Air Canada Drama

[sjsjbrook]

I am switching to West Jet, always flew AC, but now that they charge baggage fees and West Jet doesn't, it is better for my family of 6 to fly with West Jet.

Now just to decide when we are flying to WDW.

[DisneyFairytale]

Originally Posted by Celidh

Normally if I am flying I book either Air Canada or Westjet, although I prefer the people at Westjet. With all the hassle Air Canada has been having in the past year with strikes, work stopages, etc. I am nervous to even consider booking a flight with Air Canada. I have no idea whether I would make it or not.

My partner and I are going to WDW the end of September. I think we are going to book on Westjet, even if it costs us a bit more. Air Canada just makes me too nervous. Of course if Westjet has outrageous prices and Air Canada doesn't, I may have to consider it. I do have a Westjet MC and have enough for one leg of my trip in Westjet dollars so that makes a difference too.

Anyone else have misgivings about Air Canada these days?

Would love to hear your opinion.

If the prices are that much higher with westjet, why not book with AC and just pay the extra fee that allows you to cancel and get a refund on your flight? I cant imagine AC having troubles last until the fall, that would be nuts, but if they do you are protected and you can take your money elsewhere.

[Celidh]

Originally Posted by DisneyFairytale

If the prices are that much higher with westjet, why not book with AC and just pay the extra fee that allows you to cancel and get a refund on your flight? I cant imagine AC having troubles last until the fall, that would be nuts, but if they do you are protected and you can take your money elsewhere.

That would be why I said if they were a bit more, I would go with Westjet but if it was a lot, I would have to consider AC.

I'll just wait and see. I still check both sites every day for flights.

As far as being protected, that doesn't help you if your flight gets cancelled within days of travel and your plans get messed up because you have to reschedule a flight. Especially if you only have a short vacation. When I'm only going for 7 days, I don't want to lose a day and mess up my reservation.

Vacations can be stressful enough, I don't want to worry about whether my flight will get cancelled, other than the normal flight worries that goes along with flying.

[fivebyfive]

Air Canada has been at this for well over a year now. WestJet will get my money from now on, regardless of how much more it costs.

I was booked with AC the day after the Wildcat strike. The morning of, they delayed my flight. They said if your flight was delayed more than 1 hour that they would refund your ticket if you decided to cancel.

I cancelled and re-booked one-way on WestJet.

On the way back (AC), we kept getting delay after delay while sitting in the Orlando airport. NOT fun.

I am STILL waiting on my 'credit' from Air Canada, I called, they said they couldn't do anything, that I had to fill out some form on their website (which I've done) and they tried to tell me that the baggage fees I pre-paid before my scheduled flight are non-refundable.

Did I mention that WestJet would get my business from now on?

[pxlbarrel]

We flew Air Canada to China and back for our ABD tour. I was nervous all the way until we flew, especially since the wildcat strike was one week before we left. But the flight was comfortable, the flight attendants were lovely. The whole experience, except for the uncertainty leading up to it, was very nice.

It is a huge shame that this is continuing to bog down the airline. I am looking for flights in November now and it looks like we'll be doing West Jet ... mainly because their flight times are better than AC's though.

[Daisy-J&D]

We booked AC again for our flight this September because although West Jet had a similar seat sale, I couldn't get Friday-Sunday or Saturday-Sunday flights with West Jet. Their prices went up for the Friday/Sat departures and it just wasn't in our budget.

That said, we were in Florida during a potential strike last year... really had no idea if we were going to be affected and ONLY knew about it because we ended up on a bus to the parks with Canadians who WERE freaking out about it. I guess if you're at your destination it is not as stressful as if you were departing... but we didn't worry too much about it.

We're taking the risk again this year and I'm not at all worried... if something happens the day or week before, maybe but until then I have no issue at all booking with AC.

Disclaimer: My uncle is a retired AC Captain and my Aunt is a retired AC flight Attendant. My family flies AC and always has because we get discounts/free passes etc... so maybe I'm more accepting because of this even when paying with my own money.

[lengmui]

We ended up booking AC (even though we didn't want to) to LAX next week as a last-minute trip as well. They were the only airline aside from WJ that did non-stop, and I find flights with stops just as risky for delays anyway. WJ was significantly more expensive than AC for this flight though..and even flying out of Buffalo was just $50 cheaper, so figured we would stick with AC.

Booking the earliest trip there, hoping if there is some problem they could get us on a slightly later flight. If there are problems on our way back, just another day off from work

Definitely though, if taking long-haul flights I won't consider AC anymore regardless of price. I'd rather get stuck in the US with a lot of options back than halfway around the world.

