Review: Air Canada 787 business class Frankfurt – Vancouver

And we are off again!

This time our trip takes us on a three week journey from Brussels to Frankfurt, Vancouver, Alaska, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

We chose to fly Air Canada 787 business class from Frankfurt to Vancouver.

Before booking we did a bit of research about possible airlines, read a couple of recent reviews, watched some airline vlogs on Youtube.

And Air Canada looked like the best choice in the end.

Not brilliant, but just alright.

So what do we think of our flight?

What did we like and dislike about our first Air Canada flight?

Let’s see!

We paid for our flight with Air Canada 787 business class and didn’t get or ask anything in return for this review.

Video

Together with this review we also made a video about our Air Canada 787 business class flight.

You can watch it here:

Check in at Brussels Airport

Frankfurt is a 75 minute flight away from Brussels airport.

Our Air Canada flight AC6340 to Frankfurt leaves at 6:55am so we check in at 5am.

Passports are checked, the staff member behind the checkin counter asks if we have taken care of our Canadian ETA visas and Arrivecan QR codes to enter Canada.

We sure did.

Our luggage is checked in, boarding passes printed for our flight to Frankfurt and our connecting flight from there to Vancouver.

Smooth start of our day.

We go through security and head to the great The Loft business lounge (located near gate A42, open from 5am to 9pm) to grab an early hot breakfast before our short flight to Frankfurt.

Air Canada’s Maple Leaf lounge, Frankfurt airport

it is 8:10am when we arrive at Frankfurt airport.

We have about 2 hours before our flight to Vancouver leaves.

Before we get to the business lounge, we have to go through immigration first, which goes rather smoothly as well. It takes us less than 10 minutes to get through despite the queues in front of us.

Passports are checked, we still have about an hour before boarding so time to find Air Canada’s Maple Leaf lounge.

The lounge is quite busy.

Rush hour probably at this time of the day.

And it is obvious that the lounge staff can’t follow.

Used cups, glasses and plates are piling up on various tables.

The only way to get a cleared table is to do it yourself and put whatever is on it on another full table.

The furniture and couches are quite worn and stained as well, carpets could also use a proper clean. Not a very exciting place to sit really.

Let’s see what the food is like around here.

Plenty of drinks and beverages for sure, the coffee here is excellent.

But the food left a lot to be desired.

It all looked a bit cheap.

Processed ham and cheese, yogurt, fruit salad. What looked at first sight like a little breakfast muesli corner turned out to offer popcorn, paprika crisps, pretzel biscuits and gummy bears instead.

The hot food corner with scrambled eggs, bacon and baked beans wasn’t even hot.

The bread station looked the best really: warm pretzel bread, bread rolls, Danish pastry and a selection of delicious looking jams.

You would expect much more of a business lounge.

Despite the busy atmosphere and people coming and going the toilets were very clean though, at least that is something.

It is 9:35am, time for boarding.

Air Canada 787 business class cabin

It is boarding time.

We make our way to our gate B42 and can immediately board in the business class lane.

Two cheerful Air Canada crew members welcome us at the entrance of the plane, check our boarding pass and point us in the right aisle to get to our seat.

The Air Canada 787 business class cabin has a 1-2-1 configuration, and 8 rows in total.

One row of single seats both left and right.

There are no honeymoon seats in the middle, and the grey divider in between seats can’t be moved or lifted.

Watch our video from 1:11 onwards to get a better look of how the Air Canada 787 business class cabin and seats look like.

The seats

The Air Canada 787 business class seats have a large, high-resolution touchscreen for the entertainment. In the built in console is a separate remote control, adaptive power socket, a USB port and an audio jack.

Next to it is a smaller touchscreen to adjust your seat.

Underneath the TV screen in a folded tray table that slides back and forward.

Before take off a Want Les Essentiels amenity kit is distributed.

It contains a pair of socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, mouthwash, hand lotion, lip balm, earplugs and an eye mask.

Sanitary kits are also provided on each seat.

It contains a face mask, sanitizing wet wipes and hand sanitizer.

Wearing a mask wasn’t mandatory for anyone on this flight anymore, staff members included.

Air Canada headphones are also present.

They were very average in quality, so we used our own Bose headphones instead of the airline headphones.

The audio jack is located in the built in console where the TV remove is.

A plastic wrapped pillow and thin duvet blanket wait for you on our seat when you board.

Both are of very good quality.

Excellent for this 11 hour flight.

The seats in the Air Canada 787 business class cabin recline up to 180 degrees, flat.

The foot space is really great, Luc is 6 ft tall and had not to much problems. However the beds are a bit narrow to turn around in.

What we also liked about the seats: the feeling of privacy, of sitting in our very own little corner.

Inflight entertainment

We always keep a stash of Netflix downloads close just in case the entertainment isn’t up to par.

Here in the Air Canada 787 business class the movie, series and music selection was good with plenty of new releases.

Enough to keep you amused during this 11 hour flight.

The TV is touchscreen however we found it easier to navigate and select with the remote control since the TV isn’t that close.

The layout and use of the screen is easy to use, and easy to navigate.

Food and drinks

Menus are handed out before takeoff.

Once the plane is in the air, the pre meal drink service starts.

A flight attendant unfolds the tray table and covers it with white linen.

A drink of your choice from the drinks menu and a small bag of deliciously crunchy salted and roasted almonds.

We ask for a glass of the Laurent Perrier champagne, but that one ‘isn’t available’ – the ever so familiar ‘late delivery, didn’t make it on this flight’.

A glass of prosecco then.

While everyone is enjoying a drink, another flight attendant stops by to write down your choice of main course.

Watch our video from 2:48 onwards to see how the food and drinks menus on board the Air Canada 787 business class looked like.

The menu aboard the Air Canada 787 business class looks good.

One starter: halibut and smoked salmon, lentil and quinoa salad, dill mustard mayonnaise, served with a fresh seasonal salad and warm bread.

Main course are:

• beef fillet, veal cream sauce, fennel mashed potatoes, carrots, broccoli
• roasted chicken, sweet chilli and coriander sauce, bok choy, rice
• salmon, fish velouté, rice with red quinoa, bell peppers, pea shoots
• rucola filled pasta, creamy tomato sauce

Desserts:

• selection of cheese, crackers
• fresh seasonal fruit
• chocolate crumble cake

A light meal will also be served 75 minutes prior to landing.

We both decide to go for the chicken.

A few bloggers previously went for the salmon and practically all of them complained that it was just dry and overcooked.

And the beef? If you know one airline that can prepare a medium rare beef fillet, let us know in the comments below! We haven’t come across that one before.

So chicken it is.

Drinks finished, the starter trolley stops by.

On the tray that is put in front of us: the fish starter, salad, olive oil, butter, pepper and salt, butter and cutlery rolled into a white linen napkin. Choose a bread roll from the bread basket if you like.

The flight attendant also pours you the drink you prefer with your meal, we go for the Californian pinot noir, which was very correct.

Watch our video from 3:24 onwards to see how our meals on board the Air Canada 787 business class looked like.

This fish starter received very mixed reviews on a few blogs and vlogs.

Time to find out how it is and see for ourselves.

The salmon is smooth and soft, good flavor. Not the best smoked salmon we have ever had but good enough. And so is the halibut.

The lentil and quinoa salad is surprisingly fresh and zippy and well seasoned, Luc is not so convinced and doesn’t finish it.

The salad is fresh and crunchy, overall a more than OK starter if you ask me.

The flight attendant removes the empty plates and refills our wine glasses.

A couple of minutes later the main course arrive.

Two chunks of chicken, rice and bok choy.

The chicken is super moist and flavorful, pretty sure it is a deboned chicken thigh. Seasoning again is really good, sweet and salty at the same time. Although this is a sweet chilli sauce it wasn’t spicy at all, shame. This chicken main course would have been way better with a little extra flavor kick.

The bok choy is soft and tasty, nice side veg for the chicken – if you like bok choy.

The rice is fluffy and hot, with little bits of scrambled egg in it as well. The leftover chili sauce from the chicken makes the rice even taste better.

A very good fish main course, we really enjoyed it.

Another refill of our wine glasses while the tray with our empty plates is taken away.

And before long the desserts and cheese cart is rolled into the business class cabin.

Fruits, cake and cheese.

We skip the sweet treats and coffee and settle for the cheese with crackers and port wine.

Three cheeses, grapes and dried fruits.

The cheese is a little underwhelming, too industrial and not very flavorful.

The port wine is good though, let’s hope it will get us some shut-eye later on.

Did we enjoy our meal on board the Air Canada 787 business class?

It wasn’t perfect, we did enjoy our main course though.

The wine selection is nice as well.

Service was professional, generous and swift.

We manage to sleep some, and watch a movie or two.

After the meal, the light in the cabin are turned. During the night a selection of packages snack is available in the galley: crisps, chocolate, nuts, the usuals.

A light meal is served 75 minutes prior to landing.

Lights are turned on again and if that doesn’t wake you up, the lovely smell of coffee that fills the business cabin will.

The light meal consists of Tyrolean ham slices, salami, sausage and a pasta summer salad served with a fruit salad, chocolate and bread.

I’m not attracted by the charcuterie – Luc loves it.

The pasta salad was fine, just a little too much mayo there.

Loved the fresh fruit salad, sweet and juicy.

And that coffee was hot and strong again, hopefully that will ease the jetlag a little later on.

Service

The flight attendants on our Air Canada 787 business class flight were friendly, professional and fast.

Always happy to help you out if you have a question or problem, and bring you anything you want.

Toilet

Besides the window, the business class lavatories were nothing special.

Just your average airline lavatories.

Pros

• good service
• nice main course
• correct wine selection
• flat bed
• seat privacy
• comfortable duvet and pillow
• good inflight entertainment

Cons

• no champagne
• underwhelming cheese selection
• narrow beds

We paid for our flight with Air Canada 787 business class and didn’t get or ask anything in return for this review.

How about you?

Have you flown with Air Canada or the Boeing 787-9 before?

What do you think about it?

We’d love to hear from you, leave a comment below!