I’ve heard a lot of hype around Porter Airlines as a new challenger airline in the Canadian aviation space. A new airline is always welcome in a country that is sorely lacking in competition. Furthermore, with the recent strikes and near-strikes from Air Canada and WestJet disrupting services or threatening to disrupt services, there are many reasons to consider Porter Airlines.
For those unaware, Porter Airlines is aiming to disrupt the market by offering a lot of the premium comforts that are lacking in WestJet and Air Canada’s economy offerings. For example, their planes are set up entirely as 2-2 seating arrangements, and they offer complimentary WiFi and complimentary beverages, including alcoholic beverages, on every flight.
I was intrigued and excited to see what Porter could offer as an alternative airline. Read on for my experience.
Booking Porter Airlines
Economy Class | Aircraft | Route | Flight Duration |
---|---|---|---|
PD 378 | Embraer E195-E2 | Edmonton to Montreal | 4 Hours 3 Minutes |
I was looking to fly to Montreal at the end of September 2024 for a quick long weekend getaway trip with my significant other. Air Canada, WestJet, and Porter all fly direct nonstop between YEG and YUL. However, given the impending strike with Air Canada pilots, and given I wanted to arrive at my destination on time, Porter Airlines was a pretty obvious choice of the three.
The Porter flights were actually all very reasonable cost-wise. Even though we only booked about a month in advance, we only paid $313.86 CAD for two people for the PorterClassic Standard fare (the lowest of Porter’s fares, nonrefundable and changeable for a fee).
If you are bringing baggage, read up on Porter Airlines baggage fees before booking.
Interestingly, flying back on a holiday Monday showed massively inflated costs in excess of $700 for two people, while WestJet was only $342.47 for a Member Exclusive fare. Thus we only booked Porter as a one-way trip and opted to take our chances flying WestJet home to save nearly $400.
Curiously, I initially noticed a Porter Reserve Navigate Fare for only $532 for two people which was cheaper than the Classic Standard fare. This must have been a mispricing but unfortunately, I didn’t jump on it fast enough and it was soon gone.
Seat Selection
As seats on Porter Airlines are already in 2-2 arrangement I didn’t bother with seat selection. Unlike the new WestJet Ultra basic fare, itineraries booked on Porter will automatically have couples seated together. So unless you’re upgrading to a larger-sized seat, the seat selection fees are just a cash grab.
We were assigned seats 30C and 30D at check-in.
Ground Experience
There was little to report on regarding the boarding and gate process with my Porter flight, which is how I like it to be. We began boarding right on time. The plane was boarded back to front. We departed on time. Etcetera.
For an indication of what you can expect with Porter regarding flight delays and cancellations, I find CTA complaints to be a decent proxy metric. Optimistically, at the time of writing, Porter has the lowest number of complaints per 100 flights:
Porter has only 1.4. On the other hand, Air Canada and WestJet have 5.2 and 6.2, respectively. Meanwhile, Flair has a staggering 15.6.
In-Flight Experience
Seat
Throughout the cabin, the Porter Airlines Classic seats were a homogenous, muted grey color. It didn’t have a premium aesthetic, but I thought it looked quite sharp nonetheless.
I have to say that these seats were less than comfortable. The seats were narrow and offered little legroom, and this is coming from an average-height person (5’10”). I think anyone over 6 feet or on the heavier side would be quite dissatisfied.
We were flying an Embraer E195 which, according to Seatmaps.com has 30” of pitch in regular economy seats. Some other airplanes you might fly on WestJet or Air Canada economy may have 31-33” of pitch, but other planes are comparable with 30-31”. For some reason, on Porter it felt like less room than I’d experienced on my last economy flights. But perhaps I am just out of touch or suffering from recency bias…
In any case, I think it’s worth paying for an exit row or extra legroom seat if you can afford to. Like other airlines, you can upgrade at the time of check-in. For this flight, it was around $60 per seat but there weren’t two side-by-side seats for us to nab. I honestly also wanted to experience the basic version of Porter for the sake of this review.
The tray tables were predictably minimal but well designed and could be configured just for drinks in the ½ configuration or the fully deployed configuration for meals.
Of note, there was only a single 120V electrical outlet for each seat to plug devices into, no USB or USB-C unfortunately.
Food, Menu, & Service
One of Porter’s main marketing points is its complimentary beverages, including alcoholic beverages, and ‘premium’ complimentary snacks.
While it’s certainly a nice touch, the addition of a $5 can of beer and a $2 snack to your flight should be inconsequential to anyone’s decision on which carrier they fly.
For my choices, I had Beau’s Craft Beer and a milk chocolate shortbread cookie. Apparently, Porter also offers Hardbite kettle chips although this wasn’t offered to us on our flight.
For other Porter flights over 2.5 hours in length, there are fresh in-flight meals available. These are complimentary for PorterReserve fares and a la carte for PorterClassic fares.
