- Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
- Snowbasin
- Snowbird
- Sugar Bowl
- Sugarloaf
- Sun Valley
- Taos Ski Valley
Canada:
- Banff Sunshine
- Lake Louise
- Le Massif de Charlevoix
- Marmot Basin
- Panorama Mountain Resort
- Revelstoke mountain resort
- Sun Peaks Resort
Japan:
- Niseko United
France:
- Chamonix
Australia
- Mt Buller
New Zealand:
- Coronet Peak + the Remarkables
Chile:
- Valle Nevado
Overall, this is a great collection of resorts. If you are a hard core skier, and have the ability to have liberal travel plans, having both passes will compliment your ski season by accessing almost every single medium and large resort in the world.
How to Redeem the Offer:
The Alaska Airlines Offer takes you to a specific landing page on the Mountain Collective site. The website purchase page isn’t too sophisticated, and is actually among the more elementary purchase sites that I have seen.
The Alaska Airlines offer is clearly marked on the Mountain Collective paywall page.
Purchasers are required to select the resort for the “additional ski day” at the time of purchase. As a result, purchasers will have to have an idea on where they will spend the most of their time when they use the pass.
The passes are selling for $630 USD this season, which allows access to 48 days. of skiing across 24 resorts worldwide.
My Take on This Promotion:
If you’re fortunate enough to have time in your schedule to travel to different resorts, and are an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan elite member, this is an easy way to get an additional 10,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
The main challenge with the Mountain Collective is that it only offers two days at each resort (or three with this offer), which is difficult for my travel patterns that don’t allow that much time off from work in order to travel to different ski areas. This is in contrast to the Epic Pass which offers unlimited skiing at each resort. The Epic Pass allows me to work through twenty or more days of skiing at my home resort of Whistler Blackcomb, every season.
In Summary: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Partners with Mountain Collective to offer Bonus Miles
Alaska Airlines MVP Elites are being offered an additional 10,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles if they purchase a Mountain Collective ski pass when purchased through a dedicated link. They are also offered an additional ski day at a preselected resort at time of purchase.
This is a great offer if you are planning on purchasing a Mountain Collective pass and are an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Elite. While I won’t be participating as a result of my own travel plans that limit my own interest in the Mountain Collective Pass, this has the potential to be an easy 10,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for the right skiing customer. It also emphasizes Pacific Northwest flyers to fly Alaska Airlines to the various resorts, something you’ll have to do if you get to each ski resort anyway.
If you are an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP member, does this offer engage you ?
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar represents one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in Whistler, Canada. Despite opening at the end of the pandemic, the restaurant has already accumulated a large number of accolades and awards by Conde Nast Traveller and Vancouver Magazine. On a summer evening in July, we would have the opportunity to test out Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar for a date night.
Restaurant Review: Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar, Whistler, Canada
About Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar:
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar represents one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in Whistler, Canada. The restaurant opened during the less than ideal “end of the pandemic” period in August 2022.
The restaurant was established by local past Araxi and Top Table Group restauranteur Neil Henderson, Chef Alex Chen, winner of Iron Chef and Chef of the Year by Vancouver Magazine and Jack Evrensel, Restaurant Hall of Fame inductee, Founder and former operator of Toptable Group. Executive Chef Derek Bendig brings his years of experience and classic French and European culinary sensibility to Wild Blue.
Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar has already been recognized by the prestigious ‘Canada’s 100 Best’ with #4 in the nations Best New Restaurants and honoured with a #66 ranking in Canada’s 100 Best List 2023. “The Most Important Whistler Restaurant Opening in a Decade” by Vancouver Magazine and “The Hot Table to Book in Whistler” by Condé Nast Traveler.
Wild Blue Restaurant + Bar is a Whistler fine-dining restaurant that focuses on elevated Pacific Northwest cuisine, sustainable seafood, and local ingredients.
Getting a Reservation:
I got a reservation at Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar through the Open Table Reservation system. It was an easy process and with several weeks advance notice, I was able to get a Saturday night reservation without any difficulty. The restaurant remained busy throughout the evening, with diners continuing to be seated until about 8:30 PM.
In addition to the convenience of booking through Open Table, I earned an easy 100 Open Table points for dining at the restaurant.
Locating Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar:
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar is located just outside of the pedestrian village walkway known as Whistler Village. The property isn’t too hard to find, although without locating it on a map, it may be a little challenging to locate on your first time.
The restaurant is located across the Whistler Way street that separates Whistler Village from the Aava Hotel. On our visit, there was a nondescript entrance marked by a Range Rover and a Canadian and British Columbian provincial flag marking the front door.
The property is easily walkable from. theWhistler Village centre. Assuming it is not raining, the property is within 5- 10 minutes walk from every Whistler Village hotel location.
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar is easy to reach and you shouldn’t have any problems locating it with a little planning.
Inside Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar:
Upon arriving to the restaurant, we were professionally and crisply checked in without any incident. Unlike some others within this category, there wasn’t an offer to coat check coats during our summer visit which had evening temperatures necessitating light jackets for the trip home.
We were led to our table which was located in the middle of the room. The room is decorated as a contemporary space featuring dark colours reminiscent of a modern steakhouse, but also with art elements of glassware similar of what you might find in a modern urban dining establishment. A wall of wine anchored one of the dining spaces; a testament to showcasing the region.
With an elegant and upscale feel to the room, the Wild Blue dining space was nicely decorated and inviting for diners.
Seating options at Wild Blue Restaurant include high top bar seating, two outdoor heated patios, a larger communal dining space and smaller corners featuring intimate tables set against a larger round group table space. With a variety of options, it’s one hundred and fifty person capacity offers a great combination of seating options for its guests.
The “L” shaped room also offered a glimpse into the open kitchen at the rear of the restaurant. Efforts made by the management team have included class leading staff amenities in the Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar building reported by Pique Magazine that include “spa-like” change rooms, staff showers, a “chillout lounge” equipped with a ping-pong table, yoga area, TV, culinary library and kitchenette, as well as ample storage for skis and bikes, and even a boot-dryer for the winter months.
On the Wild Blue Menu:
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar menu primary focus is fresh seafood, along with inspiration from old world European regions of France and Italy.
Our server explained that the menu was designed for a three course meal portion size, which was a great explanation for portion sizing. The menu was presented in small format Avant Garde font text that was fairly plain in appearance. Cold items were presented on the left, with hot items presented on the right.
My personal taste was that I found that the menu was a little plain looking and almost robotic in reading. The food offerings required a little bit of work and “study” in order to read; something that was not ideal on a romantic date. For example, House Made Linguine – geoduck and little neck clams, basil and chillies was missed as the obvious Linguine a la Vongole.
The dessert menu also doubled as the drink menu offering a wide variety of dessert items.
I think that some elements of the menu design may have allowed for a more engaging experience, instead of a monochromatic study experience, in my humble opinion.
The wine list was diverse and featured a large variety of British Columbian wines, along with your favourite selections from the old world regions of France and Italy. We settled on a familiar but special bottle of Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris; always a local British Columbia Okanagan favourite
The Meal: Nearly Perfect Seafood.
Our orders were professionally and personably taken. With the amount of volume of diners in Whistler, a location known for it’s relatively high turnover of tables, our service was exceptional personal and politely chatty.
Our dinner started off with House Sourdough for Two with cultured butter, extra virgin olive oil and olives. The bread was baked fresh in house, with a texture that was very dense. The bread was seasoned with fresh poppyseeds that added an upscale complexity in mouth feel to the bread.
Being that we were in the Pacific Northwest, I went for some fresh oysters as a starter. Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar offers a fresh selection of West Coast and East Coast Oysters. I went with the larger East Coast Oysters which were “Bar Stool” from Prince Edward Island. They were served on ice with an interesting green chilli granita along with a more conventional mignonette.
The oysters were well presented with fresh shaved horseradish on the side with an engaging kick from the green chilli granita.
For the main course, I went with the Sablefish – turnip, radish, maitake mushroom, sesame, roasted bone fish sauce. The Sablefish was presented and the bone fish sauce poured freshly at table side.
The Sablefish was perfectly cooked, soft and juicy in the centre and exactly what. might expect at a fine dining seafood restaurant. The combinations of flavours paired together very nicely, although the roasted bone fish sauce could have been a few degrees warmer. I was quite happy with the selection and would easily order it again.
We ordered a side of Truffled Kennebec Fries for the table. These were served with snipped chives and fresh parmesan which elevated the dish. The fries could have been a touch warmer, although they were well presented.
For the main course, MrsWT73 went with the Halibut – pork dashi, wild onion, asparagus, snap peas and porcini. The halibut dish was quite intimidating on the presentation. While the halibut was exceptionally cooked, MrsWT73 didn’t connect well with the soupy char of the flavour profile of the dish.
After some discussion, which was exceptionally well handled by the service team, MrsWT73 ended up with the House Made Linguine – geoduck and little neck clams, basil and chillies . The dish was well presented; very flavourful, although the pasta was a little al dente for MrsWT73’s tastes.
I would have been very happy with all three main dishes. Each represented an interesting take on seafood with exceptionally fresh ingredients. MrsWT73’s simpler and straight forward palette found the dishes to be be a little extravagant for her tastes. She gave high marks for the house made sourdough, the truffled Kennebec fries and the Linguini Vongole. Along with the service, which was well above what. was expected for the Whistler market, we had an an enjoyable evening.
The check came to around two hundred Canadian dollars, after wine, house bread, oysters and two entrees.
My Thoughts on Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar:
I was keen to have tested the Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar in Whistler, Canada. The service offered at Wild Blue was exceptional and likely among the best I have experienced in seasonal resort town of Whistler, Canada. The ambience in the restaurant was also comforting, with a great decor that was fresh and contemporary.
The seafood at Wild Blue was something that was presented in an elevated, but not always a completely approachable format. As a self processed foodie, I enjoyed every minute of it. However, my lovely dining partner found the elevation a little less approachable and unnecessarily complex in execution. Despite this observation, the seafood proteins were all exceptionally cooked. Whether your dining partner finds this an asset or a liability, is perhaps something only you can decide.
I would gladly return to Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar, and I’ll look forward to my next opportunity.
If you have visited Wild Blue Restaurant, were you impressed with your dining experience ?
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) is launching a new Verified Traveller program that will offer a faster and more efficient screening experience for eligible travellers at select airports across Canada. This system replicates some of the faster screening processes that we have seen in the United States through their use of the TSA Pre-Check Program.
Verified Traveller Launches: Brings Faster TSA PreCheck Style Security Screening at Select Airports in Canada
The Canadian Air Transport Security Administration has expanded it’s past Trusted Traveller program which previously offered front of the line service for Nexus members. Under the new Verified Traveller program, there are a number of new categories available to use the program.
Verified Traveller Launches:
Verified Traveler launched in Canada on June 21, 2023 thorough a ministerial announcement. It is being marketed as “An improved security-screening experience at select airports across Canada for eligible travellers”. The system is designed to improve the airport experience after the return to travel mayhem that impacted many airports after the pandemic ended and airports saw an increase in travel demand.
The Verified Traveller Program enhances the Trusted Traveler program operating within the United States. The Trusted Traveller program hasn’t gone anywhere in the United States. Rather, within Canada, the language Trusted Traveller language has been replaced by Verified Traveller, which allows for some additional categories of travellers to gain access to the program.
What is Verified Traveller?
Verified Travellers are identified as travellers who have undergone extensive background checks and carry special photo identification cards. They currently form part of several categories, and if you are a regular personal or business traveller, it’s not hard to find yourself in one of these categories.
NEXUS:
NEXUS is a Canada Border Services Agency program to provide eligible travellers with faster customs and immigration processing when crossing the border between Canada and the U.S. You can apply for a NEXUS card online at www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.
Global Entry:
Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, lower-risk travellers upon arrival in the United States.
Military:
Serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces and US military, including reservists, all with valid ID (no uniform required);
Air Crew / Restricted Area Identification Card:
Canadian aircrew (in uniform) and airport workers with Restricted Area Identification Cards and International aircrew (in uniform) with valid airline ID;
Royal Canadian Mounted Police / Police:
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers, Canadian police officers and constables with a badge and proper photo identification issued by their respective organizations.
