Air Canada Rouge, Is it really that bad?

We have reward flights with UA and the flights are AC. the route being Heathrow/Montreal/Miami. How can I check if these are Rouge flights? Until I found this thread I had never even heard of Rouge. Thanks

The quickest way to know is simply go to http://www.aircanada.com and pretend to book your flight. If any of the legs are on Rouge you'll clearly see that.

To my knowledge the Heathrow-Montreal route should be regular Air Canada.

I understand, and actually mis-wrote. What I meant to ask was are they priced like a mainline airline on that route (i.e. a competitors mainline vs their subsidiary).

Rouge tries to fly routes that do not have any direct competitors (ie, Montreal to Rome) leaving Rouge to be the only airline flying directly to the destination. I've compared a few different routes and if you are willing to do a stop (Paris/Amsterdam/Heathrow) you can generally fly to the same destination for the same price on a mainstream airline for the same price or just a few dollars more.

What is really interesting is that Canada's "other" discount airline (Air Transat) often undercuts Rouge's prices by 10% when flying the same route as Rouge. For the Montreal to Rome direct flight, using a sample date in June, Rouge is $1,117 Cdn and Air Transat is $1,016 with maintream carriers being $1,124 (with a connection).

Thanks. I have followed your advice. The flight numbers are both shown as AC and the aircraft as A330 and A320. So it look like we will be OK.

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The quickest way to know is simply go to www.aircanada.com and pretend to book your flight. If any of the legs are on Rouge you'll clearly see that.

 

To my knowledge the Heathrow-Montreal route should be regular Air Canada.

I was looking at a Toronto to LA flight this morning at work and definitely saw "Rouge". Now when i look at it there's no mention of "Rouge". Is the carrier being hid or did it change? I don't know, but either way the price didn't change.

We flew Rouge last summer: MSP- YYZ -FCO. Then returned VCE- YUL- YYZ- MSP.

We paid the extra $90 each way to upgrade to exit row seats. We are 5''8" and 6' and know the extra room is critical.

Made sure our devices were fully charged, and brought backup chargers just in case.

Meals were adequate. Mostly in the "something to do" category.

Heed the warning about the one hour wait time to talk to ANYONE. Customer service is awful.

Also, they don't seem to codeshare with many other airlines. We returned two days later than planned due to cancellations and delays. They simply wouldn't put us on any of the flight options we found.

Vying

Peg

AC Rouge flights are Air Canada flights numbered 1750-1999

We have reward flights with UA and the flights are AC. the route being Heathrow/Montreal/Miami. How can I check if these are Rouge flights?

Appears you already found this out, but it will clearly say Air Canada Rouge on your itinerary, when you pull it up on UA.

Westjet alternative???

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/too-tall-to-fly-airlines-accused-of-height-discrimination-1.2219269

We have reward flights with UA and the flights are AC. the route being Heathrow/Montreal/Miami. How can I check if these are Rouge flights? Until I found this thread I had never even heard of Rouge. Thanks

 

 

If I remember correctly, Rouge flights are numbered AC1750 - AC1999

Westjet alternative???

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/too-tall-to-fly-airlines-accused-of-height-discrimination-1.2219269

Looking at SeatGuru

For economy seats:

WestJet seat width is 17 inches and 31-32 inches pitch depending on the 737 and 30 inches on the Dash 8.

Air Canada Rogue 767 has seat width of 17.5 inches and 30 inches pitch.

Air Canada Rogue 319 has seat width of 17.8 inches and 30 inches pitch

Ait Transat is 16.5 to 17 inches in width and between 29 and 32 inches in pitch.

Basically if you concern is the width of the seat you generally do better on Rogue with that extra half inch. If your concern is legroom you get that extra inch in WestJet. Alternatives Rogue, Tranat and WestJet all offer a premium economy of some sort that is a lot nicer and has significantly more leg room and either a blocked middle seat or a true "business class" style seat.

I have flown of Rogue, WestJet and Air Canada. Others disagree, but I would not go out of my way to avoid Rogue. Given the choice between a rogue aircraft or taking another route that add an extra hour or two with that extra inch of legroom I would take the option that involves the least amount of time in an aircraft.

The reality is those slimline seats that are now in rogue are going into Lufthansa and United among others. Every airline is trying to stuff more people in the same aircraft.

Westjet is an alternative for sure, but not if you are going to Europe. At this point they only fly to Dublin or Glasgow.

In the past, Westjet used to be significantly better than Air Canada in all regards but my last few flights it was tough to tell the difference.

Too bad the Air Canada website won't let you search for flights using a "no Rouge" option :)

As a side note, anyone else noticed that ITA is showing incorrect Air Canada prices lately? For a few of the European routes I am looking at they are showing some nice, non-Rouge routes/prices but when you go to the Air Canada website they are not available. I haven't called Air Canada or a TA to see if the ITA price is available but it is odd that there has been a descrepancy for a while now.