[thebigman65]

I feel so sorry for those of you who can't easily fly from the states....I am so grateful, that we can fly out of Buffalo with only an hours drive.....And it is way cheaper too.....I will never fly AC or Westjet again unless it is the same cost.....and we all know what the chances of that are!

[manolete]

We live in Calgary and we fly neither Westjet nor Air Canada. Westjet is way too expensive and we still have to change planes in Toronto. Air Canada is highway robbery so no. We fly United for around 600 dlls round trip.

[monkey30]

We are booked with Alaskan airlines for the next trip, we got flights to LAX for 311 return

[pxlbarrel]

We just booked West Jet. AC's flights just weren't convenient. We were going to fly out of Buffalo but the cost difference wasn't great enough for us.

[Daisy-J&D]

Originally Posted by thebigman65

I feel so sorry for those of you who can't easily fly from the states....I am so grateful, that we can fly out of Buffalo with only an hours drive.....And it is way cheaper too.....I will never fly AC or Westjet again unless it is the same cost.....and we all know what the chances of that are!

We live close enough(Oakville) to drive to Buffalo. We briefly considered it but the non-stop flights were few and far between and cost was pretty much the same. SW, the cheapest, was about $125per return ticket cheaper but with timing that wouldn't work for us.

It's clear that a lot of people find flying out of buffalo cheaper but I only want to fly direct and any deals that I ever see seem to have stops or plane changes (I don't want to fly to Chicago or Baltimore before going to New York, for example). I guess if I were to be extra frugal that stress/time wouldn't matter but right now I'd rather pay to fly out of Canada.

[thebigman65]

Originally Posted by Daisy-J&D

We live close enough(Oakville) to drive to Buffalo. We briefly considered it but the non-stop flights were few and far between and cost was pretty much the same. SW, the cheapest, was about $125per return ticket cheaper but with timing that wouldn't work for us.

It's clear that a lot of people find flying out of buffalo cheaper but I only want to fly direct and any deals that I ever see seem to have stops or plane changes (I don't want to fly to Chicago or Baltimore before going to New York, for example). I guess if I were to be extra frugal that stress/time wouldn't matter but right now I'd rather pay to fly out of Canada.

I am talking strictly about going to Orlando and we always fly Jet Blue. They have at least 1 or 2 non-stop flights per day. The cost difference is huge. March break 2012, we paid $835 return, taxes in, for 2 of us and I know people have found better. I can never find flights on AC or WestJet for less than $450 each!....I am not sure about other destination, but flying to Orlando out of Buffalo can't be beat and the customs deal is way easier too!

[pxlbarrel]

Originally Posted by thebigman65

I am talking strictly about going to Orlando and we always fly Jet Blue. They have at least 1 or 2 non-stop flights per day. The cost difference is huge. March break 2012, we paid $835 return, taxes in, for 2 of us and I know people have found better. I can never find flights on AC or WestJet for less than $450 each!....I am not sure about other destination, but flying to Orlando out of Buffalo can't be beat and the customs deal is way easier too!

Somtimes the cost difference is huge and it usually depends on how many people are flying. The cost difference multiplied by a family for 4 may be enough for somebody to fly out of Buffalo but for 2 people, it may not be enough ... especially if you have to get a hotel room or parking in Buffalo.

I found, the other day, an AC flight for less than $400 from Toronto ... but the flight times really sucked for our plans ... but if you didn't mind arriving in Orlando at 7 pm, it would have been pretty good. Flying out of Buffalo vs West Jet out of Toronto would have been around $100 per person difference and there were 3 of us. We would have had to get 2 rooms in Buffalo (no, trust me, 2 rooms not 1...or we would have killed each other). 2 rooms in Buffalo plus gas plus time to drive there and back .... it wasn't worth saving $300.

I don't see the great savings like I used. A few years ago, I flew out of Buffalo to Orlando for less than $200. Now ... THAT was worth it.

[son3disfan]

Originally Posted by Tower

Just got a contract that requires me to fly about 6X to Vancouver over the remainder of the year. I'm only 90 min from Buffalo and will fly from Buffalo to Seattle and drive across the border rather than give Air Canada any more of my money! They just don't get it!

This is very interesting....
I would love to hear more. Are you going to rent a car? I have heard Canadians in the Us can not cross the border back into Canada with a US rental....

I know some options are a train or bus ( three hour ride).

The reason I am interested is we too live 30 mins from the border to Buffalo, and are going on an Alaska cruise next summer out of Vancouver.
I am pricing out airfare in Canada and it is double from YYZ-Vancouver compared to buffalo - Seattle.
Just not sure about the seatle to Vancouver piece.
For a family of 5 it would be a huge savings....
Would love to hear your experience.thank!