Overall, this encompasses a large chunk of frequent travellers. As a regular business traveller, I end up qualifying through the Nexus program. With a little pre-planning, it shouldn’t be too difficult to qualify for this program. In order to gain Verified Traveller access, you’ll need to fully complete membership in one of the associated programs.
Benefits of Verified Traveller:
The Benefits of Verified Traveller are very similar to TSA Pre-Check that is administered by the Transportation Safety Administration in the United States. Within Canada, it allows for a much smoother security screening experience, and a faster route through the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority screening check points.
Verified Traveller Benefits (Canada Domestic):
- Leave permitted liquids, aerosols and gels in your carry-on.
- Leave laptops and electronics in your carry-on.
- Keep shoes, belts, light jackets and headwear on*.
- Keep small items in your pockets.
- Co-travellers 17 years or younger and 75 years and older can accompany you.
*Passengers wearing headwear, including religious or cultural head coverings, may keep it on, however, additional screening of the headwear or head covering is required. If there is an alarm in the head area and it cannot be properly resolved, you may be required to remove your headwear or head covering in order for a physical search to be conducted.
Available at the following airports:
- Calgary International Airport – Domestic C
- Edmonton International Airport – Domestic /Int’l
- Halifax Stanfield International Airport – Domestic /Int’l – pilot lunching on August 22, 2023
- Montréal-Trudeau International Airport – Domestic/Int’l
- Ottawa International Airport – Domestic /Int’l – pilot launching on August 9, 2023
- Toronto Pearson International Airport – T1 Domestic Level 3
- Toronto Pearson International Airport – T3 Domestic
- Vancouver International Airport – Domestic North
- Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport – Domestic/Int’l
Verified Traveller Benefits US Trans-border:
- Leave permitted liquids, aerosols and gels in your carry-on.
- Keep shoes, belts, light jackets and headwear on*.
- Keep small items in your pockets.
- Co-travellers can accompany you.
*Passengers wearing headwear, including religious or cultural head coverings, may keep it on, however, additional screening of the headwear or head covering is required. If there is an alarm in the head area and it cannot be properly resolved, you may be required to remove your headwear or head covering in order for a physical search to be conducted.
Available at the following airports:
- Montréal-Trudeau International Airport – T1 transborder
- Toronto Pearson International Airport – T1 transborder
- Toronto Pearson International Airport – T3 transborder
Verified Traveller Front of the Line Benefits:
All Verified Traveller Passengers will receive the best benefits of all…
- Will receive front of the line service.
- Co-travellers can accompany you.
Available at the following airports:
- Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport – Domestic
- Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport – transborder
- Calgary International Airport – Concourse A – transborder
- Calgary International Airport – Concourse D – transborder
- Calgary International Airport – Concourse E – transborder
- Edmonton International Airport – transborder
- Greater Moncton Roméo Leblanc International Airport – Domestic/Int’l/transborder
- Halifax Stanfield International Airport – Domestic/Int’l
- Halifax Stanfield International Airport – transborder
- Kelowna International Airport – Domestic/Int’l/Transborder
- Ottawa International Airport – Domestic/Int’l
- Ottawa International Airport – transborder
- Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport – Domestic/Int’l/transborder
- Regina International Airport – Domestic/Int’l/transborder
- Saskatoon International Airport – Domestic/Int’l/transborder
- St. John’s International Airport – Domestic/Int’l/transborder
- Toronto Pearson International Airport – T1 Int’l
- Toronto Pearson International Airport – T3 Int’l
- Vancouver International Airport – Domestic South
- Vancouver International Airport – Int’l
- Vancouver International Airport – transborder
- Victoria International Airport – Domestic/Int’l/transborder
- Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport – transborder
The Verified Traveller program offers many benefits and is designed to get you moving through the airport screening lanes much faster than previously. This allows travellers to leave in their laptops and other liquids in their suitcases, unless a manual inspection is required.
The one downside is that Verified Traveller lanes are not currently available at all security lanes in Canada. For example, at my home airport in Vancouver, it’s only available at Domestic Screening “C” (the Air Canada domestic wing). If you’re a regular user of this system, you’ll likely get to know the various screening check points that Verified Traveller program is located at.
Using Verified Traveller:
A Verified Traveller can present themselves to the Priority Lanes at each participating location with the appropriate identification. Practically speaking, the security screening enhancements were piloted at select airports in the spring of 2023. In those cases, I usually had my physical Nexus card out in order to access the priority lanes.
While I’ve travelling for business reasons, I usually just like to get through security screening as quickly as possible in order to get to a lounge to catch up on some work. While it is a benefit that non category travellers can accompany a verified traveller, it remains to be seen whether this makes the Verified Traveller lanes more congested than they would otherwise be. In this light, having unaccompanied travellers come with you may also be a disadvantage. Time will tell whether we see further separation or enhancements within these categories.
In Summary: Verified Traveller Launches in Canada
Canada has caught up to the United States and has launched a mild version of TSA – Pre Check across select airports within Canada. The program allows for front of the line access, along with leaving of liquids and laptops in suitcases before proceeding through security screening.
The program has a pretty board eligibility list, so I anticipate that once the program gets more widespread, we will see more Verified Travellers using the priority lanes.
Ultimately, this is a great move allowing for time savings. I’ll be really happy to continue using this at mopre locations across Canada on my next leisure and business trips.
Do you take full advantage of Verified Traveller in Canada or TSA Pre-Check while in the United States?
The Plaza Premium Lounge network operates over sixty lounges under the Plaza Premium Name worldwide. The Plaza Premium Lounges typically offer a consistent lounge experience with a broad food presentation, even when visiting outside of regular meal hours. Today’s travel took me through the Plaza Premium Edmonton Domestic lounge on my trans continental route across Canada. How would the Plaza Premium Lounge Edmonton fare after being open for over ten years?
Review: Plaza Premium Lounge – Edmonton International Airport Domestic (Non US Departures), Canada
I found myself connecting through Edmonton International Airport on a pair of Air Canada flights between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Vancouver International Airport. I had a ninety minute connection in Edmonton International Airport. During this time, I figured I would check out the Province of Alberta’s only Plaza Premium Lounge.
Locating the Plaza Premium Lounge:
The Plaza Premium Lounge Edmonton International Airport is located within the domestic area of the gates at Edmonton International Airport. Since international flights to overseas destinations also use the domestic gates, this lounge can be accessed by those departing on International Flights.
The Edmonton International Airport offers a US Customs and Border Protection Services Pre-Clearance facility. Unfortunately, if you are departing on a US Transborder flight, you won’t have access to this lounge, unless you happen to be connecting from another Canadian flight and access this lounge from the secure side, prior to your processing by US Customs and Border Protection and your departure to the United States.
The Plaza Premium Lounge is located midway down the concourse in a central and convenient location.
Map Courtesy flyeia.com
Since I was arriving through a connecting flight, I had already cleared security and found myself on the departures concourse when I arrived into Edmonton International Airport. I arrived into the terminal through gate 54. After wandering down the concourse, I easily found the lounge. The lounge is located right across from Chili’s restaurant at Gate 50.
If you’re coming from security having departed from Edmonton as your home airport, you’ll have the opposite view. It’s only a short walk from security, and actually happens to have a convenient location that meets all travellers needs.
The lounge access from the concourse shares the access with the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Edmonton. Both lounges are accessed by taking the stairs, or the elevator, up one level to lounge reception.
After getting off the elevator, it was an easy right hand turn on the second floor. I found myself at the entrance to the lounge.
Overall, I had no problems locating the lounge. It’s location is well positioned and is easy to access from every area of the airport.
Accessing The Plaza Premium Lounge:
There are several ways to access the Plaza Premium Lounge.
The Plaza Premium Lounge accepts reservations for entry on it’s website. The reservations are split into blocks of time ranging from two, three and six hours. As of the time of writing, the prices was as follows:
- Two Hours = $46.33 USD or $61.92 CAD
- Three Hours = $56.56 USD or $75.60 CAD
- Six Hours. = $75.42 USD or $100.80 CAD
The above pricing includes applicable taxes and fees.
The Plaza Premium Lounge network also partners with several credit cards to provide access. This includes many credit cards worldwide, which include DragonPass, LoungeKey, LoungeClub, and the Club. You do not need to make an advance reservation while using these systems.
Within North America, the lounge is also part of the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which offers a suite of lounges available for access with it’s premium American Express Platinum Card and American Express Centurion Cards. Access can be granted by presenting one of these cards.
The lounge has recently rejoined Priority Pass. As a result, if you have a Priority Pass membership, you can gain access to the lounge.
The Plaza Premium Lounge also appeared to have partnered with every single non Star Alliance partner for lounge access for carriers departing from Edmonton International Airport. At the time of my visit, the lounge was offering access to the following airline partners:
- Canadian North
- Iceland Air
- KLM
- Air Transat
- Sunwing
- Westjet
I gained access to the Plaza premium Lounge as a result of my American Express Platinum Card as part of the American Express Global Lounge membership.
There was no line to gain access access today. After my digital membership card and boarding pass was validated, I was invited into the lounge.
Inside The Plaza Premium Lounge:
The new Plaza Premium Lounge Edmonton is a no frills “small format” lounge. The lounge occupies four thousand five hundred square feet and offers seating for eighty people.
Immediately upon entering into the lounge, I found myself in the primary lounge seating area. The room contained row seating for about fifty people, along with the usual Plaza Premium Lounge Chairs that are located in its lounges throughout the world.
I ended up seating myself down in the bank of chairs located against the glass of the lounge on the far left hand side. I had no challenges getting a seat.
The lounge seating area offered glass windows overlooking into the concourse.
In other strange lounge features that we don’t typically see in the lounge, the lounge had a commemorative opening plaque. The plaque identified that the lounge had been opened by the President and CEO of the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority on May 16, 2013. The lounge was still looking pretty good some ten years later.
In addition to the general lounge seating, there was additional seating located a short way away. Passing by the lounge buffet, there was an additional seating area located over top of the retail outlets on the concourse.
Immediately around the corner, there were an additional twenty seats in a mix of tables and chairs. This area offered a full glass window area on the terminal side of the lounge, which let a lot of light into this particular lounge space.
As a result of large glass windows, the space was quite bright. The space also contained the lounge’s washrooms in the back corner.
Through the large glass windows, the additional lounge seating also offered a glimpse of views over top of the Edmonton International Airport domestic concourse.
The lounge seating was more than adequate for this particular lounge, and i didn’t have any issues locating a place to sit. The lounge was about at half capacity when I visited in the mid afternoon. Most of the travellers were departing on commuter jets, and the lounge wasn’t impacted by any wide body aircraft departing around the same time.
Food and Beverage:
The Plaza Premium Lounge networks are normally pretty generous on food. On today’s visit, they had a substantial offering that is typically more than the nearby Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge between regular meal times.
At the rear of the first room, there was a small seating area next to the stand up bar. While there were no seat at the bar itself, there were a number of flat screen televisions.
The bar offered two beer taps for draft beer. Unlike many other lounges that offer complimentary beverages, the Plaza Premium Edmonton offered pay drinks. While we’ve typically seen Plaza Premium Lounges offer some house labels on a complimentary basis, I didn’t happen to notice any at this particular location.
While I didn’t indulge in any beer, wine or spirits, there was a drink fountain around. the corner near the buffet offering complimentary soft drinks. This was also joined with juice dispensers offering iced orange juice.
Getting around to the food offerings, the lounge offered a hot and cold buffet during my mid afternoon visit. The lounge offered a variety of mixed salads, steamed rice with meatballs and a warm chicken noodle soup.
There were also some baked desserts that were also offered “on request” from behind the bar’s counter.
I was able to quickly recharge on a snack consisting of some meatballs and rice prior to continuing onto my Air Canada connecting flight to Vancouver.
My Thoughts on the Plaza Premium Lounge Edmonton:
It’s a bit unusual to have a Plaza Premium Lounge up in Edmonton. It’s probably the last place that I would think of when it comes to locating a Plaza Premium Lounge.
