Air Canada

[Cooljoe]

Ok, so have always flown WestJet and never had a problem. Planning a DLR trip this fall and need to us Airmiles and it will be on AirCanada the dates we want. For those of you who have used them, are they as bad as I have heard???

 

[Disney Daniel]

Having flown both, I prefer Air Canada over WestJet. I enjoy the entertainment on AC flights (with several pre-selected films, television shows and music as opposed to WestJet's live TV) and while some feel that WestJet has far superior customer service with a more upbeat flight crew, as a general rule I find little difference between the two.

I also like the fact that as a member of the Star Alliance, AC has a pretty good number of friends in the sky. So, when traveling outside of Canada if you need to be re-routed due to a connection issue / delay you have the possibility of flights on United, US Airways, etc.

 

[ccudmore]

I'll agree with the PP that I much prefer AC over WestJet. I've travelled extensively for both work and pleasure and AC is always my preference. Here's why:
- Better in-flight entertainment
- More extensive schedule so if I miss a connection there's more chance of making another same-day connection. Plus I get more choice in flight times. For example, on an upcoming flight I booked on WJ that had a 3-hour connection. Not too bad. But then just a few weeks ago WJ called to say that they'd updated their flight schedules and now I'm going to have an 8-hour layover. If I'd booked on AC (which was more expensive for this trip so the reason I booked WJ) I would have had a 3 1/2 hour layover and that hasn't changed. You also have a better chance at finding direct flights.
- More real attention to passengers. The joking around and corny announcements by WJ FA's gets really old really fast if you're flying frequently. They'd rather be funny than be courteous or caring to their passengers. They're safety announcements are pretty much useless as they distract from the real message of what to do if there's an emergency.

My 2-cents worth anyways.

 

[grantclaire]

My last 2 trips were on AC and my next 2 are on WJ. I book whoever is cheaper! Some things I have noticed, I think the WJ planes are cleaner, AC does have better schedules and has free seat selection at booking. AC now has the bag fees. WJ did change my return flight from MCO in Jan 12 from a one hour stopover in Ottawa to an overnight stopover. When I called WJ they put us on a direct flight instead at no charge for changing and no fare increase( the direct flight was more $ ) For a short flight to Florida I just look for the best times and lowest fare.

 

[MikeyNS]

I think AC gets a really bad rap from people online.. I also prefer AC over WJ. Never had a problem and they accommodated a few weather delays fine. I always like knowing AC has a number of flights leaving rather than one or two WJ flights, so getting home won't be that much of an issue when I'm flying with them during the winter.

 

[SmilingGrump]

The AC experience is based largely on two factors:
1 - The individual flight crew
2 - Where you fly out of

AC does have some great crews. I know some of them personally and many do their best to make the flight enjoyable for the passengers. However, AC morale is very poor. As evidenced by the recent strike vote, management and crew are at each other's throat and AC crew have often had to sleep in the terminals because of managements poor planning. Considering this, it's little wonder that you can get some very bad crews.

Westjet, on the other hand, are owners in their airline and that not-so-little fact is a major improvement on morale.


Connections for AC if you fly out of the East or Vancouver are great. If you fly out of the prairies .... not so much. They route most flights through Toronto or they use one of their Star Alliance partners and route through Denver, Minneappolis, etc ... in which case why book AC when you can book that US airline for far cheaper?

Westjet has great flights out of Calgary and Vancouver ... out of Edmonton, though, they're really lacking (I'm not sure how their flights out of the East are). We used to have great connections, now they've gone seasonal with those. I'm hoping that the new terminal expansion will bring better (and cheaper) Westjet flights.


We prefer to fly Westjet over AC. In roughly 30 flights on WJ, we've never had a bad flight crew with them (though I have heard of others who have) but with AC I find it's quite likely we'll have a bad crew (I'd estimate 2/3 of the 50+ flights I've had with them). That being said, we find ourselves flying the main US carriers more often because they have often been much cheaper even when we add in having to pay for baggage.

 

[gilsan]

Westjet, on the other hand, are owners in their airline and that not-so-little fact is a major improvement on morale.

I personally have found WJ "owners" to be unpleasant unhelpful and unfriendly. I always laugh when I read or hear that WJ employees are owners and that is what makes a difference.

Once again that has just been my personal experience.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

The last time my family and I flew Air Canada on Aeroplan points was in December 2008. We were flying from Toronto - Orlando and then Tampa - Toronto, well we had a major problem. We didn't have confirmed seats on the Toronto - Orlando flight, only had them on the Tampa - Toronto flight. Basically we had agreed to go Standby and when we made the reservations online the Aeroplan website never said there wasn't any seats left on points for our flight. Had we known this we would have never done that and flown WestJet. Anyway the ticket agent said if we didn't get on the 10:15 AM flight we would then be confirmed on their next flight to Orlando, however that wasn't scheduled to leave until 8:55 PM and we would be forced to wait all day at Pearson Airport. Now thankfully we got 3 seats in Business Class along with the other Standby passengers on the morning flight so that was a relief. However since then we only fly on WestJet which we think is a lot better then Air Canada and I would be hesitent to fly on Aeroplan points because of what happened with our seats.

