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Post by tiffany on Feb 18, 2015 13:23:17 GMT
Has anyone travelled with Air Canada Rouge? If so, how did you like it? My friend and I will be travelling Air Canada to London, and then London to Athens, but our direct flight back is with Rouge. We are thinking of upgrading to Rouge Plus or Rouge Premium as our travel agent advised that Rouge has very little leg room, and the seats don’t recline. I can’t fly for 8-10 hours without being able to recline my seat. My back will be killing me by the time I land if I do. It would appear that Rouge Plus is only an extra $90 per person, while Rouge Premium is about an extra $125 (my travel agent is still confirming the numbers). Have any of you paid to upgraded before, and, if so, is it worth it?
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Post by chech on Feb 18, 2015 19:00:21 GMT
According to Seatguru and those that comment there, the seats do recline in economy on Rouge. The problem isn't the recline. It's the lack of leg room. They've added like four extra rows on Rouge planes. If you're under 5' 4", you might not notice the leg room...but the seat in front of you would likely be more in your lap than normal when it does recline. And the seats might be slightly narrower...they advertise the new slimline seats. I've sat in them on another flight and didn't find a difference but the Rouge planes might have a different version of those seats. The business section doesn't have pods and one version doesn't have the business class seats. On the plane I'm taking to Cancun, it is a regular seat with the one in the middle left empty. I upgraded to Premium Rouge for the 4 hour flight to Cancun. I wouldn't blink twice at paying an extra $125 for the extra space (or more normal space) in Premium Rouge. You also have to make sure your upgrade gets you seating in Premium Rouge. One choice when I booked cost more but I would have still been seated in the economy section. When I check my bookings, it specifically says I'll be seated in Premium Rouge and my seats are in row 1 and 2. One benefit is that you get 150% miles for the leg. From Athens, that's substantial...like 15000 miles! I'm actually getting more miles flying premium rouge to Cancun than I got flying to Vietnam and back. Oh, and no video screens on these planes. They stream the entertainment via wifi so you need an ipad or other device to watch something but the comments say the selection isn't great. (For me, I'll just watch a movie on my tablet which is full of movies). So, if I were you, I'd either pay for the upgrade or look for a flight back via a European hub on a regular AC flight from Frankfurt, Zurich, Munich or London etc. Flying the 11 hours from Athens would be miserable in regular Rouge....and the cost savings isn't that much to take the regular AC plane via a hub...about $100 from what I can see.
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Post by Tulips on Feb 18, 2015 22:51:19 GMT
I"ve flown Rouge from Toronto to Costa Rica. I didn't find it that bad, but I sat in the front row, so had more legroom. They do charge for food and drink. At least on the route's south they do.
The movie selection isn't that great. It was easy enough to log in and see what was on offer. I chose not to watch any and read a book.
The flight from Athens to Toronto is very long. I have done it. I would pay and go on AC as Chech suggested.
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Post by chech on Feb 18, 2015 22:59:09 GMT
Did you sit in the front seat of economy? One comment says there's no legroom in the front seat of Rouge Premium. I'm in the front row there...1A I think.
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Post by Tulips on Feb 18, 2015 23:46:04 GMT
It was on an A320. No Premium rouge at the time. I was at the front of the plane in rouge plus. I don't recall having tons of legroom, but the flight wasn't as awful as some people reviewing make them out to be. Try flying from Toronto to Lima on a plane held together by duct tape with a movie screen dated from the 40's. That's miserable! Attachments:
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Post by tiffany on Feb 19, 2015 12:54:15 GMT
I heard back from my travel agent, and my friend and I decided to upgrade to premium rouge on the way home. It’ an extra $245.00, but the seats are bigger, recline more, and have more leg room. You also get an ipad so that you can watch movies( although I have my own tablet), extra luggage weight, priority boarding, and a free meal and drinks. The rouge plus was only an extra $90, but you only got a little bit more leg room, and nothing else. We are hoping to book our flight at the beginning of March.
On the way there, we are flying AC to London, spending the night there, and then flying BA to Athens. I’m not worried about upgrading those flights.
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Post by chech on Feb 19, 2015 13:58:10 GMT
Coolio. That sounds perfect. Great price for what you're getting. I was looking at the PR layout for the Athens flight and it's 2, 2 and 2 - so that's the larger seat and it can be you and your friend side-by-side. On my version, it's 3 and 3 with the empty seat in between. The extra baggage is nice for your return flight too. And for me, I have a bit of time in Toronto between my flights so I get access to the lounge. All the perks of business class without paying thousands more!