The Plaza Premium Lounge offered a comfortable environment that was a sanctuary from the otherwise busy terminal. Thanks to a generous food offering, I was able to pick up a quick snack as I was passing through the terminal.
If you’ve recently visited the Plaza Premium Edmonton Lounge, did you find the lounge met your needs ?
The Plaza Premium Lounge network operates over sixty lounges under the Plaza Premium Name worldwide. As one of Canada’s busiest airports, the Toronto Pearson International Airport recently renovated it’s Plaza Premium Toronto Terminal One Domestic Departures lounge. The Plaza Premium Lounges typically offer a consistent lounge experience with substantial food and beverage being offered. How would today’s new lounge concept fare on my recent trans continental domestic flight ?
Review: Plaza Premium Lounge – Toronto Pearson International Airport Domestic Departures Terminal One Ontario, Canada
This review is of the Plaza Premium Toronto Domestic Terminal One Lounge. For another lounge at Toronto Pearson Terminal One that you might have access to, please visit our review of the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Toronto Domestic. If. you are connecting to an international flight, you may also have possibly have access to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Toronto International.
I found myself departing from Toronto Pearson International Airport on an Air Canada flight. Air Canada recently took steps to limit access for it’s lower tier Air Canada Aeroplan Elites from the Maple Leaf Lounge network, which meant that I had to use an alternative solution if I was interested in getting any lounge access before my Air Canada flight. This meant visiting the Plaza Premium Lounge at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
The Plaza Premium Lounge Toronto recently underwent a massive refurbishment. While the refurbishment was ongoing, Plaza Premium had set up a temporary lounge outside of security. Please read our review of the Plaza Premium Concept Lounge Toronto for that experience.The refurbishment was delayed several times as a result of construction issues as a result of the pandemic.
Locating the Plaza Premium Lounge:
The Plaza Premium Lounge Toronto Pearson International Airport is located within the domestic area of the gates at Terminal One of the Toronto Airport. It’s worth nothing that there is also a Plaza Premium Domestic Lounge at Toronto Airport Terminal 3 that serves Westjet and almost every other non Star Alliance carrier at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Since international flights to overseas destinations also use the domestic gates, this lounge can be accessed by those departing on International Flights.
Map Courtesy of torontopearson.com
Since I was departing Toronto International Airport, I passed through security screening. Despite having a reputation for long security lines, I used Nexus, which was faster than the priority lines offered by American Express Platinum Card and was able to get through security really quickly.
The Plaza Premium Lounge is located immediately after security screening on the right hand side of the floor. If you are passing through the Nexus lane, you’ll find yourself right at the Plaza Premium entrance right after you complete your screening.
If you are connecting through Toronto Pearson Terminal One, you’ll have to take the elevators up one level from the departure concourse. The elevators will drop you off on the security screening level. You’ll have this view as you cross five lanes of security screening mayhem, before you get to the lounge reception.
The lounge is relatively easy to locate assuming you know where it is. Though it is not sign posted very well, I’ve had no difficulties locating it during my travels through Toronto Pearson Terminal One.
Accessing The Plaza Premium Lounge:
There are several ways to access the Plaza Premium Lounge.
The Plaza Premium Lounge accepts reservations for entry on it’s website. The reservations are split into blocks of time ranging from two, three and six hours. As of the time of writing, the prices was as follows:
- Two Hours = $50.18 USD or $66.98 CAD
- Three Hours = $60.95 USD or $81.36 CAD
- Six Hours. = $81.27 USD or $108.48 CAD
- Shower (add on)= $18.48 USD or $24.68 CAD
The above pricing includes applicable taxes and fees.
The Plaza Premium Lounge network also partners with several credit cards to provide access. This includes many credit cards worldwide, which include DragonPass, LoungeKey, LoungeClub, and the Club. You do not need to make an advance reservation while using these systems.
Within North America, the lounge is also part of the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which offers a suite of lounges available for access with it’s premium American Express Platinum Card and American Express Centurion Cards. Access can be granted by presenting one of these cards.
The lounge has recently rejoined Priority Pass. As a result, if you have a Priority Pass membership, you can gain access to the lounge.
I gained access to the Plaza premium Lounge as a result of my American Express Platinum Card as part of the American Express Global Lounge membership.
Like most Plaza Premium Lounges at their major airports, there was a short wait in order to get membership admittance processed. After my digital membership card and boarding pass was validated, I was invited into the lounge.
Inside The Plaza Premium Lounge:
The new Plaza Premium Lounge Toronto is a small lounge. The Plaza Premium Toronto Lounge encompasses four thousand nine hundred square feet and can seat one hundred and ten people.
It is probably 25% of the space afforded to Air Canada Maple Leaf Toronto Domestic travellers upstairs. Despite this, Plaza Premium Lounge Toronto has done the best of what they can, given the limited space available to them.
As a result, the lounge has always been almost fully at capacity every time that I’ve visited. The lounge has been so busy, I actually have split the photographs of my review over two separate visits.
The first thing that you see upon entering the lounge is the half oval shaped Plaza Premium Lounge Bar. The bar occupies a centre focal point of the lounge, and is positioned near the lounge windows.
Immediately adjacent to the bar is a separate VIP Area. The VIP area is available for upgrade. Despite the close proximity, you’re likely to get a slightly more private area to sit in. Having said this, it’s not exactly a private distinct area. If there is noise occurring in the regular lounge in the form of shrieking children, you’re certainly going to hear it in the VIP Area.
After passing by the bar, you’ll find yourself in the main dining area to the lounge. Plaza Premium has renovated an otherwise dark and closed space into a bright seating area that is slightly higher density in terms of seating.
The space is accented by some televisions that were showing news and sports during my visit.
From the reverse angle, the dining space ended up being a gathering spot. Since there were not many areas where families or groups could sit together, most of them grouped around the chairs and tables.
Passing through the dining area, the windows and the back of the lounge offered the limited lounge seating available. The window seating area contained a few brown high back lounge chairs. On every visit, these have always been fully occupied.
Instead, I’ve always taken a seat on the shorter white lounge chairs. The strategy has always been to wait for a brown highback leather chair to open up, then leap frog your way up to a better lounge chair. Having said that, I’ve never actually stayed here long enough for that to happen.
While the apron views are not that inspiring with a large lounge chair in your line of sight, it’s always nice to have some daylight windows in the lounge.
Moving towards the back of the lounge, there is a triangle shaped area that offers a combination of more table and chairs, along with office loungers. Given that the lounge is not too large, you’ll come to the end of the lounge space pretty quickly.
The space integrates with the rest of the lounge quite nicely, even if it is an angular sort of look. The space is a lot brighter after the renovation, and Plaza Premium Toronto has done a really nice job with making the space more approachable and pleasant to be in.
The rear of the lounge offers a very small washroom suitable for two people, and the lounge shower. Every time I have been through there, the washrooms have had signs of intense usage. As mentioned earlier, the lounge shower is accessible for an additional charge.
The lounge seating was pretty compact for this particular lounge. Given that Plaza Premium Toronto is working with less than a quarter of the space the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Toronto is operating with upstairs, I would expect this to be a busy experience when you pass through here, from a seating context.
Food and Beverage:
The Plaza Premium Lounge networks are normally pretty generous on food. As with my other Plaza Premium experiences, they had a substantial offering that is typically more than the nearby Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge between regular meal times. I will say that Plaza Premium tends to go for quantity over quality, and the food, while fresh, can be a little bland at times.
During breakfast hours, there are the usual scrambled eggs and link sausages that were put out. There were accompanied by croissants and other baked goods such. as marble rye bread and multi grain bread.
At other times of the day, there is a more substantial hot offering. This usually consists of rice, pasta and a protein. This is always served buffet style, and isn’t always the easiest to eat without cutlery.
In addition to the hot service, there are usually salads available in the nearby cooler.
The lounge also offers nacho chips and salsa, along with pretzels that seem to be out at all times; regardless of when you visit.
Moving to the bar service, the lounge offers both a complimentary bar and spirit service, along with several pay options. There are reports of travellers being limited to four drinks when visiting the lounge. Unlike airline alliance lounges, Plaza Premium is one. of the few lounges that actually publicly announces a set alcohol cut off policy.
The lounge offers a number of “house pours” that are available on a complimentary basis. These include a white and red wine, several beers, and several basic spirits such as Smirnoff Vodka, Tanqueray Gin, Canadian club and J & B Blended Scotch Whisky.
Additional beverages are available to order on an a – la – carte basis. This model is fairly typical throughout Plaza Premium Lounges, although I’ve never actually seen anytone paying for a drink whenever I’ve visited a Plaza Premium Lounge.
I didn’t stick around too long. Instead of enjoying the lounge’s food and beverage facilities, I ended up using the space to work and respond to a few emails prior to getting on my Air Canada flight to Edmonton.
My Thoughts on the Plaza Premium Lounge Toronto:
Plaza Premium has recently renovated it’s new Plaza Premium Lounge in Toronto Pearson International Airport in Terminal One Domestic Departures.
The space looks fresh and bright, and is slightly better designed in terms of occupancy. Despite this, the space is still much too small for a lounge with this many visitors, and your visit is likely to be marked with high occupancy, and perhaps having difficulties getting your preferred seat. As a result, your stay is likely to be a short one.
If you’ve recently visited the new Plaza Premium Toronto Lounge, did you find the lounge was more compact than you anticipated ?
We have seen the development of casino and hotel loyalty program partnerships over the years. We’ve just received news of possibly the largest hotel / casino partnership announcement that has the potential to benefit both sides quite substantially. If you are a Marriott Bonvoy member, you’re likely to be most excited by this news and partnership, which will fully finalize this fall.
Marriott Bonvoy Announces new Casino Partnership with MGM Rewards
Marriott has announced today a new partnership between Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Resorts that should see both partners being able to substantially benefit from the partnership.
For those that regularly visit Las Vegas, United States of America, this has the potential to be a very exciting hotel partnership announcement.
Having previously stayed at the Aria Sky Suites, The Cosmopolitan at Las Vegas and having dined at Joël Robuchon at The MGM Grand, I’m quite excited to report on this partnership.
The Marriott Bonvoy & MGM Rewards Partnership Announcement:
Marriott International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAR) and MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) announced today an exclusive long-term strategic licensing agreement and the creation of MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, which will launch in October 2023, and encompass 17 of MGM’s resorts, representing more than 40,000 rooms in Las Vegas and other cities across the U.S.
Starting in October 2023, several MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy resorts will be available for booking on Marriott’s booking platforms, including Marriott.com and the Marriott Bonvoy mobile app, with all properties expected to be available by the end of the year. These resorts will continue to be available on MGM Resorts’ channels, including MGMRewards.com and the MGM Resorts mobile app.
Per the press release, “This historic, long-term agreement brings together two of the most trusted and iconic brands in hospitality and entertainment,” said Bill Hornbuckle, President and Chief Executive Officer, MGM Resorts. “We’ve seen first-hand the strong demand from Marriott International customers through our existing relationship at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, and this new agreement will enable us to further optimize our overall profitability. We’re thrilled to now scale the relationship and offer Marriott Bonvoy members greater distribution access to our award-winning resorts – as well as exclusive event and entertainment opportunities – in Las Vegas and across the U.S.”
The press release continues by stating: “We are excited to make MGM Resorts’ incredible properties available on Marriott channels, allowing our members to enjoy Marriott Bonvoy benefits when they stay at MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy resorts,” said Anthony Capuano, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International. “We look forward to increasing our global rooms distribution by 2.4 percent as we grow our presence on the Las Vegas Strip and in other compelling destinations across the U.S.”
The agreement between MGM Resorts and Marriott will also benefit members of both companies’ loyalty programs. Members of MGM Rewards, MGM Resorts’ acclaimed loyalty platform with more than 40 million members globally, will be eligible to link accounts with Marriott Bonvoy and receive select member benefits. Members of Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott’s award-winning loyalty platform with over 180 million members globally, will be able to earn and redeem points for stays at all MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy properties.
The Hotels Being Added to the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio:
The partnership has announced seventeen hotels being added to the Marriott Bonvoy program. The list is pretty robust and encompasses all that you might expect from MGM Hotels and Resorts in Las Vegas.
