The last time I was offered a complimentary meal on an economy class flight was in the late ‘90s on a particularly painful New Year’s Day morning. I was recovering from the night before when the flight attendants came around with rubbery cheese omelettes and sausage, which was the last thing I wanted to see at that point, but thinking back I actually miss those days. In 2009, not only has the number of major Canadian airlines dwindled to two (Air Canada, WestJet), but neither of them offer any free sustenance aside from one non-alcoholic beverage and a bag of questionable sesame snacks. Consequently, I was happily surprised that Porter Airlines, Toronto’s newest regional carrier, graciously serves food, wine, and beer that is not only free, but pretty good.
When I asked Brad Cicero, Manager of Communications and Public Affairs at Porter, why they decided to incur the cost of providing this luxury while all other airlines have abandoned it, he said simply, “We don’t want passengers taking out their wallets every time they would like to have a drink or something to eat... people on tight schedules often don’t have a chance to eat well when travelling and providing complimentary premium snack service onboard helps many travellers in this situation.”
Porter serves meals on all flights regardless of length and time of day with menus rotating each week in a 5-week cycle. Every season, the entire menu is refreshed accordingly. Meals are prepared by various airline-focused catering companies, such as Cara and Gate Gourmet, but Porter has a food and beverage committee that samples potential items in order to closely monitor quality. They also try to offer local products and ingredients as much as possible. Prior to opening for business in 2006, they visited several Ontario wineries before deciding on Niagara’s Jackson-Triggs, which has proven so popular with passengers that they continue to serve their wine exclusively. In addition, flight attendants take wine appreciation courses as part of their training so they can knowledgeably answer any questions.
I took Porter twice last year – once for an autumn weekend getaway to New York City and again at Christmas to visit my family in Halifax. On the New York weekend, we sipped generous glasses of Jackson-Triggs 2004 Chardonnay while enjoying turkey sandwiches on marbled rye, a Swiss Babybel, Melba toasts, and a delicious, chewy chocolate cookie. Flight attendants returned several times to ask if we would like more wine. This after having our fill of the unlimited free bottled water, soft drinks, and coffee in the Porter lounge at the Toronto City Centre Airport.
On the Halifax trip, my husband and I had great little grilled chicken and Portobello mushroom sandwiches with a side of Greek salad full of thick chunks of feta cheese and an excellent quality Ghirardelli dark chocolate square. After our stopover in Ottawa, we were served another round of drinks along with Terra Exotic Vegetable Chips.
Cicero says that Porter has received thousands of comments from passengers about the complimentary food and beverage service, and most people are as stunned as I that everything is included in the ticket price. And even so, fares remain comparable to, or even lower than, Air Canada’s cheapest rate. With complimentary food and wine, a comfortable lounge, and attentive service, flying on Porter really does feel like being in business class while paying for economy. It’s even better than back in the day.
Kaori Furue is a Toronto-based blogger who drank too many free Diet Cokes in the Porter lounge. Her adventures big and small (mostly small, and mostly about food) can be found at: I can’t believe I’m back in Toronto.
Another great article. I'm looking forward to my first porter flight. I want to go to their furthest destination possible if what you're saying is true. Do they have whisky?
Nope, just beer (Stella Artois, Keith's) and wine, but both are decent and free. Everything about the flight experience is great except the small prop planes are a bit tippy on windy days.
Being a nervous flier, I can't tell you what made me want to try Porter for the first time, but I'm SO glad I did. First of all, unless you live in Mississauga, the downtown departure rocks. Taking the ferry over is funny, but cool. I hear they have seats now which would be nice. Ticket agents are actually nice to you. Then the lounge. What a cool lounge. Mini fridge, cookies, drinks, newspaper. Wow. As the above-mentioned nervous flier, I have to say there was something comforting about the plane being so approachable. Like I could see it right there along with the private jets. Flying to NYC was nice weather, A-OK. But coming back, we would supposedly be flying in turbulence. Captain told us that from beginning. I guess the look on my face showed, and male flight attendant came over to me to ask me if I was OK. Told him I was a nervous flier; he told me it would be ok. Everything was safe, we would just be flying in wind. So, we take off. Short flight anyway from NYC Toronto, so I tried to just close my eyes and wait for the shaking. It never came. But flight attendant came over 5, yes 5 times to check on me. Made sure I had my wine (!!!) with top ups so I woul feel relaxed. Honestly, BEST flight EVER and for me, that's saying something. I now wish I had taken his name and written to Porter to say how great he was. Oh well. Hopefully he's still there! Any chance you can get, fly Porter. I just wish they flew to Europe...
For years I've been enjoying VIA Rail's first class VIA 1 service to Montreal and Ottawa. Flew Porter once or twice. Meh. VIA's service is far superior. Hot meals, great wines, and wonderful after dinner drinks. And all that for about the same price as Porter when you combine all the fees. I'll stick with VIA.
MMmmmm......grilled chicken and Portobello mushroom sandwiches, Ghirardelli dark chocolate. These are just the thing to create a "nice" diversion from the impending carnival of angst, surely to ensue while visiting "the Family" at xmas.
Ha! Nice try, Brother. You'll not convince me to travel at Christmas ever again - tasty sandwich and cute logo notwithstanding.
Apparently y'all are having a beer festival in August, however. That might be a consideration given the lack of snowstorms at that time of year.
Great article Kaori! Never even heard of Porter before. Will check them out next time I fly out!