THE BRIEF
I booked my first flight on Porter’s new E195 E2 for a flight down to Florida. When living downtown, I had flown Porter many times out of Billy Bishop Island airport. All of those flights are on the Dash-8-400 and were convenient and good value. I’m closer to Pearson Airport now where the E195 flies out of, so I thought, since they had the best price anyway, why not give it a ride and see if anything has changed?
The disappointments started right at check-in. There was no signage designating Reserve boarding from the regular line. I found myself searching for staff to find out which line to stand in. Once I got to the head of the line I waited patiently for preboards to get on when someone behind me jumped in front and went ahead to the plane. By the time I got on, that person had already thrown his bags in that bin and made himself comfortable next to my seat. That’s a non-starter, Porter. The staff need to do a much better job of providing an orderly boarding process.
I wanted to try Porter’s Reserve Class which is really just a premium economy section at the front. The first few seats are the same as the rest of the aircraft but they do have a slightly larger pitch of 36 inches and a little bit more recline room. Still, it is very adequate for a three or four-hour flight. The overhead bins had plenty of room for carry-on bags. I managed to find room for my bags despite the line jumper. It was good to get on early as the flight was full.
