The Porsche ride to the lounge was smooth as a baby’s bum. The chilled Taittinger Champagne was delightful. And the décor was restful and serene.
But the best part of my recent visit to the Air Canada Signature Suite at YYZ was undoubtedly the food.
My goodness, the food.
People lucky enough to use a “regular” Air Canada lounge get excellent food and drinks at no charge. But the Signature Suite, which is only open to pax with a certain class of ticket*, is a whole other level of food and beverage offering that’s supervised by esteemed Canadian chef David Hawksworth.
Air Canada showed off its ultra-lux airport lounge referred to as the Signature Suite at YYZ (there’s also a beautiful one at YVR) and invited Open Jaw along for the ride. And the drinks. And the food.
As per Signature Suite policy, a small group of us transited through security at Terminal One and were escorted to the tarmac, where a fleet of sleek Porsches were waiting for us. I climbed into the space age front seat of a white Panamera 4S E-Hybrid. Roughly 90 seconds later (let’s just say the Pearson Porsches that drive along the tarmac go at a little less than race car speeds) we were at the entrance to the Signature Suite.
The main room is a soft blend of light, polished wood and sleek marble, with a lovely bar. There are also several nooks and crannies if you want a little more privacy, as well as a private dining room that Air Canada set us up in.
Our first stop (hey, we’re travel journalists) was the bar, where AC had lined up a dozen specialty cocktails to illustrate the breadth of their offerings. All the mixologists undergo thorough training before they’re allowed to shake your martini or make your favourite drink.
“We change the cocktails at different times of the year for seasonality, and we try to seek inspiration from our destinations,” said Geneviève Piché, the gracious and effervescent Manager of Air Canada's premium lounges.
I sampled a few sips of a delicious Palma cocktail with white rum, Aperol, lime, and pineapple juice. I didn’t try one, but the Apollo (vodka, lemon, amaro Montenegro, ginger and thyme syrup, and strega) looked divine.
“My personal goal is to help make Canada a destiny for gastronomic travel,” Piché said. “We put a strong emphasis on local products and seasonality.”
In July, she showcased Canadian wines, including an earthy, full-bodied 2021 Pinot Noir from Domaine Queylus in Niagara that tasted more like a French Pinot than something from North American shores.
Of course, you can’t have a Signature Suite without wines from around the world. The sparkling wines on ice when we visited included a 13th Street Grand Cuvée Blanc de Noir from 2013, as well as Taittinger Réserve Brut and Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé Brut.
“We purchase the most Taittinger and most Laurent-Perrier in all of Ontario,” Piché explained. “We probably have one of the best pours of any lounge.”
“I think Niagara Wine is unparalleled,” she said. “We like to give our customers variety so they can explore different wines, and our staff does field trips to Niagara” to find the best and most interesting products they can.
“It’s like Saturday night every day in here,” Piché said with a smile. “People are travelling for business or celebrating a big occasion.”
Jacqueline Harkness, Air Canada’s Managing Director, Product and Services, said the Signature Suite menu changes every six months; usually in May and November.
The food is simply outstanding, and it’s plated as beautifully as what you’d find at a top restaurant anywhere in the world. Among the offerings when Open Jaw visited were a confit duck salad with Thai vinaigrette, mango, papaya, fresh herbs, crispy duck skin, and birds-eye chili. The menu also included Roasted Ontario corn soup, Halibut roulade, Ontario flat iron steak, miso polenta, and Ontario chicken Paillard with freshly sliced Ontario pear, arugula, candied walnuts, lemon vinaigrette, and arugula.
The Hawksworth beef burger is a huge hit, and comes with a tempura onion ring, aged cheddar, bacon, and Dijon mustard on a petit pain au lait bun. (I’m no gourmet chef, but to me the crunch of the onion ring was the key.)
The burger is so popular that the kitchen sometimes can’t keep up with demand, so it’s not always available.
Decadent desserts include chocolate cake with two types of chocolate ganache and Ontario macerated strawberries, as well as lemon olive oil cake with candied pistachios, lemon segment and pistachio ice cream.
They make their own ice cream in-house.
Not everyone has time for a sit-down meal, so there’s always a full buffet available. When Open Jaw visited, we spotted cheese and crackers, salads, charcuterie, chana masala, sliders, grilled chicken and more.
They’re not on the menu, but you can order a beautifully toasted and properly gooey grilled cheese, as well as chicken fingers.
“Nothing is phoned in,” said Scott O'Leary, Vice President, Loyalty and Product at Air Canada. “We try to get the best quality product and provide the best experience we can.”
When Signature Class Service and the Signature Suite were announced in 2018, Air Canada said the program were part of its ongoing commitment to premium travel service.
“This began because we wanted to provide a unique experience,” O’Leary said at our YYZ lunch. “And food and beverage is what customers always rate the highest. Great space is nice, but it’s really about the F and B, and what we have is quite unique in the business.”
Great service also boosts Air Canada’s status as a transfer point for U.S. pax flying to Europe or Asia.
Roughly one-half of pax on Air Canada’s new St. Louis-Montreal flights are U.S. customers heading to Europe, while half of those flying from Vancouver to Singapore are U.S. pax.
Harkness said Chef Alison Parisi, Executive Chef at the Signature Suite at YYZ, works with her sous chef on new menu items, then consults with Hawksworth. They go over ideas and refine recipes, and then Hawksworth flies in to help nail down the next set of offerings. A panel of lucky experts then get to try the new ideas and settle on what they’ll be serving customers for the next half year.
It takes two to two-and-a-half months to come up with the next menu, she said.
Hawksworth said he tries to get as much as possible from within 100 miles of the city.
In a post published in 2022, One Mile at a Time website said the Air Canada Signature Suite is probably the best business class lounge any North American airline offers.
Skytrax gave Air Canada its 2024 award for the world’s Best Business Class Airline Lounge Catering.
JUST THE FACTS
Like other AC lounges, guests can access the area beginning three hours prior to their scheduled departure. Guests, of course, can stay if their flight is delayed, and there’s no time limit for people with connecting flights.
Airline officials say the Signature Suite is busiest between 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
They can get up to 700 people in the lounge during a day, but 450-500 is more typical.
The capacity at any one time is a little over 150 people.
The Air Canada Signature Suite is located at Toronto Pearson International Airport in the international departure area, next to Gate E77, on the upper level beside the Plaza Premium Lounge, as indicated by the red and black Air Canada logo on the map.
To access the Air Canada Signature Suite, customers simply show an eligible boarding pass* to the Concierge upon entering.
*Air Canada Signature Class customers travelling on a non-stop Air Canada-operated flight (to Europe, Asia and South America) originally booked and ticketed in the following booking classes will be eligible for access to the Air Canada Signature Suite: J, C, D, Z, P. Only Aeroplan flight rewards booked as a Business Class Flexible Reward or a First Class Flexible Reward in J, C, D, Z, P, I booking classes are eligible for access. All bookings in R class (including, but not limited to, eUpgrades, Last-Minute Upgrades, and AC Bid Upgrades), Aeroplan flight rewards booked as a Business Class Lowest Reward or a First Class Lowest Reward, Star Alliance Upgrade Awards, Business Class flight rewards booked and ticketed by partner airlines, and I (including Star Alliance Upgrade Awards), as well as bookings made during irregular operations where the customer was not originally booked and confirmed in one of the eligible booking classes, will be excluded. Eligible customers may not invite guests. Access to the Air Canada Signature Suite is not available to customers travelling on promotional tickets or employees. Emirates' First Class passengers can also access Air Canada Signature Suite in Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) when departing on a flight operated by Emirates.
