AC753, Toronto to San Francisco

Flight Details

• Flight: AC753
• Aircraft: A321-200
• Seat: 2D
• Departure: Toronto Pearson Airport, 4:20pm (scheduled) 5:20pm (actual)
• Arrival: San Francisco International, 6:49pm (scheduled) (actual)

Well, this flight didn't get off to a good start.

First, it was scheduled on an 737-Max, which was grounded.  So we were put onto an ancient A321.  The aircraft ... showed its age.

Second, it was delayed ... once we were on board.  Not because the aircraft wasn't ready, or anything with the crew, or anything technical ... but because some passengers were stuck in customs.  Now ... selfish me is quite annoyed that we waited AN HOUR for them, before giving up and going without them.

Third, there was quite a bit of turbulence, which at least we were warned about.

Fourth, we had an aborted landing (whee!) due to a flap getting jammed, and spent an extra 20 minutes cruising around in the air while they somehow fixed it, which obviously further delayed us.

Overall, everything about this flight was lackluster.

So Tiny.

The cabin felt old, dusty almost.  Like an old carpet that needed cleaning.

Seats had seatback pockets in front, and no other storage in seat.  At least I had power, although my USB jack wasn't working.

Entertainment screens were touch based only, and basically unusable, given how poorly they worked.  I gave up.

Welcome beverage was ... a bottle of water, as we sat on the ground for over an hour.  No standard pre-departure beverages.

Service however was pleasant, staff friendly, attentive.  Just clearly an old aircraft, and a sub-standard Business Class offering.

Meal Service

The meal served on board was dinner, which we could look up in advance.  Orders were taken while we hung out on the ground, not sure if that is standard or not.

One unique feature, is that they call out the "Dine Anytime" option, "Enjoy your meal later during the flight, up to 50 minutes prior to landing."  This is particularly nice if you are trying to eat on a particular meal schedule to handle jet lag, and 1.5 hours after takeoff isn't quite that.

Dinner: Low End Wine, Nearly Frozen Salad, Economy Quality Pasta, Generic Ice Cream & Cookies.

Meal service was quite efficient, it moved right along.  That's ... about all the positive I have to say about it.

Menu.

The menu was fairly standard: salad to start, choice of entree (red meat, chicken, fish, vegetarian pasta), and signature dessert (gelato and fresh baked cookies).

SALAD 

• Niçoise salad, fingerling potatoes, hard-boiled egg, green beans, fennel, corn, grape tomatoes, Kalamata olives, garlic aïoli, herb vinaigrette.

MAIN COURSES 

• Braised veal, mushroom à la forestière sauce, red skin mashed potatoes, broccoli
• General Tao chicken, steamed rice, bamboo shoots, carrots, edamame
• Flamed cod, creamy shallot sauce, brown and white rice, spinach, diced red pepper
• Cheese and spinach ravioli, creamy mushroom spinach sauce, sun-dried tomatoes

DESSERT 

• Fresh seasonal fruit
• Chocolate chip cookie baked fresh on board
• Vanilla ice cream

Assorted snacks and a full selection of beverages are available at all times throughout your flight.

I wasn't particularly optimistic about the meal, certainly not about any of the proteins, so I went for the ravioli.  And of course I had ice cream toppings in my bag (sprinkles, toffee bits, white chocolate chunks), because I knew it would be plain vanilla.

Drink Cart.

Meal service began quite quickly, hot towel, and then a cart with drinks came down the aisle.  Two red (cabernet sauvignon from Chile, something from Italy) and two white wines (dry riesling from Austria, Napa Chardonnay) were available, all screw tops except for the riesling.  Drinks were served with a bowl of nuts.

Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Mixed Nuts

.

I asked to try the chardonnay, but didn't love it - a bit too acidic, minerally, etc than what I was really in the mood for.

So I also got the cab sav, Adobe Reserva.  It is a $5 bottle, screw top.  It was better, it had a bit of bite to it, and a taste that I can't quite explain but I've noticed more recently in some wine, that my brain translates to "blood", but I know that isn't right.

