Flight Review: Air Canada Business Class | CRJ-900 | Toronto to Atlanta (YYZ-ATL)

Atlanta, Georgia — The cherry on top of our Tokyo trip was a successful bid upgrade to business class on our final leg home from Toronto to our Atlanta hub. While business class on regional jets are not particularly luxurious by any means, it was a comfortable way to end a journey. More information about Air Canada’s Bid Upgrade process later in the post.

This flight was the final part of a 4-leg journey; you can view associated reviews below:
– ATL to YYZ in business class
– YYZ to Tokyo NRT in premium economy
– Tokyo NRT to YYZ in premium economy
– Our accommodations at the Hilton Tokyo

Date Flown: 2023 April 22
Departure/Arrival Time: 19:15 EST – 21:29 EST
Flight Time: 2h 35m
Aircraft Type: Bombardier CRJ-900
Fare Class: Business (bid upgrade from Economy)
Elite Status: Aeroplan 25k (via my Chase Aeroplan credit card)

Flight Overview
This flight was operated by Air Canada’s regional subsidiary Air Canada Jazz on a Bombardier CRJ-900, flight number AC8957. This version of the CRJ-900 has 12 business class seats in 1-2 configuration and 64 economy seats in 2-2 configuration.

The paired seats in either cabin are great for couples traveling together. You can view SeatGuru’s seating map here.

The crew was courteous and efficient. Announcements were made in both French and English which is customary for Air Canada flights.

Seat Overview
Business class seats on Air Canada’s CRJ-900s have an advertised pitch of 37 inches and width of 21 inches which made for a roomy flight. For comparison, the economy seats have a reported pitch of 31 inches and width of 17 inches.

This particular CRJ-900 must have been one of Air Canada’s older aircraft as the seats did not have seat-back in-flight entertainment (IFE) screens and the leather appeared more worn then our outbound CRJ-900 flight. Nevertheless, the seats were comfortable for our short ~2 hour flight.

Aside from the IFE-less seat backs, there were also no power plugs at the seats like on newer Air Canada CRJ-900 variants. While this was not a problem for us having topped off our electronic devices at one of Toronto’s Maple Leaf Lounges (see review here), it may present an issue for some travelers.

Leg room was plentiful on the other hand. The aisle-side table deploys from the left armrest while the window-side is mirrored. The fold-out tray table was sturdy enough to get some laptop work done but too small to have both a laptop and drink on it at the same time.

The middle armrest between the two seats have some space for drinks instead. It is wide enough to prevent one from bumping elbows constantly with your neighbor unlike the economy seats.

Meal Service
Business class passengers received a pre-departure water bottle to start. There were no physical menus on this short flight but a digital one was available on the Air Canada app. A roasted chicken dish and vegetarian ravioli were on offer for dinner, accompanied by a salad and brownie.

Dinner service started approximately 30 minutes after we reached our cruising altitude. Flight attendants came by with a selection of wines, beers, and soft drinks as well as salted almonds to start.

Both my partner and I opted for the chicken dish which was filling and comforting. The chicken was a little on the dry side but helped out by the creamy leek sauce. A nice salad and warm brownie rounded out the meal. I went with white wine to accompany my chicken while my partner went for a Coke.

Economy class on this flight was limited to just a drink and snack service.

How We Booked and Got Upgraded
This itinerary (ATL-YYZ-NRT roundtrip) was originally booked around September 2022 on a mixed cabin ticket for $1250.14 per person after taxes and fees. This particular leg of the itinerary was originally economy class however I bid on an upgrade though Air Canada’s Bid Upgrade process, which allows you to bid cash or points for upgrades. If your upgrade clears, you will be charged (or your points deducted) at the time of upgrade.

As I was flush with Air Canada Aeroplan points partially due to my spend on the Chase Aeroplan card (see below) and coming off a celebratory trip, I decided to splurge a little and bid approximately 37,000 points each which cleared about 48 hours prior to the flight.

To learn more about Air Canada’s Bid Upgrade process, visit Air Canada’s official webpage here.

Chase Aeroplan Credit Card
At the time of this flight, I held Aeroplan 25K elite status with Air Canada, which was obtained by way of my Chase Aeroplan credit card. The Aeroplan card is an interesting offering for US-based customers who are interested in flying the Canadian flag-carrier.

Among various benefits, it offers potentially up to 2 years of entry level Aeroplan 25K elite status with a spend pathway to maintain status or reach the next level, first bag free on Air Canada flights and no foreign transaction fees.

At the time of this post there is public offer for 50,000 points after a certain amount of spend (though historically there have been offers up to 100,000 for more spend). Based on The Points Guy’s valuation of Aeroplan points, this bonus could potentially be worth $750 in Air Canada award flights. If you are interested in this credit card and want to learn more, you can visit the official application page here.