Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Review - YUL International Airport (Montreal)

In this post, I'll be reviewing the  international Maple leaf lounge  at Montréal-Trudeau Airport.  access to this lounge is complementary for Air Canada passengers flying  internationally in business class.  There are separate maple leaf lounges for passengers flying domestically or to the US.  The lounge is clearly marked with banners and Located next to gate A52.   Note that This lounge is located in the international zone and not accessible to passengers flying domestically ( similar to the Air France, Desjardins and the National Bank Lounge).  After scanning your boarding pass, you’ll need to head upstairs.  The elevator opens right into the lounge.

If you are travelling outside of Canada, you can purchase your esim ahead of time on the Airalo App and install it so you're connected as soon as you land and can call an Uber and use Google Maps without searching for WiFi. If you sign up with my referral code C0887, you’ll get $3 USD off your first esim purchase!

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge lobby

There are lots of seating areas followed by a big bar in the centre of the lounge.  The seating areas are separated by  geometric separators to create some privacy.  The seats next to the window offered some nice views of the airplanes on the tarmac. Note that there are no  working plugs available to charge your devices  near the seats. The ones that were present did not work at all  so this was very disappointing for an airline like Air Canada and  definitely a lack of basic amenities for business travellers  who might need to charge their laptops as regular passengers who need to charge their devices before the flight.  thankfully there were dedicated plugs on the plane, but I expected there to be some in the lounge

The main bar

Seating areas with a view

Food and Dining

The main bar is a full service bar tended by a friendly and hard-working bartender who served some very stiff drinks. My bloody Caesar was well mixed and tasty.

Across the bar, you will find the main buffet that offers a Variety of food  options.  I decided to get some fried fish fillets,  bean salad and a Classic Montreal smoked meat sandwich.  I wasn't too sure about the smoked meat sandwich because I previously had one at the domestic Maple Leaf Lounge and it was the worst  Smoked meat sandwich I've ever had.  Here however, the standards were much higher and an attendant heated up my sandwich in the oven and topped it with a slice of juicy pickle.  The sandwich was delicious and the slices of smoked meat were tender. 

Cocktails made to order from the friendly bartender

The main buffet

Great dinner tonight: Fried fish fillet, Montreal smoked meat sandwich and a bloody Caesar.

There are showers available at this lounge although I did not get to try them.  After about  an hour and a half, it was time to board my flight so I headed downstairs. This lounge was a decent place to kill some time before boarding and a massive step up from the domestic Maple Leaf lounge. The food was a welcome improvement over the domestic lounge. I think this is one of the better Air Canada lounges and I’d say about similar to the nearby Air France Lounge and National Bank Lounge.

Related Posts

Sony WH-1000XM3/1000XM4 Headphones - A long term review

In this post, I'll be reviewing the Sony WH-1000XM3/1000XM4 Noise Cancelling Headphones. WH-1000XM4 is the newer version that replaced the WH-1000XM3 but they are almost identical in many aspects. The newest version is the WH-1000XM5, however you can save quite a bit of money by opting for the WH-1000XM4 instead.

Some of the links on this page are Amazon affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I may receive a small commission from sales of certain items. Thank you for supporting the blog.

I purchased my Sony headphones back in 2021 (at full price) and have been using them since. Considering they were a significant investment, I had my doubts when I purchased them and I wondered how well they would hold up over time, especially since they're made of plastic. This isn’t a full review of the headphones but rather a review of their durability and performance over the years. 

Battery Life

The WH-1000XM3/1000XM4 were originally rated for an impressive 30 hours when first launched and I regularly achieved those numbers when my headphones were new. 4 years later, I can confirm that they are still holding up quite well. I regularly fly to Mauritius from Montreal which includes a total of 19 hours of flying and there is still some juice left in those batteries after using it for my entire trip with Active Noise Cancelling on. I’d say the battery still holds a charge of at least 20 hours which should be more than enough for most people. It seems you can DIY a battery replacement as well but I have not felt the need to do so.

Build Quality

Since purchasing them, I was not impressed with the build quality of these headphones. They are made of plastic and they often creak which made them feel cheap and had me questioning their durability. While the creaking is still there a few years later, it has not worsened, nor has any parts loosened. 