I was a little jealous of Porter Reserve passengers. The food boxes looked quite tasty. Although I didn’t partake, the full PorterCafe menu is displayed below.
As for other beverages on offer, the first of the two in-flight services didn’t have any hot beverages available, which was disappointing. The service was rather inefficient, although that is typical of Canadian and North American airlines.
On the second service, I had a cup of coffee, provided by Saint Henri, a Montreal micro-roaster. I must say, it was one of the worst cups of coffee I’ve ever had on an airplane. Although it may be the fault of the flight attendants and not a quality issue. The coffee was so watered down it was almost undrinkable. Almost…
Entertainment
The WiFi didn’t want to work at first, but eventually, I was able to access it. It was simple enough to set up and there was a large instruction pamphlet in the seat as well as instructions on the second page of the meal menu.
The WiFi was provided by ViaSat. While it was complimentary for all passengers, you did need to be signed in to a VIPorter account. Otherwise, you would have to watch an ad every 30 minutes.
I found the WiFi to be quite slow. It was difficult to stream things like YouTube or online videos without frequent buffering. However, I wouldn’t say this is anything different than what I’m used to with Air Canada or WestJet.
The in-flight entertainment was a decent enough offering but did have a few quirks. My significant other noted that shows had only half seasons available. For example, for Schitt’s Creek only the second half of the sixth season was available.
Porter Airlines Compared to Other Canadian Carriers
Based on my single-flight experience, I’d rank Porter Airlines above WestJet but below Air Canada. Given the same ticket cost on the same route, I personally would choose Porter ahead of WestJet.
✔ Included $ Available for a fee | PorterClassic Basic | WestJet UltraBasic | Air Canada Economy Basic | PorterClassic Standard | WestJet Econo | Air Canada Economy Standard |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal item | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Carry-on bag | ❌ | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Checked bags | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ |
Changes | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | $ | $ | $ |
Cancellations | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | $ | $ | $ |
Seat Selection | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ |
Inflight alcoholic beverages (non-premium) | ✔ | $ | $ | ✔ | $ | $ |
Inflight WiFi | ✔ | $ | $ | ✔ | $ | $ |
In the above table, I compared the Basic and Standard economy fares of WestJet, Air Canada, and Porter Airlines.
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When you break it down like this, the differences between the airline fare classes are rather minute. At both levels, Porter wins on inflight alcoholic beverages and inflight WiFi. However, a $5 can of beer and $20 WiFi should be pretty inconsequential to anyone’s airline choice. And aside from that, the fares are nearly identical at the standard level. At the Basic level, Air Canada wins by including a carry-on bag.
In my mind, the main factors to consider in making your choice between these airlines are: the ticket cost, the 2×2 seating arrangement, and reliability. On the latter, I simply trust Air Canada (and also now Porter based on their CTA track record) more than WestJet to get me to my destination on time.
Is It Worth Booking a Flight on Porter Airlines?
If my experience is to be considered the norm for Porter, then yes I would say it can absolutely be worth flying Porter Airlines. I would particularly emphasize that for shorter jaunts domestically in Canada, Porter is a great option. I’m also optimistic that Porter Air can be a great option for time-dependent itineraries such as a connecting flight or positioning flight.
For longer trips across Canada or to the Western USA however, I would seek a greater level of comfort. Whether that’s in Air Canada business class, or even a PorterReserve Fare with larger seats, is for you to decide.
Conclusion
Porter Air is an up-and-coming airline that aims to offer an elevated economy experience at regular economy pricing. In my experience on Porter Airlines PorterClassic Standard fare, the offering was fairly typical of other economy flights in Canada on WestJet and Air Canada. The main differentiator for Porter is its 2-2 seating arrangement with no middle row, and included complimentary WiFi and alcoholic beverages.
Having now flown Porter Airlines, I believe that even without these differentiators, Porter is a great third choice in the Canadian market. The additional competition is nothing but a positive for an industry lacking thereof. I am definitely looking to fly Porter again in the future, perhaps this time in Porter Reserve seats!
Frequently Asked Questions
Porter Airlines, or ‘Porter’ is a Canadian airline headquartered at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It started as a small regional airline in 2006 and has since expanded and even flies some routes out of Toronto Pearson Airport today.
Porter flies exclusively with Canadian-built De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400 turboprop aircraft and Embraer E195-E2 jet aircraft.
Yes, Porter Airlines has a loyalty program called VIPorter.
Porter Airlines flies a number of routes from Toronto all over Canada and the United States. They skew heavily towards Eastern Canadian destinations, however.
You can view their current map of routes here.
Porter Airlines is owned by Porter Aviation Holdings, formerly known as REGCO Holdings Inc, which is controlled by the Deluce aviation family, including Robert, brother Peter, and son Michael.
Porter Airlines is safe. Porter is certified as a 4-star airline by Skytrax and has a spotless safety record.
Reed Sutton
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