World Traveller 73 
The Star Alliance First Class Lounge at the Tom Bradley International Terminal was undergoing an upgrade during our visit. It was still a comfortable place to hang out and is among one of the toughest lounges to access thanks to limited Star Alliance First Class flights leaving from this airport.
This post is one chapter in our Around the World in Star Alliance First Class via China, Thailand and Spain. This trip was booked using Air Canada Aeroplan miles. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. 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:
- Trip Introduction: Around the World in Star Alliance First Class via China, Thailand and Spain
- Air Canada Executive Class, Vancouver – Los Angeles
- Star Alliance Lounge, Tom Bradley International Terminal, Los Angeles
- Asiana Airlines First Class: Los Angeles – Seoul Incheon
- Asiana Airlines First Class Lounge, Seoul Incheon
- Asiana Airlines Business Class, Seoul Incheon – Shanghai Pu Dong
- Renaissance Shanghai Yu Gardens, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai, China
- Air China Domestic Business Lounge, Shanghai, China
- Air China, Shanghai – Beijing
- Swisshotel China Hong Kong Macau Center, Beijing, China
- Beijing, China
- Visiting the Great Wall of China at Miytanyu
- Air China Business Lounge, Beijing Capital Airport
- Air China, Beijing – Shanghai
- Riding the Shanghai Maglev at 430 km/h
- Shanghai Airlines Business Lounge, Shanghai, China
- Thai Airways Royal Silk, Shanghai – Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal Silk Domestic Lounge, Bangkok
- Thai Airways, Bangkok – Phuket
- Le Meridien Khao Lak, Thailand
- Ko Phi Phi Don Islands, Thailand
- Thai Airways Royal Silk Domestic Lounge, Phuket
- Thai Airways, Phuket – Bangkok
- Le Meridien Bangkok
- Thirty Six Hours in Bangkok, Thailand
- Thai Airways Royal First Lounge, Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal First Class, Bangkok – Madrid
- AC Hotel Carlton, Madrid
- Three Days in Madrid, Spain
- Day Tripping to Salamanca, Spain
- Renfe AVE Preferente Business, Madrid – Barcelona
- AC Hotel Barcelona Sants, Barcelona
- Exploring Barrio La Rambla in Barcelona
- Getting into Gaudi, Barcelona, Spain
- Renfe AVE Preferente Business, Barcelona – Madrid
- Puerta del Alcala VIP Lounge, Madrid, Spain
- Lufthansa Business Class, Madrid – Frankfurt
- Novotel Mainz, Germany
- Walking through Mainz, Germany
- Lufthansa First Class Terminal, Frankfurt, Germany
- Lufthansa First Class, Frankfurt – Seattle
- Air Canada, Seattle – Vancouver
Review: Star Alliance First Class Lounge, Los Angeles, USA
“The Star Alliance First Class Lounge, Los Angeles offers a quiet and restful, if not unexciting place to relax before your flight”
We approached the Tom Bradley International Terminal on foot from the North. I had always wondered about traveling through here, this particular terminal, along with the many of thousands of travelers that have done so in the past. Most of my travel has been with United in Terminal 7, which could be, err, a more civilized connecting experience. For those that have wondered the origin of the Tom Bradley name, through the seventies and eighties, Tom Bradley was the mayor of Los Angeles for twenty years and was the only African American mayor of Los Angeles.
We approached the 1980’s styled architecture of thick concrete exteriors and avant gardist structures of a building that was opened in time for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angles. A time when the USA and USSR were in the middle of a Cold War and the USSR boycotted the American Olympics. High ceilings, a sense of beige-ness and anonymity meeting functionality was my first impression of the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
Checking into Asiana First Class:
We wondered over to a near deserted Star Alliance aisle, past the Singapore Check in (these SQ guys are everywhere!) and up to the Asiana section, which was mostly empty. We headed straight up to the empty First Class counter and presented ourselves for our boarding passes.
As our baggage was checked through from Vancouver, it was a simple exchange as we received our onward boarding cards for Asiana LAX-ICN and ICN-PVG, We were also handed lounge invitations for the Star Alliance Lounge in TBIT. This is what I was doing while waiting for duty free. Looking at this… …and dreaming of a flight to Papeete one day.
We were directed over to the South Security Screeninng check point. After a brief stop for further duty free cosmetics pricing, we wandered into the business class / first security screening line up and once through, we headed up the elevator to the Star Alliance Lounge.
Inside the Star Alliance First Class Lounge:
At the entrance to the lounge, we presented ourselves at the counter and were admitted access “over on the left hand side” (First Class section). After reading several trip reports here, I had wondered why there were not many photos of the LAX Star Alliance Lounge. I now know the reason why- there is hardly anything worth seeing here!!
Walking through the passway on the “left hand side” led us to a quiet rectangular room with 44 seats in 11 groups of four. My initial impression was where is the rest of it? It is a small facility for what could be considered a major market population. We settled down into one of the four groups of chairs. There were only 2 other groups together in the lounge when we were there and there was enough space that we were not tripping over each other. The lounge was decorated in dark tones, dark chairs and wooden floors. The décor actually reminded me of the Gemiah Star Alliance Lounge (International side) in Cairo, Egypt. A dark understated hue.
Exploring, I went over to the food. For 10 AM, it just seemed a bit tired. I don’t know if it was because we just missed changeover from the breakfast service, but the lunch food on offer seemed to be leftovers from yesterday. Warm cheese, sushi that didn’t seem too crisp or fresh.
They were serving Nicolas Feuillante Champagne and Babich Pinot Noir which was a thumbs up as far as I was concerned. In all, I actually thought that the Air New Zealand Koru Club in Terminal 2 that was mentioned earlier was a much nicer facility. This place seemed to be lacking any personality.
I decided that I must be missing something. So I decided to check out the Business Class lounge. I was slightly horrified at what I found.
Inside the Star Alliance Business Class Lounge:
The business side of the lounge around the “right side” was stuffed about as full as anyone would imagine. It was worse than a Lufthansa Senator Lounge in the middle of the day. People were spilling all over each other. Travellers were passed semi horizontally in chairs with their legs resting above their heads up the sides of the walls. I thought to myself “Where’s the decorum people? ? ?” There was not a single seat to be had.
I passed through the masses and located a larger food service area. I never imagined finding Cup O Noodles in the lounges as one of the main food items. There were magazines on the rack available for reading, but they were mostly European, which would probably explain why there were so many still left there.
Retreating to the safety of the “Left” side, I decided that the food didn’t look to appealing on either side so I elected for a constant stream of champagne injections to soothe my transit time. I opted for a glass of the Nicolas Feuillante and settled in on the First Class side. I did manage to sneak back over to the Business Side and try a glass of the Vin Mousseux on service over there – Pol Remy Brut (Blue). I suppose technically it wasn’t champagne, but at least it was from France and they were on the right track by offering a sparkling wine.
At ten minutes before the recommended boarding time listed on our card, the Asiana Representative came through the First Class Lounge with the white board with our flight number scribbled on it to let us know it was time to go. We were the only Asiana First Class passengers in the First Lounge it seemed. The White Board lady didn’t escort us down. So we collected ourselves and wondered down on our own through the under renovation TBIT over to gate 121.
Star Alliance First Class Lounge Bottom Line:
The Star Alliance First Class Lounge in Los Angeles was a reasonable, if not super exciting place to be before your flight. The lounge featured comfortable seating, if not some unexciting food snacks the nibble on. The best part of the lounge was that it was hardly occupied during our visit; likely thanks to the limited First Class flights that depart from Los Angeles.
The first leg of our around the world adventure was on our home carrier Air Canada. Since there is no first class on Star Alliance from our home airport in Vancouver, we had a short hop down to Los Angeles where the real fun was to start.
