A quiet area with a good variety of seating in Vancouver YVR airport, but this Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge seemed to lack decent selection of food.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Cruising the Last Frontier
• Review: WestJet 737-800MAX Economy Class LAX-YVR
• Superb Service and Surprisingly Good Food: The Hyatt Regency Vancouver
• Vancouver with Kids: Fun in the Great Outdoors
• Family Dining in Vancouver: The Best of What We Ate
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 1 – Booking and Room
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 2 – Dining
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 3 – Onboard Entertainment
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 4 – Ship Features
• Disappointing Wi-Fi on Celebrity Solstice
• PSA: Do Not Waste Money on Celebrity Cruises Drink Packages
• Pro Tip: Celebrity Cruises Gives Free Parking at MGM Resorts
• Icy Strait Point: A Simple Alaskan Port Town
• Skagway: A Small But Enjoyable Port
• A Brief Encounter at Dawes Glacier
• Juneau: Full of Outdoors Experiences
• Ketchikan: Home to Salmon and Lumberjacks
• Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge YVR (Transborder / US Flights) (this post)
• Review: Air Canada 737-800MAX Business Class YVR-LAX

Location

The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at Vancouver YVR airport is found both past security and beyond US Preclearance. If you have Global Entry or Nexus, you’re eligible to use quicker lines. If not, I’ve heard using the MPC app (Mobile Passport Control) can be a far quicker experience than normal immigration services. In our case, passing through in the early afternoon on a Sunday summer day, there were empty lines everywhere.

Once you make it past customs and immigration, you’ll find the lounge between gates 84 and 86. In case it’s not clear, you’ll only be able to visit this lounge if you are leaving Canada and flying to the United States. That’s because once you pass the US Preclearance facility, you’re officially considered to have entered the United States.

Access

There are many ways to gain access to this Maple Leaf Lounge.

• Business class customers — How we entered for this visit. Guests can also enter for $59CA each.
• Premium Rouge customers — No guests allowed.
• Air Canada elite members — Air Canada 35K elites can use their two complimentary guest passes to access this lounge. Air Canada 50K elites and higher get access with a complimentary guest.
• Star Alliance Gold status — The traveling passenger must be on a Star Alliance flight. One guest is allowed at no additional charge. Unlike other Star Alliance lounges, more than one guest is allowed if you are fine with paying a nominal fee ($59CA).
• Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders and authorized users (guests cost $59CA each)
• Cardholders of certain cards issued in Canada
• Purchased access when flying on a Latitude, Comfort, or Flex Fare (between $49CA and $79CA)

Seating

You’ll find a variety of seating here and I never found the lounge got too terribly busy during our (lengthy) time here at this lounge. How crowded it gets ultimately just depends on the timing of Air Canada flights to the United States given that all business class passengers get access. Still, you shouldn’t ever have a problem finding a place to sit here even though the lounge itself felt relatively small. It also was a little strange that it felt like there was a hodgepodge of hidden rooms here away from the main section of the lounge, but perhaps it was intentional to add some privacy.

I do like that there was plenty of natural lighting and part of that is just how the airport has nice big windows in the ceiling. It’s also nice that the lounge was calm and quiet, though it was similarly quiet in the main area of the airport as well.

The lounge is also situated so you could check out the apron if you want to observe some airplanes. It’s also neat being able to see some prop planes parked near the lounge.

Food

I thought the food here at this Maple Leaf Lounge was rather basic in the afternoon when we were there. You have a typical salad bar and veggie wraps. The soup on offer was a mushroom soup, which I didn’t find all that desirable. Collectively, you’ll notice that meat-lovers will inevitably feel the selection here is minimal.

The only meat-based option available was some beef tacos. I wish the tortillas were warmed (perhaps I am spoiled living down in Southern California) and you really didn’t have much in terms of toppings (cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo). You could alternatively turn it into nachos (minus the nacho cheese).

The drink selection here was decent for a domestic-caliber lounge. There is a self-serve selection of fountain beverages.

You’ll also find two self-serve taps on offer: Coors Light and Molson Canadian.

If you’re looking for hard liquor or wines, they have a nice variety. You’re not going to find excellent wines, but I thought it wasn’t too bad.

There is a machine where you can get sparkling or still water.

Lastly, if you’re in the mood for coffee, there is a Lavazza machine.

Other Amenities

This lounge does have a shower stall available but I didn’t get a chance to try it out.

There is a spot where you can hang up a coat, but it seemed to be used as just a random storage area in the lounge. It seemed strange to find that out in the open, but it wasn’t as odd as the oneworld Qantas Business Lounge at LAX.

And if you end up low on phone charge, they do make complimentary chargers available in the lounge. If you for some reason forget to bring a charger of your own, this might be a lifesaver for you.

Recommendation: Yes, but only if free

It’s always better to have a lounge available to you than to not have one available. In our case, it’s good to have a decently comfortable place to wait for our flight. As we weren’t fully sure what time we would be debarking our cruise earlier that day, I didn’t want to risk a rush to the airport for our flight home. It would have been nicer if the lounge had something more here to provide some extra entertainment to help pass the time for the kids.

I would not recommend paying for access to this lounge. That money would be better spent on better food in some other airport restaurant. If you’re looking for a comparison to the Toronto transborder lounge, I like the Toronto lounge more as it had a family room, better food, and the seating felt more open, though it also was more crowded.

Have you been to this Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge before?