Nothing has faded or peeled away. The leather lining is still intact, as is the soft sponge covering the components. It will occasionally develop an odour after extended use but I simply clean it with an alcohol based disinfectant spray and that always gets rid of of the smell. It’s a good idea to disinfect them regularly anyway for sanitary reasons.

The leather ear cups show no signs of wear or damage

The headband is still sturdy though it does creak

Sound Quality and Active Noise Cancellation

The sound quality is fantastic and little details and more nuanced instruments are audible when listening to music. The bass is thunderous and significantly better than the Bose QuietComfort Headphones when I tested them side by side.

Microphone/Calls

The microphone quality has always been excellent and I've used them for my work Teams Calls for years because they easily outperform Apple's AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro has undesirable background noise and based on feedback from my colleagues, they’ve mentioned that my voice is less clear when using Airpod Pros for Teams calls. I tried some Teams recordings and there is more crackling with the AirPods.

Main Issue

Over the years, the only downside I’ve noticed is the lack of multi device connection as these headphones cannot connect to more than one device at a time. This means for example, if you are listening to music from your computer, you cannot answer a phone call from your cell phone similar to how Apple AirPods has seamless integration with iPhones and Macs. This is however not a “bug” but rather a lack of a useful feature. 

The carrying case is sturdy and despite tossing it in my backpack or carry-on over the years, it has held up well and prevented any damage to the headphones. 

Summary

I think these headphones still provide excellent value and if you are on a budget, you can still look at the WH-1000XM4 (or WH-1000XM3) over the WH-1000XM5. They are durable and even after 4 years, the battery still lasts for 20 hours.

Emirates Business Class Lounge Review - DXB Terminal 3 Concourse C

Emirates Business Class passengers departing from Dubai International Airport receive complimentary access to any of Emirates’ Business Class lounge. These lounges are a quiet place to sit and relax, maybe grab a snack or meal or even take a shower. In thi post, I’ll be reviewing my experience of the Emirates Business Class Lounge located in Concourse C. After landing at Dubai International Airport from Mauritius, I cleared security and took the shuttle bus to Concourse C where my flight to Montreal was departing. The lounge is located upstairs and across from the Gates. It is a medium sized lounge that did not offer direct boarding to the airport. Having read that Emirates offers boarding directly from the Lounge, I was pretty disappointed that this option was not available. It seems that Concourse B features the best services like direct lounge boarding, biometric entry and the Moët and Champagne Bar (more on that below).

The main area

The lounge had a decent amount of seats with large windows, but since it was nighttime, I'm not sure if there was much of a view but I could see Air Canada’s parking spot from the lounge seats. I could imagine the lounge becoming very crowded if there were several flights departing back to back, however since it was around midnight on Christmas Eve it was very calm when I visited. Screens throughout the lounge showed the departure time as well as some soccer games highlights Match scores.

If you are travelling internationally, you can purchase your esim ahead of time on the Airalo App and install it so you're connected as soon as you land and can call an Uber and use Google Maps without searching for WiFi. If you sign up with my referral code C0887, you’ll get $3 USD off your first esim purchase!

Food

There was a decent selection of food and drinks. Some main courses included beef stew, roasted potatoes and seafood pie as well as salads and desserts. There was an unattended ice cream cart which looked enticing, but I was pretty full already so can't comment on the quality.

The main buffet

Ice cream for dessert

Drinks

To the left of the main buffet was a self serve bar with spirits, wines, and beers as well as some Moët champagne. Having read about the Emirates Moët & Chandon Champagne Lounge and anticipating a unique new experience, I was sorely disappointed to find just a couple of opened bottles in a bucket of ice at the bar with no canapés to pair it with as per the press release by Emirates. As I mentioned above, it seems Concourse B is the one that receives the finest services and amenities while Concourse C is just an afterthought so your Emirates experience will highly vary depending on which terminal your flight is departing from.

The Moët & Chandon Champagne “Lounge”

Showers

To the left of the main entrance were the bathrooms. The lounge had several showers and there wasn't just one but two attendants for the showers. We simply had to notify them if we wanted to take a shower and they provided us with fresh towels and an amenity kit that included a toothbrush and toothpaste. The bathrooms were sparkling clean and just perfect to freshen up in between flights.

