In May and June 2023, we travelled from east to west across Canada. From Halifax in Nova Scotia to Montreal in Quebec, to Toronto in Ontario, to Vancouver and Whistler in British Columbia. Along the way some night trains and commuter trains, the Niagara Falls and – imagine this – a bus journey. A true Trans-Canada Train Trek.

Unfortunately everything has an end (only a sausage has two), so the time came to return back home after our trans Canadian adventure. Our flight home would be probably one last-time on the queen of the skies, the Boeing 747. As Lufthansa is currently the only operator of the passenger version of the 747-400 left, the queen is fast disappearing from the skies. Our previous 747 flight was in the Thai Airways Business Class on the famous upper deck but this time we would be on the main deck in Premium Economy.

Unlike many other airlines Lufthansa doesn’t offer dedicated Premium Economy check-in desks at the airport, thus we had to queue at the normal Economy ones. As Vancouver is an outstation check-in only opens three hours before boarding thus having headed straight to the airport after checking out at the hotel we still had to wait a while before check-in opens. Once it was our turn check-in went rather smooth and after receiving our boarding passes passed through another smooth security check.

The airport of Vancouver makes use of first nation’s art and decoration throughout the airport, making it feel less sterile and a nice place to wait for your flight.

Flight LH493
From Vancouver (YVR) 16:25 (16:49) to Frankfurt (FRA) 10:55 (10:53)
Flight Time 9 hours and 4 minutes
Boeing 747-430 D-ABTL “Dresden”
Delivered to Lufthansa in March 2002

Luckily Lufthansa does have a separate boarding queue for Premium Economy, and because there was no aircraft change this time they made use of the boarding groups thus making boarding a much smoother and less hectic experience.

Compared to our ex-Philippines Airlines A350 from Munich to Montreal the Premium Economy seats on this Boeing 747 where the authentic Lufthansa ones. These are much more spacious, especially in the width making the cabin feels less cramped. Premium Economy is in a 2-4-2 configuration compared to the 3-4-3 for normal Economy.

Upon boarding we could once again find a blanket and pillow on out seats as well as a bottle of water and an amenity kit.

Apparently Lufthansa is currently in the process of changing the amenity kit in premium economy as I received the same standard kit as on the way out while Sam received a newer style kit with a slightly nicer bag and some extra creams, giving a truly elevated experience. Hopefully those new kits will stay as they are an improvement.

After boarding was completed we once again received a pre-departure beverage, this time some plain orange juice. This time we also received a printed menu for our meals and drinks.

Take-off provided with some magnificent views over the city of Vancouver and the mountain ranges of the Canadian west-coast.

After take-off the crew came around with packets of Oreo’s together with a first drinks service. I had some sparkling wine and water. For an aperitif I personally would have preferred a salty snack but my travelling companions actually preferred the Oreo’s.

The meal service was “meh” as you would expect for a flight catered out of North America. There was a choice of beef or pasta. I had the pasta which was vegetarian and tasted quite good while Sam had the beef which he liked. On the tray there was also some soft American style bread, a salad, an artificial looking (but good tasting) cake, some bread and cream cheese. All in all it was an acceptable meal, but you could sense the difference between the German based catering and the Canadian based catering.

The flight was rather uneventful. As we were travelling during the Pride month of June, Lufthansa adapted its in-flight entertainment and offered a whole bunch of LGBTQIA+ movies to celebrate pride, which I thought was a nice touch.

Before landing we were served a hot breakfast consisting of an omelette with some potato rosti’s and vegetable’s. Unfortunately the rosti’s became very soggy, which made them less appetizing. Along on the tray we also had a fruit salad (of course with melon as they seemed to put melons on everything in Canada) a bread and some jam and butter. The meal came accompanied with tea/coffee and juice.

Landing was uneventful but after landing we had to wait a while before being allowed to cross the parallel runway which caused a number of passengers on our flight to become anxious of missing their tight connections. In the end we arrived at the A Terminal just a few gates from where our connecting flight would leave from. More on that in the next episode…

2023 Trans-Canada Train Trek

1. REVIEW | Brussels Airlines Brussels to Munich in Economy.
2. REVIEW | Lufthansa Premium Economy Munich to Montreal.
3. REVIEW | Air Canada Economy Montreal to Halifax.
4. Flying Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and Air Canada Brussels – Munich – Montreal – Halifax in minimal economy.
5. HALIFAX | Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
6. REVIEW | The Westin Nova Scotian Halifax.
7. NOVA SCOTIA | Sampling Halifax.
8. REVIEW | VIA Rail Canada night train 15 ‘The Ocean’ from Halifax to Montreal.
9. QUEBEC | Meandering Montreal.
10. REVIEW | InterContinental Montreal.
11. FORMULA 1 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX | Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal track walk.
12. MONTREAL | Dining solo at Monarque felt like being part of a tv show.
13. MONTREAL | Exporail – Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant.
14. REVIEW | VIA Rail train Montreal to Toronto in business class.
15. ONTARIO | Touring Toronto.
16. REVIEW | Little Canada museum in Toronto.
17. TORONTO | CN Tower.
18. REVIEW | Residence Inn by Marriott Toronto Downtown / Entertainment District.
19. CANADA | Train excursion to Niagara Falls.
20. THE CANADIAN | Day 1: boarding in Toronto and crossing Ontario.
21. THE CANADIAN | Days 2 & 3: Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
22. THE CANADIAN | From Jasper via the Rocky Mountains to Kamloops and Vancouver.
23. Life on board VIA Rail’s The Canadian: eating, sleeping, showering and keeping busy.
24. Is the four-day The Canadian night train journey something for you?.
25. REVIEW | VIA Rail’s The Canadian four-day night train from Toronto to Vancouver.
26. Discovering Vancouver.
27. REVIEW | Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront Vancouver.
28. BRITISH COLUMBIA | Introduction to Whistler.
29. REVIEW | Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre.
30. VANCOUVER | Granville Island.
31. VANCOUVER | St. Lawrence Restaurant.
32. REVIEW | Hotel Belmont M Gallery Vancouver.
33. Vancouver & Whistler 2023.