AC1948 YYJ-YUL A321 (Rouge) 14SEP26
An early one out of Victoria — a 7:00 AM departure for the roughly four and a half hour run across the country to Montreal, booked as an Aeroplan redemption at 63,000 points in business versus 30,000 in economy.
Rouge’s A321 business cabin is a recliner, not a lie-flat, and it shows on a transcon. The seat is genuinely wide and I had no complaints about elbow room, but the pitch is where it falls short: for four and a half hours in the morning, a little more legroom — and a little more recline — would have gone a long way. What I wanted most on this flight was a decent nap, and the seat never quite let me get there. Telling detail: the seat on the connecting Embraer to Washington was more comfortable than the one I paid business-class miles for.
Breakfast was French toast with a baked apple compote, a fruit bowl, a roll with butter and jam, real maple syrup, and coffee. Adequate is the honest word for it — nothing to write home about, but perfectly pleasant, and served properly on china.
Worth the upgrade? Yes. At 33,000 extra points it is not a bargain, but skipping the line at the one cafe open that early at YYJ and starting the day with a hot breakfast and coffee in a wide seat beat the alternative. Just don’t board expecting to sleep.
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