Seat 31D
First trip to Canada on business, and the last time I flew Air Canada I got food poisoning.
Checked in online the day before and left home at 8.30am to arrive at T3 at 9am, via my neighbour who has recently started an Airport Transfer business, and is slowly building up customers.
The bag drop was very efficient, no one was ahead of me, and I tried to engage with the Check In agent in a friendly conversation, but she was n't that friendly. I checked in 2 bags as I am in Canada for 2 weeks. Since I have been here, Air Canada have announced they are going to start charging for a second bag.
I collected my pre-ordered currenct from Travelex. Walk in rate was $1.67, I got over $1.71.
I went through to Security, and found it busy, by smiling to a BAA agent, It was suggested I joined the middle queue, as it was the only one with 2 scanners at the end of the line.
Security was uneventful, although I did get a pat down, and as this was the first time in 4 years I was in T3 and would not be able to use a lounge, I headed to gate 30 for some online surfing. At this gate the Virgin Mobile Broadband by T-Mobile was only at GPRS speeds and very slow.
I sat and charged my phones, and watched some interesting goings on at the gate in front of me. It was an Air Saudi flight to Riyadh.
It was due to leave, and they were still missing over 40 passengers, and over the course of the next 30 minutes, they turned up in dribs and drabs, some oblivious to their lateness and not hurrying, others running to the gate.
They gate team were counting them down, and when they got to the last 4 or 5, two paramedics on bikes turned up an headed on board.
At this time I went to the gate and a few moments later boarded the flight, and as I went down the air bridge, I could see that there was an Ambulance on the tarmac next to the Saudi bound plane.
During the boarding process, the rain came down very hard indeed, and this was to cause us to miss our slot, and we pushed back around 45 minutes late.
The seats in Y were fairly comfortable, they did n't recline a good deal, but there was reasonable leg room. The IFE was pretty good, a responsive touchscreen, with a USB slot so I could finish charging my phones and a US power slot in case I wanted to power my laptop.
The movie and TV choice were good, and I watched a number of documentaries about Everest Climbs and Outdoors Survival in the Wilderness.
The food choice was Beef Stew or Chicken and Rice, and I went for the Beef, which was very salty and average. I thoguht the general food quantity was a bit mean. I was hungry afterwards !
The drinks service was regular, but the FA serving me was a miserable woman, who really did n't do AC any favours at all. All I was thinking was how a VA FC would have least given me a smile.
There was a snack an hour before landing, and we had made up the time we had lost, and landed back on time.
We deplaned at the new terminal, with a bit of a walk to an Immigration hall that treats EVERYONE the same, which meant I was through in under 5 minutes.
The issue now, is that the bags took a further 40 minutes to arrive.
I did n't recognise one of my bags, so it went round another time !
Overall a good flight, but some little things I miss form the Virgin service.
Headed off on a very long walk to pick up my AVIS car.