 

[Polydweller]

Not a fan of Westjet either. AC has usually given us better service and friendlier crews. Had several rather surly Westjet crews. We'll tak AC over Westjet any time.

 

[Nahanni]

I think service is about equal if things are going smoothly (i.e. no weather, equipment issues, etc). Have no recent experience with either when there are delays. I'd pick either over most US carriers.

For us, it comes down to schedule (especially if direct flights are availalbe)and price.

 

[Cooljoe]

Thanks all. Puts my mind at ease hearing good stuff. Just have to wait and see come mid Nov!!!!

 

[Daisy-J&D]

We just flew AC and had a pretty good experience. Both ways the crew was awesome HOWEVER on the way back our plane was changed from an Airbus A320 (3 seats/3seats) to an Embraer (2 seats/2 seats). That wasn't so much of an issue because they did do a good job of reloacting families however I was upset that a number of the in flight entertainment TV were not working including ours. So I mean, nothing really to complain about other than having prefered to have not had our seats changed and having working entertainment.

 

[manitobamickey]

Thanks all. Puts my mind at ease hearing good stuff. Just have to wait and see come mid Nov!!!!

The last two times we booked with Air Canada we ended up on United flights. Spring break when returning from our Mexican Riviera Disney Cruise, we flew out of John Wayne and then were to transfer in Denver. We all got on the plane and then for whatever reason, they cancelled the full flight (Sunday). They informed us inside that we were there for 5 days until they could confirm us on a flight out. We tried every major city in Canada thinking we could get a west jet flight if we got there. I phoned AC as we held their tickets. The best we could do was a Monday flight to Minneapolis, then a Tuesday flight home. No meals, no hotel, no sorry from United.

Will never fly AC again if the flight is being serviced by United!

 

[pxlbarrel]

I prefer AC over WJ too. Last time I flew WJ I wasn't very impressed. It didn't seem as clean and the seat pitch appeared smaller.

As for the previous post about United... I never book a flight if I know it's actually run by United. I detest United.

Sometimes, it's actually cheaper to book a United flight that's run by Air Canada than to book the actual Air Canada flight. I've done that sometimes (never the other way around). The caveat there is... you don't seem to have the same seat choice control that you would if you had booked an AC flight.

 

[C&B Young]

We just flew AC and had a pretty good experience. Both ways the crew was awesome HOWEVER on the way back our plane was changed from an Airbus A320 (3 seats/3seats) to an Embraer (2 seats/2 seats). That wasn't so much of an issue because they did do a good job of reloacting families however I was upset that a number of the in flight entertainment TV were not working including ours. So I mean, nothing really to complain about other than having prefered to have not had our seats changed and having working entertainment.

They did this on our recent flight back from WDW too, first time we had experienced that. There was a family at the check-in counter that was VERY upset about being split up. We were just happy to get on a flight before the pending strike (which didn't end up happening anyways, mind you). No problems with the in-flight entertainment on our end, although the movie selection was lousy!

 

[roxysmum123]

The only reason I would choose West Jet over Air Canada is the shaky ground they've been on with their employees lately and the recent strikes and strike threats.... after being stuck at the airport in Paris for HOURS because of baggage handlers being on strike years ago I'm always nervous when anyone in the travel industry says the dreaded "s" word. As far as crew, aircraft, and general experience goes, ain't nothin wrong with Air Canada.

 

[colin25]

I always fly AC since they're the only major airline that flies out of my small town, and it's always cheaper to book them straight through to LA. Although it would be great to have a bit of choice, I've had no problems with AC. Yes, I've heard all the horror stories associated with AC, but I've never dealt with any firsthand.

 

[ccudmore]

As I mentioned before I've always prefered AC. But last week I took 11 hours of flights on WJ and it'll be a long time before I do that again.

Issues:
- Seats: Very uncomfortable seats with noticably less padding than AC. My butt is still sore. Also both airlines show as having 32" pitch with 17" width, the WJ seats still felt a lot more cramped.
- Schedule: WJ seems to end up changing their flight schedules more often and because they have fewer flights, when they do change their schedule you don't have many or any other options. We ended up with an 8 hour layover in Vancouver due to flight schedule changes after we booked.
- Lounges: I can usually get hold of an AC lounge pass from friends but WJ uses 3rd party lounges that cost $15/person/hour - ouch (especially for the 8 hour layover)
- In-flight entertainment: The live TV on WJ is really not very useful. There's always a few channels not working well or at all, plus once you travel west of Vancouver (going to Hawaii for example), you lose all satellite TV coverage.

 

[damo]

We fly both depending on which is cheaper and I don't find that either one is superior. We've had delays with both and issues with both on poor communication. However, nothing major.

 

[Tantor]

Prefer AC as they do have movies to watch, just did two 8 hour flights and this helped kill the time. I also find AC has a better selection of times.