Canada 2025- The Journey so Far…
Enchainement de vols
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- 8AC112 - Economy - Vancouver to Toronto - Boeing 777-300ER
Flying Trans-Continental… Air Canada style!
In the USA they have New York-Los Angeles, In Australia they get Sydney-Perth, Russia has Moscow-Novosibirsk and in Europe we even have Helsinki-Tenerife… Those are some of the "Trans-Con" services you can fly on in various countries and continents, but in Canada the main "Trans-Con" service is their Vancouver-Toronto route!
WestJet only fly their Boeing 737 fleets on the route, usually a lot cheaper than Air Canada if you are voting with your wallet, however if you splash some extra cash- you can fly with Air Canada which is great for Star Alliance loyalty customers- but here's the twist of fate…
Air Canada offers flights operated at various times by the Boeing 737-8MAX (until they get transferred to Air Canada Rouge), Airbus A320-family, Airbus A220-300 and their Boeing wide-body fleet which includes the Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 787-8 & Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner!
I'm not the average passenger flying Air Canada, but you'd have to be somewhat daft or "pigeon-holed" to a schedule to willingly opt to fly an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737-MAX over a Boeing 777 or Boeing 787, so when I knew an opportunity to fly a Short-Medium Haul flight on an Air Canada wide-body aircraft, it was a no brainer!
Plus I was able to secure a one-way economy class flight from YVR-YYZ for only… £110 (CAD/$208)- Which if you ask me is an absolute bargain!
I understand that cancellations and aircraft swaps are a bit of a risk with these sorts of bookings, but the day of my flight came around and sure enough- I was in luck with no cancellations and I wasn't swapped out on the aircraft type, though I wouldn't be complaining if we got a Boeing 787 Dreamliner instead of the Boeing 777… an Airbus A321 or Boeing 737-MAX would have annoyed me a bit more!
Flying from Vancouver Airport (YVR)
My accommodation in Vancouver was in the Downtown area of the city, a place called The Belmont Hotel, I picked it as it was a short walk from the Metro line that runs directly to Vancouver Airport from the city… It was raining all of the previous night, but by the following morning- it was a beautiful day and I got a few city photos before diving into the Underground for the YVR Metro!
The train that runs you to Vancouver Airport has some great views to take in as you leave the Downtown Vancouver and the train is taken on overground tracks… I even bagged a photo of an Air Canada Jazz Dash 8 Q-400 heading into Vancouver Airport with a solid backdrop of clear skies, mountains and the city!
I arrived with a healthy bit of time to find the security area to head airside, I grabbed a slightly better view of the Totem Poll near the YVR Metro Station in the Graham Clark Atrium. There was a bit of a wait at security which took a good 20 minutes to clear, but I was through airside around 10:20am… By then my flight was allocated a Gate, Gate C-50.
I sat down near my Gate opposite a small newsagent serving Hot Dogs. I plugged in my phone to give it a boost after the USB fault on the CRJ-900 the previous night flying into Vancouver… though I was expecting the Boeing 777-300ER to be fine with its onboard equipment.
I could barely see the Boeing 777 at the Gate, but I could see our aircraft was wearing the incumbent Air Canada livery. The airline's ground staff began to call for boarding and did so by Number, I was in Group 4 of 5- so one of the last groups of passengers to board the aircraft.
Air Canada AC112- Flying the Boeing 777-300ER!
The Boeing 777-300ER gracing the skies with me on this 4+ Hour flight would be C-FIVM, an aircraft delivered brand new to Air Canada in May 2008 and has flown with them ever since. The Boeing 777-300ER is the current flagship of the airlines fleet, but the airline has since announced that they will acquire the Airbus A350 which will eventually replace these Boeing 777s as they approach 20-25 years old.
The aircraft flew with the Air Canada "Toothpaste" livery from 2008-late 2024 or early-2025 when it was repainted into the current "Black Tail" Air Canada livery, making it probably one of the most recent aircraft to be repainted into the new livery.
As I headed through a busy Business Class and towards the Economy Class section, I spotted the rear bulkhead of the Business Cabin had this cool "AIR CANADA" billboard on full display, I couldn't resist grabbing a quick photo of it- It beats what British Airways and Iberia display on their aircraft!
I picked Seat 37K for my 4-Hour flight across Canada, it was in the first cabin of Economy Class, but right at the back over the end part of the Starboard Wing, offering a good view of the "Nitty Gritty" of the wings and also giving a nice scenic view. The seat was a mostly dark blue fabric with a plastic white seat back with an IFE Screen which has a headphone jack & USB-Port.
We pushed back on time and began taxiing over to the Runway. On the taxi I spotted an Airbus A350-900 of Air France arriving which was really amazing given its the newest long-haul aircraft type in that airline's fleet and by a way of contrast I spied a long-retired Fokker F28 stored in a random corner of Vancouver Airport!