Drinks were served with a small bowl of mixed nuts (cashews and almonds only), salted, lukewarm.  I appreciated the quasi-warmth and salt, but meh to boring mixed nuts.  Nut refills were offered soon after.

Tables were set a few minutes later with a simple white cloth.

Appetizer: Salad, bread.

"Niçoise salad, fingerling potatoes, hard-boiled egg, green beans, fennel, corn, grape tomatoes, Kalamata olives, garlic aïoli, herb vinaigrette."

The cart came back soon after, offering refills (so soon!) and our starter (no choice, just the salad), and a basket with rolls (white or wheat, served lukewarm).  Butter, salt & pepper packets, were on our trays.

The salad ... well, it lacked a green base, which made me sad, since I actually came prepared with my own dressing and crunchy salad mix-ins, prepared to turn a lackluster standard mixed greens salad into something amazing, by just having them leave off the dressing (which, they couldn't do anyway, vinaigrette was pre-mixed in).  It turns out, AC flight attendants do virtually no meal finishing, the salads come entirely plated and garnished and dressed, the entrees just get heated, no garnish applied.  Very different from other business class offerings.

Anyway, the "salad".  It was really not good.  The plating was decent though.

The serving temperature was odd, incredibly cold, nearly frozen it seemed.  The vegetables just stone cold.  The green beans, corn, grape tomatoes, fennel, olives were all ... boring.  Flavorless.  Not limp, since nearly frozen, but I'm not sure how they made vegetables have no taste.  Even the fennel, usually a strong flavor, just had none.  The veggies were all dressed in the vinaigrette already, an oily pool in the base.

The potatoes were the worst, almost shriveled little disks.

The garlic aioli though ... was tasty.  Strong garlic flavor, creamy.  I used it to dunk plantain chips I brought with me, which was a fabulous combination.

Main: Ravioli

.

"Cheese and spinach ravioli, creamy mushroom spinach sauce, sun-dried tomatoes."

Mains came person by person, and every single one was huge.  The lady next to me exclaimed, "How do they expect any one person to eat this much ravioli!", and I admit, I thought the same when I saw my platter of ravioli put down in front of me.  16 raviolis!  The veal had an equally large and ridiculous mountain of mashed potatoes with it, and no passenger I saw managed to finish.

It was ... lackluster.  The ravioli was the most generic cheese and spinach ravioli ever.  The pasta not too soggy, nor overcooked and hard, but ... it just had a lump of ricotta with a bit of spinach in it inside.  I've had pasta on so many flights, and usually it is significantly better than this.

The sauce was indeed creamy, and helped keep it warm.  It didn't particularly have flavor though.  It had random pockets of chopped spinach, and a few small pieces of mushrooms, and there was plenty of it, but ... just not particularly great.  I mostly managed to scoop up all the spinach, mushrooms, and sauce, and eat it liked creamed spinach.  Which, wasn't bad.

Oh, and the sun-dried tomatoes?  I guess that was the red you see on top, but honestly, there were no actual bits of sun-dried tomatoes, and certainly no flavor nor texture from them.

So highly mediocre.  Honestly, economy class quality.

Dessert: Cookies & Ice Cream.

 "Chocolate chip cookie baked fresh on board, Vanilla ice cream."

And finally, my favorite part of any meal ... dessert.  Choices were a fruit platter or cookies & ice cream.  I knew they didn't serve quality ice cream, and I knew it was plain vanilla, and I'm definitely not a cookie girl, but ... clearly I had to try this.  I had my own toppings prepared.

The aroma of the fresh cookies was enticing, but there was nothing very good about the cookie.  A warm gooey cookie can be great, but this was just quasi warm, like nearly everything, and not gooey at all.  Soft at least?  The mini chocolate chips did nothing for it either.

The ice cream is Gelato Fresco, plain vanilla.  Again, nothing special here.  Low end ice cream.  Not particularly creamy.  Not much flavor.

No after dinner drinks, no port, nothing exciting is available.