Flight Review: Porter Airlines Boston to Toronto (BOS to YTZ)

Porter Airlines is a regional airline that’s remarkable primarily for the fact that they fly into YTZ (Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport) rather than YYZ (Toronto Pearson International Airport). YTZ is extremely close to the downtown area of Toronto, so it can be considerably more convenient depending on where you’re going.

They fly out of Terminal E at Boston Logan. Security was empty at 10am when I arrived, but arriving at that time also meant that I didn’t have lounge access. There’s an Air France lounge at Terminal E that accepts Priority Pass, but it doesn’t open until 1pm.

Prior to my flight, I received multiple emails about checking bags before the flight. Their carry-on bag rules seem standard–22 inches by 16 inches by 9 inches and 9 kgs total–but 9 kgs isn’t very much, and they WILL make you put your bag in the sizer if it looks like a standard carry-on size.

I originally thought that they were just being a bit mean, but the planes are absolutely tiny (I flew a Bombardier Q400), and the overhead bins don’t fit very much. Even though my bag fit into the sizer (see picture above), there was absolutely no way it was going to fit into the overhead bin, so I had to gate check my bag.

The seats are perfectly comfortable with a decent pitch, especially for such a short flight. Announcements were made in English and in French, and people were asked to remove headphones for takeoff.

Another thing that’s notable about Porter Airlines is that they provide free snacks and drinks to everyone. The snacks were also pretty good: they had Terra chips, almonds, and cookies. For drinks, you could get wine or beer as well as the typical assortment of beverages, and the drinks were served in actual glasses instead of plastic cups.

Upon arrival at YTZ, I was excited to take the ferry to the mainland given that it’s supposed to be one of the shortest ferry services in the world, but the ferry wasn’t operating, so I had to walk the very short distance through the tunnel to the main land. And then it was a quick (free) bus ride to Union Station.