Last week (in 2014), I flew on Air Canada rouge for the first time. They began operating on July 1, 2013 with a start-up fleet of two Airbus A319 aircraft and two Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. By the end of this month, they’ll operate a total of 27 aircraft including 19 Airbus A319s and 8 Boeing 767-300ERs.
At launch, their planes serviced a network of 14 routes flying from Toronto and Montreal to Europe and the Caribbean but they’re now up to a total of 52 routes from Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver—including 11 to Europe.
I recently flew them roundtrip from Los Angeles to Calgary in both classes. Here are 10 things you need to know about flying Air Canada rouge:
1. Same check-in as Air Canada
Although Air Canada rouge is a separate airline from Air Canada, you still check-in for your flight as if you’re flying Air Canada.
2. Cool flight attendant uniforms
All the Air Canada rouge flight attendants that I came across were young and attractive, and sporting funky uniforms that included a gray pin-striped trilby hat. The look was created by Maybelline and Redken and their burgundy Fluevog shoes were designed and manufactured by Canada’s own Fluevog Shoes. Rob Lowe famously made fun of their uniforms but I like them—especially the hat.
3. The planes aren’t brand-spanking-new
I was expecting Air Canada rouge’s planes to be brand-spanking-new since the airline is only a year old, but they’re actually just converted Air Canada planes. According to Renee Smith-Valade, Vice President of Customer Experience, “the aircrafts Air Canada rouge operate (the Airbus A319 and the Boeing 767-300ER) have been transferred from Air Canada’s fleet. Air Canada rouge aircraft are restyled inside and out. They have modern charcoal and burgundy cabin interiors, featuring new Slimline seats with a streamlined profile, and branding accents throughout the cabin (e.g. bulkheads, curtains) and onboard service elements (e.g. tray liners in Premium rouge). Both aircraft types sport a sleek white, red and burgundy livery that clearly establishes Air Canada rouge as part of the Air Canada family.”
4. There are no built-in entertainment systems
Although Air Canada rouge’s planes don’t have Air Canada’s seatback entertainment systems, they do have a very cool app that you need to download BEFORE getting on the plane. Air Canada rouge aircraft are all equipped with Player, a next generation in-flight entertainment system that streams unlimited live entertainment to customers’ personal electronic devices. Customers should bring their own fully-charged laptop or iPad, iPod, or iPhone and download the latest Air Canada app (from the Apple App Store). For those with a laptop, make sure you have Adobe Flash Player installed. Availability on other platforms like Android is coming this fall.
5. You can rent an iPad
If you don’t own a tablet, you can rent an iPad on-board for $10 (free for Premium rouge passengers). They hand them out after takeoff.
6. There are no electrical outlets
Rouge planes don’t have electrical or USB outlets to charge your devices so be sure to have everything fully charged before getting onboard.
7. Coach seats are TIGHT
I flew on rouge’s A319 and the seats are really tight in coach. The A319s are configured with 3×3 seating and they only have 29 inches of pitch (distance between the back of your seat and the back of the seat in front). In comparison: American Airlines has 30 inches, United has 31, Virgin America has 32 and regular Air Canada has between 31-35. The good news is rouge does have 18-inch wide seats, which are wider than American’s and Virgin America’s. FYI: On rouge’s other style of aircraft, the 767, which flies longer distances, they offer 30 inches of pitch in economy.
8. You can buy food
Just like on Air Canada, you can buy food—including pizza—on rouge on flights in coach. But on their flights to Europe, they do offer complimentary meals and non-alcoholic beverages. FYI: Food pic is from Premium rouge.
9. Premium rouge (UPDATED on May 19, 2016)
Air Canada rouge let me know that after I took my original flight that they improved their premium product on their Airbus 319 aircraft. The premium cabin in Air Canada rouge’s fleet of 20 Airbus 319 aircraft has been converted from 3×3 seating configuration with a blocked middle seat to two side-by-side larger seats in a 2×2 configuration. This seating offers the same or more space than equivalent seating on Air Canada rouge’s Boeing 767 aircraft. They also increased carry-on space throughout its Airbus A319 fleet by 30 per cent with the installation of new overhead bin doors – dubbed “pillow doors” because of their curved shape – which allow carry-on items to be stowed more efficiently. In addition, they also have full power charging capacity with a 110-volt power plug and a high-powered USB port at every seat.
10. They write the flight number on landing cards
This was a first for me…When the flight attendants handed out the landing cards for Canadian immigration, the airline and flight number were already filled out. When I asked the flight attendant if they always do this they said they try to on all rouge flights. That’s a nice touch.
