Flying Air Canada's FLAGSHIP! High Density 777-300ER Toronto to Calgary

Good morning from Toronto-Pearson International Airport! My name is Alex and welcome back to the channel. Today we're going back to the archives for a trip in January of this year where I'll be

flying

Air Canada's largest and most iconic aircraft, the Boeing 777-300ER. The 777-300ER first joined Air Canada's fleet in 2007, and now fly 19 of Boeing's larger twin aircraft currently in service. Air Canada primarily uses them on its busiest international routes from Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, but you can also find them on occasional domestic flights. This is a pretty exciting flight for me personally, because despite

flying

all over the place for the last decade, it's been over 8 years since I last flew a 777!

Intro shots are a little sparse today because I'm rushing on a very tight connection from Montreal, where I only had about 10 minutes to get from door to door. The long legs really helped me this time! Today we will fly aboard one of Air Canada's newest 777s, a 4-year-old aircraft registered as Charlie Foxtrot Juliet Zulu Sierra, which was delivered to Air Canada in April 2016. The Fin 748, as this aircraft is also known , is also one of seven 777s in

high

-

density

configuration, with a dozen fewer seats in Business Class and about 60 more in Economy instead. I arrived just in time to take that gate and board in zone 5, so let's see what it's like to fly on Air Canada's

high

-

density

777!

Now any frequent Air Canada flyer knows that zone 5 is practically a death sentence for trying to get any kind of cockpit shot, so I'll take a look a little later in the flight. For now, though, my seat for Calgary is 20K. In standard economy, Air Canada offers 31 inches of seat pitch on its 777s. On a domestic flight, that's pretty generous, but for someone who's quite tall like me, it's my personal minimum for comfort. The seats are also quite narrow, but I think the view of the engine here more than makes up for it! All of these seats have adjustable headrests and a power seat is also available.

I also got really lucky with a free middle seat, so it ended up being pretty comfortable. Enjoy the sound of those GE90s as we leave Toronto, starting, taxiing and taking off from Runway 05. As I said before, Air Canada has two configurations on their 777-300ERs. However, facing economy class, you really have no idea how many seats there are on this plane! In the seatback pocket, Air Canada had a surprisingly extensive literature package. Included is the standard security card,… duty free catalogue,… in-flight magazine,… a donation envelope for the Air Canada Foundation,… and your on-board purchase menu.

Shortly after departure a snack service started and I went to get a cup of coffee and some Pringles. I also purchased an Air Canada Bistro coupon on their website during booking, allowing you to save a little money on in-flight food purchases. However, today I wanted to see what his food tray looked like. Basically, it's leftover Business Class food that you can buy. I chose the breakfast option of an omelette with potatoes and sausage, which didn't look very appetizing. The omelet itself was quite tasty, but the rest just had no flavor and wasn't as good. If you're really hungry, I think it's worth opting for the food tray, but I'll stay away from the omelettes in the future.

Air Canada's high-density 777 seats 450 people in 3 classes. Signature Class in the front seats 28 passengers in a 1-2-1 configuration. Premium Economy, located just behind the second set of doors, seats 24 passengers in a 2-4-2 layout. Economy class makes up the vast majority of the plane, with 398 seats and 3 separate cabins, in a fairly tight 3-4-3 configuration. In this layout, each economy seat is only 17 inches wide, which, for comparison, is a bit narrower than those on a 737. For the long-haul routes these planes operate, I can't imagine that's terribly comfortable. These bathrooms in the back of the plane are surprisingly spacious.

Headroom is an issue, as always, but it's not terrible. Having said all that, I feel bad for the cabin crew. It must be a challenge for them to work to serve so many people from a few galleys. A 777 on the Toronto to Calgary route isn't exactly a normal occurrence, but thanks to the grounding of a certain demonetizable aircraft, Air Canada was really capacity-constrained at the time. So for most of last winter, they put their largest planes on the road. It makes some sense, they can basically combine 2 or 3 people's A320s into a single flight and free up those planes for other routes.

The 777's inflight entertainment is also quite good, with a headphone jack and a USB port. The software has also been updated to the latest version found on the A220s. The media selection is quite diverse, as always, but my favorite part is the interactive moving map. As this flight lasted approximately 3 and a half hours, the crew turned around again before landing with a second drink service and I had a cup of Coca-Cola. Shortly after, we began our descent into Calgary, accompanied, again, by my favorite part of the new inflight entertainment. Here is our arrival in a snowy Calgary, Alberta, landing on runway 35R.

Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable flight with Air Canada. The crew on board were very friendly, I can't imagine what it's like to have to serve in 3 separate economy cabins, but they were in great spirits throughout the flight. That view of the engine was fantastic too, I love the sounds of the GE90, but next time I'll definitely sit higher up to get the full experience! The cabin, however, is certainly something special. While it looks nice, with ambient lighting and updated IFE, 10 wide is a bit tight for the 777. Air Canada finished cabin remodels on the 777 fleet a while ago, so unfortunately, all the...

The 300ER and 6 -200LR now have the 3-4-3 layout. However, since the middle seat was free, I (thankfully) didn't get the full high-density 777 experience, but the fact that I constantly had a shoulder on the seat next to me is pretty indicative. Now, obviously, that was fine for this flight across Canada, but...man, I wouldn't want to be sitting here on a fully booked flight across the Pacific. In the end, it was a pleasure to fly the 777 on a domestic route, especially to my hometown! After 8 years it is still an absolute beast of a plane and for what it was, it was a really good flight.

Thank you very much for watching this trip report with Air Canada's

flagship

! As always, if you liked the video, please like it, subscribe if you're new and we'll see you next time.