This post is one chapter in our Around the World in Star Alliance First Class via China, Thailand and Spain. This trip was booked using Air Canada Aeroplan miles. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us 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:
- Trip Introduction: Around the World in Star Alliance First Class via China, Thailand and Spain
- Air Canada Executive Class, Vancouver – Los Angeles
- Star Alliance Lounge, Tom Bradley International Terminal, Los Angeles
- Asiana Airlines First Class: Los Angeles – Seoul Incheon
- Asiana Airlines First Class Lounge, Seoul Incheon
- Asiana Airlines Business Class, Seoul Incheon – Shanghai Pu Dong
- Renaissance Shanghai Yu Gardens, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai, China
- Air China Domestic Business Lounge, Shanghai, China
- Air China, Shanghai – Beijing
- Swisshotel China Hong Kong Macau Center, Beijing, China
- Beijing, China
- Visiting the Great Wall of China at Miytanyu
- Air China Business Lounge, Beijing Capital Airport
- Air China, Beijing – Shanghai
- Riding the Shanghai Maglev at 430 km/h
- Shanghai Airlines Business Lounge, Shanghai, China
- Thai Airways Royal Silk, Shanghai – Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal Silk Domestic Lounge, Bangkok
- Thai Airways, Bangkok – Phuket
- Le Meridien Khao Lak, Thailand
- Ko Phi Phi Don Islands, Thailand
- Thai Airways Royal Silk Domestic Lounge, Phuket
- Thai Airways, Phuket – Bangkok
- Le Meridien Bangkok
- Thirty Six Hours in Bangkok, Thailand
- Thai Airways Royal First Lounge, Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal First Class, Bangkok – Madrid
- AC Hotel Carlton, Madrid
- Three Days in Madrid, Spain
- Day Tripping to Salamanca, Spain
- Renfe AVE Preferente Business, Madrid – Barcelona
- AC Hotel Barcelona Sants, Barcelona
- Exploring Barrio La Rambla in Barcelona
- Getting into Gaudi, Barcelona, Spain
- Renfe AVE Preferente Business, Barcelona – Madrid
- Puerta del Alcala VIP Lounge, Madrid, Spain
- Lufthansa Business Class, Madrid – Frankfurt
- Novotel Mainz, Germany
- Walking through Mainz, Germany
- Lufthansa First Class Terminal, Frankfurt, Germany
- Lufthansa First Class, Frankfurt – Seattle
- Air Canada, Seattle – Vancouver
Review: Air Canada Executive Business Class, Embraer 190, Vancouver – Los Angeles
“Air Canada Executive Class offers a competitive business class product on its Transborder flights.
While the product is pretty conventional, it does offer free Star Alliance Lounge access with a business class ticket which it’s competitors don’t offer”
After a wonderful 4:15 AM wakeup from the house, we made our way to our home airport. Our first leg of our journey was from Vancouver to Shanghai Pu Dong via LAX and ICN. We checked in at the USA departures area in Vancouver and our bags were tagged all the way through to Shanghai. The service was pleasant and I noticed our check in agent checking our ITIN and for our Chinese Visa’s and their validity as she flipped through the passports.
Like other Canadian Airports, US Customs / Immigration Pre-Clearance, so you clear US Customs in Vancouver, and arrive at domestic terminals in the USA. To spice it up though, they’ve added Nexus / Global Entry “Fast Track” lanes that are sometimes, but not always in operation. They seem to be a bit limited on space here so the process involves a labyrinth of mazes and back and forth walking in order to get through the hurdles. Leaving YVR for the USA involves several steps and in the morning it always seems to be a mess.
On the public side, we headed over to the baggage drop, which at this hour was where our line ups started. All carriers share the same belts and your luggage tag passes over a built in scale before it departs on its journey. We joined about 50 people, mostly leisure and cruise travelers as we moved forward to the baggage belts where they scanned our boarding passes with the luggage codes. With three belts / attendants helping people load things on, the process was moving really quickly.
Ms WT73 was fortunate enough to have her Air Canada Boarding Pass stamped with the dubious “SSSS” and was shown over to the “special” screening on the far right. She did get the nude-o-scope, which seems to be par for the course these days. Thoughout all this mess, there were a lot of senior citizens traveling at this time of the day. I took some amusement as US CBP questioned two senior citizens in the booth next to me, whom had never flown internationally before. “Exciting isn’t it?”, asked the CBP officer, in her amused, but sarcastic professional voice. At this point, I was already happy to have invested in Global Entry. I also learned that Nexus is much quicker than Global Entry (if you’re presented with both) as it’s 2 questions plus an eye scan, versus 6 questions, a fingerprint check and a passport scan.
Passing through Customs Clearance, I joined up with MS WT 73 who made it through SSSS unscathed. Already 2 hours into a trip around the world and her eyes were rolling at the whole process.
Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Transborder
After a check of the YVR duty free cosmetics for price comparisons, we were over to the comfortable Air Canada Vancouver Transborder Maple Leaf Lounge. Access to the lounge was granted courtesy of the Business Class status of our ticket. Of note, Air Canada offers Business Class Lounge access with its Business Class tickets, unlike it’s fellow American carriers that do not always offer access without the purchase of a day pass or an annual lounge membership.
This is my favorite Maple Leaf Lounge at Vancouver because it’s never over crowded, has lots of natural light, and is quite spacious.
The lounge had some offerings with breakfast. This is usually a cereal offering, with yoghurts, juices and toasts / bagels. It is more than enough for me to make it worth the while to visit, rather than line up at the Starbucks one floor down. In addition, the free, easy to connect Wifi is easy and the use of wireless printing is really handy as well as it keeps life in check (I’ve purchased and printed Bon Jovi tickets from here on a past trip). The only minus to the Maple Leaf Lounges is that due to Liquor Control laws, there is no alcohol served before 11 AM (even if it is in the US Pre-Clearance area!). Minus one point for AC here…
Our flight was leaving from the usual LAX gate today and boarding was without issue.
Air Canada
Executive Class
YVR-LAX (Vancouver International Airport – Los Angeles Terminal 2)
AC 550 – Executive Class (I)
08:00 AM – 10:46 AM
May 5, 2012
Booked: Embrauer 190
Flown: Embrauer 190
On board Air Canada Executive Class:
The cabin was 9/9 today with at least one e-upgrade that I noticed. We were flying an Embrauer 190 down to LAX today. AC Executive has been very full lately, and there are rarely any empty seats anymore. Orders were taken by our flight attendant straight down from the front. Our flight attendant, in a typically French Canadian accent asked us: “Whoould you like an OMeletee or a PANNNcake?” No menus were offered this morning. I asked for a souvenir menu – “Oh, I DIDn’t hang them out because they were waterlogged in Vancouver” A strange comment considering how it wasn’t raining when we left.
Meal Service “Breakfast”:
I enjoyed the usual Air Canada omelette today.
The steward serving us was kind enough to open the bar as soon as we were airborne so Ms WT73 and I shared a bottle of Henry of Pelham Sauvingon Blanc from Niagara Ontario on our way down the coast.
The headphones were passed out (free up front). Mine were defective but I was feeling a bit lazy from the early wake ups to bother geting another set. The IFE has recently been expanded on Air Canada’s Aircraft, and, despite the usual problems with the system previously crashing, it is actually among the nicer In Flight Entertainment Systems that are out there. Air Canada had added some older content such as Major League and War of the Roses. I settled into Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and tried to stay as awake as long as I could.
Before we knew it, LAX was in our sights on approach, with new adventures waiting for us.
We arrived into Terminal Two and into the heart of American airports. My personal opinion here, LAX is among the sorriest airports to transit through in America – I am sure it is a shock for some that pass through here. It’s functional, and has some food choices depending on what terminal you are in, but it doesn’t seem very clean and it doesn’t seem well maintained.
You can just see the LAX Maple Leaf Lounge entrance in the upper left hand corner next to the Glorious Air New Zealand Koru Club. That is glorious with a capitial “G”.
If you need to change terminals at LAX, you have to leave the secure side and walk over (or take the bus) outside, to your next terminal. This can take a bit of time and we walked over to the Tom Bradley International Terminal in anticipation of a wonderful Asiana experience. Since it’s California, the weather is usually always sunny.
Air Canada Transborder Executive Class Summary:
Air Canada Executive Class is a competitive way to get to and from the United States. It provides a competitive product compared to its US Counterparts. Lounge access is complimentary with Air Canada for Business Class ticket holders, unlike the US Carriers that require a lounge membership or day pass purchase in order to access.
A Star Alliance Around the World Trip in First Class is a journey that you’ll never forget. We set on this journey starting off with Air Canada’s Frequent Flyer program Aeroplan.