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Post by tiffany on Feb 19, 2015 15:08:58 GMT
We are happy with our decision, and going to book our flight the first week of March. We are also looking into upgrading on our AC flight to London. I’m not sure that if that flight has an executive class, but if it does, and it’s not too expensive, we might upgrade. I know I can’t afford business class, although I wish I could!
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Post by chech on Feb 19, 2015 19:24:15 GMT
The regular AC flight to London would be pricey for an upgrade. Just a quick look shows prices as low as $400 to $800 for economy but Latitude (economy seating) is around $2500 and Business is over $5000!
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Post by tiffany on Feb 19, 2015 19:57:40 GMT
I don’t think we’ll be upgrading our AC flight, especially since my friend is still not sure if she can come. Her husband is really worried about her going to Greece right now as he thinks it is unsafe. She told me she’d let me know for sure before I book the flight next month. We shall see!
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Post by chech on Feb 21, 2015 14:52:25 GMT
Any word on her decision? I know it's next to impossible to convince someone like her hubby that it's as safe as going to Vancouver or LA or New York. And even the new government doesn't look to be causing too many waves right now. They've extended the Eurozone deal last I heard, so no instability there. And the one thing I would tell someone like that is that TT wouldn't run a tour if it wasn't safe. If the situation became unsafe, they would refund 100% like they did for Egypt. And of course, the government advisory site doesn't list it as a country of concern. In fact, it's about as low an advisory as they can get - "exercise normal precautions."
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Post by tiffany on Feb 22, 2015 0:42:47 GMT
I actually heard from my friend this morning, and she convinced her husband that it was safe to go to Greece, so it looks like she's coming! She's going to put down her deposit on Monday, and we are going to book our flights at the beginning of March.
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Post by chech on Feb 22, 2015 14:00:27 GMT
Cool!
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Post by tiffany on Feb 23, 2015 12:44:29 GMT
Now it's time to pay for the trip! At least I can save on the single supplement, now that my friend is coming with me.
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Post by chech on Apr 6, 2015 2:04:14 GMT
The Rouge flight I got back to TO had the 2, 2, and 2 configuration in Premium Rouge. I sat in row 1 but the leg room on the window pair of seats is pretty limited. Okay for a four hour flight but to Athens, my knees would have been cramped. The middle pair of seats has a few more inches. For an overnight flight, I think I'd take row 2 - enough leg room to stretch out under the seat in front and row 1 seats won't be in your lap if they recline.
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Post by tiffany on Apr 13, 2015 12:07:16 GMT
We are flying back with Air Canada Rouge, and we booked the executive class. The seats are 2-2-2, and we are in row 1. My friend likes the window and I like the isle, so she’ll be in the window seat. She’s only 5’3”, so hopefully she won’t be too cramped on the flight back.
We are fling Air Canada on the way to London, and we paid extra for two seats beside either other, instead of three, and we as there’s no one in front of us, we have extra leg room. Hopefully it will be more comfortable for sleeping.
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Post by chech on Apr 13, 2015 12:21:20 GMT
That's the seats I had on the way back...the 2-2-2. The window pairs had very little legroom. I'm a hairsbreath over 5'3" and wouldn't want to sit there for a long flight. I think you'd have to be like 4'9" to be able to stretch the legs out. It was the tightest bulkhead seat I've ever sat in. The centre pair had about an extra 4" which would still be tight for 5'3" but a bit better.
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Post by tiffany on Apr 13, 2015 17:17:56 GMT
I’m not happy to hear that Chech. The main reason we paid extra money to sit in executive class was to have more leg room, and to be able to recline our seats. If we still have little leg room in executive class, it makes me wonder how much leg room they have in regular Rouge. My friend likes a window seat, but I’m going to mention this to her and see if she wants to move to the seats in the middle isle, and, if so, ask our travel agent to move us.
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Post by chech on Apr 13, 2015 18:10:41 GMT
The executive class does have more legroom - except for Row 1 because of the bulkhead. There are two versions of the 2-2-2 767 as well but it looks like the Athens version is the same version I flew.
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Post by tiffany on Apr 14, 2015 11:39:36 GMT
Thanks Chech. I spoke to my travel agent, and she’s going to look into this. If possible, she’s going to move us to another row.
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