Because Air Canada decided to pack in way too many seats on this plane I would only take Rouge again on a short flight or if I was upfront in Premium Rouge. How about you? Have you flown Rouge?
Air canada freaking stinks! More like air canadumb!
i must agree with all of the above. I travel with Aeroplan who uses Rouge for most flights to Costa Rica and Europe. Cheaper and better to buy a full ticket with Air Transat to Europe. I used spanish airlines for Costa Rica and they were better. Aeroplan now suffering huge and for good reason as they had awful service and because of Rouge!!!! Awful. I must fly with them to CR in a couple of weeks and used a bunch of my points for business class which will just be ok. Number one peev–NO IN SEAT ENTERTAINMENT!!!!! WHO WANTS AN IPAD OR TRAY OPEN ON FULL FLIGHT—pathetic…
and all this to save pennies on ‘weight of plane which determines cost of fuel–listen to your customers. hope u go broke!!!!
AC Rouge us the worst airlines to fly with, dirty old planes, substandard service. It’s a shame!
How do AC get away with this bait and switch to Rouge people? I have been Rouged on my last three trips, usually just on my connections out of YYZ. Android app wouldn’t work on my Samsung phone nor on my Surface Pro tablet, terrible seats, tight quarters. I was Super Elite for many years and just returned to travelling often this year…garbage product this Rouge airline.
After having read about the constricted seating in the economy throughout the comments, it appears the fix is to pay more. MORE revenue is what AC Rouge and other airlines execs are after. AC Rouge will be using these old planes for the most profit as they literally squeeze it out us!
By the way, my economy seat is waiting.
I’m taking Rouge for a flight to Lima and i am not excited at all but had no choice as it was the only direct flight!
Hi there, I wish for to subscribe for this webpage to obtain most recent updates, therefore where can i do it please help.
Thanks for all your comments! I was ready to book a flight to Eastern Europe on AC Rouge, but will now never go near this airline or even Air Canada again. Usually when one reads reviews there is a split between good and bad; but these are uniformly bad. I cannot believe AC management has not done something about this, so I must assume that despite all the complaining people are still flying Rouge and the money numbers look good. Therefore, AC management has chosen to ignore the complaints as they laugh all the way to the bank. What does this say about the flying public who continue to put up with this?
It seems that they accomplish this by hiding the fact that you are going to get Rouge service. At no point was Rouge called out on my flight booking. I thought nothing of it. It looked like an AC flight. Now I am dreading this flight even though I paid quite a few $CAD more to get the Plus seating with more legroom. My wife is going to be miserable and I know I’ll hear about it for at least a few days in Europe.
I checked in with Air Canada. The first time gives me wrong ticket with other people’s name. The second time separate me with my boyfriend few rolls. The third time yelled at us. YELLED AT US BECAUSE WE WANT TWO SEAT TOGETHER!
I Booked Air Canada going and Lufthansa returning. from Ireland. I got Neither. ‘Rouge’ was the colour of my Face also. So disgusted. a really old Aircraft. I Felt Ripped off. This is Fraud However you put it. I Don’t want to Fly Air Canada Again!
I recently booked flights to Canada and within and then onto Las Vegas and return to Manchester. At no point during booking was the name Rouge quoted on any paperwork. I reserved seats based on the AC setup. It was only when I boarded the plane that I realised that My reserved row was in a different position the position I had requested. I then realised that this plane had more rows and less leg room. Then I saw the name Rouge, this clearly is AC’s budjet airline but at no time was I ever informed that that was what I had booked.Not impressed. All 5 flights were pushed back at least 30mins late twice due to the fact that they could not start the engines. I thought the overall service was poor including the quality of the food.
I had a connecting flight from Vegas to Toronto and on to Manchester, the Vegas flight was pushed back 45 mins late due to not being able to start the engines and had to have all 4 doors opened to try to cool the passengers as the aircon could not operate without engine power. We arrived in Toronto 45 mins late and had it not been for the late departure of the Manchester flight (1 hr) I would have had to spend the day in Toronto.
Over all Iam not a happy bunny and if I ever go to Canada again I would choose another carrier.
Never written a critical comment before. Been flying commercial coach for years and never had a problem with seating space. I’m 5’11”. Took a Rouge flight to Vegas from Toronto. The lack of space was unbelievable.
Came back to Toronto on regular Air Canada, much better space seating in coach. Rouge has gone too far in it’s seat configuration. The result is that they have lost my business, regardless of any price offered.
That’s some business model, alienate customers and drive them away by not providing basic level of comfort.