Once we got to the departure Runway, we had a small wait on some aircraft ahead of us, but it eventually became our turn to take off on Runway 26L for a Westerly departure toward the Pacific Ocean.
Once we lined up on Runway 26L, we sat for a few seconds before starting our take off roll, it was during this brief stop I spotted a Cargo Ramp and noticed some more delights from Canada- Airworthy Convair aircraft (likely KF Aerospace CV-580s) parked amongst some FedEx 757/767s and some random ATR-42 freighters!
Our take off saw us rotate and commence out initial climb over the Pacific, allowing beautiful views of the nearby Cypress Mountain and surrounding Parks behind the Skyline of Downtown Vancouver- where I had come from that morning.
As we climbed out of YVR Airport, the pilots made a few turns over the Pacific Ocean to put us on course for the Mainland of Canada putting us on course for Toronto Pearson.
Within the hour of us taking off, the crew began the first inflight bar service as well as taking inflight orders from the Buy on Board menu. For the complimentary service I had a Cola, Molson's Canadian Lager and the chocolate biscuit. For an extra CA/$9.99 ($5) I opted to enjoy a hot pizza, nothing fancy- but it did the job for this four hour flight… For the IFE I opted to enjoy a mix of Chicago Fire episodes and the inflight map!
By the half-way point in the flight we'd passed Calgary, Edmonton and Regina- all places I'd visited in some regard during this trip around Canada, reflecting on an amazing trip but also felt a little poignant as it was coming to an end in 24 hours as my flight the following evening would be my flight home to the UK…
I visited the lavatory as a chance to stretch my legs a little, its a good habit to have on longer flights. The toilet was what you'd expect on a Boeing 777, there was enough space and it was surprisingly clean! I also proceeded to grab a quick shot of the Mid-Galley on the 777!
As we proceeded forward in Time Zones, the sun began to set during the flight, the cabin crew also set the lights as they would for an overnight or evening flight to help relax passengers and readjust them to Ontario time from British Columbia time.
The Sunset during this "Golden Hour" was amazing! It is safe to say I took plenty of pictures!!!
With just over an hour of the flight remaining, another drinks round was done and I opted to keep it simple with some orange juice and a hot tea!
Eventually we started our descent into Toronto Pearson (YYZ), as we flew around the city suburbs I took some photos of the city at night all lit up by street lights, cars and building lights… It was really cool to see, making a nice change from seeing London (UK) all lit up. All these night arrival pictures were taken on my phone as it did better justice to my views than my GoPro could.
We landed into Toronto Pearson (YYZ) on Runway 24L, our scheduled arrival was 20:35pm (YYZ Time) but we landed at 19:45pm- some 45 minutes earlier than intended! Our entire flight time according to FR24 was 3hr 30min… pretty good going from Air Canada!
We taxied across Toronto Pearson Airport as we made our way to the Gate, I noticed a pair of Boeing 777s parked up at one of the Terminals from Air Canada and Turkish Airlines.
We parked up on stand, within eye shot of an Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER wearing the former "Toothpaste" livery from the mid-2000s. I held back to be one of the last passengers off as I wanted to grab some additional cabin pictures as the plane would be empty now. The seats have a nice dark blue fabric with Red and Sky Blue stripes and the headrest is a black leather.
As you can see from the IFE Map on the IFE Screen, it shows our arrival route into YYZ Airport, a quick final look at the economy class cabin showcases what to expect on the Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER in 2026- whether that be a long-haul flight from Vancouver to Australia or Asia, Toronto Pearson to London or Paris or even this amazing 3-4 hour Trans-Con service between Air Canada hubs!
On the way out, I grabbed a quick photo of a Business Class Seat, yes its been used by the passenger who was in the seat, but it shows you a little peek of what's offered by Air Canada on this flight… one day I'll do a North American "Trans-Con" flight in Business Class (aka. Domestic First)… It would be a pretty cool experience!
Disembarking the aircraft I was able to get a few good photographs of the Boeing 777-300ER I just crossed Canada on, given that Vancouver Airport couldn't deliver- Toronto Pearson certainly did!
A little bonus from Toronto Pearson and Air Canada was that in the baggage hall area was a little post showcasing something that is becoming quite popular in North America- though not so much in Europe, is that Air Canada has these "Flights" that are actually coach services to nearby cities in Ontario which are no longer economically viable to maintain a regional flight service. Its an interesting concept, but buying tickets for these (regardless if in Canada or the USA) is super expensive as they're designed for customers wanting a seamless Airport connection to onward flights at Toronto Pearson.
And of course, as it was late November and just over a month from Christmas Day- the decorations were out in full swing at YYZ which was lovely to see!
