If you fly around Canada long enough, you’re eventually going to end up in Air Canada A321 economy class. There’s no avoiding it. It’s gonna happen.
When that day comes, you’re probably not going to be all that thrilled about the outdated interior.
The generations-old in-flight entertainment system is sluggish (and inoperable much of the time). The lack of legroom cancels out how surprisingly squishy (and comfy) the seats are.
It’s as basic as it is unavoidable.
AC1012 Vancouver, BC (YVR) – San Diego, CA (SAN) Wednesday, February 5, 2025 Aircraft: A321-211 Registration: C-FCEU Duration: 2 hours 37 minutes Seat: 14A (Economy)
Air Canada A321 side view illustration by NorebboStock.comOur route from Vancouver to San Diego today as AC1012
My full review of Air Canada A321 economy from Vancouver to San Diego
Remember my Air Canada A321 business class review? I hope not, because what you’re about to see will be nothing like that. There’s a pretty big difference between business class and economy on these airplanes. Spoiler alert: go for business class – if you can swing it.
Arrival at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
The 12 PM departure time for this flight was pretty much perfect. There was no need get up early, and I was able to get myself together without feeling like I was in a rush.
A big fat Canadian-style “hiya!” from the entrance of Concourse E at YVR.It should be noted that the fact that I’m wearing funeral colors today has nothing to do with my feelings towards Air Canada. I’m actually looking forward to this A321 economy experience. More than you know, really.
I arrived at the entrance for US departures exactly 9:10 AM. That’s a bit lot early for a 12 PM flight, but I was expecting a long line at US Preclearance. The fact that I made it through in less than 5 minutes was both a blessing and a curse.
And just like that (thanks to US Preclearance), I’m back in the United States without having to leave Canada. I didn’t even have to threaten any of that idiotic “51st state” bullish*t to do it.
I killed about an hour by having breakfast in the YVR Plaza Premium Lounge (thanks to my AMEX Platinum card). I knew that the chances of eating well in Air Canada A321 economy was slim to none, so I made sure to get my money’s worth in the lounge.
This bandit-masked beauty parked at gate 75 is my ride down to San Diego today. Hang tight little buddy… you’ll be seeing sunshine and palm trees soon enough!Gate 75 waiting area. In regards to the overhead lighting situation, I’m not sure who had it worse: the intern who had to create detailed drawings of the architect’s vision, or the contractor who was assigned to executing on those drawings? Both deserve a beer (and an “atta boy” smack on the butt).
The boarding process for this flight to San Diego
The boarding process got underway at exactly 11:20 AM. With a Zone 3 boarding pass, I had to wait a bit – but it wasn’t all that long due to what seemed like a very light a load of passengers loitering in the gate area.
This isn’t the most exciting boarding pass that I’ve ever held, but I will admit that the Air Canada ones feel pretty good. They’ve got a nice weight to ’em that’s hard to describe. The gate 75 Zone 3 cattle call. Don’t mind if I do.The woman ahead of me is carrying a helmet. What does she know that I don’t?
Economy class seat overview
Air Canada is one of the most inconsistent airlines in all of North America – at least when it comes to seating. The economy seats on this A321 look nothing like the economy seats in Air Canada 787-9 economy. Not that I would expect them to be exactly the same, but they could’ve at least used the same fabric. It’s like they’re not even tryin’.
Looking straight down the barrel of the Air Canada A321 while admiring the seats here in premium economy (while chewing gum and taking pictures for the review). I can multitask with the best.Row 14 – seats Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie.Nothing Whiskey Tango Foxtrot about the legroom. It’s tight, but pretty much what I expected. Under seat storage space? You don’t wanna know.But if you did want to know, you’d learn about these annoying metal boxes under the seats that take up a lot of room. I recommend staying uninformed.Making that metal box even more annoying is the fact that there aren’t even any video screens (or power outlets) in these seats. Like, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, bro.A metal box which contains the circuitry to drive video entertainment (and power outlets) installed in seats that don’t have video screens and power outlets? It’s nice knowing that I’m not the only one in this world making nonsensical decisions.Useless and annoying metal boxes or not, these economy seats are really nice looking. Pretty soft too!
It worth noting that some of Air Canada’s A321s were purchased from EVA Air (and were not converted into the Air Canada spec). The lack of the video screens – and gray fabric – leads me to believe that this is one of those aircraft.
Our departure from YVR
We pushed off the gate one minute late at 12:01 PM. Hey – these A321s may not be all that exciting, but they are simple and “routine” (and reliable) enough that there are hardly ever any surprises for the ground crew.
