Porter Reserve

Ever since I spotted Porter Air as one of my options when I visited Quebec City/Montreal/Ottawa in 2023, I was uniquely curious about them. Their pricing was reasonable and they operated out of the major airports. However, we ultimately went with Air Canada to keep things simple. Since then, I've heard much more about Porter and usually positive things. So I finally decided to try them out on my recent 2nd visit to Toronto this year. In fact, I went with Porter Reserve, which only costs a bit more but offers up many perks. I saved a bit more money by obtaining some gift cards from Costco. Essentially, it gives you 10% off your fare.

With Porter Reserve, it is basically premium economy on any other airline.  First of all, there are no middle seats on Porter since they do a 2-2 configuration on their Embraer E195-E2 aircraft.  There is 30 inches of legroom with their Porter Classic seats, which is similar to Air Canada.  With Porter Reserve, we had a whopping 36 inches of legroom which was welcomed for my 6'1 frame.  Not only was I able to put my personal item under the seat in front of me, my legs didn't reach that far, hence, I was comfortable for my entire flight.  The width of the seat is 18.3 inches, which is wider than most Air Canada offerings.

Other perks with Porter Reserve include dedicated check-in, much like business class for any other airline.  However, there was minimal lineup at the regular check-in though.  In fact, with all the self-service check-in kiosks at Pearson, people were on their way quickly.  I did enjoy the Expedited Screening as it was similar to Nexus where you could bypass the line.  Of course there is also early boarding, but since the plane isn't very big, that wasn't much of a need for it.  All passengers enjoy free wifi on the flight and I found it to be fairly decent, but it cutout a few times.  You also get 2 free checked-in bags in addition to a carry-on and personal item.  Be aware that even with Porter Reserve, there is not lounge access included.

For me, to make this relevant, I must talk about the included food options.  On our way from YVR to YYZ, it was a morning flight, so were served breakfast.  Before I discuss what I had, it is important to note that all of the food served on Porter is cold.  There are no hot options.  As an appetizer of sorts, we had the Poached Mango with lemon and lime (also some fresh blueberries too).  Nothing particularly amiss with this as the pieces of mango were tangy with only a mild sweetness.  Right beside, there was an Apple & Cinnamon Round Mini-Loaf.  Didn't mind this as it was pretty moist and they didn't overdo it with the cinnamon.  However, it was pretty sweet.

Onto the main course, we had two options including the Overnight Oats & Greek Yogurt Fruit Bowl as well as the Butter Croissant Duo.  Super thick and dense enough to plaster a wall, the oats and yogurt actually tasted great.  It wasn't too sweet and had the nice tang of the yogurt and sweetness of the fruit.  But ya, the texture was far too thick and gummy.  As for my croissant, they were pretty basic, but also had good flavour.  Inside, we found smoked turkey, cream cheese & chives spread, sundried tomato and baby arugula.  Nice combination of tangy, salty, smoky and creamy.

On our flight back from TO, we had dinner service and started with the Green Goddess Lentil Salad and Pumpkin Seed & Turmeric Mini Loaf Slices.  Salad wasn't bad with firm lentils with green & red peppers, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives and pickled carrot.  Lots of textures and flavours here including the creamy dressing.  The mini loaf slices were quite earthy due to the turmeric, but did have some sweetness.  They were moist and a bit crumbly.  Not my favourite, but not overly offensive.

For the mains, the two options were Riviera Deli Sandwich and the Asian Grilled Tofu Bowl.  For me, the sandwich was the better of the two since it had more flavour and the bread was surprisingly soft for being refrigerated.  Nice balance of sweet, salty and zesty.  As for the bowl, it wasn't bad per se because the dressing made everything taste good with a nice saltiness that was muted by some sweetness and acidity.  The tofu was medium-firm and wasn't offensive.

Other than the food, there was also a selection of drinks, which included alcohol.  Also, there was full-sized snacks sourced from Canadian companies.  Yep, we could take as many as we wanted, but I only took one as I was already quite full from my meal.  I didn't end up drinking any of the bottled cocktails, beer or wine.  I did get my fill of Diet Coke though.  Overall, we really enjoyed Porter, from the check-in, seats and service.  Food is a bit hit and miss, but appreciated nonetheless.  Next time, I'll try the Porter Classic and see how that will go.

The Good:

- No middle seats

- Good service

- Free wifi

The Bad:

- No lounge access with Porter Reserve

- Wish they had hot food, but I guess there are limitations