Information on Porter Airlines Flights

Based at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the Toronto Islands, this cult favorite mostly regional airline flies in Canada and the United States. With daily routes to Los Angeles and Newark, New Jersey, the boutique airline is adding new routes frequently, including Toronto to West Palm Beach or Phoenix, and Montreal to San Francisco.

I have used the premium airline and its iconic two-by-two cabin seating frequently to hop from New York City to Toronto for work and for pleasure. Porter lands right in the bustling Canadian city and you can walk across from the airport and be in downtown Toronto within minutes of landing.

Airline partners

It’s a smaller, more boutique offering of an airline so it’s great that it has solid partners that can be booked on a single ticket. Porter has a codeshare agreement with Air Transat and interline agreements with Aeromexico, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Azores Airlines, El Al Airlines, Fiji Airlines, Icelandair and Qatar Airways.

Classes of service

Porter has two economy experiences: PorterClassic and PorterReserve. With PorterClassic the airline offers no middle seats (just choose aisle or window) due to their configuration, plus free snacks and drinks for all and one free personal item to carry on board. They offer four options for purchase under the Classic tier:

The Basic option offers no refunds or credits, while the Standard option provides credit up to an hour before departure, along with a free carry-on standard bag. The Flexible option includes credit up to an hour before departure, a free carry-on standard bag, complimentary checked luggage, and free seat selection. Lastly, Freedom gives you credit or refund up to an hour before departure, free carry on standard bag, complimentary checked luggage, free seat selection, and Stretch seat upgrade on selected aircrafts.

With PorterReserve you have everything you get with Classic plus the following: No change fees, two checked bags free, a dedicated check-in desk, expedited security services, early boarding plus front-of-cabin seating with extra legroom (36 inches) plus premium snacks, beer, liquor and wine.

Fees

Porter is very transparent with the way they charge additional fees for their offerings. Unless you book a Freedom ticket, there are fees for a PorterClassic seat or a PorterClassic Stretch seat (only available on some aircrafts).

Porters has a small fee for pets in the cabin (dogs and cats only). There is a hefty fee for an unaccompanied minor, no matter which class of service you purchase.

Depending on your ticket there is also a charge for checked baggage, and even if you purchased a Freedom fare a 3rd bag comes at a cost, too. Overweight baggage and sport equipment come with a fee.

Boarding procedures

Depending on the airport, I’ve found that Porter follows a rather strict policy on boarding: passengers with disabilities, then unaccompanied minors, then families traveling with children aged two and younger and then Premium VIPorter members followed by PorterReserve passengers. And then everyone else. The policy I’ve found Porter most strict on is that they close boarding ten minutes before takeoff, with zero exceptions.

Seating

PorterReserve has seating with extra legroom (36 inches) only for tickets bought as PorterReserve. A PorterClassic Stretch seat is available for a fee or as part of a bundle and only on certain planes. Finally, there is the standard PorterClassic seat, no middle seats on any plane. There are no lie-flat seats on any of their planes – just elevated economy seating – but I find this great for a short-haul hop, as it’s an elevated economy experience for sure.

On-board experience

All Porter flights have movable armrests in the seats plus in-seat power ports. Although they don’t offer screens, they have free Wi-Fi available plus free streaming in-flight entertainment (long-haul only) for use on your own device.

Flight attendants

I’m not kidding when I say I have actually become friends with some of the flight attendants on Porter, and we have met up all over the world. According to them, the airline takes good care of them and the benefits are fabulous.

The uniforms are a gorgeous blue and are a nod to the old glam-times of aviation that I absolutely love. Attendants also have special gift bags they hand out to kids (and some lucky passengers) – just another little extra detail of service for passengers.

The magazine

Not many airlines still have an on-board magazine. Porter not only has one, but I must say it is really engaging. It’s called re:Porter and it comes side by side in English and French with all kinds of interesting lifestyle stories and interviews. My favorite column is Day in the Life, where you’ll find features on employees like customer service reps and pilots.

Food and drink on-board

Porter prides itself on the complimentary premium snacks offered in-flight, along with beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee and tea. These are proudly served in real glassware, which I absolutely prefer. And alcohol is served to anyone over 19 years of age.

I also love that Porter works with local Canadian brands to offer premium snacks like chips from Hardbite in British Columbia and shortbread from Cookie It Up in Ontario. There are also fava bean snacks from Three Farmers in Saskatchewan and almonds from naturSource in Quebec.

If you’re on a flight that lasts longer than 2.5 hours, there are fresh meals on board. These are for purchase if you book a PorterClassic fare but are included with the all-in-one PorterReserve fare.

Prepaid flights

A cool feature of Porter is that it offers prepaid flight credits. You can redeem these any time and they don’t have blackout dates. When you purchase a Porter Pass you can choose between a Canada-only pass or a US-plus-Canada option and they are offered in denominations of 10, 20, 50 or 100 credits. Each credit is good for a flight.

While the 10-credit option is non-transferable, the rest are absolutely transferable. When purchasing you can choose from several packages, including a sort of commuter pass between the triangle cities of Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, or common business routes like Toronto to Boston or New York City.

Bundles

Porter offers two bundle packages, Starter Pak and Plus Pak, for special seats and extra baggage. If booked in basic or standard they come with certain fees (note that these can change). These are accessible when booking online and when checking in online within 24 hours of your flight.

Loyalty

VIPorter is a free membership program that offers a point for every dollar spent. There are multiple tiers based on increased spend in a year, including Member (no minimum spend), Passport, Venture, Ascent and First.

Depending on your tier, benefits include priority seating assignment, special call center access, a guaranteed seat on a sold-out flight, free same day changes, free luggage and priority airport experiences including boarding and security.

If you fly one of Porter’s frequent commuter routes, this is a great membership. My favorite perk is the PorterReserve certificate issued when you reach a certainly spend threshold, entitling you to a PorterReserve experience on your next booked ticket. Porter even offers a head start for the following year if you go over the minimum spend for the highest you reach in a year.

Change and Cancellation policies

As with most airlines, there is a 24-hour cancellation grace period after booking. After this, there are varying fees for change depending on what kind of ticket you purchased, and some fares don’t allow any changes. Make sure you review this carefully when booking your flight, though I’ve found the helpful customer service team can sometimes still assist with concerns here.

Change and Cancellation policies

As with most airlines, there is a 24-hour cancellation grace period after booking. After this, there are varying fees for change depending on what kind of ticket you purchased, and some fares don’t allow any changes. Make sure you review this carefully when booking your flight, though I’ve found the helpful customer service team can sometimes still assist with concerns here.