Hotels Directly Affiliated to the Marriott Hotels Brand:
This includes the addition of four properties being affiliated with existing Marriott brands:
- Bellagio Resort & Casino will join The Luxury Collection,
- ARIA Resort & Casino will join Autograph Collection,
- Park MGM will become part of Tribute Portfolio,
- The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will continue its affiliation with Autograph Collection.
Hotels Directly Affiliated to the Marriott Bonvoy brand via MGM Collection:
Seventeen MGM Resorts will join the MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy:
Eight MGM resorts in Las Vegas will join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy:
- Vdara Hotel & Spa,
- MGM Grand Hotel & Casino,
- NoMad Las Vegas,
- The Signature at MGM Grand,
- Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino,
- New York-New York Hotel & Casino,
- Luxor Hotel and Casino,
- Excalibur Hotel & Casino.
Five MGM Resorts in other U.S. locations will also join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy:
- Borgata (Atlantic City, New Jersey),
- Beau Rivage (Biloxi, Mississippi),
- MGM Grand Detroit (Michigan),
- MGM National Harbor (Maryland),
- MGM Springfield (Massachusetts).
Reciprocal Elite Benefits Promised:
Few Firm Details Announced
The new partnership promises Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Rewards members new levels of reciprocal experiences; although the press release is light on details and levels of what we can exactly expect from this partnership.
Marriott and MGM Give Loyalty Members Access to a New and Inspiring Level of Experiences
From the press release, travellers visit Las Vegas for everything from food and wine to sports, music, gaming, and more. Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Rewards will unlock significant benefits and experiences for members of both programs. Marriott Bonvoy members will enjoy benefits at MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy resorts and MGM Rewards members will receive certain benefits at Marriott Bonvoy’s global portfolio of more than 8,500 properties, while members of both programs will also be able to exchange MGM Rewards points for Marriott Bonvoy points and vice versa. Marriott Bonvoy Moments, the program providing members access to unparalleled experiences that fuel personal passions, will be enhanced by MGM’s unmatched culinary, entertainment and sports offerings. More information about linking loyalty accounts, new experiences and other loyalty program benefits will be provided to members of both programs in the coming months.
Reciprocal Benefits for Casino Spend Announced:
BetMGM and Marriott Bonvoy Further Enhance Member Benefits
Marriott International has also entered into a loyalty marketing agreement with BetMGM, MGM Resorts International’s online gaming and sports betting joint venture, for Marriott Bonvoy to become BetMGM’s exclusive hospitality loyalty program partner in the U.S. and Canada. Under this agreement, Marriott and BetMGM will collaborate to provide Marriott Bonvoy members opportunities to earn Marriott Bonvoy points on certain BetMGM transactions, and participate in exclusive games, experiences, and offers on the BetMGM platform. In addition, BetMGM Rewards members will have the opportunity to exchange BetMGM Rewards points into Marriott Bonvoy points. More information about the collaboration will be available this fall.
All of this is set to go live in the fall for many hotels, followed by the remaining hotels by the end of the year.
What do I think about this partnership?
This announcement of this partnership has tremendous potential for the occasional visitor to Las Vegas; particularly on weeknights when hotel rooms aren’t at full capacity in Las Vegas.
With the Bellagio, The Aria Hotel, The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas and the Park MGM becoming full Marriott Bonvoy properties, we will likely see a full extension of elite benefits being offered at these properties.
This means you will likely see a limited breakfast benefit of some sort at these locations, along with a partial route to upgrades from Marriott Bonvoy Elite members. There is the possibility that there will be some exclusions given the restrictive terms we’ve seen around the Cosmopolitan Hotels participation in the Marriott Bonvoy program.
Given the number of Marriott Bonvoy elites travelling to this area, the possibility of upgrades isn’t likely to move the needle on getting upgraded to the presidential suite. It’s reasonable to expect that there are in the hundreds of elite members staying at these locations; especially on a Friday and Saturday night.
Where I see the main advantage to this partnership, is the ability to earn on hotel and potentially dining spend inside the Marriott Bonvoy program, and the ability to earn elite qualifying nights towards the Marriott Bonvoy Elite program; all of which lead to Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Elite status or Marriott Bonvoy status qualification in a calendar year.
Given that there are few hard details announced with this press release, we will have to wait on the further details of this partnership, along with announcements related to elite levels.
My Thoughts on the new Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Rewards Partnership.
Marriott Hotels has announced a Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Rewards hotel partnership.
Once finalized, this will see four MGM Rewards Resorts share affiliation in the Marriott Bonvoy marketing program as Autograph Collection, Luxury Collection and Tribute Portfolio hotels and resorts. We can expect to see some form Marriott Bonvoy Elite Benefits at these hotels.
We will also see the creation of the MGM Collection, which will see Marriott Bonvoy announce reciprocal benefits with eight other MGM Hotels and Resorts on the Las Vegas Strip.
We will have to wait and see for many of the fine print details on this partnership. However, this has the potential to be an excellent partnership for those that visit the Las Vegas Strip for leisure purposes and want to stay in a casino property.
Will this Marriott Bonvoy / MGM Rewards partnership be useful to your travel plans ?
Our travels took is back to the middle of the Ontario pan handle between Toronto and Windsor to visit my wife’s brother. As a returning visitor to this region, we decided to branch out and try a different hotel than our last stay. As I’ve been spending a lot of time in hotels lately, I opted for the extended stay option in London, Ontario in order to stretch out and get a little extra space. Our stay at the Residence Inn London Downtown met all the marks for a comfortable stay in a residential like environment.
Review: Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown, Ontario, Canada
“The Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown is like staying in your first rental apartment, that’s been completely renovated with brand new furniture and fixtures”
This post is of the Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown, Ontario, Canada. For another nearby Marriott hotel, please see our review of the Delta London Armouries, London, Canada.
Booking the Hotel:
I ended up picking this property as we were simply looking for a minor change during a recent stay in London, Ontario, Canada. The Delta London Armouries had served us really well, but thanks to a hockey tournament occurring in London during our stay, the paid rates were over $350 CAD a night.
I had been spending a lot of time in hotels lately. At the time that we booked this trip. I was on my eighth work trip of the year and we were only in the first half of the year. I certainly wasn’t going to mind a little taste of home in an extended say apartment instead of being cramped into a usual hotel room. As a result, I booked in at the Residence Inn London Downtown on a paid rate at $200 per night.
Under the Marriott Bonvoy program, paid rates at the Residence Inn brand earn 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar versus a regular full service’s hotel’s 10 points per dollar. While I don’t relish earning 50% less rates, I did value saving $300 in my pocket on this particular stay, visiting friends and family.
Marriott Bonvoy Reward Opportunities:
The Residence Inn London Downtown prices quite low in the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. The property generally prices between 16,000 to 22,000 Marriott Bonvoy reward points, for a standard level room. During the summer months, I found rates as cheap as 16,000 and rates as high as the usual 22,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
If you value Marriott Bonvoy Points at 0.008 cents, you’ll come out ahead by redeeming points against a room at the property if you rate is above $168 CAD on an average 21,000 Marriott Bonvoy redemption. This assumes that you are prepared to part with that number of points over the length of your stay.
Getting to the Residence Inn London Downtown:
We drove a Hertz rental car down from Toronto, after spending a night in The Sheraton Airport Toronto Hotel and Conference Centre. It was an easy two hour drive down some occasionally crowded Friday afternoon highways.
The Residence inn London Downtown is located in downtown London, Ontario and is walkable from many of the sights in the downtown core. It’s worth mentioning that we visited during summer months, so we didn’t have any winter weather issues that might prevent us from walking.
The Residence Inn London Downtown itself has taken over an older nineteen seventies apartment building. which was converted into a Residence Inn hotel. The street appeal of the property is a little drab; it seems that the property could use a little sprucing up in it’s current state.
It’s located among a neighbourhood of other apartment buildings. The area has a bit of an industrial and older feel to it. The area is primarily residential, which means that there aren’t a lot of restaurants or other office buildings in the area.
Checking into the Residence Inn London Downtown:
After parking the rental out front, we wandered inside and checked in at the front desk. The front desk and lobby area was under some renovation, which was best described as being “in progress”.
We had a warm welcome and provided a Marriott Bonvoy Welcome Amenity of 500 Points as a welcome bonus. In lieu of the welcome points, we were also offered an item from the hotel’s pantry, but we opted for the points instead. All rates at the Residence Inn Hotels offer an included breakfast.
We were also provided access to underground secure parking. While parking was listed as being $18 CAD, it appears to have been waived for Marriott Titanium members. We were given a parking pass and did not have to pay any parking fees.
Lastly, we were also provided a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level late check out of 4 PM, without any haggling or negotiations. This was really appreciated and made our time around the hotel, all that more leisurely.
The Room: One Bedroom Suite, 1 King, Sofa Bed
We led ourselves to Room #914, which was a one bedroom suite situated on the ninth floor. While we did not get a further upgrade as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level member, we did get a soft upgrade to the ninth floor (of thirteen floors in the building) to a room with great views.
Getting off the elevator, the apartment hallways had been fully refreshed, with bright patterned hotel carpeting, and brand new metal apartment doors.
Immediately upon entering the room, we had a left hallway which led to a fully refreshed apartment.
The Living Room:
We wandered down the hallway to the living room. The space featured a combination dining and living room space. The dining area featured a small upright table for two persons. The space was sent against bright day light windows, which offered the opportunity for a lot of light into the apartment.
Leading further into the room, the living area featured a compact rectangular shaped space. The space offered a compact fitting section couch, which was remarkably comfortable for a sofa bed. All the features and furnishings were really comfortable and brand new.
The living area offered a flat screen television. While a flat screen is standard for a hotel in this particular category, it was down right unusual to see a flat screen in a seventies era apartment building, where we once had cathode ray monitor style televisions. I wasn’t complaining, but it was certainly unusual.
The hotel cleverly added a desk in the corner of the living room. This was a nice touch as the desk, for once, actually offered a terrific view over the surrounding neighbourhood. It was much better than looking into the usual hotel room wall, while you slayed away at your work emails.
The hotel offered neighbourhood views of rural London, in a combination of neighbourhood and other apartment building views.
The living area and dining area was comfortable and offered a great space to stretch out in. By offering so much space, it countered the usual challenge with compact hotel rooms; space that allowed you to actually live. In addition, the windows of the apartment were wide and bright, allowing a lot of natural light into the space.
The Kitchen:
Heading back towards the entrance, the One Bedroom Suite offered a small kitchen.
The kitchen offered two counters; which is much larger than kitchens in this particular hotel category. While we usually see a rail kitchen on a single wall, the Residence Inn London Downtown offered a larger than expected space.
It was worth noting that the kitchen didn’t actually feature a regular convection oven. The kitchen offered a cook top range (or HOB) but didn’t offer a space to actually heat up food. The kitchen offered a mini dishwasher, a full sized fridge, and a microwave. The lack of an oven was about the only feature that was a negative about the particular arrangement, since there are somethings that you can’t do an apartment without an oven.
The Master Bathroom:
Heading towards the bedroom, the one bedroom suites’ sole bathroom was located off the hallway to the bedroom.
The bedroom was nicely decorated and offered a single shower stall, along with a single vanity sink and toilet.
The Bedroom:
The bedroom, like many bedrooms of the nineteen seventies era, was quite small. Somehow, the property was able to squeeze a king size bed into this space. There wasn’t much other room available in the bedroom.
The bedroom also featured a second flat screen television, but given how compact this space was, we didn’t spend much time in the bedroom.
The hotel was kind to leave a welcome amenity for us as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level members. The welcome amenity consisted of a bag of chips, along with a Hershey’s chocolate bar. While it wasn’t much, it was better than many stays where there is absolutely nothing provided.
The Included Breakfast with Every Stay:
All Residence Inn properties include breakfast with every stay. The included breakfast was pretty average.
Breakfast was offered between 6:30 AM and 10 AM. During our stay, the breakfast offering didn’t meaningfully change. The breakfast lounge area occupied most of the ground floor of the building.
The breakfast offering at The Residence Inn London Downtown offered both hot and cold breakfast materials.
