AC20/19 Singapore to Vancouver Nonstop on Air Canada, and a Solar Eclipse in Montreal

[yflyer]

I headed to the Maple Leaf Lounge in the international terminal.



This was Star Alliance Gold Lounge, and as Krisflyer Gold, I was eligible to enter.

I noticed signage at the door which sad "Air Canada Signature Suite". On the upper level of this lounge, there was the Signature Suite, offering a full sit-down dining experience. This was only for Signature Class i.e. Business Class, and I was not able to use this section of the lounge, so I remained in the main lounge at ground level.

This was a beautiful lounge...



It appeared to be a cut above the Maple Leaf Lounges I had experienced in other cities, includiing Frankfurt and London.



There was a full service manned bar.



The seating area, with good airside views.



Individual loungers by the windows.



Beautiful solid wood high tables...



I would love to have a table like this at home...



After putting my bags by one of the loungers and settling down, I headed to the bar for a drink.

The cocktail selection was vast.



The wine list looked decent too.



"May I have a lychee martini, please?"

[yflyer]

Off the plane at YVR, there was no need to reclear security.

I was through to the international departure area for my flight back to Singapore without any delay...

[yflyer]

I took a stroll through the aircraft. The economy cabin was laid out in 10-abreast 3-4-3, not my favourite config. 9-abreast 3-3-3 on a 777 was a very comfortable configuration, but adding an extra seat to 10 abreast turned the Y cabin from pleasant to mildly nightmarish, especially on long, full flights.



I headed back to PEY, which felt spacious by comparison.



The cabin crew came round with midflight snacks...



I thought the Miss Vickies potato crisps were excellent.

Another round of drinks was served. I couldn't resist another G&T.



I was very impressed with the AC cabin crew on my PEY domestic sectors. They were young, eager to please, and really on the ball, delivering very warm and customer-focused cabin service.



On this flight, I rewatched the old James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, with Roger Moore as Bond.



On the AC IFE system, older movies were still shown in 4:3 format, which was a bummer, but once the movie started, the form factor was forgotten and I was totally absorbed by the movie -- what a classic.

There were good views of the Canadian Rockies as we neared Vancouver...





Final approach into Vancouver Airport...



...for landing on Runway 08L.

We landed 3 minutes ahead of schedule at 8.20pm, and we were at the gate of off the plane just after 8.30pm.

Overall, I was really impressed by Air Canada's Premium Economy product. For a 5 hour flight, this was as comfortable as PEY could get. I was particularly impressed by the catering, and the superb cabin crew.

[yflyer]

On this 5 hour day-time flight, I really enjoyed the views out the window.

About mid-way through the flight, I spotted an airport on the ground far below.



On the airshow map, it showed that this was near the town of Gimli, a name that rang a bell.



Was this where the "Gimli Glider" landed? Yes it was!

The "Gimli Glider" was an Air Canada 767, operating AC143 from Montreal to Edmonton in 1983, which ran out of fuel while in cruise, and made a successful emergency landing at Gimli. More on the incident here.

I spent a lot of time on this flight looking down at the landscape passing slowly by...



What a vast country this was...

[yflyer]

Cabin service began with hot towels...



Next, drink service.



My Bloody Mary, made with spicy clamato and vodka, really hit the spot...



As meal service began, I asked for a glass of white wine.



What I found nice was that if you asked for wine, the cabin crew would take the time to tell you what different wines were available, and even offer you a taste, before you made your selection...



There was a choice of 2 mains on this flight, a chicken and rice dish or pasta. I had previously pre-ordered the chicken and this was confirmed for me prior to take-off, when the cabin crew came round to take meal orders.



The meal was served on real ceramic plates, with metal cutlery and proper glassware.



The bowl of salad was crisp, and came with separate dressing in a small bottle.



My main was delicious as well, tender chicken and moist rice.



Chocolate cake for dessert.



Once again, as on my previous YVR-YUL domestic PEY sector, I felt as if I was in domestic business class, not PEY.

I asked for another glass of red, and this was quickly brought to my seat.



On this flight in PEY, there was not a single plastic or paper cup in sight, only proper glassware. Thumbs up!

[yflyer]

We were soon above the clouds.



The IFE on this flight was the same familiar and full featured system that I had encountered on my previous AC sectors.



There was A/C power, as well as USB. The IFE controller was mounted on the side of the armrest, but I hardly used it as the screen was a touchscreen.



Pax in the PEY cabin were free to use the bathroom located just ahead of the PEY cabin, in between J and PEY.

[yflyer]

Eventually, I left the lounge and headed to the gate, where Air Canada 777-300ER rego C-FKAU was being readied for departure as AC311 YUL-YVR.

This 7 year old aircraft was still wearing the old light blue AC livery...



The flight looked to be 100% full, and the smallish boarding area was crammed with multiple lines of pax. Boarding was by zone, and because of the congested space, it took a while for pax to organise themselves for boarding. But in typical laid back Canadian manner, no voices were raised and everything remained civilised, even if boarding took a fairly long time.

Thankfully, I boarded in zone 2, and so spent most of the long boarding process already seated in the Premium Economy cabin...



The PEY cabin on this 77W was laid out in 3 rows of 2-4-2.

