On Air Canada, there is one plane that guarantees that EVERYONE gets a window seat.  No, I’m not talking about a 787 where the windows are larger than life.

I’m talking about flying a Beechcraft 1900D, which could be Air Canada’s most comfortable airline save for the loudness.  The 1900D was introduced in 1991, so I’m flying a plane that is actually younger than the Dash-8s I fly to Portland from Vancouver.

So why comfortable?  The plane has 18 or 19 seats depending on configuration.  Everyone gets a window, everyone gets an aisle.  You don’t have to worry about anyone poking you, or stealing your space, or the guy sleeping on me like what happened when I flew to Dallas a few weeks ago.

The catch?  There is absolutely no beverage service on the plane.  Which, I’m actually fine with.  The past few flights I’ve had, I’ve skipped the beverage service.

Knee room is short, but manageable.  As I was not stuck in the same position because of someone sitting next to me, my back was thanking me at the end of the trip.  My butt wasn’t sore either

I think it’s interesting that while today I fly on what will be the smallest aircraft I will fly on this year, and in a little less than six months from now, I will be flying on the largest passenger aircraft ever build from ICN to HKG.

Given I am fortunate enough to have Star Alliance Gold having reached over 50k status miles flown on Air Canada last year, during our trip we have our choices of lounges.  If you’re in a similar situation, here are a few links to lounges by airport.

Note that I’ve not included United lounges which are available at Narita and Hong Kong International.  Why would I go to a United lounge when I can try ANA, Thai or Singapore?

Toronto

Travelling from Toronto to Narita, we’ll have access to the International Maple Leaf Lounge.

Narita

Traveling from Japan to South Korea, there really is only one option.  The ANA Business Lounge.  This article talks about lounges at NRT including the United lounge.

Incheon

We have our choices of the Asiana Business Class Lounge or the Singapore SilverKris Lounge.  I have heard amazing things about Singapore, and I have heard very good things about the Asiana lounge.  I think we’ll have a chance to try both given we do get to spend a lot of time at Incheon.  This article talks about the lounges at ICN.

Hong Kong

Choices, choices.  Do we go for Singapore, or do we try Thai Royal Orchid?  Sadly we get to the airport early, around 6am and then we leave at 8am.  I have to admit, I’m leaning towards Singapore, but really want to experience Thai’s offering as well.  Nothing stops us from trying both.  This article talks about both lounges, as well as the United lounge in Hong Kong.

Vancouver

From Incheon to Vancouver, we’ll get back to enjoy the trusty Domestic Maple Leaf Lounge in which Scott and I have spent much time waiting for flights home to Toronto.

We have our options.  I’m excited to try something new

Scott and I are headed on a two week vacation to Japan and Hong Kong.  This is a trip that we have been talking about doing for about 18 years since we got together.

Over the past two years, I have been saving up my Aeroplan and hotel points to minimise the amount paid out of pocket.

Let’s just say that I did not realize the value of airline points until I booked this trip, and really not until after I had booked the trip completely.

The original plan was to spend as much time in Japan as possible.  Using Aeroplan points, I did not think I could make stops along the way.  I knew I was going to fly via Incheon, South Korea and Hong Kong to get back to Toronto and on a whim I decided to see what we could do staying over with the number of points we had.  It turned out I could add one or two stops on the trip.

In addition to Hong Kong, we also considered Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.  Given we only had two weeks and we want to get as much as Japan in, we figured we’ll do one stop for three days.  We had both wanted to visit Hong Kong for many years, so this was the prefect opportunity.

The other requirements we had for this trip were;

• Flying on a 787 – While, by the time this trip happens, it might not be my first time on a 787 (Air Canada is starting to fly them Trans Continental), I really want to experience the difference with the cabin pressure brought down to a lower level, and flying at 40,999
• Flying direct to Japan from Toronto – The 787 offers this, although I believe Air Canada’s 777ERs do as well.
• Flying in Business Class – There is no way Scott and I are flying in economy, 11 to 13 hours. I’ve done it to Chile and it’s not comfortable.  Not only are we flying to and from Asia back to Canada in business class, the whole trip is business class.
• Shinkansen – There is no way I’m going to Japan and not getting on a Shinkansen train!
• Flying on an A380 – Within North America, you don’t have a lot of opportunity to fly on an A380, and the only A380 that flies to Toronto is Emirates service to Dubai.  It wasn’t an initial requirement but there was an opportunity to fly on an Asiana A380 from ICN to HKG.  Perfect!  I’ll take it.

Here is what we ended up with:

I’ve decided that I’m going to blog about my experiences as I fly Trans-continental, and around the world in the next year.  Why?  I think there’s a market out there for people curious about what kind of service airlines are offering.  There are a lot of videos out there, and a few blogs but with changes happening in the market place – Air Canada and their new jets with changes to service, United still going through changes with their merging with Continental, American merging with US Airways, and game changers from the middle east, it’s good to get some updates from those of us who travel.

I love what has happened to Air Canada.  I used to prefer Canadian Airlines prior to the merge with Air Canada.  Still, sadly, it’s a Canadian pastime to hate Air Canada.  While I have had some poor experiences, they’re certainly much much fewer than positive experiences.

A week ago, I was upgraded to what Air Canada is now calling Transcontinental Business Class on my Toronto to Vancouver leg of my trip to Portland.  What differentiates Transcon from International Business Class?  In short, the only thing missing is the amenity kit and slightly kicked up food options.

Honestly, relative to what I have experienced in the past, Air Canada really is kicking up food options on their Transcontinental routes.

Take a look at the menu to the left.  Moroccan-style lamb, Atlantic salmon, Ratatouille and Chicken.  More options and the presentation was quite nice.  The salad is pretty standard for Air Canada, however I love the presentation.  Of course, a perennial favourite of mine, the cookies and ice cream.

Believe me, the food was good before, although presentation did leave something to be desired, but it wasn’t bad.

Don’t be fooled.  As someone said in another blog I was reading, within North America, Air Canada really does First Class, not Business Class.  You get real plates, real cutlery, linen and great service.

We had a bit of an incident over at mathan.ca where we ended up losing pictures on all our blogs.  It was my mistake.  So I might go back and put pictures in where needed and important.