There was a combination of cereal towers, a pancake machine with maple syrup, whipped cream, fruit toppings, along with scrambled eggs and sausages.
There was a heavily consumed baked goods cabinet, that featured some muffins, bagels and other english muffin items.
I did enjoy some of the pancake machine instant pancakes. It’s unusual for hotels to offer pancake machines, so I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity.
In addition to the other items, there were individualized yoghurts, milks for cereals, along with a variety of coffees and teas available to enjoy in the breakfast area, or to take away.
While I haven’t come to expect a world class included hotel breakfast, the breakfast at the Residence Inn London Downtown was perfectly functional for a short stay. It I was staying longer, I’d probably make something in the suite instead of relying on the hotel offering.
Around the Hotel Property:
The Residence Inn London Downtown offered limited features as an apartment long stay hotel. There is no attached restaurant to the property.
Gym:
The Residence Inn London Downtown offered a small gym on the second floor. The space offered free weights, a few treadmills and elliptical cycles along with a few yoga balls as equipment.
The gym offered a small window to the outside. While it wasn’t much, it was better than being in a windowless room.
The Bottom Line: The Residence Inn London Downtown
I was pretty happy with my stay at the Residence Inn London Downtown. Despite a dated looking property, the property offered a nice looking room that had been completely upgraded, with more than enough space to stretch out in.
About the only minus was the fact that I earned only 2,600 Marriott Bonvoy points over the course of my two day stay. This is something that is not directly attributed to the hotel, but rather the hotel’s lowest possible level within the Marriott Bonvoy program, as it only earns 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar as an extended stay hotel.
Ultimately, I’d easily return to the Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown. I left completely satisfied with the space offered, as the highlight of the stay.
If you have stayed at the Residence Inn London Downtown, does the apartment style meet your stay needs ?
Our recent return to the Toronto Airport area had us testing out another full service hotel. While most hotels within the Toronto Airport area are on the functional side, this hotel would be no different. We would end up arriving to this property prior to travelling onwards towards southern Ontario the very next morning. Our stay at the Sheraton Toronto Airport hotel and Conference Centre met the mark in terms of a no frills stay with most of the amenities that you’d expect of a full service Sheraton hotel.
Review: Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel & Conference Centre, Ontario, Canada
“An old school Sheraton located close to Toronto Pearson International Airport that will satisfy old school Sheraton loyalist travellers “
This review is of the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Centre. For a review of other nearby airport hotels, please see our review of the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport and the adjacent Marriott Toronto Airport Hotel.
Booking The Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel & Conference Centre:
We were coming into Toronto on a day flight and were headed down for a family visit to London, Ontario. The city of London, Ontario happens to be located about two hours south of Toronto. As a result, we elected to stay the night in Toronto before setting out on the drive to London.
It’s also worth mentioning that there are two Sheraton Hotels at the Toronto Airport. The Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport. This Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Centre is a short five minute drive away from the airport terminal.
My husband has previously stayed at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport and the Marriott Toronto Airport Hotel. The Marriott Toronto Airport hotel was adjacent to this version of the Sheraton Toronto Airport, but it wasn’t deluxe enough to have us feel the need to stay there again. As a result, we ended up selecting this nearby property to look at the other full service hotel in the Marriott Bonvoy program that happens to be located within relatively near proximity to the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
When booking at the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Centre, I was able to get a regular Marriott Bonvoy Membership Rewards rate of $254 CAD which booked into the basic 1 King Bed, Airport View, Traditional Guest Room. While I usually leverage my husbands’ higher elite status, I needed elite qualifying nights to re-qualify for Platinum this year as a result of a drop in work travel. As a result, I booked the room under my name direct on the Marriott Bonvoy website. As a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Level member, I would also be entitled to Upgrade to best available room, including select suites.
Generally speaking, the rates at this property are most expensive on weeknights. Like many other airport hotels, the rates are softest on the weekends. During our summer travels, i found rates that varied between $198 – $360 CAD. The hotel also offers a large conference facility, which also has a tendency to put price pressure on rates if an event is occurring. If I can provide any advice here, it would be to book relatively early.
Marriott Bonvoy Reward Opportunities:
The Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel & Conference Centre prices awfully expensive in the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. The property generally prices between 32,000 to 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy reward points, for a standard level room. During summer months, I found rates as cheap as 21,000 and rates as high as the usual 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
If you value Marriott Bonvoy Points at 0.008 cents, you’ll come out ahead by redeeming points against a room at the property if you rate is above $280 CAD on a 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy redemption. Given the value of airport hotels on a weeknight, you’ll possibly find some outsized value in the event the cash rate is exceptionally high during a week day stay. However, you’re probably better off paying a cash rate assuming you can find a good deal or package.
Getting to the Sheraton Toronto Airport:
We arrived into Toronto Pearson International Airport on an Air Canada Boeing 777-300 ER High Density flight. While we had anticipated arriving at 8PM, the Air Canada was in the middle of an information technology meltdown which caused our flight to be over four and a half hours late. As a result, it was almost one in the morning before we set foot off the plane.
We hopped it over to Hertz Ultimate Choice Toronto Pearson International airport for a rental car for the week. After getting on the way, we set out and self drove to the hotel courtesy of Google Maps. We were at the hotel in almost 5 minutes drive.
The Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Centre is located in an office park environment around the hotel. The area is pretty full of hotels and generally not very inspiring ones. Aside from a few steakhouses like The Keg, Jack Astors’ and other casual dining restaurants like Montana’s and Boston Pizza, there isn’t much in the way of interesting features of this particular postal code. All to say, I wouldn’t be sticking around this neighbourhood any longer than I’d absolutely have to.
Checking into the Sheraton Toronto Airport:
After that short five minute drive, we arrived to the Sheraton Toronto Airport. The property was spread out over a large city block foot print, and consequently, easily to locate.
We arrived to the front desk at about 1:30 AM and were promptly attended to by the night manager. We were thanked for our elite status, which was Marriott Bonvoy Platinum at the time.
We had been proactively upgraded into a large Executive Suite, which I wasn’t expecting as a Platinum member. As a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum member within North America, it’s been pretty rare to get upgrades into Suite Categories, so I really appreciated the hotel for this particular touch.
In terms of a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Welcome Amenity, we accepted the 1,000 points for the stay. We were offered breakfast in the hotel’s Club Lounge; access was complimentary for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum elite and higher levels. The hotel had reasonably landscaped views off the hotel lobby.
Lastly, since we had a early morning arrival, we asked about getting a late check out courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Platinum benefits. The latest they would offer us was 2 PM, given the fact that they needed the suite for that evening’s customers. This wasn’t all too bad, and we accepted the late check out.
Ther lobby has a very small market featuring the usual snacks and other amenities available for room purchase. There isn’t really enough here to substitute for a meal replacement, but it’s always nice to have an option. In this case, there are not a lot of other options that are within a walkable distance from the hotel.
North American travellers will also note that beer / wine isn’t normally served at the Market, and this version was no exception. If you were seeking alcohol, you’d have to order it through the food and beverage outlets of the hotel; assuming they were open.
The Room: Executive Suite, 1 Bedroom Suite, 1 King, Sofa bed
We were assigned room #314, which was located on the third floor. We self navigated up to the rooms. Although we were travelling with bags, there was no luggage or porter assistance offered or available at our late hour of arrival midnight.
It was a short walk up to Room #314. The hallways were decorated in the typical Sheraton colours that were more functional, than inspiring.
I happened to locate a few holdovers from a better era. The hotel still featured a few markings from the more customer centric Starwood Preferred Guest program, despite the merger occurring several years ago.
The Living Room:
Upon entering the room, we found ourselves in the Executive Suite’s living area. The living area was softly modernized in appearance, but still contained the usual Sheraton brown base themes.
The couch offered a blue sofa bed, which would probably be a compact fit in this room when it was opened. There were two occasional chairs that made up the other half of the living room furniture.
The living room featured a long desk that ran the length of the room. This ended up being an electronic dump zone for charging of devices.
Overall, the living room space as about as expected for an airport suite. The space offered some breathing room for those travelling as a couple.
The Bedroom:
The bedroom was contained in a separate room that was behind a single french door. The bedroom featured a large Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Bed.
The king size bedroom took up much of the space in the room. There wasn’t a lot of space surrounding the bed, although admittedly, we didn’t spend much time in here other than sleeping.
The bedroom contained a second flat screen television, which could be viewed from bed.
Instead of room service menu’s there were QR codes available for ordering of food at all hours.
The integrated – into – the – wall USB Power Ports on my side of the bed didn’t happen to work, something that I didn’t happen to discover until the next morning and found my device at a 60% charge.
The bedroom also had an occasional chair located in the corner. Given that we had access to living room space, we never had the need or the opportunity to use this chair.
In terms of sleep quality, the hotel happened to be directly underneath the departure track for Toronto Pearson International Airport Runway 16L. My husband happened to notice a lot more aircraft departure noise in the room than at his earlier stay at the nearby Toronto Airport Marriott hotel. This wasn’t super disruptive, but light sleepers may find this annoying.
In Room Amenities:
The Executive Suite offered the usual suite of in room amenities that you’d expect at a Sheraton hotel. These included an In Room filtered coffee maker, complimentary bottled water and an in room safe and fridge.
Accordingly to the floor plan on the wall, there was only one suite per floor in the hotel. I applaud the hotel for honouring the Marriott Bonvoy suite upgrade policy, given the limited number of suites available
Bathroom:
The Sheraton Toronto Airport and Conference Centre Executive Suite featured an oddly shaped bathroom. After passing down an angled hallway, that contained a suitcase rest or stool, we found ourselves in the single bathroom for the suite.
Like many older hotels of this generation, the bathroom featured a single vanity sink. This was followed by a shower / tub combination with dispenser toiletries.
Room with a View:
Our third floor room fit into the category of being one the less desirable suites. It offered a pretty pedestrian view overlooking the hotel Olio Restaurant.
Overall, the room was softly upgraded. While you wouldn’t find the most contemporary color schemes and fashions at this particular property, the room was comfortable. Despite being located directly underneath the flight path of runway 16L of Toronto Pearson International Airport (along with most other airport hotels in Etobicoke), the room noise was mostly quiet and we didn’t find the aircraft noise to be a huge hindrance to enjoying our stay.
Food and Beverage:
It is worth noting that the Sheraton Toronto Airport and Conference Centre is located in a business park environment around the Toronto Pearson International Airport. This neighbourhood isn’t that “desirable” and doesn’t feature a lot of neighbourhood feel to it. If you don’t have access to a car rental, your options here will be limited.
Immediately walkable from the hotel are a Chop Steakhouse, Montana’s Cookhouse Restaurant, a Jack Astor’s Steakhouse and a Boston Pizza for casual dining. All of these options ere closed as a result of our late arrival, and many many stop serving dinner around 10 PM.
Sheraton Club Lounge:
The hotel offers a Sheraton Club Level Lounge. Access to the Club Lounge is through booking Cub Level rooms or by holding Marriott Bonvoy Platinum elite status or higher.
The Club Lounge had limited hours of operation on the weekends. The Sheraton Club did not offer breakfast in the club on weekends. I am assuming breakfast is offered in the hotel restaurant during these periods.
On our visit, the lounge was open, as follows:
- Weekday Breakfast between 6:30 AM – 10:00 AM
- H’ors D’oeuvres (Sun. -Thurs only) between 5:30 PM – 10:00 PM
- Closed All weekend (Friday at Noon to Sunday at 5:30 PM)
However, I’m happy to report that the Club was accessible outside of regular hours of operation. This meant that you could come and access the Sheraton Club to grab a bottle of water or a soft drink outside of regular hours of operation. This alone makes the stay all that more comfortable, since you’re not stuck without gaining access to amenties.
At about 2:30 AM on Friday morning, after our delayed flight, I was able to access the lounge to gain access for a few bottled waters. The lounge has a reasonably spacious environment on the hotel’s top floor. The lounge had been recently updated, and contained newer looking contemporary furniture.
The next morning, I was able to return to the lounge for their breakfast offering. Breakfast was served between 6:30 AM and 10 AM.