Trip Introduction: Around the World #1 via China, Thailand & Spain on Asiana, Thai and Lufthansa First Class
Trip Planning:
In the summer of July 2011, I had been, err “involved” with an electronic affair with frequent forum Flyertalk for about 7 months now. I had read about all of these wonderful trips and seen hundreds of reports about those that were able to cash in on the mini RTW award offered by Aeroplan. This was simply an Aeroplan Asia One reward that allowed routing via both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, hence completing a “Round the World” trip. These trips were available for only 120,000 Aeroplan Miles for a good number of years.Then without surprise, Aeroplan announced that they would shortly be increasing the mileage for these trips from 120,000 to 175,000.
With this news, I hastily threw together a trip for two, with the full plans on changing the trip with a change fee to be saved for a honeymoon later on. I booked the tickets at 300+ days out, and I still had difficulty finding reward availability on Lufthansa and Air Canada. These were also before the days of fuel surcharge additions on Aeroplan Reward tickets as well. The total taxes and fees for the RTW portion of this trip was $201.71 CAD per person plus a $30 booking fee and 120,000 Aeroplan miles. The same trip booked by segment on Star Alliance through their website was valued at over $21,000 CAD for a paid ticket. I was over the moon with joy.
Over Christmas of 2011, I called in to change my ticket to arrange it for after our wedding which was set for the fall of September 2012. I reached a friendly agent who kindly reminded me of the fact that I only had one year from the date of ticketing in which to start my travels.
Crap.
Since I had booked the ticket in June of 2011, I had to start traveling by June of 2012. Our wedding was set for September 2012. I wasn’t super keen on the trip anymore. How do you plan or fund an even bigger event for your honeymoon than a Round the World trip in First? Realization sunk in that we had booked an offer that was too good to pass up. It became more an more apparent that we would have to fly the original ticket on the original ITIN or have the miles re-credited to our account after paying a fee.
Over the weeks after hearing this news, I actually didn’t have much motivation to take the trip. I sank into travellers depression. It became known to me as the Timeshare Presentation – the presentation and obligation and commitment to sit through some nasty presentation, all to get a reward of some kind. I thought of this trip as THAT nasty presentation. Why did I want to go to Thailand? Or stop in China again? Or visit overpriced Europe? Ewww!! Despite this, as time passed on, I started changing my tune. We ended up taking the travel and never looked back. With 10 great flights, we were instantly hooked.
The Routing:
The routing ended up looking like this. I pieced together reward availability by checking each segment individually and phoning in to give the call centre the exact flights I wanted. There were no issues with this when I booked and we were confirmed after some manual ticketing labour.
The routing was travelling westward and looked like
- YVR-LAX-ICN-PVG (Aeroplan Award)
- PVG-PEK-PVG (paid)
- PVG-BKK (Aeroplan Award)
- BKK-HKT-BKK (paid)
- BKK-MAD (Aeroplan Award)
- MAD-FRA-SEA-YVR (Aeroplan Award)
I hope you’ll join us on another terrific adventure!
Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Around the World in Star Alliance First Class via China, Thailand and Spain
- Air Canada Executive Class, Vancouver – Los Angeles
- Star Alliance Lounge, Tom Bradley International Terminal, Los Angeles
- Asiana Airlines First Class: Los Angeles – Seoul Incheon
- Asiana Airlines First Class Lounge, Seoul Incheon
- Asiana Airlines Business Class, Seoul Incheon – Shanghai Pu Dong
- Renaissance Shanghai Yu Gardens, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai, China
- Air China Domestic Business Lounge, Shanghai, China
- Air China, Shanghai – Beijing
- Swisshotel China Hong Kong Macau Center, Beijing, China
- Beijing, China
- Visiting the Great Wall of China at Miytanyu
- Air China Business Lounge, Beijing Capital Airport
- Air China, Beijing – Shanghai
- Riding the Shanghai Maglev at 430 km/h
- Shanghai Airlines Business Lounge, Shanghai, China
- Thai Airways Royal Silk, Shanghai – Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal Silk Domestic Lounge, Bangkok
- Thai Airways, Bangkok – Phuket
- Le Meridien Khao Lak, Thailand
- Ko Phi Phi Don Islands, Thailand
- Thai Airways Royal Silk Domestic Lounge, Phuket
- Thai Airways, Phuket – Bangkok
- Le Meridien Bangkok
- Thirty Six Hours in Bangkok, Thailand
- Thai Airways Royal First Lounge, Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal First Class, Bangkok – Madrid
- AC Hotel Carlton, Madrid
- Three Days in Madrid, Spain
- Day Tripping to Salamanca, Spain
- Renfe AVE Preferente Business, Madrid – Barcelona
- AC Hotel Barcelona Sants, Barcelona
- Exploring Barrio La Rambla in Barcelona
- Getting into Gaudi, Barcelona, Spain
- Renfe AVE Preferente Business, Barcelona – Madrid
- Puerta del Alcala VIP Lounge, Madrid, Spain
- Lufthansa Business Class, Madrid – Frankfurt
- Novotel Mainz, Germany
- Walking through Mainz, Germany
- Lufthansa First Class Terminal, Frankfurt, Germany
- Lufthansa First Class, Frankfurt – Seattle
- Air Canada, Seattle – Vancouver
After arriving to the James Richardson Winnipeg Airport, it was time for the second pandemic flying experience within Canada. This was almost like a first world survival scenario, since many of the usual amenities were closed or shuttered which vacuumed away most of the enjoyment out of air travel.
Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney, Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class – Pandemic Edition.
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic – Pandemic Edition
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Winnipeg – Pandemic Edition
- Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport
- Overland Travel: Winnipeg – Killarney
- Killarney, Manitoba
- Overland Travel: Killarney – Winnipeg
- Air Canada Business Class: Winnipeg – Vancouver – Pandemic Edition
This post is one chapter on our trip to Killarney Manitoba, Canada. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. 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”.
Review: Air Canada Business Class, CRJ-900, Winnipeg – Vancouver “Pandemic Edition”
“Flying during a pandemic continues to be unpredictable. Aircraft substitutions, a lack of open restaurants and changes in the service can make for a different and fluid flying experience”
My flight was home was pretty entertaining. In many ways, much of the fun of business class was vaccumed away for my travels for this particular segment.
I had a little extra time to kill, having gotten to the airport about three hours before my flight home. As I was returning the rental car, I happened to notice an Antonov A-124 heavy lift plane parked on the apron. Unlike my drive up from Killarney, which had intermittent rain, it happened to be a dry spell so I wandered over to the fence and stuck my SLR camera through the chain link fence in order to take some photographs.
I ran the registration through Flight Aware and learned that the plane had flown in from Trieste – Reyjavik – Winnpeg to drop off or pick up some obsure item. The only time I’d ever happened to see an Antonov cargo plane was when I was passing through Beijing Capital Airport. After plane spotting, I burned up some time seated outside the departures drop off area since the inside of the terminal had turned into a mandatory mask zone after we had arrived on Monday per the provincial health authorities.
The Winnipeg James Richardson Airport is a bright new terminal. It was named after James Richardson. As a pioneer in Canadian Northern Aviation, he founded Canadian Airlines and was initially one of the largest airlines in the British Commonwealth. There is a large statute of him in a coat at the east end of the terminal.
It was pretty dead in the terminal thanks to very few flights departing on pandemic Wednesday.
Heading through security, CATSA did a temperature check on the forehead. They had an expensive tripod sensor set up but like many government procurement projects it didn’t work as advertised. As a result, I was wanded with a hand held thermometer variety on the forehead.
It was a security screening field day with only 2 in line at the screeners. They quickly got overwhelmed while I was standing there thanks to only one lane open and some over zealous screeners. I had both laptops swabbed in secondary, and a “random” examination of my belt and hands with the explosives tester.
I went off to explore the lounge situation. The airport was sewn up pretty tight.
The Plaza Premium Lounge, which is part of the American Express Lounge collection and a member of Priority Pass was situated closest to security. Unfortunately, it was completely closed up.
I headed down the concourse to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge and they hadn’t bothered to open up by this time either. So much for those ideas.
The departure concourse was pretty much shut down, despite being a weekday.
With that, I found a nice corner of the airport and hung out for a while and entertained myself with the free wifi. Aside from one lounge, the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and a newspaper stand, there wasn’t anything open at all.