Just moments away from pushing off the gate, and this little girl seems to be attempting to negotiate her way out of her economy class seating assignment. I admire her spunk.Pushback. Because sometimes you gotta go backwards if you wanna go forward.
Total taxi time was 15 minutes. Which was 5 minutes longer than what was scheduled.
Rolling down runway 08R at a velocity which suggests that this Air Canada A321 is eager to see some F’n sunshine and palm trees. Bikinis and banana hammocks too!
In-flight entertainment
Warning: not all Air Canada A321s have video screens at every seat. Some do, but this one didn’t. Not that it matters all that much – the video screens in those other A321s are very low quality anyway. They’re nothing like the video screens you’ll get to play with in Air Canada 737 MAX 8 economy.
This is the main menu for the streaming in-flight entertainment. I see that there is complementary Wi-Fi for Aeroplan members, but the fact that I forgot my Aeroplan number years ago means that I won’t be seeing any of it today.Something that I (and everybody else on this flight) won’t be seeing today are any movies and TV shows. Perhaps those had been tariffed in the past 24 hours? I don’t know. It’s hard to keep up.The weather widget seems to be working though. And don’t tell this A321, but…that doesn’t exactly look like bikini and banana hammock weather IMHO.Here are all the pricing plans for the in-flight Wi-Fi. I’m terrified that these could get tariffed as well.I can’t remember exactly what it was that I was looking at here, but I’m sure as sh*t not watching any movies and TV shows, that’s for sure.
Food and drinks
The last time I flew from Vancouver to San Diego, it was in Air Canada A320 business class. The food was pretty darn good. Drinks were unlimited.
This time? Bigger airplane, less free food (and drink). That’s what I get for flying economy class I guess. I did appreciate the extensive food for purchase menu though.
Here’s the cover of the in-flight menu. The lack of poutine on the front cover has me concerned that this isn’t going to be as authentically Canadian of an experience as I want it to be. I swear to god that slice of pizza (bottom center) looks exactly like the pizza we were served in elementary school way back in the day. Shoutout to Patterson Elementary in Holly, Michigan!
In addition to a free snack (and beverage), Air Canada offers complementary beer and wine on all flights within Canada and the US. Even in economy.
With no poutine available, I stuck with the basics. I declare these pretzel twists to be the second best pretzel twists I’ve ever eaten on airplane. The best was what you saw in my Sun Country 737-800 Best Seat review.“Ok NOW I understand why they call those the “Best” seats!” #lightbulbmoment
Seat comfort
The best thing about the seats (by far), is how soft and squishy they are. The worst thing? The legroom. Definitely the legroom. It’s nowhere near as bad as Air Canada Rouge 321 economy legroom is, but it’s tight.
“Seat recline is pretty good!” – Scott “F this effin’ seat recline!” – The woman in the aisle seat who was trying to get some work done on her laptop.As long as the person in front of you isn’t doing any reclining (and if you’re shorter than 5′- 10″ – and if you’re flexible enough for it – and if your socks match), crossing your legs is possible(ish) in these seats.
It bums me out to report that the comfort of this seat wasn’t all that much better than what I experienced in Air Canada CRJ-900 economy. Bruh.
The descent and arrival into San Diego
The weather had been absolutely perfect all the way down the West Coast of the United States. This no doubt assisted us in being 2 minutes ahead of schedule as we began the descent into San Diego.
That’s the Del Mar Racetrack on the far left. Torrey Pines State Beach is on the far right. No sight of any bikinis or banana hammocks yet.Overflying the Encanto area on approach to runway 27. For those of you not familiar with San Diego, this isn’t the best part of town for bikini and banana hammock spotting unfortunately.#eyballsemoji
Touchdown on runway 27 happened at exactly 2:53 PM. Still two whole minutes ahead of schedule!
Welcome to ‘Diego.
The taxi over to Terminal 2 West took only 5 minutes, and we ended up docking at gate 50. Easy peasy (and extremely uneventful).
Well well well, look who’s running late today? Those of you who read my Porter Airlines E195-E2 PorterReserve review shouldn’t be surprised that this aircraft should’ve been on its way to YYZ over an hour ago. The on-time performance of this flight has been abysmal lately.Not only are we sharing gate space with Chester today, he seems happy to see us. The feeling is mutual good buddy!That was fun! And decently comfortable. Could’ve used some poutine though. Just sayin’.
