Executive summary: a perfectly comfortable lounge with a decent food spread, showers, and fast wi-fi.
Before my flight on Ethiopian Airlines from Toronto to Addis Ababa I spent an hour in Air Canada’s Terminal 1 Maple Leaf Lounge. An agent cheerfully checked me in and I found I had the lounge almost entirely to myself.
That’s a far cry from last visit in the late afternoon before Air Canada’s bank of evening departures to Europe. Then, the lounge was quite crowded.
Just past the reception is an extended seating area, with room to easily accommodate 200 guests.
Nestled toward the back of the seating area is computer work area with two desktop stations and a printer.
A private room for VIP guests or meetings was locked.
A few steps down is a food area. It was 10am and breakfast was being served. The selection was rather limited in that there were no hot items other than rolls and croissants, but you could have a hearty breakfast there.
During my last visit I was there in the evening and enjoyed ravioli with salad.
Notably lacking at this primary Air Canada hub is a barista. There’s a LavAzza machine that dispenses good (but not great) coffee drinks…but unlike London there is no one to make coffee.
> Read More: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Frankfurt Review
Around the corner from the eating area, bathrooms and showers are available. I found the showers locked and there is no attendant, but you can request a key from the front desk.
CONCLUSION
I’d classify this as a solidly average lounge. That’s not a knock. It provides comfortable seating, fast wi-fi, bathrooms, showers, and light food. That’s what a lounge should provide. But there is no component of this lounge that makes it stand out in particular.
Your absolutely right, this lounge is packed during the afternoon. Before my AC flight to Munich not too long ago, there were no open seats, I actually sat in that meeting room that was unlocked while I was there and had it all to myself! I find most MLL’s I have been to lack in the breakfast selection, but the lunch and dinner spreads are normally quite good, compared to other lounges. I think the YYZ international MLL is in need of a refresh overall. They recently renovated the YUL international MLL and its much better than this one. It even has a much better food selection and if I remember correctly also had a barista.
The YYZ lounge is an absolute gongshow in the afternoons and evenings. My last trip 3 weeks ago to DXB I managed to snag a chair, then a family of 5 started hovering around me as they were trying to cobble a few seats together, left my coat on the chair while I was getting food then I return and one of the kids is not only in my chair but also sitting on my coat playing on an iPad. The wife started complaining “oh where are we all going to sit, please be understanding, surely you can find other seat”. Like WTF. I told the kid politely to get off my chair and she said ‘you are not nice man’ and gave me the evil stare for at least 10 mins before the husband returned and said he found seats for all of them.
Back to the lounge itself and I went to get food initially but when I returned for a second helping, all the food was gone and I saw one kid even scoop food scraps with his fingers. Took about 30 mins before food was replenished.
After that horrible experience, and it’s been somewhat like this my last 5-6 visits, I’ll gladly pop in for a drink then head back into the terminal than witness these dogs fight over chairs and food.
this lounge looks awful and mediocre. i dunno aboot you but for me, a hearty breakfast involves, oh, i dunno, more than yogurt and bread. no lay-down benches, uncomfortable seating, pretty mediocre.