Air Canada
AC 299 – Business Class (P) – “Pandemic Edition”
YWG – YVR (Winnipeg James Richardson International Airport – Vancouver International Airport)
Sept 30, 2020
Scheduled: 5:20 PM – 6:19 PM
Booked: Airbus 320
Flown: Canadair Regional Jet – 900 (downgauged to AC Express)
While waiting for boarding, a friendly gate dragon happened to announce that there would be no in flight catering at all; with only soft drinks available for purchase. He specifically happened to mention that this included the business class cabin. He encouraged us to visit a store for grab and go and “Thanks for your patience during these uncertain times”. Yeah right – I’m sure Air Canada could have let us know in advance that there was going to be no catering on board (laughing). I guess if you happen to be losing $20 million a day (CAD) as a business, you have to cut corners somewhere.
On Board Air Canada Business Class:
I eventually boarded with Boarding Group 1. Getting on board the CRJ-900, I found myself in one of the refreshed cabins. Business Class is set up in a 1-2 configuration with bin space that fits rollies only on the right hand side of the aircraft. Today’s load was 8 out of 12 in business including a dead heading first officer in uniform who slept the whole way.
My joy was pretty minimal as I sank into the seat as I recognized that these jets lost their seatback television screens so I was going to be entertainmentless for the ride home. My day was getting better and better (laughing); first the downgrade from Air Canada mainline to Air Canada Express (Jazz), then no food, then no screen. The horrors! Ha ha. I tried to download some Netflix to my iPhone but since I was without wifi – I got shut out by the network carrier.
The seats had in seat power which was convenient to reach being situated in the arm rest. The seats also had individual air nozzles above the seat, something that’ I typically welcome.
Air Canada’s Clean Care + Amenity Kit:
Instead of the usual pre-departure beverage of juice or water, we were offered the now common Air Canada Clean Care + plastic bag. The bag contained was Air Canada marketed as necessities for the flight. These included a sterile glove, some sani wipes, a fresh mask and a few other oddities like a free Covid-19 test on arrival from an international destination at Toronto Pearson International Airport. These were passed out and made available to all customers, regardless of cabin class.
The captain announced our flight time of two hours and thirty five minutes at a planned cruise altitude of 39,000 feet.
As we got underway, there were no remaining aircraft at the Winnipeg Airport. We taxied by the Antonov who happened to be undergoing a load with two cranes.
We had a pass out on runway 31C with a gradual climb up to altitude.
As we climbed to altitude, the cabin attendant who bore a striking resemblance to Gordon Ramsey in age and seniority came around to offer dinner. I was a bit surprised given the ground announcement at the gate that the flight was not going to be catered so I jumped on the offer.
Meal Service: A Cold Dinner
Dinner was a one choice affair of mixed greens, with olive oil and balsamic dressing and a chicken wrap with cheese and lettuce. This was paired with the usual single serve bottle of Ferrandiere Grenache Noir Syrah, Marselan Vin de France.
The presentation not too bad but I suppose it could be worse. The taste was much like the out bound flight; a reasonable food offering that took us through the dinner period.
With no entertainment, I worked on the trip report. We had a small water service towards the end of the flight, in addition to offers of an additional round of beverages.
Arriving to Vancouver:
We had an approach on Runway 31 R into Vancouver, which takes us in over the city of Richmond. It was nice to be back in the air and finding yourself returning home to your home airport.
It was completely surreal to see how empty the Vancouver International Airport long term parking lots were. There were less than 10 cars parked in a lot that was designed for thousands.
After spending ten minutes in any Canadian airport, it becomes very apparent that the airline industry is going through some exceptionally tough times. The demand is obviously completely gone along with all the things that you hated about travelling; the crowded terminals, the lines at security and the rushes for your gate. The concourses are deserted, along with many of the stores and traffic along with it.
In Vancouver’s situation, this is usually the period when many Canadian domestic flights are connecting to the International Air Canada Departures to Sydney and Brisbane. Today, those flights are gone along with all their connecting passengers.
For interest’s sake, I walked to the car through the Vancouver International Airport “International Departures” and USA Transborder Departure Zones. It’s literally mind boggling on how deserted this space was.
The USA Transborder area was equally as empty. At the time of this report, Canadian Travellers had to under go a 14 day quarantine on return to the United States or any international location. This took the motivation out of a lot of discretionary trips. The USA departures flight board was without a single scheduled departure in the next 24 hours.
My Thoughts on Pandemic Flying with Air Canada Business Class:
Flying at the moment is a personal decision. I didn’t have any concerns with it and would easily hop on another flight tomorrow. The aircrafts were as clean as they could be and the current major inconvenience is wearing a mask for the duration of your time from airport to airport.
The main risk is travelling some where and being diagnosed as having to self quarantine for fourteen days and getting stuck at your destination.The aircraft check in screens caution every traveler that you may be denied boarding if you have been ordered quarantined by any health authority. Arguably, this is the biggest risk with travelling since you can’t completely be certain that a cloth mask will cover you. Assuming you are okay with covering the cost of this at a hotel, or perhaps staying with family, then arguably it’s safe to cautiously proceed on those trips to visit loved ones.
Air Canada’s has done a reasonable job at adapting to the realities of the global pandemic. The planes are clean, the food is sealed and arguably has improved in quality and taste. The Clean Care + Amenity Kit is a neat, but likely “expensive to the airline” concept. The Air Canada Airbus 320 service is a comfortable way to get to any mid haul destination. Although its more comfortable to enjoy their pods on the longer haul flights that are more than four hours in length.
Overall, I felt safe flying during the pandemic. I wore a mask the entire time as mandated by the airline and by Transport Canada. Despite being a traveler that enjoys the breeze of air from air nozzles while I was flying, I actively switched these off during our travel. I wouldn’t hesitate to fly again. I actually found the lack of crowds on the plane and around the airports to be quite enjoyable.
Thanks for following along on another great trip.
Today was get away day and time to head back home. Today’s trip would have me departing Killarney by car and flying back home to Vancouver, all in one day.
This post is one chapter on our trip to Killarney Manitoba, Canada. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. 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:
- Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney, Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class – Pandemic Edition.
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic – Pandemic Edition
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Winnipeg – Pandemic Edition
- Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport
- Overland Travel: Winnipeg – Killarney
- Killarney, Manitoba
- Overland Travel: Killarney – Winnipeg
- Air Canada Business Class: Winnipeg – Vancouver – Pandemic Edition
Activity: Spotting Grain Elevators travelling from Killarney to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Travel from Killarney to Winnipeg
235 km travelled
I was due to depart today on my own. There’s nothing like spending time with your “in laws’” but after having been on the road for a week, half of which was work trip back to back with this one, I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for a change.
I left MrsWT73 in Killarney for the return trip. She was going on with her mother for another 3 days to visit her aunts and cousins in Kenora, Ontario in the neighboring province – a mere 4 and a half hour drive away.
After our goodbyes and thanks for a great stay of home cooked heartland hospitality, I packed up the Mazda CX-5 and hit up the Co-Op for gas. I headed out on a series of farm roads that crossed the Pembina River several times. The river valleys made for the nicest scenery through these parts; a break from the never ending flatness.
The horizon was punctuated by the occasional wooden grain elevator. These grain elevators were getting less and less frequent thanks to lessened reliance on trains and more reliance on trucks and concrete structures in order to silo grains.
I would pass through the town, and several miles of monotony, followed by additional grain elevators.
I eventually arrived in Winnpeg and stopped at the Costco Warehouse for gasoline (and a shameless hot dog).
All in all, the drive was not all too exciting. The landscape in the prairies is flat with the occasional grain elevator punctuation.
It was sleepy days in the bread basket of Manitoba. Despite the slow moving pace of small towns, we managed to get out on walking and driving tours of rural Manitoba.
This post is one chapter on our trip to Killarney Manitoba, Canada. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. 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:
- Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney, Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class – Pandemic Edition.
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic – Pandemic Edition
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Winnipeg – Pandemic Edition
- Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport
- Overland Travel: Winnipeg – Killarney
- Killarney, Manitoba
- Overland Travel: Killarney – Winnipeg
- Air Canada Business Class: Winnipeg – Vancouver – Pandemic Edition
Region Visit: Killarney, Manitoba, Canada
Killarney is an unincorporated community in southwestern Manitoba, Canada, at the corner of Manitoba Provincial Trunk Highways 3 & 18. The community was formerly an incorporated town before amalgamating with the surrounding Rural Municipality of Turtle Mountain to form the Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain. Killarney is known for the lake situated within the community. Killarney is located in a rural area, dependent primarily on agriculture and agribusiness.
