Flying Air Canada's Dreamliner

Air Canada's Dreamliner that flies from Vancouver to Hong Kong

I flew back to Vancouver yesterday on Air Canada's new Dreamliner Boeing 787.

There are good and bad points. For us in cattle class, it's very cramped, though there seems to be enough overhead locker space to hold hand luggage, and even for someone vertically-challenged like, me, you will need it.

I found myself not having much legroom after putting one hand luggage underneath the seat in front of me despite being in an aisle seat. When people walk by and especially when flight attendants wheel carts through, there's no extra room.

The economy seats don't allow for much legroom

The seats are OK -- there's a USB charger for the phone, but unlike Cathay Pacific, it doesn't have an extra space to cradle the device while you're eating, for example.

The woman next to me in the middle seat complained of condensation dripping on her despite her and her partner trying to wipe down the source of the drip. The new Dreamliner claims to have superior humidity control, and in general I was fine with the temperature -- it wasn't too cold when covered with a blanket.

An interesting aspect is that the windows were never covered throughout the flight -- that's because the Dreamliner has smart glass windows that darken to allow passengers to adjust the amount of sunlight that is let through.

It was never too bright, and when the aircraft was dark, there was a blueish tinge coming from the windows. One wonders if it was colder sitting by the window without the shade to cover it.

Nevertheless, there are two washrooms at each section, and they are slightly larger than the typical ones, one is even wheelchair accessible, though you can easily hear passengers' conversations next door.

There isn't much entertainment variety

Overall the flight was alright, though at one point after collecting trays from our first meal, one flight attendant tripped a few rows behind me and couldn't get up -- a male flight attendant had to haul her up and she was incapacitated for the rest of the flight.

Another good service with Air Canada was the flight attendants coming through often with water -- this was hardly the case with Cathay Pacific especially from Rome back to Hong Kong; we had to ask for water.

But back to the Dreamliner -- is this another way to get passengers to pony up more cash to fly premium economy or business? We can't afford it!