The breakfast was the standard Sheraton / Marriott lounge variety. In addition to two hot items, there were several cereal silo towers, fresh fruit, yoghurt and a few baked items.
The lounge view over the hotels’ conference centre facilities and towards the Toronto Airport Marriott wasn’t all that inspiring. However, it was a daylight view and not relegated to a dark basement of some type.
Olio Restaurant / Lounge:
Aside from the Sheraton Lounge, the only other on property food and beverage outlet is the Olio Restaurant. The Olio Restaurant is located just off the main lobby and hotel entrance.
The Mediterranean themed Olio Restaurant offered all day service between:
- Monday – Friday 6:30 AM-10:00 PM
- Saturday – Sunday 7:00 AM-10:00 PM
I didn’t get the opportunity to dine at Olio restaurant, but I suppose it is a possibility for those travellers that end up here without access to a vehicle and chose not to venture off property.
Around the Hotel Property:
Indoor Pool and Health Club:
The Sheraton Toronto Airport and Conference Centre is a full service Sheraton. Consistent with this position, it offers everything that you might expect from a full service hotel.
The Sheraton offered an indoor pool and a health club. The pool and health club were located on the ground floor a short walk from the lobby.
The indoor pool was located under a glass atrium. Given it’s one depth level of 4 feet, the pool was more of a place to entertain children, rather than somewhere to get serious exercise.
The Health Club offered a generous fitness area. The space included free weights, five treadmills and three elliptical machines. Given that the hotel was located at the airport, there wasn’t the usual crush of people at these machines during the usual peak periods for gym workouts.
The Sheraton offered a generous fitness area, which is great for those looking to keep up their physical exercise commitments when travelling on the road.
Checking Out Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel:
We were able to enjoy our 2 PM checkout. Our check the next day was without incident. We didn’t have any surprises on the bill and our points posted within forty eight six hours.
It was a pretty straightforward stay. While we didn’t have any issues and were really pleased with being offered a larger suite as a result of our Marriott Bonvoy benefits.
Deciding between the Sheraton Toronto Airport and the Marriott Airport Toronto:
If you were trying to decide between this property and the neighbouring Marriott Toronto Airport hotel, it’s worth mentioning that the M Lounge at the Marriott Toronto Airport Hotel is in better condition, but the rooms at the Marriott are substantially older in appearance.
In contrast, the rooms at the Sheraton Toronto Airport are in nicer condition, and I was able to take advantage of a suite upgrade courtesy of the Marriott Bonvoy program. As a result, if I wasn’t staying at the Sheraton Gateway In Toronto International Airport, I’d probably be picking the Sheraton Toronto Airport between those two off airport properties.
Bottom Line: The Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Centre
The Sheraton Toronto Airport and Conference Centre offered a straightforward stay that you might expect from a Sheraton hotel.
The Sheraton Toronto Airport offered a lightly refreshed room and offered us a great suite upgrade, courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy benefits. Wile I wouldn’t expect the most state of the art room, if you come in expecting an older Sheraton property, you won’t be disappointed by any means.
If you have stayed at the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel, did you find the hotel met your needs ?
I have usually been intrigued by Hertz President’s Circle status. There is something overtly visual about elite rental car status, as compared to airline elite status. With elite rental car status, you actually get the opportunity to see nicer cars in certain corners of the lot, whereas airline status is limited to those elitist airline luggage tags and free upgrades that aren’t always apparent.
Unfortunately, my Hertz President’s Circle days have been a little bit less glamorous than I might have hoped. I would get the opportunity to visit Toronto Pearson International Airport and test out Hertz President’s Circle and their Ultimate Choice feature. Read on to see how our experience with Hertz in Toronto actually looked like…
My Experience Renting as Hertz President’s Circle Member at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
I’ve maintained Hertz President’s Circle status for the past several years as a result of some heavy work travel. One of the primary benefits of Hertz President’s Choice is the Ultimate Choice aisle where you get to pick any car in the aisle and go. The marketplace has standardized this feature across many of the major rental companies in this space.
As I have previously written, for the most part, the upgrades have been pretty good, if not outstanding. While booking an intermediate car, we’ve been upgraded into Mercedes SLK Convertibles…
…even a great brand new Volvo V60 station wagon with less than 4,400 kilometres on the clock.
About Hertz Gold Plus Rewards:
Since this space is about loyalty programs, Hertz offers a loyalty reward program called Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. The program is primarily designed to keep your driver’s licence, credit card and insurance preferences on file to allow for quicker rentals that allow for bypassing the legal formalities of the rental counter in many locations and allow you to get out on the road faster.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards also offers the ability to earn Hertz Gold Plus Reward points. While we didn’t typically get a lot of value from car rental points, they’ve recently delivered outsized value from travel when car rental prices escalated during the pandemic when many Hertz locations reduced their vehicle fleets, driving up car prices.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards offers three tier levels of Gold, Five Star and it’s top tier President’s Circle. It’s around the Hertz Presidents Circle level where the benefits get interesting.
Hertz President’s Circle Benefits:
Hertz’s highest tier level is Hertz President’s Circle. Hertz Presidents’ Circle offers the following benefits:
- Upgrades: Guaranteed
- Hertz Gold Rewards points earning: $1 = 1.5 points
- Hertz Ultimate Choice: Widest Selection
- Dedicated Hertz Reservation Line
With reward redemptions starting at about 950 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points, you’ll need a little bit of spend in order to get a free rental.
About Hertz Ultimate Choice:
My favorite feature of the Hertz rental experience is the Hertz Ultimate Choice feature found at airports where Hertz Gold Canopy service is offered.
Hertz Ultimate choice offers the ability to “pick from the best car in our newest fleet and go”. Airport locations in the united states offer the best versions of this, but there are select locations that do offer a great experience.
Typically, there is a sign board that designates the lot, along with a convenient monitor that indicates the location of your car. Dependent on the size of the lot, there is a correspondingly large zone.
There is also typically a sign information board that sets out the location of your car, in addition to any messages. Dependent on the size of the station correlates to the size and number of renters on the sign.
at Hertz Toronto Pearson International Airport
As a Hertz President’s Circle member, and as long as you rent an intermediate class car or better, I was able to choose any car in the aisle. As a result, there is usually something pretty good kicking around the lot.
There are odd times when you get stuck with the usual boring junk, but it’s better than nothing. There are often a few compact Sport Utility Vehicles parked around, and usually a Dodge Charger or two.
This leads me to my most recent experience renting from Hertz at the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
My Experience at the Hertz Toronto International Airport
I was coming into the Toronto Pearson International Airport on an Air Canada High Density Boeing 777-300 flight. Unfortunately, as a result of Air Canada deciding to upgrade it’s computer systems, the flight was over four and a half hours late before it landed at Toronto Pearson Terminal One.
As the Hertz office was closing within twenty minutes of landing at 1 AM, I left MrsWT73 to collect a checked bag, and wandered over towards the rental car office. We were headed off to the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Centre for the evening before going onwards to the Residence Inn London Downtown for the weekend.
The Hertz Car Rental Centre is located within the parking structure of the Toronto Pearson International Airport Terminal One. It’s worth mentioning that Hertz also runs a rental facility in Toronto Pearson Terminal Three. If you’re flying anything other than Air Canada or a Star Alliance Airline, you’ll be visiting a different rental facility.
I used the double set of moving sidewalks in order to get over to the Car Rental Counters. This includes passing through to a series of elevators, taking a left, and taking the elevators down from the fifth floor to the ground first floor.
The Hertz Rental Car location is relatively easy to find, and is about ten minutes walk from the main terminal.
Getting to the Rental Car Centre:
I had received an “carfirmation email” from Hertz indicating that my car was available. in the Hertz Ultimate Choice aisle. I was directed to the Hertz sign display in order to check the status and location of my car.
Unfortunately, for what ever reason, my reservation and name was not showing on the sign display. This could have been because I was almost five hours late as a result of that late Air Canada flight.
Knowing that Toronto Pearson Airport had Hertz Ultimate Choice – the feature that allows you to select ay car and go, I headed over to the Ultimate Choice aisle.
Hertz Ultimate Choice Toronto Pearson has the smallest Ultimate Choice Aisle I’ve ever experienced. It’s also the only Hertz location in Canada that offers Ultimate Choice; a staple of Hertz through about thirty different US airports.
Toronto Pearson Terminal One Hertz Ultimate Choice features approximately 12 parking spaces for Presidents Circle, and another 12 for Hertz Five Star- their mid tier status.
When I got over to the Hertz Ultimate Choice President’s Circle aisle, I found exactly one car. The lot was otherwise deserted.
I found a brand new lonely 2023 Nissan Rogue was sitting there, with only 750km on the clock. I don’t normally turn away a new car, but a mom like Sport Utility Vehicle isn’t normally my first choice.
Knowing that Hertz Ultimate Choice customers can also select a lower class of car outside of their elite level, I took a brief wander through the Five Star Area and the Regular Gold area.
In the Hertz Ultimate Choice Five Star area, I found zero vehicles.
In the Hertz Ultimate Choice Gold area, I found zero vehicles.
In the Premium Upgrades area, I found a lonely Ford Mustang convertible. It’s worth noting that Ford Mustang Convertibles are usually found in the President’s Circle aisles at most US airports. In this case, I would have had to pay an extra amount for the privilege of driving something normally available for free at a US airport.
I took a quick wander over to the Reserved area, but the Chevrolet Camero, the Chrysler 300 and the dodge Durango wasn’t too appealing for me; even if they may have been specifically reserved for another customer.
With the choice of one car, I ended up in the Nissan Rogue for the week. It was hardly exciting, but it did have that new car smell.
Returning at Toronto Pearson International Airport:
After a week in Toronto staying at the Sheraton Toronto Airport and Conference Centre, the Residence Inn London Downtown, and a return visit to the Marriott City Centre Toronto, it came time to depart.
When I returned the vehicle, the vehicle was checked in without any delay by the roving attendant. I confirmed my email to the attendent for the receipt; which actually never came.
I stopped by the rental counter on my way out to collect a paper copy of the receipt. I haven’t had a lot of luck with Hertz promising e-receipts lately, and for some reason, Canadian rentals don’t seem to appear on my Hertz Gold Plus Rewards account when I look them up.
As my curiosity got the better for me, in order to see if the car selection got any better from the “one” vehicle on my way in, I passed by the Hertz President’s Circle aisle on my way to the terminal building for my departing flight.
This time, the Hertz President’s Circle Ultimate Choice consisted of two white full size pick up trucks: a full size Dodge Ram, and a full size ford F150. They were just the thing for driving around urban Toronto (laughing).
I happened to notice a few Nissan Rogues and Chevrolet Traverse in the Five Star lot, but there was nothing there that was all too exciting or exotic.
Ultimately, the Hertz President’s Circle experience at Toronto International Airport was pretty basic and utilitarian. I haven’t been lucky getting any decent upgrades here in the President’s Circle aisle on this, or any past visits.
I headed up to the Plaza Premium Lounge – Toronto Terminal One Domestic, prior to heading home to Vancouver from Toronto.
My Thoughts on Hertz President’s Circle at Toronto Pearson International Airport:
While I’ve previously had high expectations of Hertz President’s Circle Ultimate Choice, I’ve learned to taper those expectations.
My Toronto experience was much like my Las Vegas experience, where heading to the Hertz Ultimate Choice aisles meant arriving to an empty parking garage without a car to be found. Fortunately, I received a “mom – mo – mobile” Nissan Rogue for this week’s travels. While it was brand new at less than 750 kilometres on the odometer, it wasn’t all to exciting a drive. The vehicle was a “guaranteed” upgrade per the terms and conditions of the Hertz President’s Circle program, but it wasn’t all that much more.
If you are hoping for a broad selection of Hertz Ultimate Choice vehicles in Toronto, I would moderate your expectations accordingly and expect to pay for vehicle upgrades normally available on a complimentary basis at US airports.
If you have visited Hertz Toronto Ultimate Choice aisles, were you impressed with the selection of vehicles ?
