Class: Economy
Seat Number: 30G
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200 LR
Flight time: 13 hours 43 mins
By 6:30am most passengers on Air Canada’s 9:20am flight from Sydney to Vancouver had arrived creating early queues for the bag drop.
Once through bag drop immigration and security processing was swift. However airside, the airport was heaving, with barely anywhere to sit and major queues at the takeaway outlets.
Boarding was slightly delayed. Instead of embarking directly from the terminal, passengers were bussed out to the aircraft, which had been parked in the freight area outside Gate 4 rather than on a standard aerobridge gate. Boarding involved climbing stairs up into the Boeing 777-200LR from the tarmac, which felt unusual for a long haul international service.
Economy on the aircraft was configured 3-4-3. Seat 30G, a bulkhead middle seat over the wing beside the emergency exit, is sold by Air Canada as an extra legroom option for an added fee. The amount of space was excellent, with far more legroom than a standard economy seat and enough room to move around comfortably during the 13 hour flight.
The trade off was the location. Being directly beside the exit area and just behind the toilets meant there was almost always someone standing nearby waiting for the bathroom. Throughout the flight there were regularly passengers gathered around the exit area, often leaning or standing close to the seat.
After watching the cabin during the flight, seats 31H and 31K looked like the smarter choice in this section. They appeared to offer similar extra legroom but with more separation from the exit area thanks to the partition beside the seat. Those seats were only available on one side of the aircraft.
The flight itself was extremely smooth and the seatbelt sign stayed switched off for long stretches, making it easy to move around the cabin. The flight was completely full, and most passengers were very quiet during the flight. Headphones for the entertainment system were distributed after takeoff.
Meal service started around 45 minutes after departure with a choice of beef pasta or chicken with rice. Both meals came with salad, a bread roll with butter and cheese, a Tim Tam and drinks service. Halfway through the flight a chicken sandwich was handed out, followed by breakfast about 90 minutes before landing with a choice of sausage and egg or pancakes, alongside fruit and a bread roll.
One issue onboard was that my nearest lavatory had no running water for the duration of the flight.
The inflight entertainment system had a very solid selection overall. While the very latest movie releases were limited (I had been hoping to watch the new Devil Wears Prada), there was a strong range of complete TV series available, which suited a long haul flight well. I ended up binge watching Pluribus for most of the journey.
AC34 arrived into Vancouver after a flight time of 13 hours 43 minutes, with total gate to gate time stretching to 14 hours 17 minutes.
The writer flew at their own expense.