The seats themselves were wide and comfortable, and looked to have a different headrest design from my earlier A330 PEY seat. Also, unlike the A330 seat, there were no calf rests on these seats.



There was ample legroom in the bulkhead row, which meant that I could get up from my first row window seat to get to the bathroom without interfering much with my aisle-seat neighbour.

From my seat, the familiar loud booming startup sequence from the GE90 engines as they came to life. It had been a while since I flew on a 77W, so this was music to my ears...

A view of Montreal's terminal building and control tower as we taxi'ed out.



Take off on Runway 24R...



A nice view of the terminal building as we climbed out...

[yflyer]

There was also a large business center, set up as a separate room well away from the rest of the lounge.



This was a proper workspace, with desks and work cubicles.

I felt as if I had walked into an office. Folks here were doing real work.

There was a gentleman with a full 3-screen trading setup...



Others were running full blown meetings via videoconference, entirely audible to anyone in the area who cared to listen.

Some of the conversations were very interesting...

Thankfully this was a separate business center area, so folks in the seating/lounge zone would not be subject to this sonic barrage.

[yflyer]

There was a dining area with a self service buffet...



Minestone soup...



Salad bar...



...with lots of fresh greens...



Smoked meat sandwiches...



Hot selections included meat and potato curry and long grained rice...



...and penne pasta...



In all, a decent F&B selection, and airside views as a welcome bonus...

[yflyer]

I headed to the Maple Leaf Lounge in the domestic part of the terminal.



This was a medium sized lounge, and it was fairly busy that day.



There was a self service bar area in between the seating and dining areas. By airline lounge standards, the liquor selection was quite impressive.



Apart from vodka and 2 kinds of rum, there were several whiskies, 10 year old Port, white and red vermouth, and a selection of liqueurs.



They even had lychee liqueur...



...and condiments like Tabasco and Lea & Perrins, as well as salt to rim your glass.



Almost everything you needed to channel your inner mixologist!

Several red wines...



White wines (and beer)...



I poured myself a glass of the Charles Meunier sparkling white....

[yflyer]

The Montreal Airport airside area was full of shops and F&B.



I think, even without lounge access, I would have been able to eat and relax quite comfortably in one of these F&B outlets.

There seemed to be a lot of care and thought put into the facilities here, which extended to elaborately designed animal relief zones.



There were also these old-style Arcade machines, playable for free. If these trigger nostalgic memories, then I can guess what age group you below to...



Galaxians! I could have spent hours standing at the machine playing this game...

[yflyer]

The next day, I headed to Montreal Airport for my flight home...

My journey home began with AC311 YUL-YVR, a 6:05pm departure time, with scheduled arrival time in Vancouver at 8:23pm, and a flight time of roughly 5 hours.

It was a wet, drizzly afternoon when I arrived at Montreal Airport in the mid afternoon.

I had been very lucky with the weather during the week I was there. It had been bright and sunny all week, and unseasonally warm at between 11-18 degrees C.

Now, as I was leaving, the weather had turned wet, and a little colder.

Montreal Airport, as wonderful as it was, did not have a covered departure driveway. Thankfully, the rain had dwindled to just a minor drizzle as I got out of my Uber, so I managed to get into the terminal without getting too wet.

The check-in area was fairly empty when I arrived at 2.30pm. I noted that AC allowed Premium Economy pax to use the priority check-in lane.



I was able to check my luggage all the way through from Montreal to Singapore, and also received my onward YVR-SIN boarding pass.

"Oh! You're on the new Singapore service!", the cheerful customer service agent said, beaming, when she saw that SIN was my final destination.

After check-in, I was directed to the priority security line, which was a nice touch, and was in the airside area very quickly.

[yflyer]

I ended the meal with a PDC shooter...these were house-made shots made with gin and several other ingredients...




A shared toast with some of the other patrons at the bar, and the chef, to end the evening!



What a memorable meal, with great cuisine, staff and a wondeful vibe!

[yflyer]

For my main, I ordered the Foie Gras Poutine, one of PDC's iconic dishes.



At the start of the trip, my first meal in Montreal was Poutine. I would now end my trip with Poutine, except that this time it was the elevated, or atas, version (In Singapore parlance...), with generous slices of luscious creamy goose liver, taking this dish to a whole different level...



I paired the dish with an Italian Nebbiolo...



Amazingly, after polishing off all the Poutine, I still had space for dessert (Maybe it was because of the 12km run earlier that day...)...

I perused the dessert menu...



I decided on the Pouding Chomeur, or Maple Pudding Cake, which was a Quebecois classic.



I was tempted to order the version with cheddar and foie gras. Yes, even the desserts here came with foie gras (!)...

But good sense prevailed, and I went with the classic...

Yum....delicious...the maple syrup in this dish made all the difference, each mouthful was warm, and subtlely sweet in a way only achievable with the best maple syrup.

[yflyer]

I began with a Ginette, a cocktail made with Gin de Mononcle, spruce beer, maple syrup and lime gelee...



For my starter, I sampled the oysters with soy-cured egg yolk and pepper mignonette. The oysters came 2 to a portion, and were freshly shucked and garnished with the egg and mignonette only after I ordered them...they tasted intensely fresh!



It was great to be seated at the bar counter, observing the energetic and gregarious chefs at work. I was amazed at just how much foie gras this kitchen was going through over the course of the evening...