Our returning flight from San Francisco had us on United Airlines over Air Canada. The flight itself was market as Business Class, but it’s the most bare bones Business Class experience ever. Our international flight over supper hour would only have a bag of popcorn as their primary meal offering, with the pre-departure beverage completely cut from existence. Read on to see what the United Airlines Business Class experience entails for a trans-border flight.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: United Airlines Business Class A319, San Francisco International Airport – Vancouver International Airport
We’ve previously flown this route on United Airlines Business Class on an Embraer 175 product. If you’d like to see how the smaller aircraft compares, please see United Airlines Business Class E175 San Francisco – Vancouver.
We arrived into San Francisco International Airport on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class Doha – San Francisco having travelled back from the Maldives on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class Malé – Doha earlier in the journey.
I was unable to find any reward space on Alaska Mileage Plan between San Francisco to Vancouver, so we just opted to purchase a revenue ticket to position back home.
Checking into United Airlines:
I checked into this flight courtesy of the United Airlines app. Everything worked as it should, and we dropped our luggage at the United Airlines connections desk in the basement of the International Terminal.
After a visit to the American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco courtesy of the American Express Platinum Card, we headed to the gate.
United Airlines includes lounge access on a Business Class international ticket to Canada. As a result, we also had access to the variety of United Clubs’ in San Francisco that included the:
- United Club San Francisco – “F” Gates Rotunda
- United Club San Francisco International – “G” Gates
- United Club San Francisco – “E” Gates.
However, time did not permit a visit to all of these, so we opted for the comfortable American Express Centurion Lounge instead.
United Airlines
Business Class (P)
SFO – YVR (San Francisco International Airport – Vancouver International Airport)
UA 2183
March 21, 2023
Booked: Airbus 319
Flown: Airbus 319
Departure: 4:14 PM
Arrival: 6:38 PM
After some time in the lounge, we headed towards Gate E7. The atmospheric river that we landed in had disappeared. We enjoyed some angelic rainbow views over United Airlines mainline fleet.
On board United Airlines Business Class:
We eventually boarded with Group 1 after a brief delay of the in bound aircraft.
The United Airlines Business Class Airbus 319 is set up in a 2 – 2 configuration. The seats are regular slim line domestic recliners that are mostly comfortable for short flights.
They offer a little extra leg room, hip space and some priority services including extra checked baggage and early boarding.
Each Seat featured Empower Seat Power. The power ports are slightly hidden under the armrest centre console.
The seats are reasonably comfortable for short to medium haul first class. I find that these seats are generally firmer than Alaska Airlines First Class for what it’s worth.
We received the usual United Clean Plus Sanitizing Wipe on arrival to the aircraft. We were also able to watch the last of the luggage being loaded into the hold of the aircraft.
Pre-Departure Services:
In additional cost cutting moves, there was no offer of a pre-departure beverage today. I’m really surprised that United Airlines still doesn’t offer anything; not even a bottle of water.
In Flight Entertainment:
United Airlines offers in phone flight entertainment. Messaging is free, although there is a charge for internet access.
Perhaps disappointingly, I was not able to get any of the movies or internet to work. My phone kept timing out, and as a result, we didn’t have any entertainment for this short two hour flight. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was sort of typical for my experiences on United Airlines.
The Meal: All – In – One Snack Basket
As we got to altitude, the meal service for the two hour international flight started. United Airlines feels that a bag of chips is the right food offering for a two hour international flight over supper hour.
As a result, I enjoyed a bag of skinny popcorn along with a gin and tonic. I’d certainly get off this particular flight hungry.
Arriving into Vancouver International Airport:
Since there wasn’t any entertainment on board, there wasn’t much to do except stare out the window. In my case, it was on the left hand side of the aircraft towards a setting sun.
We arrived into Vancouver International Airport and headed towards the inspection lanes of the Canada Border Services Agency. Surprisingly, there were a few crowds with travel returning back to normal once again.
Thanks to Nexus screening, we were through the border really quickly.
My Thoughts on United Airlines Transborder:
Our United Airlines Business Class flight from San Francisco – Vancouver remained an exceptionally basic flight for what is branded as a Business Class experience. Despite being on a flight over two and a half hours in length during supper hour, United doesn’t see it fit to provide an inflight meal. The Pre-Departure Beverage is gone and the in flight entertainment was non functional.
There wasn’t too much premium about this flight. Make sure you come on board with take away sandwiches.
If you travel between the United States and Canada, do you pack food to carry on board ?
Occasionally, there comes a terrific opportunity to stack points and miles offers to really enhance your mileage account. During Amazon’s Prime Day sales event, we are seeing a really solid offer for Air Canada Aeroplan Point earning, with certain terms and conditions and provided that you have the correct credit card.
Deal Alert: Air Canada Aeroplan E-Store Offering 12X points for Amazon Prime Purchases.
In an exclusive offer to Toronto Dominion Air Canada Aeroplan Visa card holders, Air Canada Aeroplan is offering up to 12 x the points for select Amazon Prime Purchases made through the Air Canada Aeroplan E Store web portal.
What is Amazon Prime:
If you haven’t heard of Amazon Prime by now, you probably haven’t been taking advantage of a lot of on line shopping in the last eight years. Per the Amazon’s website, Prime Day is Amazon’s deal event exclusively for Prime members, featuring personalized deals and top brands. The event came to life for customers on July 15, 2015, as a way to celebrate Prime members on Amazon’s 20th birthday.
The Deal:
This appears to be a targeted offer to Toronto Dominion Aeroplan Visa Card Holders.
Toronto Dominion Aeroplan Visa Card Holders are being offered up to 12x the regular Air Canada Aeroplan points for Amazon Prime Purchases. I might also add that I received an additional 2 points per dollar offer, as a result of also being and Air Canada Elite 35K member.
The basics of the deal are as follows:
Amazon Prime Day is back for two days only, July 11‑12.
- Earn 7 pts/$1 spent on eligible Amazon category purchases via the Aeroplan eStore.
- That’s 5 pts/$1 spent during the event, plus 2 extra pts/$1 just for being a Status Member!
Plus, TD Aeroplan Cardholders receive an exclusive additional points bonus.
- Earn an extra 5pts/$1 spent when you use your TD Aeroplan card for your purchases.
- That’s a total of 12 pts/$1 spent!
It’s worth mentioning that MrsWT73 whom is also a primary Toronto Dominion Aeroplan Visa Card holder (and who is also an Amazon Prime Member), did not get targeted for this offer.
The usual Aeroplan E – Store Earn rate is 1x per point (plus 2 additional points as a status member) for 3x per dollar. Earning 12 points per dollar spent is a pretty generous offer, assuming that you can meet the terms and conditions.
As always, there are a number of terms and conditions that are in place with any Air Canada Aeroplan promotion. Probably the most limiting of the terms and conditions, are the purchasing categories that are able to earn under this particular promotion.
These categories include:
- Amazon Cloud Cam
- Amazon Fashion Private Brands
- Automotive
- Beauty & Grooming
- Camera
- Photo & Video
- Clothing & Accessories
- Echo Devices
- Eero Devices
- Fire Tablets
- Fire TV Devices
- Furniture
- Handmade Products
- Home Improvement
- Industrial & Scientific
- Jewelry
- Kindle E-readers
- Luggage & Bags
- Luxury Beauty
- Major Appliances
- Musical Instruments
- Stage & Studio
- Office & School Supplies
- Pet Supplies
- Power & Hand Tools
- Ring Video Doorbells and Cameras
- Shoes & Handbags
- Sports & Outdoors
- Tires & Wheels
- Watches
The purchase of Amazon Prime Memberships are not eligible for the accumulation of Aeroplan points.
In order to fulfil the second portion of the offer, you need to first sign into the Aeroplan E-Store and complete the purchases on your TD Aeroplan Credit Card.
These terms include:
- Offer starts at midnight (12:00:01 AM) EST on July 11, 2023
- Offer ends at midnight (11:59:00 PM) EST on July 12, 2023
- During the Offer Period, the primary cardholder of a TD Aeroplan credit card account will earn an additional 5 Aeroplan Points for every Aeroplan Point earned on qualifying Amazon purchases initiated through the Air Canada Aeroplan Estore and charged to the account.
- Earnings exclude taxes, shipping fees, custom duties, or any other types of surcharges.
- No Aeroplan Points will be awarded for transactions that initiate directly with Amazon, without going through the E-Store.
- Authorized User’s Spend are Not Eligible for this Offer
- Aeroplan Points will be credited by September 6, 2023.
When signing into the Aeroplan E-Store during this promotion, my screen does accurately display the 7x per point offer, with the additional TD Aeroplan Visa Card 5x points coming later.
What I think of this deal:
This offer requires that the purchaser meet a number of conditions. It’s not that unusual for an Aeroplan promotion to have this many promotions, although the strict purchase categories won’t be up to everyone’s tastes.
Assuming you meet the requirements for the promotion, then this has the potential to be an excellent deal. I suppose if you were needing to purchase a major appliance in the next two days, then you might be able to earn 12x points per dollar on a two thousand dollar refrigerator. In that case, you’d earn 24,000 Aeroplan points.
For most of the rest of us, depending on your on line shopping habits, you’ll likely earn a few hundred extra Aeroplan miles on this offer.
Mainly, this type of promotion is designed to drive traffic from the Aeroplan E-Store to the Aeroplan website. Along these lines, this is a perfect promotion. The offer also provides some of the reasons why I keep the Toronto Dominion Aeroplan Visa card, as occasionally, you’ll get a solid promotion like this.
The Bottom Line: Aeroplan Points are Up for Grabs on Amazon Prime Day
There are a number of points available for qualifying purchases on Amazon Prime Day. Assuming that you can meet the categories, sign into the Aeroplan E Store, and make the purchase on a Toronto Dominion Air Canada Aeroplan Visa, you should be eligible for up to 12x points per dollar of spend.
Happy Shopping!
If you are a TD Aeroplan Visa Card Holder, will you be taking advantage of this promotion ?
The world-class Qatar Airways Q – Suites Business Class Cabin has changed the way people travel in business class all over the world. Some have stated that the Qatar Airways Q Suites are so luxurious, that a first class cabin is unnecessary. We would find ourselves in the Q Suites cabin on our return trip with Qatar Airways on a fourteen-hour flight from the Middle East to the West Coast of the United States . We would get a chance to experience every Qatar amenity and service on our flight. How would our flight measure up to these high standards?
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
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✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class A350-1000, Doha Hamad International Airport – San Francisco International Airport
“Qatar Airways Q Suites has transformed international business class into a supremely private travel setting, accompanied with that world class wine list, terrific sleeping amenities in a cuddle class double bed”
This flight is of travels on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class Doha – San Francisco. For the return journey, please see our separate review of Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha.
Checking into Qatar Airways:
After spending a pleasant layover at the Westin Doha Hotel and Spa on a nine hour connection, we took an Uber back to the airport.
We were dropped off near the Qatar Airways First and Business Class check in near Door #1 at Hamad International Airport. The Qatar Airways Premium check in area at Doha is exceptionally opulent, with an excess of space to maneuver and with minimal crowding.
Inside the Qatar Airways Business Class check in, I asked an attendent for a cool Qatar Airways Business Class plastic luggage tag. The staff weren’t so keen to give them out, referencing that they were for “checked baggage only”. We didn’t happen to see any in the outstations at San Francisco or at Malé.
We didn’t take the offer of the paper baggage tag and ended up leaving quickly to avoid getting our carry on baggage weighed. It was likely over the light Qatar Airways 15lbs carry on limit.
We walked straight through to the dedicated departure exit immigration gates. Our Canadian passports did not work at the e-Gates, so we queued for the sole immigration officer working at 5 AM for a digital photograph on the way out.
We passed through the dedicated First and Business Class security screening which seemed to take issue with my keys, camera and cable cords in my laptop bag. We were underway after a few minutes.
Visiting the Qatar Al Mourjan Lounge:
After security, we headed onto collect a Fifa 2022 World Cup soccer ball for my nephew, and onto the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge for some breakfast.
I reviewed the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge on our way through earlier, so I won’t do so again. It remained a comfortable place to relax.
