Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau / Dorval

I checked out of the hotel and left the hotel around 10:30 and took a taxi to the airport. I used the self check in facilities, though there were no long lines, but the three people queuing there had a lot of luggage and I thought this might be a longer process. Since I did not had any luggage to check, self check in was much faster, especially since I had not discovered any problems in the US on previous flights, I thought it might be the same in Canada. And so was it.

Security was empty, though the checking procedure took some time, not only I had to be manually checked because my shoes caused a beep (which they did not do in Düsseldorf) but there were also slow in screening the carry on items.

I stored all my belongings back and headed to the Maple Leaf Lounge in the domestic part of the terminal. The lounge is a bit more old fashioned compared to the one at the US gates, but offered a good selection of beverage and food.

07 June 2010
YUL – YYZ
[Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport – Toronto Pearson Airport]
AC 413 (Air Canada); (C-GAQZ)
Gate A 1
13:00 – 14:15 [effective 13:01 – 14:18)
Economy Class
Seat 19 F

Boarding started with passengers travelling in Executive Class as well as Star Gold Passengers. Therefore I was among the first passengers who could board the plane. Entering the plane I was greeted by two flight attendants and on my way to my seat in the middle part of the Economy Class Cabin of this Airbus A 319. Since it was the first time onboard an Air Canada plane, I looked around to got an impression of the plane and the cabin. The cabin looked okay, the seats were in blue colour and there was an onboard Audio System available with several music and film channels. The aisle and middle seat had also a power outlet next to the screen. This was really nice, though I did not need it on this short flight, it was something I have not yet seen on this smaller planes, especially not in Europe. But since the distances are longer in North America, a power outlet might give you the option to plug in your electronic devices to either use if or recharge it.

The headphones were sold later during the flight for 3 USD, but not many passengers bought them.

The cabin filled with passengers and it looked lige the flight was full in both classes. The safety video was shown while we were sitting at the gate and the last pieces of luggages of passengers with tighter connections were stored, as the captain told us on his welcome speech after the safety video was shown. He also expected an on time arrival and mentioned that the flight might be a bit bumpy during take off and landing.

We pushed back at 13:01 and taxied for our runway. After a short wait, it was our turn and the captain pushed the pedal and we climbed into a sunny sky above Montreal at 13:12. We had great views towards Oratorium St. Joseph and the suburbs of Montreal.

The crew began the service on this short flight to Toronto. I slept for the first couple of minutes and missed the beverage service. Not an issue, since I had a few glasses of tonic water and ginger ale in the lounge. The flight time passed quickly on this short flight of around 40 minutes. Nice to watch was the map on the screen showing our flight path and altitude as well as speed.

The crew was friendly and smiled and quite a change from their US counterparts. We soon began our approach. As mentioned by the captain earlier, it was a bit bumpy while we flew over Toronto towards lake Ontario where we made an U-turn offering great view towards the skyline of Toronto with its landmark, the CN Tower.

We touched down at 14:06 and had a longer taxiway before we finally reached our gate at 14:18.

Disembarking took a couple of minutes since a few passengers had stored their luggage in rows behind their seats and expected that other passengers gave it to them from the back rows. Finally it was my turn and I was in the domestic part of Toronto Airport.

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