AC rouge. Is it really that bad? i'm looking at flights and get $1700 with klm and $1010 with rouge. Same day, same destination. Both just 1 stop. What's the catch.

How far are you travelling? I think depending on how long the flight would be would make my decision about if I'd be willing to fly rouge again

the rouge flight is 8 hours. for two people we're talking a savings of $1400 so definitely think this is too good to be true LOL. there are the prefered seats but i dont know if its worth and extra $400 return or not?

I would never fly rouge again and I was only on a 3 hour flight. I am 5'9" and my knees were pressing against the seat in front of me. There was no leg room whatsoever. I was cramped up the entire flight. If you do book, I would say pay the extra for the preferred seating especially for a flight that long!

I flew to Paris and back from Rome, both on rouge flights and I did not find a single thing wrong with either flight. I personally hate AC, however the flight was no different then any other flight I've taken. I had a screen for in flight entertainment and everything. No concerns.

I'm 5'6" and chunkier and had no issues with how tight anything was.

I hate rouge

I flew rouge last year from Dublin to Toronto. Only difference I noticed was no screens for inflight entertainment. Could rent a tablet or use your own device.

We have flown twice transAtlantic with them and it was fine. Just pack yourself a couple of extra snacks, or eat at the stop-over point and it should be A-OK!

Check google flights for the best choices

We booked our rouge flights on Google fights!

add to that we'll have a 1.5 year old. the funny thing about searching for these flights is that i can only find them on the AC website. not on kayak, expedia, skyscanner. google flights shows the flight but for $800 more per person haha.

Always remember to clear your browsing history after each time you look for prices. When you go to look the next time the prices will be higher as it remembers your search.

If your going to fly rouge, I'd recommend upgrading to prefer seats, I think you get 5" more leg room.

Flew from Edmonton to Peru on rouge, didn't have an issue with anything. Staff were very friendly, basic airline, but do bring tablet and download the rouge app prior to flying

What I've experienced on rouge (the good and the bad)
- at 6'2, in standard economy seats, if the passenger in front has not reclined, it's *just* enough room to sit. If they do recline, the seat will be up against my knees, and I'll have to slouch quite a bit.
- the streaming movies/tv shows system works just fine (be sure to download the app before you fly, although they do have a workaround if you forget) - but the number of movies/tv shows is significantly lower than on regular air canada flights with the built in seatback entertainment. At least, it was on the last few flights I was on.
- in general, the flight attendants seem to be nicer/friendlier than on regular air canada flights. They might just have less years on the job
Overall, I think if you go in aware of these tradeoffs, you'll find it's pretty much just like any other flight.

There was a discussion about this on here a little while ago. It seems there is a big difference between an international flight with rouge which seems to be ok, and a flight within North America which is awful. Here is a pic of our flight from Toronto to Orlando a couple of months ago. I'm only 5'4"

We just travelled from Edmonton to Spain on rouge and for the amount we saved we were happy with the service

When you're searching for flights, you can check to see which of these 3 rouge aircraft you'll be flying:
A319 - 29 inches of seat pitch (legroom)
A321 - 29 inches
767-300ER - 30 inches
29 is definitely at the low end as far as seat pitch goes, even on low cost carriers. In North America, Spirit might be the only one with less (28 inches).
For comparison, on your typical United or delta flight, you are likely to have a seat pitch of around 31, although they are trending more towards 30 on their newer aircraft.

they are showing a 767-300ER for the flight we are looking at.

Go to seatguru.com put in your flight details and you can see the plane and all the details pitch etc

I am just curious when booking a flight would it actually say "air canada rouge" as the airline?? I want to make sure I avoid this rouge stuff!

yes it would say "operated by air canada rouge"

Except in our case the first flight was delayed and we were going to miss our connection in Montreal, so they rerouted us through Calgary and Toronto and we got stuck on rouge.

I had no problems with rouge flights. It is a no-frills experience. Planes were okay. I've had much worse experiences on westjet sardine cans to Hawaii - they are also no frills.

Yes, on any decent search site, it should say 'operated by air canada rouge'. Sometimes you may need to click on flight details to make sure (it should be close to where you find the flight number).
For example on kayak, you can filter it to only show air canada flights. But you need to click on 'Show Details' to see whether the flight is rouge or not.

I have flown rouge Toronto to the UK and no problem. You have to pay for Food and Alcohol, but Non alcoholic like juice or soda are free. However if it is a longer flight then you do get something to eat.

I flew from Edmonton to Toronto then to Portugal NO problem then from Rome to Montreal and back to Edmonton NO problem. Very friendly service excellent flights.

Will not fly air canada rouge or air canada again. Ever.

We took it from Toronto to Barcelona. 9.5 hours. It wasn't horrible but I wasn't impressed. However we took off and landed safely.
Seats were crowded I felt service was basic!

The only difference is no TV in the seat in-front of you. You need to download the app. We flew to Dublin on rouge, no problems. Food is the same, seats are the same. Only advice is to pay to choose your seat ahead of time. I'd fly them again.

My air canada rouge was not bad at all. Normal leg space. Pillow and blanket. Food was good enough. Just bring your own iPad and download the app. Just took it to Barcelona and back last month.

Think budget service/food for rouge. Flew from Toronto to Barcelona, and it was definitely no frills. If you're okay with that, it's fine. I've heard that klm is a different level of service, so you are obviously paying for that.

It's not bad as long as you accept it for what it is. A no frill division of air canada. Bring your tablet for the entertainment system and pre purchase or bring your own meal. Had no problems with cancellations or luggage. Legroom is a little tighter than regular air canada flights but no worse than all the new westjet planes.
We flew a regular westjet flight which felt exactly like a rouge flight except no one told us we had to bring our own tablet for entertainment and they sold out of real food except for snacks. At least rouge tells you exactly what you are getting!

See we were not told so we were frustrated.

rouge flights tell everyone in their bookings but you have to read it all to know. I recently went to Toronto on westjet and was not told there was no food and no entertainment unless you download their app which was also not told
Before the flight.

The only issue I noticed with our rouge flight last week was seat size and leg room. Service was still great.
**edit there is no in seat entertainment, you have to predownload the app or rent a tablet from them.

We flew to Barcelona as well, was fine except no legroom if your tall and no TVS

Cheaped out to fly rouge on my next flight. This thread makes me regret it big time, I'm 6'3"
Lianne Pettigrew

Might want to think about upgrade to rouge Plus for more room. I'm 6'2" and had zero knee room in the regular seats

Yes, for 150$ upgrade to Plus!!!!

I flew AC rouge from Maui to Vancouver and it was fine. Will do it again

For that much $ I would suck up the rouge disadvantages..... hate Toronto connections, tight seating and unimaginative service!!

rouge has lots of leg space. Enjoyed flying with them.

It was not bad! It's the same as every other plane! Great service and same type of seats and leg room. The food was better on klm but honestly for the price different it's totally worn take AC rouge!

I'm 6'3" 255lbs it was hella uncomfortable though and it was only a 4 hrs trip and the flight attendants were horrible and we got the same ones coming and going but really inexpensive ...so it kinda balanced itself out for us

Flew rouge to Italy. Had to use your own iPad for entertainment via the AC App--they announce it many times before take off...other than that, not much difference. Meal not great.

Just flew it and hated it... worn out hard seats to sit on for hours on end... no leg room... terrible food! I was not happy!

You'll notice almost all of the people saying it is fine are women. Probably not tall ones either. Rip me Lianne Pettigrew