As I’m writing this, I am just chilling and lounging inside Pearson airport’s Maple Leaf Lounge. It is a VIP lounge only for miles members, etc etc, and business class flyers. So which do I belong to today? Business class! Woot!
Here are a couple of notes for this article:
- I am not trying to “be flashy” flying business class is part of my bucket list. One for the experience!
- This article will be reaaally long I can feel it. It’s meant to give you as much detailed info for whatever purpose you have 🙂
- I will try to structure it as how you would anticipate the questions/answers
So, let’s start 🙂
“WHY?”
As I’ve said, this one’s for the bucket list. I have always been curious as well ever since I flew premium economy in my last trip. Plus I upgraded to business class (different from purchasing business class directly) and it’s relatively cheaper.
“What do you mean different and how cheap are we talking about here?”
If I’m trying to buy tickets, it’s usually around $800. This is from Toronto to EU, normal season.in the same situation, business class ticket as $3000 LOL. I got mine for a total of $1500-1600. Almost half off.
What happens is 24 hours before your flight, you’re allowed to check in online. In that window, you can also “upgrade to business class”. It is cheapER (+$800) because–you know where I’m going with this–the airlines (generally) wait for it the last minute; in this case, 24 hours before flight, then if there are still seats available, that would be a waste right? So they just drop down the price. $800 sounds a lot but remember this is from an intercontinental flight. If this is domestic (within NA or within EU) it is cheaper. The fee of course is relative to the distance of your flight.
When you purchase an upgrade, you can only do it…per leg (dunno what the right term is). So, my flight is from Toronto to Munich, then Munich to Budapest. Then heading back is the same route in reverse but that’s considered a different story. So with the upgrade I purchased, it’s only good for Toronto to Munich, not my entire trip there and back.
“How is your experience ( so far ) ?”
Yes, “so far” is the right phrase. At the time of this writing, I AM still in the flight. I am in the lounge waiting for my flight. At this point though, I will write them down as I experience it 🙂
—-Baggage Drop off
If you’re a (frequent-ish) flyer, you’ll come to know the importance (and delay) long lines cause. Bag drop off is 1/3 of them 🙂 Usually it’s a problem (for many, I’ve been lucky with this) because for some, they chance up on moments where there are long lines already. They are probably late or the people in front of them are emigrating or with several, large luggage. This takes a while and of course you wouldn’t want to be spending most of your time here.
With Business class? well, there’s a dedicated line and you pass right through! Actually, in Pearson Terminal 1, there’s an entire Aisle for this (aisle 1), only for “you guys”.
—-Security checkpoint
This one is again almost too good to be true; almost feels like sinful LOL. There’s everyone in a long snaked line then here you are, walking, passing by everyone and everyone’s staring at you LOL. You basically by-pass everyone up in front of the line. To be clear, what this does just serve you in front of the line. We’re talking about security here (the one with the xray conveyor, metal detectors and stuff). So it just puts you in front of the line. You DO NOT have a dedicated line. You still go with everybody else. So…..it’s a perk, but…not really. Still took me a while.
—-Lounge
I’m a man of value. Of course the money I paid for is still a lot and I intend to not waste it and get the value for each and every dollar 🙂 So one thing I will say to you if you go business class: “Don’t eat before your flight” LOL. There’s a lot! I am currently inside the Maple Leaf Lounge. You get access to this on business class and you get to access this as early as 4 hours before your flight.
[insert photos of Maple Leaf Lounge]There is pretty much free food in here. There’s a buffet table for sweets (cookies, parfaits, some small cakes, cinnamon rolls, and other sweets), veggies (an assortment of leafy greens), a bar for coffee, another bar for other refreshments (sodas, juice, etc), AND another bar for alcoholic beverages. So definitely no shortages here.
After a while , I discovered another small table for small entrees. This table has: Chicken souvlaki, some steamed vegetables, ravioli is two set (one is tomato sauce, the other is cream)
So…yea. Lots of food. I haven’t even hopped into my flight yet and I know for a fact that’s another set of pigfest right there LOL
Pardon if I do not have much photos for now. That’s when you know I’m enjoying my moments so much 😛
>>>>>>>>>>>>>BRB, enough blogging, 1 hour before boarding, so gonna roam around…
Flight details:
You don’t need this but if you are looking into a business class flights, you’ll want this for reference and comparison 🙂
Air Canada
Airbus A330-300
Seat 4A
Toronto – Munich(8h) – Budapest(+1h)
$800 + $800(upgrade)
