Routing
Flight routing
- 1AC1408 - Economy - Ottawa to Cancun - Boeing 737 MAX 8
- 2
Check in & security
Welcome to my first ever Flight Report! Today I will be flying from Ottawa to Cancun on Air Canada's ex-Lynx Air all-economy 737 MAXs. We begin our journey at Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport
After a quick check-in, I made my way to security.
Airside
An Air Canada A220 bound for Toronto
After a quick and efficient security check, I went to the airside portion of the terminal.
A tall Christmas tree in the terminal.
The FIDS for today, today's flights are mostly to other Canadian cities
A United Express E175 pulls in from Newark
Our gate that I will boarding from.
Walking to the end of the terminal.
A Porter Q400 (C-FLQY) at gate 13, bound for YTZ
A waterfall next to the Christmas tree
The AC A220 I saw earlier, now in the boarding phases for AC455 to Toronto.
Walking to the other side of the terminal.
Our aircraft (C-FFIS), parked. It will later be towed to the gate.
An Air Transat A321 that will fly to Punta Cana later.
PD280 arriving from Edmonton
Our plane was just towed from a remote stand to our gate. This aircraft was originally made for Lynx Air, but after they went bankrupt, Air Canada took it and retained its configuration. We will board this plane in a few hours.
AC889 arriving from London Heathrow
Porter Q400 taxiing
The 787 from London holding
The AC A220 to Toronto departing.
Then the AC Dreamliner takes the gate
The gate extending..
Two Porter aircraft, a Q400 and an E195-E2
AC2548, operated by PAL.
United Express flight bound for Washington Dulles
PD E195-E2 bound for Calgary at gate 26.
PD2258 to Toronto City.
PD2371 to Moncton
A Porter Q400 just arrived from somewhere
AC342 landing and taxiing to gate 28 after a 5 hour flight from Vancouver
Air France AF328 landing after a 6 hour hop across the pond.
Flight info
Air Canada AC1408 YOW-CUN
Equipment: Boeing 737 MAX 8 (C-FFIS, delivered March 2025)
Configuration: Y189
Seat: 19A
Scheduled Departure: 16:15 (ATD: 16:23)
Scheduled Arrival: 20:45 (ATA: 20:01)
Flight time: 3:38
Boarding
Queueing up to board (I was in zone 3)
Going down the jet bridge
Going down the cabin to my seat
The view from my window seat
The back of my seat
The flight
Pushback at around 16:17
Taxiing to runway 25
An Air Canada Jetz A320
Taxiing to the runway (continued)
Takeoff!
Turning right after takeoff.
Crossing the St. Lawrence River into the USA
Taking a look at the contents of the seat back pocket. The Air Canada bistro was in really bad condition as it was missing half its pages.
The tray table.
When we reached cruising altitude, they handed out the Air Canada pretzels. They were pretty good.
The view outside
Contrails going somewhere…
The sky darkening
They did a drink service, and I opted for water and Sprite. Strange they didn't do the drinks with the pretzels, as the pretzels were a bit dry.
Almost dark out…
Bathroom tour! Quite cramped like the average MAX bathroom
View from the back of the cabin, with mood lighting
After an hour, they did another round of drinks, this time with Celebration cookies. I again opted for the Sprite.
After a quick nap, we began our descent into Cancun.
Touchdown about 45 minutes ahead of schedule
Taxiing to our gate
Parked next to the infamous Spirit Airlines! Hope I get to try them out one day.
My seat
Disembarking the aircraft.
One last look at the plane that brought us into the tropics.
Routing for this flight
Nice first review! It’s a bit of a long flight to be on one of the ex-Lynx birds with ultra slimline seats and no IFE but at the same time it’ll must be nice to have nonstop options from YOW. I assume these second hand frames will eventually be retrofitted with standard AC cabins like WestJet are doing with their ex-Lynx (and Sunwing and Swoop) aircraft.
Thanks for sharing and welcome!
Thank you Kévin! Unfortunately all flights to leisure destination out of Ottawa are operated by these ex-Lynx birds. However, with Air Canada transferring all their MAXs to Rouge (their leisure subsidiary), these jets will get reconfigured with business class, IFE, and hopefully better seats.
Welcome and thanks for this first FR.
A bit surprised AC did not even install some first class seats, but maybe they are thinking ahead when these 7M8 will be transferred to Rouge.
At least they did 2 snacks & beverages rounds to maintain some service in spite of the lack of IFE.
Hi KL561! The reason this aircraft doesn't have first class is because it was originally scheduled to be delivered to Lynx Air (a LCC), but after they went bankrupt, Air Canada took this aircraft (and a couple others), probably due to the convenience. When Air Canada's MAXs get transferred to Rouge, both the ex-Lynx and ex-Air Canada ones will get reconfigured. Personally, I think the 2 rounds of snacks & beverages is standard for intra-North America flights, but I guess I'll have to fly more to find out.