When the first YVR Air Canada Cafe opened in Vancouver, I was happy to finally see the concept arrive at my home airport. After enjoying the original Air Canada Café in Toronto and even the Aspire | Air Canada Café at Billy Bishop, though, Vancouver’s first attempt left me wanting a little more.
Don’t get me wrong. The original location between gates C46 and C47 has good food, plenty of grab-and-go options, and some distinctly Vancouver touches. What it doesn’t have is a dedicated barista, a proper bar, or even a bathroom inside the lounge.
That always seemed a little odd for something calling itself a café.
Thankfully, Vancouver now has a second and much larger Air Canada Café near Gate C50, and this one feels much closer to what I think the concept should be.
I’ve now visited the new YVR Air Canada Cafe several times since it opened, including early-morning and evening departures, so this review isn’t based on a quick look around on opening day. That has given me a chance to see both breakfast and dinner service, experience the space when it was packed and when it was nearly empty, and—most importantly—sample more than my fair share of Lee’s Donuts.
Here’s my full review of the new C50 location, including how it compares with the original Air Canada Cafe Vancouver location and the Maple Leaf Lounge.
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Air Canada Cafe Vancouver: Where Is the New C50 Location?
The new Air Canada Cafe Vancouver location is in YVR’s domestic terminal on the C concourse, just before Gates C50 and C51.
It officially opened on April 10, 2026, becoming the second Air Canada Café at Vancouver International Airport. The original opened between Gates C46 and C47 in November 2025.
I’ve reviewed that original Vancouver Air Canada Café here, and it’s worth reading if you’re deciding which one makes more sense for your flight.
The short version? Unless convenience to your gate dictates otherwise, C50 is now my pick.
Air Canada Cafe YVR Hours
Current Air Canada Cafe YVR hours for the C50 location are 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily, as posted outside the Café during my visits and confirmed by Vancouver International Airport’s official C50 Café listing. The original C46/C47 Café currently operates from 5:00 AM until 8:00 PM.
That puts both locations on equal footing for early departures, while the new C50 Café has a clear advantage for evening flights thanks to its later closing time.
As always, check the hours before travelling because lounge schedules can change.
If you’re flying up front and wondering whether the overall experience is worth paying more for, see my review asking whether Air Canada Premium Economy is worth it. I’ve also reviewed Air Canada’s 737 MAX 8 Business Class and Air Canada’s A330 Business Class if you’re connecting onward.
Note: As of posting this, Air Canada’s website currently lists a 6:00 AM opening, but the hours posted at the C50 Café during my visit—and YVR’s current airport listing—show 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily.
Who Can Access the YVR Air Canada Cafe?
Access to the YVR Air Canada Cafe is reserved for eligible passengers departing on a confirmed domestic Air Canada flight. That currently includes passengers travelling in Business Class or Premium Rouge, Aeroplan Super Elite, 75K and 50K members, Star Alliance Gold members and holders of select premium Aeroplan credit cards.
Another easy way to get in is by holding an eligible premium Aeroplan credit card. Cards offering complimentary Air Canada Café access include:
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege Card
- CIBC Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege Card
- American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card
- American Express Aeroplan Business Reserve Card
- American Express Aeroplan Corporate Reserve Card
One nice perk is that eligible premium Aeroplan cardholders can currently bring one guest into an Air Canada Café at no additional charge, subject to the applicable card terms and lounge capacity.
Since Air Canada occasionally changes lounge-access rules and eligible card benefits, I recommend confirming your eligibility with Air Canada before your trip, particularly if your access is based on status, a credit card, or a connecting itinerary.
Vancouver Air Canada Cafe: Size, Seating and Views
The biggest difference between the two Vancouver Air Canada Cafe locations hits you almost immediately.
C50 feels like a proper lounge.
There’s a large central bar, communal tables, banquette seating, individual chairs, counter seating and plenty of windows. The flowing ceiling lights and wood tones also make it considerably more visually interesting than the smaller Café.
That extra space isn’t just an impression. According to Air Canada’s announcement for the new Vancouver Café, the C50 location measures 4,489 square feet with seating for 84 guests. That’s more than double the footprint of the original C46/C47 Café, which measures 2,142 square feet and has 52 seats.
On my first visit it was busy enough that taking decent photos of the space was difficult. When I returned later in the evening, however, the difference was night and day. There were far fewer people, and I finally had a chance to properly appreciate the design.
Both times, I gravitated toward the counter seating facing the windows.
There is a walkway between the counter and windows, so don’t expect completely unobstructed floor-to-ceiling views from your seat. Still, I enjoyed watching the activity outside, and on my evening visit I caught a beautiful sunset while having a beer and a bao.
More practically, there are power outlets along the counter. I was able to get some work done while charging my devices, which is exactly what I want from an airport lounge.
West Coast Design Inside the YVR Air Canada Cafe
Air Canada has leaned into Vancouver rather than creating another generic airport lounge.
The new Café combines wood, stone, greenery and curved lighting with artwork inspired by the West Coast. Air Canada’s announcement specifically highlights the Vancouver influence throughout the design as well as the use of local food and beverage suppliers.
One of the visual highlights is Connections by Kelly Cannell, a Coast Salish artist from the Musqueam Nation. Air Canada also highlights work by Canadian artist Renée Van Halm as part of the Café’s design. It’s a small detail, but it gives the lounge considerably more personality than a generic corporate airport space.
I’ve visited a lot of Air Canada lounges at this point, including the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in Montreal, the Halifax Maple Leaf Lounge, the Winnipeg Maple Leaf Lounge and the San Francisco Air Canada Lounge. I appreciate that these newer Cafés are developing more personality rather than simply repeating the traditional lounge formula.
Air Canada Cafe Menu: Breakfast, Dinner and Grab-and-Go
The Air Canada Cafe menu is another area where C50 separates itself from the original Vancouver location. Because I’ve visited in both the morning and evening, I’ve had the chance to see more than one version of the food selection rather than just what was available at one time of day.
At breakfast, my highlight was the breakfast sandwich. Served on a buttery croissant-style bun, it was much better than the sort of sad, prepackaged breakfast sandwich you might expect at an airport.
This is one of those little things I appreciate about the Café concept. The food doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to be good, quick and easy to eat before a flight, and the breakfast sandwich delivered on all three.
Later in the day, the selection changes to more substantial savoury options. Air Canada specifically highlights char siu pork bao, vegan curry bao and freshly prepared vegetarian kimbap among the locally influenced dishes, while other items spotted since the C50 Café opened have included steak sandwiches and plant-based bao.
I’m a sucker for bao, especially with a healthy amount of sriracha, and having one with a local Persephone beer while watching the sun go down over the tarmac was easily one of my favourite moments from my visits.
There is also a good salad selection and plenty of lighter choices if you don’t want a full meal before boarding. Beyond the hot food, the Café has offered grab-and-go items such as chicken wraps, meat-and-cheese trays, fresh fruit and overnight oats, along with snacks and sweets such as Nanaimo bars. The exact selection can change, of course, but there was enough variety during my visits that I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat in the terminal before coming here.
That mix is what I think C50 gets right. You can sit down with something more substantial if you have time, build a lighter meal from the salads and smaller dishes, or grab something for the flight if boarding is approaching. I cover the grab-and-go setup in more detail below because it remains one of my favourite features of the Air Canada Café concept.
There’s also one particularly Vancouver addition that deserves its own section: Lee’s Donuts.
Lee’s Donuts Might Be the Best Part
Okay, maybe I’m overselling it. But only slightly.
One of my favourite local additions is Lee’s Donuts. Better yet, I found two varieties available during my visit.
Lee’s has been a Vancouver institution since 1979, and grabbing one of its honey dip donuts before boarding feels considerably more local than picking up a generic packaged dessert.
If you’re spending time in Vancouver rather than just passing through YVR, you can take the donut obsession one step further and book a Vancouver donut tour.
And if pastries and coffee are your thing when travelling, you’ll probably also appreciate my hunt for the best coffee and pastries in Copenhagen.
AC Cafe YVR: Finally, a Proper Bar and Barista
This is probably my biggest complaint about the original Vancouver Café—and one of the biggest reasons I prefer C50.
The new AC Cafe YVR has an actual staffed bar and barista station. A café without a barista always seemed like a strange concept to me. The automated machines in the original location are convenient, but they’re still machines.
Here, I can order a handcrafted espresso drink from an actual person.
Air Canada confirms that the full-service bar offers barista-made specialty coffees along with local craft beer, local wine, international wine and cocktails.
Milk alternatives were also available during my visits.
Overall, this is what I wanted from the first Vancouver location.
Local Beer, Wine and a Proper Full Bar
Coffee is only half of the equation. The full bar is another major improvement, particularly if you’re visiting later in the day.
I enjoyed a Persephone beer during my evening visit. Persephone is a Sunshine Coast brewery whose products I’ve been seeing around British Columbia for years, and it’s exactly the kind of regional option I like seeing Air Canada serve.
I’d actually like to see Air Canada go even further with this.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with something like Coors Light, but when you’re operating lounges across Canada, why not use them as a showcase for more Canadian breweries and producers?
On the other hand, I have a longstanding preflight Guinness ritual, so I can’t complain too much when I find that on offer. I’ve now spotted Guinness in both Montreal and Vancouver alongside local options.
The point is choice. A local craft beer for someone who wants a taste of British Columbia, familiar international choices for everyone else.
Grab-and-Go Is Still the Air Canada Cafe’s Secret Weapon
For all the improvements at C50, Air Canada hasn’t forgotten the feature that makes the Café concept so useful: grab-and-go food.
There are sandwiches, snacks, fruit and cold drinks that you can pick up on your way to the gate. This is especially useful for a short domestic flight where you’d rather eat onboard than rush through a lounge meal.
It’s also why I don’t see the Cafés simply as smaller Maple Leaf Lounges. They’re serving a slightly different purpose.
I’ve used traditional lounges around the world—including the ANA Lounge in Porto through Priority Pass—and sometimes all you really need is somewhere to grab a coffee, pick up something decent to eat and get moving.
That’s where this format works.
Washrooms: A Big Improvement, But You May Still Wait
Here’s another major improvement over the original Air Canada Cafe YVR: the C50 Café has bathrooms inside. There are four individual private gender-neutral washrooms, each with a toilet and sink, although there are no showers. That’s a significant upgrade from the original C46/C47 Café, where you have to leave the lounge to use the airport facilities.
Four bathrooms for an 84-seat lounge can still mean a wait, though. I encountered a lineup during one of my visits, and on a completely separate visit my brother had to wait as well. I haven’t visited enough times to suggest there’s always a queue, but it’s something we noticed on more than one independent visit. Still, I’ll happily take four bathrooms over zero.
Air Canada Cafe vs. Maple Leaf Lounge at YVR
Some travellers searching for this space refer to it as the maple leaf cafe, but the distinction between an Air Canada Café and a traditional Maple Leaf Lounge is worth understanding.
For me, C50 has narrowed the gap considerably. If I want to settle in for a long layover, have a slower meal and spend a couple of hours relaxing, the traditional Maple Leaf Lounge still has advantages.
For almost everything else, I now prefer the Café.
Here’s how the two Vancouver Café locations compare:
| Feature | New C50 Café | Original C46/C47 Café |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 4,489 sq. ft. | 2,142 sq. ft. |
| Seats | 84 | 52 |
| Current hours | 5 AM–10 PM | 5 AM–8 PM |
| Staffed barista | Yes | No |
| Full-service bar | Yes | No |
| Internal washrooms | 4 | None |
| Showers | No | No |
| Grab-and-go | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Longer visits, late flights, barista coffee and bar | Quick stops and gates near C46/C47 |
The smaller Café still has a purpose. If my gate is nearby and I only want to grab something quickly, I’m not going to walk farther simply for the sake of visiting C50.
But if I have time? C50 wins for me.
Why Two Air Canada Cafes at YVR Is Good News
As someone who flies out of YVR regularly, overcrowding has been one of my recurring complaints about Air Canada’s domestic lounge setup for years. I’ve stood in those Maple Leaf Lounge lines plenty of times, which is why I think adding a second Café matters beyond simply giving travellers another place to get a coffee.
There are now three Air Canada lounge options in the domestic terminal, spreading eligible passengers across the Maple Leaf Lounge and two Cafés. On my recent visits, I’ve already seen how different the experience can be depending on the time of day: C50 was packed on one visit and remarkably quiet later in the evening on another.
It also means you can choose based on what you actually need. Grab something and go at the smaller Café, sit down with a proper coffee or beer at C50, or head to the Maple Leaf Lounge if you want a more traditional lounge experience.
I’ve also tried the Café concept elsewhere, including the Air Canada Café in Montreal and the original Air Canada Café in Toronto. Of all the versions I’ve visited, C50 feels like the most complete expression of the concept so far.
Making a Vancouver Stopover Out of It
If you’re flying into Vancouver rather than simply connecting, don’t let your food and drink experience end at YVR.
For first-time visitors, a food tour is an easy way to get acquainted with the city. You can book a Gastown food tour or explore another side of the city on a Vancouver Chinatown tour.
Beer fans can also book a Vancouver brewery tour, which makes a particularly fitting addition after sampling some of the local craft beer Air Canada is showcasing at C50.
Still sorting out the trip? You can compare flights to Vancouver or find a Vancouver rental car if you’re heading beyond the city.
Final Thoughts: Is the New YVR Air Canada Cafe Worth Visiting?
Yes.
More importantly, I think this is the Air Canada Café Vancouver should have had from the beginning.
The first location is perfectly functional, and I still appreciate its local food and grab-and-go options. But without a barista, proper bar or internal bathroom, it always felt like a scaled-down version of the concept.
C50 fixes those shortcomings.
It’s more than twice the size, has 84 seats, proper bathrooms, a full bar, barista-made coffee, local beer, good hot food, Lee’s Donuts and plenty of food and drinks to take with you.
My experiences at different times of day have also shown me why having two Cafés matters. My first C50 visit was busy. My later visit was quiet enough that I could sit at the window counter, charge my devices, get some work done and enjoy a Persephone beer and bao while watching the sunset.
That’s a pretty good way to start a flight.
At this point, C50 is my favourite domestic Air Canada lounge option at YVR.
I hope Air Canada maintains it that way.
Airport lounges take a beating, and I’ve already noticed some signs of age creeping into the original Toronto Café. You can see what I mean in my full Air Canada Café Toronto review.
For now, though, Vancouver finally has an Air Canada Café that lives up to the name.
And yes, I’ll probably take another Lee’s honey dip for the flight.
What say you?
Have you visited both Vancouver Air Canada Cafés? Do you prefer C50, the original Café or the Maple Leaf Lounge? Let me know which one you head to before a domestic flight from YVR.
Flying Through Vancouver? Where to Stay Near YVR
YVR Air Canada Cafe FAQ
Where is the new YVR Air Canada Cafe?
The larger Air Canada Café is in YVR’s domestic terminal on the C concourse, just before Gates C50 and C51. There is also a smaller Café between Gates C46 and C47.
What are the Air Canada Cafe YVR hours?
The new YVR Air Canada Cafe at Gate C50 is open from 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily. The original C46/C47 Café is open from 5:00 AM to 8:00 PM, making C50 particularly useful for later evening departures. Lounge hours can change, so check before travelling.
What is on the Air Canada Cafe menu?
The menu varies by time of day and can change, but I’ve found breakfast sandwiches, hot dishes, salads, snacks and extensive grab-and-go choices. Air Canada also highlights char siu pork bao, vegan curry bao, vegetarian kimbap and Lee’s Donuts among its Vancouver offerings.
Does the AC Cafe YVR have bathrooms?
Yes. The C50 Café has four private individual washrooms with toilets and sinks. There are no showers. The original C46/C47 Café does not have an internal washroom.
Is the new Vancouver Air Canada Cafe better than the original?
For my travel habits, yes. The new C50 Café is larger and adds a staffed barista, full-service bar and internal washrooms while retaining the food and grab-and-go features I like about the original. The smaller Café still makes sense when its location is more convenient for your gate.
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What say you?
Thoughts on this Air Canada Cafe Vancouver Review?
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