It is approximately 20 km (12 mi) from the Canada-US border, 100 km (62 mi) south of Brandon and 250 km (160 mi) southwest of the provincial capital, Winnipeg. The population of the town is 2,429.
Thanks to agribusiness, MrsWT73’s mom’s partner had relocated to this small town.
Killarney is the perfect place to be “off the grid”. Indeed, like many small farming towns across North America, there isn’t much happening here. The pace of life is much slower with less of the rush in the pace of business that happens in our usual every day lives of being “on” 15 hours of day.
Walking Through Killarney:
We went for a 3.6 mile walk around town today. We started off by leaving the house and heading down to Killarney Lake. Being that it was nearing fall, the colors of the leaves were starting to turn into greens, browns and oranges of autumn.
Killarney is known for it’s large lake called “Killarney Lake” situated in the center of town. There are many homes that intersect with the lake making it a key feature of town. Along with being a great feature, it had many green parks and spacious areas full of lush trees and grenery.
The “Irish”-ness of the community is often used as a tourist attraction with things such as green fire engines, Erin and Kerry Parks, Little Irish Downs, and many other good Irish-themed attractions used to play up this theme. Killarney, Manitoba does not have any actual connection with the town of Killarney, Ireland. Most of the people who originally settled the region were from the Scottish Highlands, the English or were Mennonites or Hutterites of Central European extraction.
Despite having no actual connection between Killarney Ireland, the town had it’s own Blarney Stone next to a sign by the lake. There was no inverted kissing at this location, unlike at my last trip to Ireland.
It was pretty windy on the lake, with white caps cresting the waters.
From the lake, we wandered into town. The town is a mostly forgotten place with dated buildings and reminiscent of an era past.
The walk tuckered me out. We did manage 3.6 miles on foot over several hours which was a great outing for the day.
Checking out Boissevain
The next day, with nothing more do to, we took a drive down to Boissevain.
Boissevain is the next nearest down to the south west of Killarney. It was a railway down for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
It also happens to be home to the largest turtle. “Tommy the Turtle” is a 28-foot-tall, 10,000-lb western painted turtle that serves as an icon for both the Turtle Derby and the community as a whole.
As with small towns, there isn’t much too them. The odd sight here and there made for some interesting viewing from the car.
Overall:
The breadbasket in the Killarney and Boissevain region of Manitoba was somewhere that I would never have imagined that I would ever have visited. Despite it’s remote nature next to the Canada / United States Border, it maintained a small town charm to it with a rural feel that can be felt everywhere.
After a little sleep in thanks to a two hour tie zone change, we were set to drive overland through Canada’s bread basket from Winnipeg to Killarney, Manitoba.
This post is one chapter on our trip to Killarney Manitoba, Canada. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. 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:
- Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney, Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class – Pandemic Edition.
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic – Pandemic Edition
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Winnipeg – Pandemic Edition
- Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport
- Overland Travel: Winnipeg – Killarney
- Killarney, Manitoba
- Overland Travel: Killarney – Winnipeg
- Air Canada Business Class: Winnipeg – Vancouver – Pandemic Edition
Activity: Overland Travel from Winnipeg to Killarney, Manitoba, Canada
It was a travel day today with our sights set on arriving to our destination of Killarney, Manitoba travelling over land from Winnipeg International Airport. We left the Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg airport, we walked over back on foot towards the airport building and to collect our rental car.
The counter and rental car area was absolutely deserted at noon today with only one other couple at the National Counter.
Up at the Hertz counter, a friendly agent offered us a choice of cars courtesy of a Hertz President’s Circle upgrade from our booked midsize Toyota Corolla to a mid size sport utility vehicle Nissan Rogue, a Mazda CX -5 or a Hyundai. Haven’t driven the Nissan Rogue on our trip to Great Ocean Road Adventure in Australia, we didn’t hesitate trying something different with the Mazda.
A Breakfast for the Road:
As we got underway, we started off the day at Stella’s restaurant and bakery. The local Stella’s has several locations around Winnipeg. We had about a twenty minute wait thanks to the restaurant being at half capacity thanks to provincial distancing requirements.
I always appreciate a great breakfast restaurant and Stella’s was no exception to this. The place was busy with lots of turnover on top of a great all day breakfast menu that had lots of selection. This made Stella’s a winner in my book.
Today’s breakfast was a Mexican breakfast with beans, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, house cut fries and two fried eggs. It’s rare to get a quality Mexican breakfast in Canada being this far north of Mexico so we took every opportunity; both having the dish.
Stella’s was completely worth a visit and highly recommended for breakfast aficionados who happen to find themselves in the Winnipeg area.
Travel from Winnipeg to Killarney
235 km traveled
After a tasty breakfast, we headed out on the highway to Killarney. Killarney is situated near nowhere, in the middle of the prairie grid farm land.
It was a two lane highway affair the whole way, passing through many small towns.
The monotony of the drive was punctuated by grain towers in some of the many small towns that we passed through.
At about halfway, we switched drivers to keep the day interesting. I had driven about 1,200 kilometers on a work trip earlier in the week so I was pretty uninterested in going for another 150 kilometres at this point (laughing). We had pretty consistent scenery on the drive down, with the occasional lake or small slope to keep the undulations of the terrain interesting.
We eventually arrived to sleepy Killiarney.
We arrived to Winnipeg at about 9:30 PM at night. Our plans were to travel onwards to Killarney, Manitoba by car; a town that is about two and a half hours away. As a result, we opted to spend the night in Winnipeg prior to making the drive. We ended up at the Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport.
This post is one chapter on our trip to Killarney Manitoba, Canada. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. 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:
- Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney, Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class – Pandemic Edition.
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic – Pandemic Edition
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Winnipeg – Pandemic Edition
- Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport
- Overland Travel: Winnipeg – Killarney
- Killarney, Manitoba
- Overland Travel: Killarney – Winnipeg
- Air Canada Business Class: Winnipeg – Vancouver – Pandemic Edition
Review: Courtyard Winnipeg Airport, Winnipeg John Richardson Airport YWG, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
“An enjoyable addition to Winnipeg’s airport hotels. The Courtyard Winnipeg Airport is a modern addition to the scene that offers a newer experience compared to other tired hotels in the airport area. The highlight of the property is the 24 hour gym on the top floor which offers great air side views.”
Planning and Getting There:
I booked direct via the Marriott Website. Thanks to the pandemic, the rates were at an all time low at about 84$ CAD ($63 USD) on a AAA rate with 7 days notice, with about 95$ ($71 USD) showing as the best available Marriott Bonvoy Rewards Member rate. I happened to notice a few days before our stay that the rates were even reduced further. As a Marriott Titanium, you’re supposed to be upgraded to the best available room on check in, including standard suites. I happened to notice that the suites were available for only $120 CAD ($91 USD) on a AAA rate. Instead of haggling for the extra space and upgrades you’re supposed to be entitled to, I just booked the suite outright. I didn’t have to think twice for this for a room that was only a $25 CAD premium over the regular rate and only $36 CAD premium over the regular rate.
The property is currently a Category 3 property, meaning that rooms are available for 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points per night. Given that Marriott Points are worth approximately 0.005 cents per night ($76), and the time and effort it takes to earn 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, I felt that paying cash was the better route. Despite this, you’d actually be slightly ahead redeeming points at this property if the rate was greater than $76.
On arrival at the Winnipeg Airport, we collected sole checked bag. The hotel usually offers an “on request shuttle” but due to the pandemic, this service was “temporarily suspended”. Thankfully the Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg is somewhat connected to the airport by being on the same grounds with a paved and level walkway. It wasn’t winter but I’m not sure I’d be so keen on walking it if it were minus 40 Celcius outside. The hotel is situated less than 600 meters walk from the airport, or less than 5 minutes walk.
We were straight through the parking garage and over to the Courtyard by Marriott.
It was my first time ever staying at a Courtyard Marriott. There aren’t many Courtyards in my home country of Canada, except for a really run down looking one in the Byward market in Ottawa, Canada. The Four Points by Sheraton and the Fairfield Inn’s seem to have a much larger footprint.
