Air Canada Rouge Entertainment App

[CanuckGirl78]

We’re flying with AC Rouge for the first time this December, & I booked it for the non-stop flights before realizing it was their budget line. <sigh>

I’ve read here that we need to download the AC app to watch movies/tv on our iPhones/iPad, so I did that, but i’m wondering, is it the same movies & shows as what you get with enroute? If so, that would be great for us.

My kids are pretty good on the plane as we fly from Toronto to Vancouver often, but only if they can watch a movie (or two!) they like. I tried looking on their website as to what kids movies will be available then, but it just shows Coraline which my 5yo & 2yo won’t like.

Is that really as much as I should expect from this app?? If so, I might be forced to bring my laptop & dvds (which I really don’t want to do).

Or if I rent a movie using iTunes, is there wifi on the plane so we don’t have to incur roaming charges?

 

[2forMe]

I recall it was older stuff with the app. Not current movies, if I am remembering correctly

 

[CanuckGirl78]

I recall it was older stuff with the app. Not current movies, if I am remembering correctly

Even if it was older movies, i’d be ok with it (especially if they were Disney movies!) as long as there’s not just one option for kids in case it won’t work for small ones (eg, Coraline).

 

[isabellea]

Why don't you subscribe to Netflix for one month (free for first-time subscribers) and download a few movies/tv shows your kids would like on the iPad now that they have offline watching available for most movies and series? That's what we do to keep our kids occupied on long road trips.

 

[Marc D]

I second the Netflix suggestion, but the kids options in the AC Rouge app are not bad. My son always finds something he likes. They are not new releases. Those are only available on the iPads they rent onboard (or give out in business class). In the app you download, the movies are streamed from the WiFi network. The players they rent also have new releases downloaded on the iPads themselves.

 

[ngm]

Rouge app wasn't bad. But make sure you don't just check the kids section in movie categories. They seem to mis-categorize a lot. Moana was not in the kids/family section!

 

[CanuckGirl78]

Rouge app wasn't bad. But make sure you don't just check the kids section in movie categories. They seem to mis-categorize a lot. Moana was not in the kids/family section!

thanks! It sounds like the the rouge app isn't as bad as I thought. It's only a 3 hour flight, so even if there's one good show/movie that's appropriate for them, showing them the trading pins and lanyards i got as a "surprise" gift, and Disney colouring books, they will be happily entertained.

And bonus (but not really!), AC cancelled our 9am flight and bumped us up to a 6am flight, which means I have to wake our kids around 2am, so they might just sleep on the plane and i can watch my own movie!

 

[FigmentSpark]

I had the Rouge app and tried it. It was fine, but in the end, I just watched a show I'd downloaded on my Netflix app, or maybe it was my Cogeco TiVo app instead. These days, we have so many options. My kids were busy playing games on their ipads. I believe there was free internet, which was all they needed to keep them busy.

 

[kiford]

You definitely don't want to use wifi on the plane. I can't recall what they charged but it was not something I was willing to pay. I simply downloaded a few TV episodes from Netflix onto my iPad but actually ended up reading most of the trip and maybe watching a 1/2 hour show off the app. Seems to me there were quite a few kid's options, but mostly in TV shows.

Fortunately, they have provided some marginally greater leg room. The first time we flew with them DH had to sit with his legs splayed because the leg room was so minimal he couldn't put his knees together in front of him and there was no overhead space left (very minimal on those planes) so he had to put his bag under the seat. We intend to avoid Rouge as much as possible in future, however. I'd rather fly Westjet and there's no non-Rouge AC options to Orlando. I hate Rouge but we had a discount voucher for AC last year which we had to use or lose.