Flight Segment: YYZ-FLL
Aircraft Flown: Airbus A321-200 (C-GJWO Leg 2)
Distance Travelled: 5,333 kilometers (3,314 miles) total (YYJ-YYZ-FLL)
Cost: $443.50 each, $0.083/km, or $0.33/km for the four of us
Class of Service: Economy Comfort Fare
Thanks for coming back! This blog covers part two of our flight to Fort Lauderdale and took place in late March, 2023 and starts at YYZ.
YYZ Transit
After a short redeye flight, we arrived in Toronto International Airport (YYZ) rather exhausted. Transiting Canadian airports is usually pretty seamless, except when you are transiting to transborder flights. That is because you’ll have to pre-clear US customs before going back airside. This involves possibly having to collect checked bags if you’re flagged, fortunately we didn’t, then clearing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents before going through transit security and heading back airside.
Air Canada uses the newer terminal 1 at YYZ, it seems they got their Star Alliance partners teamed up there and bullied all non-alliance or partner airlines to the older terminal 3.
There is a major advantage to the pre-clearance process though, you land in the USA as a domestic passenger, as you’re essentially on US soil when you clear US CBP. Those massive lines you hear about at airports like LAX, JFK, etc.? Doesn’t apply to you. Only a handful of airports globally have pre-clearance, and the majority are in Canada. Keep that in mind for transit times though and fluff it a bit to avoid missing your next flight because of lines.
Once airside, YYZ has number of contract lounges scattered in terminals 1 and 3, and there are lounges to access should you be in an economy class ticket but holding Priority or Dragon Pass cards. This is much more restrictive if you’re in the transborder concourse. For Air Canada, if you have the Reserve or Infinite Privilege line of cards, you can access the Maple Leaf Lounge if it’s not at capacity, otherwise there is a priority pass lounge in the transborder area. The waiting area at the gate was bland, there wasn’t even power readily available so have your devices charged before plopping yourself down.
Boarding for Fort Lauderdale
Boarding for AC918 began on time. We boarded our 20-year old Airbus A321-200 (C-GJWO) and found our way back to our seats. 30A/B and 31A/B. Again, with our Comfort fare, we were able to pick whatever seats we wanted. 30A for me was an exit row seat, and this afforded me unlimited legroom.
As I noted, 30A was an exit row seat, well, kind of, row 29 is the actual exit row but is only with B/C. So my Alpha seat behind is technically an exit row seat and I was included in the emergency exit brief by the crew. This was a 20-year old aircraft, and well, it felt as old as it physically is.
Air Canada hasn’t updated the seats since the aircraft came into service but here’s a seat tour. First off, can I say again, look at the legroom! My seat had a fixed armrest with the inflight entertainment folded down, Maddy’s inflight entertainment was located on the seatback in front. This screen was old, slow, and frustrating, Maddy had to offset her touch by quite a bit as the screen was sensing her finger in a totally different area.
The seat cushion was thicker then current slimline seats, but you could feel how old it was, my seat cushion was literally lose and if I shifted forward, the whole cushion would come with me. The seats have your standard seat recline, about 3 whole inches. We had an excellent view just behind the wing. We had a beautiful take off from YYZ, affording us a beautiful view of downtown Toronto and Billy Bishop Airport as we began our southerly track down to Florida.
The crew began the inflight service once we were above 10,000 feet, buy onboard was available. We ordered a mac and cheese for the kids to share, and Alyssa and I had a wrap. I also took advantage of a Comfort fare perk, a free drink, and I went with a whiskey and Coke.
There was a non-interactive flight map to track our progress, and because of the quality of the screen, I just kept it on the flight map for the duration.
A common complaint of single-aisle aircraft is getting trapped an unable to use the bathroom during services. One of the nice things about this layout of A321’s is that it has a mid-cabin lavatory, which makes it so much easier to get to the bathroom if the cabin service is ongoing. The lavatory was reasonably clean but showing its age and I never saw it get tended to. It also had a baby changing table, which I cringe at the memory of using when the kids were younger, and was thankful to be past that stage.
Tip for changing babies, bring just what you need and have it readily laid out for when you start changing, less fussing around trying to find something will have you less likely being peed on while looking for the diaper in the bag.
The approach and landing was completely uneventful and smooth, we approached from the east coming over Fort Lauderdale from the water, then made a 180 degree turn to the left to line up and land on runway 10L.
Taxiing in, I got a glimpse of a few usual and few unusual aircraft for us as West Coast Canadians. Collecting baggage took about 45 minutes, one of the perks of flying in from a Canadian hub airport? We landed as domestic passengers not needing to queue up for immigration and were at baggage claim within 10 minutes of deplaning.
Final Thoughts
Air Canada got us down to Fort Lauderdale on time, and for the best price. Imagine that! The Comfort fare gave us 115% SQM and points, so we earned over 12,000 Aeroplan (on top of credit card earn) on these two flights. Comfort fare also allowed us to pick any seat in economy we wanted, and that added to the comfort we experienced on these flights, and an alcoholic drink to wake up to.
Airbus and formerly Bombardier make an amazing aircraft. Both the A220 and A321 afford wider seats then Boeing due to it’s wider cabin. The A220’s modern cabin, large windows, and up-to-date inflight entertainment was an excellent addition, although the redeye flight meant we didn’t make much use of it.
The A321’s on the other hand are really getting on in age. The A320 family series are among the oldest aircraft in the fleet, and the cabins are really showing their age. The A220’s and Boeing 737-8’s are meant to replace a good portion of them. Air Canada also has A321XLR’s on order set for delivery starting in around 2025 which should open up new routes and hopefully see some of the last A321CEO series fly into the sunset.
I know they have a bed rep here in Canada. I was impressed with the service of the Air Canada crew, both in the air and on the ground. The work they do isn’t easy, I’ve seen so many trashy attitudes from passengers and that’s just from when we fly, so seeing how hard their crews worked on our flights was really impressive. I will absolutely book us on Air Canada when the budget allows, especially considering Air Canada is our only A220 operator, I hope to see more of them fly out of Victoria and Vancouver in the future.
Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate your support by signing up to be notified when new blogs are posted, and follow us on Instagram at Go.FamilyTravel. I’ll be posting part one of our cruise on November 3rd, onboard Odyssey of the Seas.
Adventures of the Nguyen Family 