Checking In:
After walking over, we had a small queue of 3 groups being checked in with one person working the desk at this late hour. Most appeared to be from our flight. I assume one of them had taken a $5 taxi ride over as we hadn’t seen her on the walk.
We took “500” points as our Marriott Titanium welcome amenity and rode the lift up to our assigned room #626.
The Room: 1 Bedroom, 2 Room Suite, 1 King, Sofa Bed
Our Room 626 was situated at the end of the hall; almost on a corner but aside from a housekeeping room, we would have had views. Being on the top floor of the hotel, and being a suite, this was likely the nicest room, by configuration and location, that the property had to offer.
The Bedroom
It had interesting décor for a hotel room. It was thoroughly modernized. The décor was a cross between a conservative W and a Westin with greys, browns and whites.
The Living Room & Sofa Bed:
Being a proper suite, the hotel also had a living space along with a sofa bed. It was a relief to have a little bit of space to organize our luggage and relax after our flight. The couch was a little strangely shaped in that the back of the couch was pretty far back from the seat. I think there may have been cushions on the couch in order to make the seating a little less awkward, that were removed thanks to the pandemic.
The living area featured a proper but small work desk underneath the 2nd television. There was also an integrated luggage storage unit that was large enough for two carry on bags.
The room also featured a fridge and a microwave in triangular cabinet. The cabinet also featured a countertop for a convenient charging drop point.
The Bathroom:
The bathroom was adequately sized. Surprisingly for a hotel, the bathroom had heated in laminate floor.
The toiletries were branded as the usual Paul Mitchell. It included a show polisher which MrsWT73 quickly snapped up.
As can be expected from newer hotel builds near airports, the room was well insulated from airplane noise. Looking at the floorpan, there didn’t appear to be many suites available for purchase (or upgrades).
MrsWT73 overall offered her comments in favour of the hotel, which was a relief due to her exacting high standards. “Good job – a nice room”. Phew!
Around the Hotel:
The next morning, I explored a little of the hotel.
One of the Nicest Airport Hotel Gym’s out there:
The 6th floor happened to have one of the nicest hotel gym’s that I’ve experienced in a while. Instead of being buried in a small room in the basement or ground floor, it occupied a large space on the top floor in the centre of the hotel with large panoramic windows. It was large and spacious with large views of the north airfield operations at Winnipeg.
There were lots of treadmills, in addition to a small stack of free weights.
The gym is 24 hrs / 7 days a week.
Food and Beverage:
I wandered downstairs to see if there were any other amenties for this particular hotel. In addition to some meeting space, there was the “Bistro” market.
Unfortunately, the bistro market is offering split hours – only open for breakfast and dinner 07-10 AM and dinner between 5-10 PM during our visit. It offered the typical pub and snack fare fare. Seating for the bistro was in the lobby, which was spacious and pleasant. Being that we were still on pacific time, we missed the breakfast entirely.
We were also unable to get room service on our arrival at 10 PM the night prior, so if you arrive after hours, it’s local pizza to be delivered to the hotel and not much else.
There were also a few computers for boarding pass printing and other check in abilities.
Nearby the Hotel:
The hotel is within walking distance of the Winnipeg John Richardson International Airport. While there are a few facilities available at the airport in terms of restaurants, there really isn’t much there that is a suitable option for an alternate location for dinner. There is a light edition of Stella’s Bakery on the departures level with limited hours and a Tim Horton’s on the arrivals level that was closed when we arrived here.
Regrettably, thanks to it’s location, aside from the hotel food and beverage, there isn’t much immediately around the hotel for food and beverage.
The Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport Bottom Line:
We enjoyed our stay at the Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport. The hotel met everything needed for a convenient stay for the night near the airport. The property is much newer than the competing Lakeview and Hilton, the latter which is a short drive from the hotel. The room was comfortable and the gym made the place to be quite appealing. There were exceptionally reasonable rates for the property given the current pandemic situation, which added value to our stay. The only minus is the limited food and beverage at this property, which is also partly a condition of the overall pandemic. Despite this, this property would be at the top of my list for an airport hotel in Winnipeg YWG.
After a visit to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Domestic, it came time to head over to our flight. Flying during the global health pandemic was a vastly different and mostly empty experience.
Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney, Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class – Pandemic Edition.
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic – Pandemic Edition
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Winnipeg – Pandemic Edition
- Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport
- Overland Travel: Winnipeg – Killarney
- Killarney, Manitoba
- Overland Travel: Killarney – Winnipeg
- Air Canada Business Class: Winnipeg – Vancouver – Pandemic Edition
This post is one chapter on our trip to Killarney Manitoba, Canada. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. 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”.
Review: Air Canada Business Class, Airbus 320, Vancouver – Winnipeg “Pandemic Edition”
“Flying during a pandemic is a different experience. Despite this, Air Canada has made it as safe as humanly possible”
Air Canada
AC 296 – Business Class (P) – “Pandemic Edition”
YVR – YWG (Vancouver International Airport – Winnipeg John Richardson International Airport)
Sept 26, 2020
Scheduled: 4:55 PM – 9:34 PM
Booked: Airbus 320
Flown: Airbus 320-200
We left the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Domestic (Pandemic Edition) and headed for the gate at about T-45. It was a little busier in the concourse, with the afternoon bank of flights getting ready to depart.
On arrival to the gate, all the usual fmiliar zoned boarding signs were gone. Obviously a sign of lessened demand and perhaps the need to remove touch point surfaces.
On Board Air Canada Business Class:
We were second on board the aircraft, having boarded with Zone 1. The Airbus 320 features the usual 2-2 configuration in business class, and 3-3 configuration in economy. The seats are reasonable to sit in for medium haul flights, although longer flights over four hours, I still find them less comfortable than they could be.
Our seats of 2A and 2C were in the bulkhead this afternoon. This was based on a slight strategic positioning choice of not having other passengers on two sides of us. There were convenient cut outs now under the bulkhead for under seat bags, although I may have missed this since most of my First Class flying these days has been on Alaska Airlines and their Boeing products.
The cabin was reasonably cleaner than would be expected from planes that were in reasonably heavy use. All the dust bunnies that were typically behind or under seats were gone and the plane had a clean feel to it.
Air Canada and Transport Canada have mandated a policy and statute that all passengers are required to wear a facial mask while travelling, unless you are eating. The cabin staff were quite attentive in enforcing this.
Air Canada’s Clean Care + Amenity Kit:
Today, the pre-departure beverage was absent. In today’s pandemic edition of business class flying with Air Canada, it’s a Clean Care + amenity kit that is given out to all passengers regardless of class. I’m not sure what makes it a “plus”, as it had everything that I would have expected in a kit designed for surface cleaning.
The Clean Care + amenity kit, which is more like a Ziploc bag, contains gloves, a mask, two antsiseptic cleaning wipes. A small bottle of antispectic cleaner, a tiny (for water) 250ml version of water.
While the cabin filled up, there was lots of remaining bin space available. Surprisingly, the pandemic scare did not translate to concern of baggage handlers handling people’s checked bags since few were travelling with carry on only just like us
The load for today’s flight was 13/14 today. MrsWT73 ended up with the only empty seat next to her across the aisle in 2D.
As we got underway, I enjoyed the window seat. Climbing to altitude, there were heaps of aircraft parked at Vancouver.
Meal Service: A Cold Dinner
Air Canada has paired with Montreal based and Korean Argentinian raised Chef Antonio Park. While his meals are mostly served on Air Canada International business class flights from Canada to South America. With the reduction in these flights, his meals are now turning up on domestic routes. This is a welcomed change on the part of Air Canada and a great way to showcase some Canadian talent.
Thanks to dining pandemic style, Air Canada now presents all food in an attractive black cardboard box.
Todays’ meal, which was presented all at once was Smoked salmon, Asian pear, apple, fresh herbs, wasabi vinaigrette, a grilled chicken wrap, iceberg lettuce, celery, spicy mayonnaise and a creme caramel.
It was surprisingly tasty for airplane food. Despite the monotony of the usual breakfast omelette that Air Canada has been serving unchanged for years, the salad was crisp and fresh and really enjoyable; one of the better meals that I’d had on Air Canada for quite some time.
The chicken wrap was pretty much the same as others (how different can you make a chicken wrap?), but a much larger version than what I had in the lounge. This version was actually large enough to serve as a lunch meal on its own.