Pros and cons
If I had the choice between an Air Canada A321 and a 737 MAX 8, I would choose the 737 every single time. The A321 is better than the CRJ though – so it’s certainly not the worst aircraft in the fleet.
Pros
Free beer and wine on all flights within Canada and the United States!
Overhead bin space is decent – much better than what you would get on a CRJ.
Streaming in-flight entertainment is available (though it may not be actually working).
Cons
In-flight entertainment is hit or miss on the A321. Not all aircraft have video screens at every seat.
Not all A321s have power outlets at every seat either. This one didn’t.
Legroom ain’t all that. I recommend bringing your short legs.
I’ll be the first to admit that my airline reviews are about as far they could possibly be from being…
6 Comments
Hey Scott, great review as always! Just wanted to clarify one tiny error… you actually had C-FCEU, not C-GYFY…you were right that both of these units are formerly from EVA Air. AC is currently in the process of removing the nasty blue seats for the 737 MAX and A220 seats. About time!
Thanks Justin! How did you find the registration? The Flighty App says it was GYFY – but I know that isn’t correct, because when looking at pictures of that specific aircraft online, it doesn’t have sharklets. Was there a specific app or tool you used to get that info?
Hey Scott, I use flightera.net to find the registration- simply plug in the flight number and then go to the calendar at the bottom. They have flights from over 8 years ago depending on the flight you choose. You were correct that C-GYFY is not equipped with sharklets- good catch! Thanks for the great review.
“If you fly around Canada long enough, you’re eventually going to end up in Air Canada A321 economy class. There’s no avoiding it. It’s gonna happen.” To quote Princess Anne to her kidnapper, “NOT BLOODY LIKELY.” In a reply to a review on this site, I’ve previously explained that I have economy class anxiety dreams where I’m a passenger in economy. The horror!
Although I don’t use it, I’m always concerned about paying a price for wi-fi on international long haul (or any haul), and then it stops working. Do you get a refund?
Viz. poutine: it’s tariffed out; didn’t you get the memo? ;~}
Never say never. One of these days you’re gonna find yourself with an urgent need to go somewhere where a completely sold out Air Canada A321 will be your only option. You’ll be so desperate to go that you’ll take whatever seat they can give you – even if it’s the one all the way in the back next to the lavatory door (one with a broken latch). It’s inevitable! Haha…
Good question about the Wi-Fi. It’s never happened to me fortunately, but I’d imagine you’d have to make a pretty big stink about it to get a refund. I’m not even sure that’s something that the flight attendants can do on the spot. You’d probably have to contact customer service after the fact.
Hey Scott, great review as always! Just wanted to clarify one tiny error… you actually had C-FCEU, not C-GYFY…you were right that both of these units are formerly from EVA Air. AC is currently in the process of removing the nasty blue seats for the 737 MAX and A220 seats. About time!
Thanks Justin! How did you find the registration? The Flighty App says it was GYFY – but I know that isn’t correct, because when looking at pictures of that specific aircraft online, it doesn’t have sharklets. Was there a specific app or tool you used to get that info?
At least I got the EVA thing right. 🙂
Hey Scott, I use flightera.net to find the registration- simply plug in the flight number and then go to the calendar at the bottom. They have flights from over 8 years ago depending on the flight you choose. You were correct that C-GYFY is not equipped with sharklets- good catch! Thanks for the great review.
Thanks Justin! I’ll be sure to use that whenever I run into any discrepancies.
“If you fly around Canada long enough, you’re eventually going to end up in Air Canada A321 economy class. There’s no avoiding it. It’s gonna happen.” To quote Princess Anne to her kidnapper, “NOT BLOODY LIKELY.” In a reply to a review on this site, I’ve previously explained that I have economy class anxiety dreams where I’m a passenger in economy. The horror!
Although I don’t use it, I’m always concerned about paying a price for wi-fi on international long haul (or any haul), and then it stops working. Do you get a refund?
Viz. poutine: it’s tariffed out; didn’t you get the memo? ;~}
Never say never. One of these days you’re gonna find yourself with an urgent need to go somewhere where a completely sold out Air Canada A321 will be your only option. You’ll be so desperate to go that you’ll take whatever seat they can give you – even if it’s the one all the way in the back next to the lavatory door (one with a broken latch). It’s inevitable! Haha…
Good question about the Wi-Fi. It’s never happened to me fortunately, but I’d imagine you’d have to make a pretty big stink about it to get a refund. I’m not even sure that’s something that the flight attendants can do on the spot. You’d probably have to contact customer service after the fact.