Prologue:

Hello and welcome to this very special YTR that I have the pleasure to share on my first inaugural flight with Porter.

Since its foundation in 2006 Porter has operated as a regional carrier with limited domestic destinations in the Eastern part of Canada with a fleet of Bombardier Q400's and De Havilland Dash 8-400's. Then a major expansion followed with the arrival of the Embraer E195-E2's in late 2022. This type of plane allowed PD to serve longer routes and the airline started to add new CA/US destinations in the last few years.

The airline has a "boutique" reputation by providing free premium snacks to all pax and serving drinks in glassware. I have always wanted to try them and with the announcement of flights out of SFO and at $100 in Premium Econ this presented the perfect opportunity to sample the product.

Porter offers 2 classes of service - Porter Reserve (Premium Econ) with all perks included like ticket flexibility, free meals and extra legroom AND Porter Basic (Econ) with free drinks, snacks and Buy on Board meals. In this cabin you can also select seats with a little more legroom by paying for it.

Summary:

It was a fantastic experience trying this new airline and I can see why it has created a fan base among frequent flyers. I get the feeling that Porter tries to differentiate itself from competitors by providing a more elevated and stylish experience.

Crew was friendly and made frequent rounds throughout the cabin offering drinks during the flight. The meal I had was delicious and I appreciate that there were four choices on this flight but none of them was a hot meal.

The E195-E2 only has 2 WC's aboard. One in the front and another in the back. On a full flight this can create quite a wait and queue.

The fares can be very cheap if you are lucky to find them but some of the lowest fares do not even include carry on (not to mention checked bag) so you will need to pay extra. At the right price though this is a great product that blows the competitors away. I also had the chance to fly Air Canada on the return and all that was provided was free drinks. Not even a bag of pretzels or snack so in this aspect Porter gives you so much more in comparison.