The crème caramel was reasonably tasty but remarkable gooey for airplane food. I took care not to spill it on the lap.
The was limited catering in terms of the bar service on this flight. On offer was Bottega sparkling wine, Paul Mas red wine (which was the best pick), Paul Mas white wine (which I thought was not very good), Molson Canadian beer, Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, ginger ale, Perrier, Water, Coffee, and Black tea.
In flight entertainment: Advanced Video on Demand
Air Canada has advanced video on demand on almost all of it’s aircraft. This is a great feature since you’ don’t have to pre-load any content onto a personal device. Air Canada was a trend setter with this about ten years ago. Unfortunately, the system has aged and it’s now arguably the slowest operating in flight entertainment system in the civil aviation industry today.
I settled into Richard Jewell, as directed by Clint Eastwood. It was an interesting tale that slowly told much like many of Clint Eastwood’s other films. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to finish it since I started it late into the flight.
I paired the movie with a bottle of red wine that was individual sized. Enjoying a glass of wine while you watch a movie is one of my favourite indulgences. Admittedly, it was hard to enjoy wine with face mask being taken on or off all the time. It was a similar paradigm as going to the movie theater. You expect to enjoy popcorn while you’re there, but if you couldn’t, it sort of lessens the experience a little bit. The realities are that flying today during a pandemic is a different experience. Adjusting to these new work flows of masking on and off is part of these change in flows.
Arriving to Winnipeg:
We approached Winnipeg John Richardson International Airport. Without any circling, we came in for a landing at the airport, parking next to a Canada Air Regional jet.
After we deplaned, we arrived to a deserted and fully shut airport. Not even the 24 hours Tim Hortons coffee shop was open at this hour.
There were pandemic quarantine signs all throughout the baggage area. At the time of our visit, Western Canada was exempt from a 14 day quarantine, whereas travellers from other parts of Central Canada including most portions of Ontario and Quebec were required to quarantine for 14 days. Ouch!
We picked up MrsWT73’s checked bag and headed off on foot to the Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport for the night.
My Thoughts on Pandemic Flying with Air Canada Business Class:
Air Canada’s has done a reasonable job at adapting to the realities of the global pandemic. The planes are clean, the food is sealed and arguably has improved in quality and taste. The Clean Care + Amenity Kit is a neat, but likely “expensive to the airline” concept. The Air Canada Airbus 320 service is a comfortable way to get to any mid haul destination. Although its more comfortable to enjoy their pods on the longer haul flights that are more than four hours in length.
Overall, I felt safe flying during the pandemic. I wore a mask the entire time as mandated by the airline and by Transport Canada. Despite being a traveler that enjoys air from air nozzles while I was flying, I actively switched these off during our travel. I wouldn’t hesitate to fly again. I actually found the lack of crowds on the plane and around the airports to be quite enjoyable. The main risk is travelling some where and being diagnosed as having to self quarantine for fourteen days and getting stuck at your destination.
The first leg of a trip is always among the most exciting. Thanks to the global health pandemic, our first impressions and the lack of other travellers set the stage for a remarkable and unique travel experience.
This post is one chapter on our trip to Killarney Manitoba, Canada. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. 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:
- Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney, Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class – Pandemic Edition.
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic – Pandemic Edition
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Winnipeg – Pandemic Edition
- Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport
- Overland Travel: Winnipeg – Killarney
- Killarney, Manitoba
- Overland Travel: Killarney – Winnipeg
- Air Canada Business Class: Winnipeg – Vancouver – Pandemic Edition
Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, Vancouver Domestic – “Pandemic Edition”
“Visiting The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Domestic during a pandemic, like all other travel, is a vastly different experience. Despite the changes, Air Canada’s done a great job at adapting the environment, rending a mostly (necessary) sterile lounge experience “
We parked at our local onsite parking stall and walked up towards the main terminal at Vancouver International Airport.
It was pretty serene and completely deserted on approach to the main terminal. I haven’t ever seen it as empty as this. Usually the Russ Baker Way departures ramp is bumper to bumper with drop offs and other cars blocking the way.
Instead of entering the building, we walked outside along the exterior walkway towards the domestic terminal building. It was pretty serene and the only persons around were airport employees having an outdoor smoke.
At the domestic building, we entered and visited the Domestic Priority Services counter. We interreacted with a friendly agent behind plexiglass screens so that MrsWT73 could check a bag of supplies for her mom.
There was only one international flight leaving today. It was super strange to see a flight board completely empty for an international airport.
Heading to CATSA Security, there was no need for the Nexus lane. I was the only one in the queue. After a temperature check and clearing security, we headed past the Plaza Premium Lounge (the only priority pass option running at the airport) and headed to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge.
This was one of two only lounge options currently open by Air Canada in the whole country.
Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic:
On arrival, the door was already propped open. We entered and self scanned ourselves in.
After passing reception, we led ourselves up the elevator and up to the second floor.
Inside the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – “Pandemic Edition”
The lounge was pretty deserted and as empty as I’ve ever seen it. The chairs were separated and comfortable for social distancing.
With seating this far apart, I certainly didn’t have many worries about catching any diseases from fellow travellers.
The usual buffet was cleared out and only left as a counter.
The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge has now set up a self scan menu which is seated on each table.. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the memo that hot food was only served during certain hours. The hours were breakfast 6 AM – 10 AM, lunch 11 AM – 2 PM and 5 PM – 8 PM for dinner.
The items looked okay, although we didn’t get the opportunity to try them out since we arrived at 2:30 PM.
Since we were here in between meal service hours, we had the snack menu. The snack menu is much less inspiring that Hawksworth inspired dishes. We collected these from the manned counter near the buffet stand.
The snack menu was pre-bagged goods served in a small lunch bag. I had the thai chicken wrap, which was pretty tiny. This was accompanied with a bag of ruffles chips (Sour Cream and Onion). I should have had a second wrap but I didn’t get around to it.
I actually went back for the “cheese and crackers”, which was presented as small individual wrapped Balderson Cheese accompanied with Premium Plus soup crackers.
We enjoyed some airside views of the Vancouver International Airport wing. The apron was completely deserted.
Oh to wish how it was.
My thoughts on the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Pandemic Edition:
Air Canada has done a remarkable job at re-opening their lounges given the worldwide pandemic. The lounge experience is a far cry from the pre-pandemic days where sitting in a lounge was actually a relaxing and enjoyable place to spend some time. Now, through no fault of Air Canada, it’s become a very sterile environment with the requisite safety measures. The A La Caret Bistro Dining is a great idea. However, it’s too bad we didn’t know about it’s limited hours.
This post is one chapter on our trip to Killarney Manitoba, Canada. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
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Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class
We had an overseas trip to Portugal and a trip to New Orleans in the United States of America fully cancelled as a result of the global pandemic’s wave across the world. With several cancelled flights, we had a ton of credits that were sitting around unused with a two year expiry date ticking away on them. Thanks to MrsWT73’s mom having a birthday, a plan was developed in order to travel to meet her at her home town in rural Manitoba. We would end up travelling outbound together, but MrsWT73 would end up staying on for an extra three days to visit with her Aunts’ and Cousins in the neighbouring province of Kenora Ontario.
For once, thanks to depressed demand, domestic business class fares were reasonable so we fully used up our credits and ticketed ourselves in Business Class. Thanks to a lack of competition, business class fares within Canada are typically almost double what they are in the United States where there are several carriers often competing on the same routes. Since we used credits, the reservation agent was unwilling (or unable) to apply a 15% off promotion code that I had from an earlier flight with a broken video screen.
Air Canada Promotions:
At the time of our booking, Aeroplan had a Summer Miles Offer on which offered an additional 150% Redeemable Qualifying Miles for flights booked in business class upon registering and purchasing during the qualifying period. The qualifying period was a very thin 9 day window “Book by August 4, 2020 and travel by Sept 30, 2020”. It seemed like a great deal and since we had several hundred dollars, worth of credits just sitting there, it was an ideal opportunity to use up the leftovers.
“Eligible Scheduled Flights must be the subject of a new booking, created for the first time during the Offer Period, with a new booking reference number. Any booking made prior to the start of the Offer Period that is subsequently changed to include travel dates within the Travel Period will not be considered a new booking that is eligible for the Offer.”