We wandered upstairs to the restaurant. I was able to enjoy pre-flight breakfast with Eggs Royale; salmon eggs benny with unbranded pink champagne Charles Drappier.
At about forty five minutes prior to our flight, we headed over to Gate C8. Cate C8 was reasonably close to the lounge. Like many gates along this bank designed to service flights to the united states, it was a secure hold facility.
A recent announcement indicated that there was a flight delay. As a result in order to kill off some time, we walked up the concourse to the new Doha Hamad International Airport Garden structure
We eventually returned to Gate C8 near many other flights departing around the same time for the United States. These included Qatar Airways service to Philadelphia, Washington, Miami, Seattle, New York among many others.
Boarding Qatar Airways:
We entered into the secure holding area at Gate C8. We had a secondary security screening along with a laptop swabbing for explosives.
There wasn’t a lot of space inside the secure gate area. Qatar Airways boarded First, Business Class, and those needing extra time to board all at once. Qatar Airways actually made efforts at managing the line for those on Group 3 trying to board with First & Business. It was mini mayhem for about five minutes getting on.
Qatar Airways had proper double jet bridge boarding today in Doha. We were able to glide down a separate jet bridge for business class to get on board Qatar Airways Q Suites cabin.
Qatar Airways
Business Class
DOH-SFO (Doha Hamad International Airport – San Francisco International Airport “A” Gates)
QR 737
Flown: March 21, 2023
Departure: 8:10 AM
Arrival: 1:40 PM
Booked: Airbus 350-1000
Flown: Airbus 350-1000
On Board Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class:
After the disorganized boarding process, we boarded at Door L1 and entered in to the Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class Cabin. Qatar Airways had its boarding music playing, which sets a traditional, understated, but elegant middle eastern mood.
On board, I located my centre facing rear seat at 3E. The Qatar Airways Q Suite purple cabin is elegant looking and offers a contemporary look with modern colours.
Qatar Airways offers a combination of seating throughout its Q Suites Cabin. The Qatar Airways Business Class Cabin offers seating in either a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration with separated middle seats (branded as a Twin Q Suite), or a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration with joined middle seats (branded a Double Q Suite). The outer single seats facing the windows are branded as a Single Q Suite.
The Double Q Suite:
Our seating reservation had us in the Twin Q Suite in the middle bank at Row 3. Booking the combination of joined Twin or Double Q Suites (in the middle) requires a call to the Qatar Airways Reservation Centre. Although the privacy wall was up on our arrival, we would get the opportunity to lower it later in the flight.
The Qatar Airways Q Suites offer a double walled suite with sliding doors. The space offered with the Qatar Airways Q Suites rivals some International First Class cabins with the amount of privacy that is offered.
It is worth mentioning that all of the Double Q Suites face rearwards towards the back of the plane. While this may bother some, I didn’t find it all that bad with the difference noticed during take off and landing.
The Qatar Q Suites Business Class Cabin does not offer overhead bins storage above the centre seats. With no storage bins over the centre seats, the outer bins can get a a little fuller than some other business class cabins. We didn’t have any storage issues, we just didn’t have a storage bin all to ourselves.
Sitting into the Q Suite, the suite itself offers wide twenty six inch entertainment monitors, and a remarkably interconnected space when the middle privacy screen is lowered.
There is a small shelf available for storage of items such as passports or wallets.
Each suite offers a walled space that is highly functional. The seat offers a small adjacent space for articles, in addition to a small table for storage.
Each seat has a reading light that is located above your shoulder. It offers a variety of lighting options from dim to full spot light.
The foot rest well offered a somewhat compact space. While you won’t store anything here, it was a comfortable rest for your feet. I did find the space a little compact in nature, and especially challenging for tall side sleepers like me.
There was a comfortable pillow and blanket waiting for us at the seat. The Qatar Airways blanket is remarkably comfortable and plush in its purple colour.
On our seat, a pillow with a Qatar Airways slip cover was waiting for us. The slogan “Beautiful Destinations often lead to everlasting memories” was travel oriented, but it appealed to MrsWT73.
The Amenity Kit:
Qatar Airways has partnered with Diptyque Parfumeur Paris for its amenity kits. Qatar Airways describes these as “Offering signature fragrances inside each amenity kit, premium passengers will receive signature body and face care products designed to elevate the senses, packaged beautifully in elegant Diptyque branded amenity bags and luxurious bespoke gift boxes”.
While we got one of the bespoke gift boxes on the way out, we received a more practical bag on this time around. It contained the same contents as the box.
Inside the box, there were several Diptyque products including Fresh Hand Cream, Essential Face Cream and Nourishing Lip Palm.
Qatar Airways Pyjamas by The White Company:
Qatar Airways provides pyjamas for all of it’s business class customers on overseas flights that have a night time component. The current provider for Qatar Airways Business Class is The White Company. We’ve also seen these pyjamas on British Airways First Class. I would stock up on a large set of pyjamas for this particular day time flight.
The pjyamas were loose fitting and appropriately sized. As a 187 cm person (6ft 2 inches) with an athletic build, I easily fit a large size. Given the long fourteen hour flight, I used the pjyamas and found them very comfortable for a long haul flight.
Pre-Departure Services:
Qatar Airways offered a purser introduction while we settled in waiting for departure. Qatar Airways opens their great champagne while on the ground at Doha International Airport. Today’s champagne was the outrageously expensive Champagne Alexandra Laurent Perrier Rosé 2016, currently retailing for $500 USD a bottle. I am happy to report that the champagne was also properly chilled; something that didn’t happen in Malé even at altitude.
A towel service was also provided. The towel service was provided in a wrapped container, which was again a slightly low rent, but pandemic safe touch.
The Dinner Menu:
While we were waiting to depart San Francisco, the menus were dropped off. Qatar Airways offers an impressive and showy dinner menu and wine list printed on elegant paper stock.
Today’s flight was split into two meal services. With the flight departing at 8:10 AM, the first meal service was a breakfast offering. This was followed by a second service that was a dinner styled supper offering.
As always, Qatar Airways has an excellent wine list. Today’s wine list offered something for everyone from both old world and new world parts of the wine world.
For those not interested in wine, there were also some cocktails, spirits (including Grey Goose Vodka) and whisky available.
Our first course food order was taken on the ground while we were in Doha.
There was more than enough food and wine available on this flight. Qatar Airways lived up to its reputation as having quality food and beverage giving it’s travellers something to look forward to on this particular flight.
Oryx One In Flight Entertainment:
Qatar Airways offers an excellent world class entertainment system called Oryx One. The entertainment is delivered through a twenty six inch monitor, which is class leading for business class cabins.
Before we got underway, I took a look at the Oryx flight map which showed our flight time and distance to our destination of San Francisco.
We also had the in flight safety video play. One of the advantages of having such an expansive route network is that there are many places such as Los Angeles and Cape Town, where you can film your in flight videos.
The Qatar Airways Oryx One entertainment system has a large number of movies. With an international audience, Oryx One separates the movies in to Hollywood, Arabic, Bollywood and African categories.
Qatar Airways also offered wifi on board our flight from Doha to San Francisco. The pricing was at $10 USD for a full flight, or a free hour for Qatar Airways Privilege Club Members.
I didn’t test out the speed, but it remained an option in the event you absolutely needed to stay connected.
Departing Doha Hamad Internatonal Airport:
We were about one hour late pushing back from the gate at Doha Hamad International Airport. The pilot announced that there would be an effort to make up some time during the journey.
We taxied out to Runway 34R and departed Doha International Airport. Based on a combination of camera angles, we were able to set up a nice set of camera angles as we left Qatar.
The Meal: A Full Breakfast Service
Shortly after we took off, the meal service was offered. Given that we had eaten in the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge, and with fourteen hour flight ahead of us, we opted to eat about two hours into the flight.
I started off with Fresh Orange Juice. It was terrific and mostly pulp free with a punch. The first course was Home Made Mango Yoghurt; with contained seeds on top. It was presented with a fresh assorted bread basket.
For the main course, I went with a California Omelette with Ricotta, Avocado and Roasted Tomato. Surprisingly, it was not the best dish by Californian standards and was a little little processed tasting.
I finished breakfast at about the three hour mark into the flight while we were passing over the Black Sea with Azerbaijan on the right.
Sleeping in Qatar Airways Q Suites:
Qatar Airways Q Suites offers an excellent sleep experience that rivals the worlds best business class. Qatar Airways offers full mattress pads, a sleep sheet along with fluffy purple blankets.
After breakfast, I called the flight attendant to have the bed made up. The space was converted into a Double Q Suite sleeping area. The combination is one of the few double beds in the sky; perfect for cuddling with your travel partner.
Settling into the sleeping portion of the Q Suite, we still had almost ten hours to go.
I changed into The White Company sleep sets. The turn down service provided a thin mattress pad and puffy purple blanket.
The footwell was tiny and not as comfortable flying westwards. During the sleep time, there were many sounds of dining throughout the cabin and clinking of cutlery which didn’t make it as restful a sleep. Flying westward it was also less conducive to a good nights sleep with the gradual shift in time zones.
I ended up sleeping from 11: 00 AM until about 6:30 PM. Given the jet lag, I had a light sleep with substantial turbulence.
In terms of sleep quality, as I had mentioned previously, the seat itself was quite firm. I would say that it was about eight out of ten on the firmness scale. This was great for a performance car, but a little firm for a comfortable sleep.
There were no air jets nozzles in the centre of the cabin, which made for a little bit of a hot cabin when you’re ensconced in the sheets, fluffy blankets and pillows.
The Second Service: Dinner
At about two hours before landing, I ordered the second meal service. The table was immediately set with Qatar’s white table cloth, tea light, water service and assorted bread basket.
The first course was a Burrata Tomato Carpaccio with rosemary fried black olives, olive oil and balsamic dressing. It was tasty although all the flavours went together ok. Surprisingly, the tomatoes were a little wilted and without much flavour or sharpness.
MrsWT73 enjoyed a Qatar’s version of classic Arabic Mezze platter. While it was a solid dish, it wasan’t as impressive as the ones that you find in Emirates First Class.
For a second course, I enjoyed a Broccoli Miso Soup. It was presented as a little lukewarm although it was flavourful and I could taste the broccoli more than the miso tastes. I paired this with Chardonnay Penfolds Bin 311, Australia; it was good and balanced wine and went well with the starters.
For the main course, I went with a chargrilled lamp kofta and a lamb chop, tomato focaccia, white aubergine and harissa oil.
Of the two meat dishes, the lamb kofta was better than the lamp chop. The chop was fully cooked and a little gristly. It was a good combination of flavours although given the jet lag, I wasn’t super hungry or have a lot of appetite.
I finished the four course meal with fresh berries and fruit with sour cream. This was the freshest part of the meal, which wasn’t up to Qatar’s usual excellent standards. Despite being interesting and engaging, the meal tasted as if it wasn’t as fresh as it could be.
I had a towel service to finish the meal and the last towel service of this particular trip.
Our flight wound down, having almost reached our final destination of San Francisco. We were lastly presented with some Läderach Swiss Chocolates to enjoy or take away with us.
Landing at San Francisco International Airport:
It happened to be raining in San Fransico on our arrival. The state of California was undergoing an atmospheric river of rain, which caused some visibility and wind issues on our final approach.
After a go around on the descent, we ended up in a massive holding pattern while the airport switch up runways to a cross runway.
We ended up in a slip coming down towards the San Francisco runway. We landed safely on the runway. We were about twenty minutes late arriving to the gate.
We arrived to a very wet and rainy San Francisco over in the San Francisco International “A” Gates Terminal.
We promptly disembarked and headed off towards US Customs and Immigration. We were through without any delay courtesy of Global Entry.
We headed over to United Airlines to check in for a United Airlines Business Class San Francisco – Vancouver flight back home
My Thoughts on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class:
Qatar Airways Q Suites is arguably the world’s best business class. The seating configuration is among the best in the world, and it’s paired with an excellent world class menu and wine list.
Today’s flights’ food was a little less fresh. It felt as little wilted by comparison. Despite this, I really enjoyed the flight and wouldn’t hesitate to get back on a Qatar Airways Q Suites flight again in the near future.
World Traveller 73 
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