Westjet is an alternative for sure, but not if you are going to Europe. At this point they only fly to Dublin or Glasgow.

Unless there has been a major continent shift, last time I looked, both these cities were in Europe.

Unless there has been a major continent shift, last time I looked, both these cities were in Europe.

Yes, but no cruises leave from either city... perhaps I should have said "Limited Flights to Europe"...

Westjet is an alternative for sure, but not if you are going to Europe. At this point they only fly to Dublin or Glasgow.

Yes, but no cruises leave from either city... perhaps I should have said "Limited Flights to Europe"...

Or perhaps said, "No cruises of which I know leave from Dublin or Glasgow:

Cruises departing from Dublin: Silverseas, Silver Explorer and Seven Seas Voyager, Azamara Quest.

No cruises leaving from Glasgow, but many from Edinburg. Windstar, Azamara, Silverseas.

Or perhaps said, "No cruises of which I know leave from Dublin or Glasgow:

 

Cruises departing from Dublin: Silverseas, Silver Explorer and Seven Seas Voyager, Azamara Quest.

 

No cruises leaving from Glasgow, but many from Edinburg. Windstar, Azamara, Silverseas.

And it's a quick train trip between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

In December i did a Vancouver to Las Vegas flight in Rogue in the A319.

 

Went down in Premium Rogue. Basically it is the same setup as business class on a European short range Airline. The middle seat is blocked. Hot meal service is the same as Business Class on regular Air Canada. More than willing to do it again. It sounds like they plan to put the regular domestic business class seats back into these aircraft.

 

Came back in regular economy in Rogue. They use thinner seats and it is a bit tighter from a leg room perspective. Pitch is used to measure leg room at 29-30 inch it is cramp. I would say it is very comparable to Air Transat.

 

----

 

The cabin crew was excellent. It is a younger crowd that typical on Air Canada. I was told they hired Disney training department to train staff on how to provide good customer service. It shows. They should do the same for the regular Air Canada staff.

 

If money was no object my preference would be:

- Air Canada International Business Class

- Air Canada Domestic Business Class which is equal to Rogue Premium

- Air Canada Premium Economy or Air Transat Club

- Air Canada Economy Plus or WestJet Premium

- Air Canada Regular Economy

- WestJet Economy

- Air Canada Rogue or Air Transat Economy

 

A lot of those Rogue flight to Europe are destinations that are new leisure travel destination for Air Canada. Virtually all of the tradition business destinations still have the regular Air Canada service.

You seem to know what you're talking about but I think the name is Rouge and not Rogue as you call it.

You seem to know what you're talking about but I think the name is Rouge and not Rogue as you call it.

Oh, after you've flown in economy class, you'd be feeling Rogue too. There's nothing rosy about it.

You seem to know what you're talking about but I think the name is Rouge and not Rogue as you call it.

Yes, you are correct.

I think Air Canada has blown their marketing strategy. The Main airline is now being smeared with the terrible reputation of the discount Rouge brand because of the name that includes Air Canada. I have read a couple of " I will never fly AC again" comments because the passenger's first experience with AC was on Air Canada Rouge.

I just flew from Vancouver to LAX on Air Canada Rouge. I was a little leery because of the reviews saying how cramped the planes were. However, i found the seats fine for a shorter flight and actually they seemed a little wider than on the 737. The crew was young but efficient. I was impressed with their boarding process as they do not let people sitting in the back and boarding earlier to put their hand luggage in the forward economy cabins, therefore, there was plenty of room for carry on luggage when I boarded in group four.

I would probably upgrade if flying a longer flight but would net hesitate to fly them again. My biggest peeve is airlines letting people board with obviously oversized carryons, and not having room in the overhead cabins, and Air Canada seems sensitive to this. I have definitely flown worse airlines.

Good to know. Against my better judgement I'll be flying Rouge to Europe this summer (only flights available using my points). I've upgraded to Rouge Plus on the way over... hopefully that will help.

Will give a full report upon my return (August).

The crew was young but efficient.

When it comes to airlines, "efficient" is generally the norm when it comes to younger folks, in my experience...it's the older flight attendants who often become lazy and grumpy ;)

We had AC Rouge from Honolulu to Vancouver/Calgary early last month.

It was just fine. No worse than many other airlines and better than a few others that we have been on. Seats were fine, service was good. We had a bargain fare.

When it comes to airlines, "efficient" is generally the norm when it comes to younger folks, in my experience...it's the older flight attendants who often become lazy and grumpy ;)

They use the Disney Customer Service training program for Rouge. When I have been on these flights I find the crew better than other airlines.

The challenge is that people want the lowest possible fare and expect business class/first class service and amenities. Alas, these do not co-exist.

We get what we pay for on Rouge. Just like many other airlines of the same ilk.

Research has shown that when it comes to airfares price is king. People may moan and grown about cold coffee or young, inexperienced service crew but they still will gravitate to lowest fare.