As with every promotion, I usually go through the fine print. The above caption seemed to be okay for a newly purchased ticket. Our tickets were re-booked under new ticket numbers but, for some reason despite no relevance or relation in destination, the same booking reference number. Of course, you wouldn’t think this would happen, given that both of our cancelled tickets were international and to entirely different destinations as compared to a domestic one.
Unfortunately, we never got any bonus Aeroplan miles credit for this flight. It seems that Air Canada Aeroplan didn’t want to incentivize travellers to use up their credits, only to book new credits or spend. It’s certainly frustrating for travellers who expect to be part of these promotions to have to read through ambiguous fine print and then later learn they don’t qualify because the airline decides, at their own choosing, to use outstanding credits by issuing an old booking reference number.
Trying to navigate airline schedule changes in today’s pandemic travel environment:
About two weeks later, we had another taste of trying to plan travel during the pandemic. I woke up to an automated email bumping us off our outbound mid-afternoon flight and onto the late night one. It seemed that about 45 days prior to travel Air Canada decided that the demand just wasn’t there in order to operate Vancouver to Winnipeg 3x daily and downgraded it to 2x daily. We had an opportunity to change for free to another flight or take a connection; which would add about 2 hours to the trip. We opted for the non stop later flight.
We’re sorry but a part of your journey has changed due to Government travel advisory and we have automatically rebooked you on an alternative flight.
Original Flight(s):
AC292 operated by Air Canada
Departing Vancouver, International (YVR) on September 26, 2020 @ 13:10
Arriving in Winnipeg, J A Richardson Intl (YWG) on September 26, 2020 @ 17:49
Revised Itinerary:
AC296 operated by Air Canada
Departing Vancouver, International (YVR) on September 26, 2020 @ 16:55
Arriving in Winnipeg, J A Richardson Intl (YWG) on September 26, 2020 @ 21:34
If there are any other changes to your flights, you’ll receive a separate email from us about getting your travel plans back on track as soon as possible.
About 7 days prior to travel, MrsWT73 got another taste of the Air Canada schedule mockery. Her evening non stop return from Winnipeg to Vancouver was cancelled outright. It seems that Air Canada decided that there wasn’t enough demand at all for a non stop flight Winnipeg to Vancouver on a weekend Saturday night. The only remaining non stop option was a 6 AM departure. While she had an opportunity to route back via Toronto on a Boeing 787 and their Signature Suites, there was also the chance (given that we’d had two changes in less than 30 days) that the nicer widebody would evaporate as well. She ended up routing back on a CRJ and an Airbus through Calgary.
While any decision to travel for personal (or business) reasons at the moment is a personal one, I was certainly comfortable setting out travelling during this trip. At the time of our trip, the province of British Columbia had 8,641 cases (out of 4 million population) and the province of Manitoba had 1,829 cases (out of hundred thousand population) with some one hundred and thirty thousand cases in Canada. Both of us had no major health conditions nor complications from any surgery and were in the “better” 45 – 55 age bracket – too old to be millennial spreaders and young enough not to be in the hazardous range.
I hope you will enjoy following along on our pandemic edition adventure.
Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: A Trip to Canada’s Bread Basket in Killarney, Manitoba via Air Canada Business Class – Pandemic Edition.
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver Domestic – Pandemic Edition
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Winnipeg – Pandemic Edition
- Courtyard Marriott Winnipeg Airport
- Overland Travel: Winnipeg – Killarney
- Killarney, Manitoba
- Overland Travel: Killarney – Winnipeg
- Air Canada Business Class: Winnipeg – Vancouver – Pandemic Edition
After a long delay, we were back in Canada for a domestic flight home. Thanks to clever flight scheduling, our trip back was on one of Air Canada’s wide body jets with lie flat seats.
This post is one chapter in our trip to Peru and Chile via Air Canada Executive First (Business Class). This trip was booked using Air Canada e-upgrades to upgrade into Air Canada International Executive First class. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us directly 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: Lima & Machu Picchu, Peru &, Middle Chile via Air Canada Executive First
- Air Canada Executive Class: Vancouver – Toronto
- Air Canada Executive First: Toronto – Lima
- City Visit: Lima, Peru
- LAN Peru: Lima – Cuzco
- Region Visit: Cuzco & The Sacred Valley, Peru
- Attraction Visit: Machu Picchu, Peru
- LAN Peru: Cuzco – Lima
- LAN Chile: Lima – Santiago
- Hotel Orly, Santiago, Chile
- City Visit: Santiago, Chile
- Region Visit: Maipo Valley, Chile
- Region Visit: Skiing in August at Valle Nevado, Chile
- Santiago Marriott, Santiago, Chile
- City Visit: Valparaiso & Vina Del Mar, Chile
- LAN Chile: Santiago – Lima
- Air Canada Executive First: Lima – Toronto
- Air Canada Executive Class: Toronto – Vancouver
Review: Air Canada Business Class Airbus 330, Toronto – Vancouver
“Air Canada sometimes flies its long haul jets with fully lie flat seats on its domestic routes. If you’re lucky, you can score a trans-continental domestic flight with lie flat seats. This is even better if you’re connecting off a long haul onto a domestic connection”
Upon arrival at the connection desk in YYZ, I learned that Ms World Traveler 73 had been confirmed in J for her connection, (using her own e-upgrade points from her original request) but I had no seat or reservation what so ever for my YYZ-YVR flight. We were traveling on separate and unlinked itins. In response to this, I checked all of our checked baggage in with my partner (3 checked pieces under her AC Elite status) to allow for a bit of flexibility, and proceeded to search for a flight with my carry on pack only.
Given the time, there were only 3 flights left leaving for Vancouver. I wasn’t keen on taking another day off from work – my boss was almost ready to kill me as it was. I spoke to several staff at the connections desk and at the MLL in YYZ in attempt to get J space, but was unable to get any deviation for a confirmed seat in J as all the R space had expired, sold, or used. I did see that two seats were available in paid fares on a later evening flight at 8:15 PM, but was not allowed access to it. I was given a seat in Y economy on this flight.
I attempted to find one of the famed concierges, but couldn’t find anyone and ground agents, MLL agents, didn’t seem too interested in helping me out. They did act on my questions though… just not really to my satisfaction given that I had now missed a day of work and was behind schedule by about 30 hours. I felt like Tom Hanks from the Terminal, shell shocked from being up for so many hours and wandering around aimlessly getting nowhere.
I eventually stood by at the gate of the next departing YYZ-YVR flight and was able to get a J seat 30 minutes before the door closed, pretty much begging and thanks to the mercy of a gate agent, I was able to get a spot in J. It was a humbling experience having to beg for upgrades normally given out as UDU on United after being in transit for 24 hrs based on an issue beyond my control.
Air Canada
AC 137 – Executive Class (R)
YYZ-YVR (Toronto – Pearson International Airport – Vancouver International Airport)
September 8, 2011
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Booked: Airbus 330
Flown: Airbus 330
On the YYZ-YVR service, we were offered another welcome drink, although no champas since it’s not stocked domestically.
Mesculin Salad and grilled vegetables with balsamic olive oil dressing
Beef tenderloin with bourbon glaze, potatoes au gratin, seasoned carrots and broccoli
Turbot with lemon dill cream sauce, mixed rice and broccoli
Spinach and ricotta lasagna with rose cream sauce and roasted vegetables
Warm Breads with butter.
Oatmeal raisin and dark chocolate chip cookes baked fresh on board served with gourmet vanilla ice cream.
I was ultimately delayed 30 hours. My partner and I missed a day of work but we made it back. It was also apparent that no one was handling onward reservations, and left those with connections to fend for themselves in YYZ at 3 PM based on the remaining available inventory. Through some miracle, our bags made it back unmolested after being unattended in the LIMA Airport for 30 some odd hours.
In closing, had a fantastic trip, and saw lots of wonderful things. However, the organization of our flights seemed to be falling apart at the seams at every opportunity. From our 2 hour delayed connection at the start, to the IRROPS that delayed us 30 hours at the end, and no confirmed booking for myself on our last segment, it made me wonder how those without any preferential treatment would have ever made it home.
I would recommend travel to Peru. Go for the sights, go for the food, go and enjoy yourselves. The skiing at Valle Nevado was a once in a lifetime experience. The wine area of Chile also begged further exploration… Thanks for reading.
World Traveller 73 
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