leyland1989: [Air Canada Rouge 1984+1985, A319, Slaveship Class] First world Caribbean "slave ship"

"Leisure" Airlines are increasingly popular in North America (well, in Canada at least) after Sunwing tour group started their own Airlines in 2015 instead of relying on chartering/wet-leasing planes to transport people between Canada and the Caribbean every winter. (correct me if I'm wrong). However, the concept itself isn't new at all... Even in Canada, we had all sorts of "charter airlines" such as Canada 3000, Skyservice in the past and not to mention Air Transat which is still going strong with their infamous 9 abreast Airbus slaveships and recently joined 737 fleet.

Air Canada has eventually joined the battle in 2012 with their new subsidiary Air Canada Rouge,
a new subsidiary that specialised in Holiday destination, ~~trafficking~~ transporting human who have very little standard or not care at all on air travelling experience between their home and holiday destination. Hence, the so-called leisure airlines.

Since people who travel south do not usually care about or value the air travel experience as long as it takes them to their holiday destination in one piece, the service and products on those leisure airlines can hardly compare with regular airlines. To reduce cost, pretty much like LCC, all In Flight Entertainment (if any) and In Flight Services such as meal and snacks are offered with a cost, except checked luggage policy are quite generous (even more than regular airlines) due to the nature of their target audience/market. Seats are LCC standard if not worse, the more seats the merrier, below 30" seat pitch is pretty much the norm, because, again, people don't really care as long as it's cheap and takes them to their destinations.

As an aviation enthusiast who values the flight more than the trip itself,
I'm not sure how leisure can it be, considering being confined in a 29" pitch seat for 4 hours,
but there's a way to find out.

So I decided to take Air Canada Rouge to the south.

After confirming my holiday schedule with my girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend...), we decided to go on a holiday in the Caribbean to a little escape, and to celebrate our first Valentine's day.

For obvious reasons, I'm the one who does all the research and booking.
After we decided to go to a specific hotel in Varadero, Cuba
There were few options in terms of Airlines, Air Canada, Air Transat, Westjet and Sunwing

With Westjet being insanely expensive, my options were down to AC, Transat and Sunwing.

Aircraft type was of course taken into consideration,
Air Canada Rouge offers 29" pitch and standard 18" wide seat
Air Transat and Sunwing's 737's seat not only being narrower, the pitch is even an inch shorter...

Air Canada Rouge's A319 is the obvious winner, seat comfort wise, and the bonus 3.5k Aeroplan miles + 1.6k base miles. I decided to go with Air Canada although it was slightly more expensive.

Let's get back to the flight report itself.

Flight Info:

Airlines: Air Canada Rouge 1984

Origin: Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL/CYUL)

Destination: Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport (VRA/MUVR)

Departure: 12 Feb 2016, 1525 EST

Arrival: 12 Feb 2016, 1920 CST

Duration: 03hr55min

Aircraft Type: A319-114 (reg: C-GBHY, 17.9 years old)

Seat: 18B Economy Class (Exit Row)

After driving 2 hours from Ottawa to Montreal and getting on and off the shuttle from the "value" parking lot to the airport with 2 luggage in -28 degree centigrade (-42 with humility and wind chill), I could not even spare a moment to take out my phone for pictures.

Check in was smooth and easy, the airport wasn't busy at all, I was half expecting a situation like Person during Christmas time.

Fast forward to the gate,
my ride to Cuba was C-GBHY, arriving from Tampa Intl (TPA/KTPA) as AC1619

We were lucky to be seated at the exit row,
got some extra legroom without any extra charges.

and If turn slightly to the left..

The only down side is that,
the window is far out of reach...

and the view is obstructed by the wing

Safety card

I did not know the mobile lounges were still in service at YUL,

I have seen it and ride it at IAD a few years ago

Push back,
it's funny how the image Air Canada want to promote the Rouge brand,
the cabin crew empathises "We will be onboard together in the next 4 hours, so here is our home, welcome aboard" not exact words as I forgot, but something similar, the idea of "family" and "home" were mentioned.
I guess so this way we won't see them as slave master?

After some taxing... we pull aside on the maintenance area
and got bad news from the captain...
apparently the emergency slide could not be aimed properly due to extreme cold temperature (below -25 °C)

Take Off:

Some IFE, perhaps?

It doesn't work....
It was not made available until 2 hours after take off,
somebody forgot to flip the switch?

Well, I'm well prepared.
I have my own IFE

And IFS too, Brought my own bagels on board

only the coke was offered by Air Canada Rouge.

I don't blame them, considering how poorly they were paid ...

Light remained dimmed throughout the rest of the flight.

We arrive at Varadero not too far behind the scheduled time despite the "little drama" before take off.

This was my first time visiting Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport (VRA/MUVR), I was surprised how well equipped it is compare to Cayo Coco, we entered the terminal via a Jet bridge so we didn't have to feed the local mosquitoes. Although the security and passport checkpoint is as chaotic and slow as in Cayo Coco if not worse.

We had a pleasant stay in Varadero, and managed a ride to Havana.

Her ladyship enjoyed it, that's what all that matters.

Here are some bonus pictures of the trip

Despite my first experience with AC Rouge was not too bad, the return trip was another story, probably one of the worst air travel experience I have ever had.

Flight Info:

Airlines: Air Canada Rouge 1985

Origin: Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport (VRA/MUVR)

Destination: Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL/CYUL)

Departure: 20 Feb 2016, 2025 CST

Arrival: 20 Feb 2016, 2359 EST

Duration: 03hr34min

Aircraft Type: A319-114 (reg: C-FYJP, 18.8 years old)

Seat: 26F Economy Class

Only AC has their own boarding pass paper..

Other airlines boarding pass paper are provided by the local authority.

For those who have been to Cuba will understand how inefficient their boarder control is...
It took us almost 2 hours to get through...
Security is another chaos ..

Many flights including ours were delayed due to checked in passengers not showing up at the gate...
Who would have figured out where they went.....
The plane just can't leave half of its passengers behind, I guess?

Things did not improved after getting on the plane,
The standard 29" non-exit row pitch for the next 4 hours...
I literally could not move at all

For comparison, Sunwing's 28" pitch on their 737-800...

I guess ACR is slightly more humane.

I bet most passengers on board these kind of flights would not remember their flight number...
Filling it out before disturbing the form saved themselves from being bothered by dumb questions from the passengers... but only on the French side.

I didn't take many pictures on this flight because I was really exhausted, and I still hadn't got over the chaos at the airport.
Crew on board weren't friendly and provide bare minimum service... (Which I understand, considering their long working hours, working 2 flights back to back and how poorly they are paid).
It took them almost the entire duration of the flight to serve the complementary beverage,
all on board cafe items were sold out by the time the cart reaches out row...

Midnight at YUL
I hope I'll never have to take Air Canada Rouge again...
If necessary, I guess premium rouge would be my bottom line.