Air Canada Café grab-and-go lounges impress with allergen safety

Having opened a new Air Canada Café in Montreal–Trudeau International Airport in March, Air Canada now operates three cafés, including a facility each at Toronto Pearson and the downtown Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

During a recent roundtrip between Toronto Pearson (YYZ) and Montréal–Trudeau (YUL), I got the chance to try two of the three cafés. These cozy spaces are accessible to domestic Business Class or Premium Rouge passengers, and to Aeroplan Super Elite, 75K, 50K, and Star Alliance Gold members, as well as for select Aeroplan credit card holders.

Air Canada Café at Toronto Pearson

The café at Toronto Pearson is a large space with a variety of seating options including dining tables and chairs, booths and bar stools.

In the spacious bar area, a barista will happily serve up a variety of specialty coffees and freshly squeezed orange juice. Mixed drinks and draft beer are also on offer in the later hours.

At  7:30am on a Thursday morning, the grab-and-go lounge was packed, with only standing room available. But the baristas kept pace and the line moved quickly.

Self-serve coffee machines are available for those who do not want to wait for a barista. Passengers can also help themselves to soda pop, flavored water and juices from a large refrigerated unit. A decent selection of pre-made salads, breakfast items and sandwiches — plus a few hot meals — are available.

As a gluten free vegetarian with a ‘no cow-dairy, soy, nuts or egg’ lifestyle I was overjoyed to see every packaged food item feature a QR code. This allows me to see exactly what is in each item without having to seek assistance and bother busy staff members.  

Does the Air Canada Café offer a lot of food options for someone like me? No. But I’m not complaining. I know I have a long list of food restrictions so I am always happy when a couple of items fit the bill. For me, that’s a win!

Notably, the café has a washroom on premises. It’s quite clean and staffers constantly worked to make sure of it during my stay.

Air Canada Café at Montreal-Trudeau

The food and beverages on offer at the Air Canada Café in Montreal–Trudeau were fairly similar to those at Toronto Pearson, except for one very large difference: everything is self-serve in Montreal and there is no bar or baristas.

This led to a more limited selection of drinks and no fresh juice. Everything was also labeled with QR codes for ingredients. 

Hot breakfast foods were switched out at 11am for items like a Montreal smoked meat sandwich and a vegetarian spanakopita.

During my stay, the café had few visitors and plenty of open seats.

The space is smaller than the Toronto Pearson facility. Still, it offers a variety of seating options including a large table for groups, bar stools and window seats for plane-spotting. 

Another very noticeable difference in Montreal, and perhaps most importantly, is the lack of washrooms. You must leave the lounge to use the airport restroom.

Getting back into the lounge can result in an error when rescanning your boarding pass, and rests on the front desk staff recognizing you for re-entry. 

The lounge has free Wi-Fi, which did work and was easy to connect to but, amusingly, proved slower than the free inflight Wi-Fi now on offer by Air Canada.

Maple Leaf Lounge – Montreal

In Montreal, the Maple Leaf lounge is located right next to the Air Canada Café. How do the two compare?

The lounge has similar entry requirements, but opens up eligibility to others including customers who purchase Maple Leaf Lounge access.

The space is lined with large, floor-to-ceiling windows and as such, lots of natural light pours in. A small but varied buffet is on offer, including a Hummus that I’m sure was made by the gods. Here again, Air Canada takes allergen safety seriously, and each item lists its possible allergens.

A self-service bar featuring wine, beer and all the basics for mixed drinks is just around the corner from the buffet. Unlike the café next door, this lounge was packed when I entered. An announcement was made shortly after noon that the facility had reached capacity. 

I’m not a brand-conscious person. And I’m usually grateful for a glass of red wine, a bubbly water and a decent cup of coffee. I also never go anywhere expecting that my extreme dietary lifestyle will be accommodated. But when I see that a company is at least trying, it makes me smile.

Air Canada goes the extra mile to label every item and deserves kudos for that.

Related Articles:

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• Blazing fast Internet on an RJ? Air Canada stuns in free Wi-Fi rollout
• BeanStalk seeks to elevate vegetarian inflight meals
• Air Canada, WestJet come through for teen flying with allergies

All images credited to the author, Becca Alkema

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