The Emirates lounge main bathroom

The shower was sparkling clean

After a quick shower, I noticed that my flight had already started boarding very early (which was actually not the case) so I left the lounge and headed to the boarding gate. This lounge was a decent place to kill some time on a layover and provided decent food, drinks and a hot shower to freshen up. However, it's worth keeping in mind that the best of what Emirates has to offer is not here, but rather in Concourse B.

You might be interested in these related articles:

Cressi Leonardo - The Best Budget Dive Computer (A Long Term Review)

After completing my PADI Advanced Open Water Course back in 2019, I bought my first dive computer right after. I did not know much about dive computers back then and bought a Cressi Leonardo because it was affordable. I have been scuba diving with it ever since and it has served me very well for several years so I think it deserves its own review! I was not paid for this review and I purchased this dive computer with my own money. Below I break down the 6 reasons why I think it’s the best budget dive computer for both beginners and experienced divers.

1. You can’t beat the price!

Scuba gear can get expensive very fast and not everyone has thousands to spend when starting to dive. It was very hard to find a good dive watch for under $300 but I paid around $267 CAD for my Cressi dive watch. The prices vary by colour and by country but even today, it is an unbeatable deal! You can order from Amazon or check out your local dive shop as they likely carry it since this model has been around for several years now. Dive shops often charge extra for dive computer rental (around $10 USD per dive) even when the dive equipment is included so in the long run, you will end up saving money.

2. You can use it as a beginner and experienced diver

With a maximum depth of 132 ft, this dive computer will serve you as a beginner and all the way to an experienced diver. If you decide to do your Advanced Open Water or Deep Diver specialty, you will be covered!

3. It has a Nitrox setting

This is related to my previous point. If you eventually plan to obtain your Nitrox certification, you are covered there too! You can activate the Nitrox option in the settings and dive as usual (I have linked the manual at the bottom of this article as it provides instructions on how to navigate the menu). In short, the Cressi Leonardo pretty much covers all your basic needs as a scuba diver and you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars.

4. The battery lasts for a very long time

You can dive for several days on a single battery. I usually only dive when I go on vacation and I replace the battery around once every year to two years. For a week of diving in the Maldives, a single battery was enough. The Cressi Leonardo also uses a non-proprietary CR2430 battery that is commonly available at pharmacies and small shops so even if you do run out, you can likely purchase one while on vacation. Otherwise order yourself a pack from Amazon and just leave it in your suitcase so you won’t need to worry about it.

5. It’s well built and tough

I have personally dropped my dive computer many times and sometimes I just toss it in my dive bag without a case or protective cover and it has stood up very well against the test of time. Also while diving on a boat, things tend to get chaotic and it's very easy to bump my dive computer with a tank or the side of the boat but there are still no cracks or scratches on it.

6. It has a backlight

The backlight is actually quite dim when using it outside so you won't really notice it when you're on the boat on a sunny day however once you're underwater you will definitely see the difference. The backlight makes the screen more legible during dives, specially on cloudy days or in water with poor visibility. It auto-switches off by itself after a few seconds.

Cons

Now it would be wrong to say this is the perfect dive watch. I have noticed a few downsides, though in my opinion the good outweighs the bad.
The first issue is that it is on the larger side for a dive watch. If you have small wrsits, the watch will seem extra bulky. It also gets snagged sometimes when putting on your BCD.

The other issue I’ve encountered is that the menu can be a bit difficult to navigate with a single button. There is no bluetooth connectivity if you’d like to sync the logs to your phone but I think all of that is overkill anyway, I really just need the dive watch to keep me safe underwater and during my surface intervals. You can copy over the dive logs into the SSI App after your dive as it records the last 20 dives or so in the log.

To summarise, this dive watch has all the basic functions you will ever need as an Open Water or Advanced Open Water Scuba Diver (including Nitrox) at a great price!

You can download a PDF copy of the manual here. I suggest saving it on your phone so you always have it with you when going on a dive drip. It has helped me out countless times, specially when I need to reconfigure the settings and can’t remember how to do it.

Good luck and Happy Diving!

Originally published May 14, 2024

You might be interested in the following scuba diving posts: