Anyone used Air Canada?

[leaskovski]

Are you flying there for a ski trip to Whistler per chance?

Yeah, but only for 5 days. We are out there for a 2 weeks in total, but the Mrs isn't that mad on skiing so she wants to get the train down to Seattle and also do Vancouver Island. Only after that can we go to Whistler for some skiing, and then after that a blooming wedding to go to back in Vancouver.

 

[leaskovski]

I'm actually looking at doing it with stops to save a bit of money, I'm actually looking to fly to Seattle and Air Canada come out not the cheapest but with the best itiniary - changing planes in Vancouver on the way out and Calgary on the way back. Oddly it's cheaper than flying just to Vancouver, direct, but there we go.

I've put this trip off every year because the prices were disproportionately silly but I figure its never going to get any better so I'd give it a go this year.



Trouble is every airline on Transat with the exception of Air New Zealand fits this description. It's nothing like as nice as the choice of high quality carriers you get going via Asia.

You can try doing stop overs in Iceland, that can bring it down.

IIRC I could have done it for about 650 to 700 each with non stupid stop over times.

We also spotted another site that allowed to go via a chartered flight and again, that was dirt cheap, though the flights were only Wednesdays or something. I shall see if I can find that site again.

 

[jon86]

Pretty standard really when I've used them in the past. I flew last month with Air Transat who are very budget and there wasn't any meaningful difference in the service.

I flew to Calgary with my Canadian girlfriend with Air Transat in December and the flight was fine. We got a meal and some entertainment and our bags arrived safely. We quite like AT. In fact, we're flying to Toronto at the end of next month with AT. The same flights with Air Canada were at least 30 - 40% more expensive.

I last used them about 18 months ago and the transatlantic flights were decent enough in economy although they're all much of a muchness. A number of years ago I had to take a few internal flights with Air Canada and 3 out of the 4 were late - not that it mattered much but it was a bit of an irritation. They may well have improved on that in the interim though. I'd certainly have no issues with using them again if the price was reasonable.

My Canadian girlfriend has had major issues with internal Air Canada flights in the past. Seems to be quite hit and miss as to whether (internal) flights leave on time or not.

Excellent feedback, seems there is no real reason to avoid them. Considerably cheaper than BA (Infact I can fly to Australia for less than BA want to fly to Seattle or Vancouver).

I think their transatlantic flights are fine, albeit fairly expensive. Their internal flights can be a different story though.

EDIT:

...
We also spotted another site that allowed to go via a chartered flight and again, that was dirt cheap, though the flights were only Wednesdays or something. I shall see if I can find that site again.

That would have likely been www.airtransat.com.

A direct flight that we booked back on the 15th of Jan cost use £800 each (both the Mrs and I are going), so a smack of 1600 to the savings account had to be made.

I'm pretty sure we saw it cheaper else where, but that would have been non direct flights with the possibility of stops overs for up to 6 hours which wouldn't have been good. I also think that it you fly out there mid week instead of the Sunday that we are, then it would probably also be cheaper.

Yeah, if you are prepared to be flexible with flight dates, flights can be significantly cheaper.

e.g.

Just did a search on Air Transat's website and you can get a direct flight from Gatwick to Vancouver in April of this year for £558 per person but they only fly there on Tuesdays.

 

[leaskovski]

Air Transat!!!!

Yes, thats the one!!!! Thanks!

 

[Tunney]

My experience is that they're OK, nothing better. The planes I've flown on (to Ottawa and Montreal) have been pretty old and didn't have personal TVs.

They're fine if you're visiting the east side of Canada. If I was visiting somewhere like Vancouver then I might consider paying a bit more for a better experience.

 

[olv]

I flew to Calgary with my Canadian girlfriend with Air Transat in December and the flight was fine. We got a meal and some entertainment and our bags arrived safely. We quite like AT. In fact, we're flying to Toronto at the end of next month with AT. The same flights with Air Canada were at least 30 - 40% more expensive.

£500 return to Calgary from Gatwick, can't really complain.

 

[semi-pro waster]

You can try doing stop overs in Iceland, that can bring it down.

Yep, I'd forgotten about it but someone at work told me that Icelandair are doing fairly decent deals in that you can stop over in Iceland for up to 7 days at no extra charge so if you fancied seeing Iceland it's not a bad way to combine the trips. Just picking a fairly random selection of dates in April/May would allow me to do it for about £760 and with a bit of playing about you might be able to find something cheaper. It would suit me as I've got a few mates in Reykjavik I could visit but not everyone has the time to do that on a holiday anyway.

My Canadian girlfriend has had major issues with internal Air Canada flights in the past. Seems to be quite hit and miss as to whether (internal) flights leave on time or not.

I didn't want to blame them too much in case it was just a bit of bad luck or a dodgy period they were going through but interesting to know it wasn't just me. It didn't matter much for me though as it simply meant it cut down my time hanging about for the changeover.

 

[richolmes72]

Went to Vancouver in September 2010 and British Airways were much cheaper than anyone else. £450 total going one way to Vancouver and then back to the UK from Phoenix, road tripping in between.

Flew Air Canada to Montreal recently though and they were fine, pretty average - though not as nice as KLM which I used last time.

 

[lucky13]

I am looking at flights to visit a mate in Calgary. Flights next jan/feb seem to be about 750 but when I went 3 years ago I booked two months before going for 440. Seems a lot

 

[Rwac]

We got flights to Vancouver Peak Season £600 pp, had to book quite a while in advance.

Virgin Atlantic. From Heathrow (5 min drive).

 

[Rroff]

Used KLM in the past and it was more in the region of 380 (and upto about 700) :| looking at my old routes its 600-1900 with most around 719.

 

[gobbo]

I used them fairly regularly about 2-3 years ago between Heathrow and Calgary. Always had good service from them in economy, as good as BA/Virgin et al