Air Transat Cancelled my flights!

[tinkerbell181]

Just a warning if you are travelling on Air Transat. We are headed down to Disney in November and this morning I thought I would check availability on our flight just in case my mom was able to come along with us. But for some reason my flight would not come up! So I checked the schedule on the Air Transat website, and my flight was not there! So I called, and after being on hold a long, long time, I was told my flight was canceled, and they were planning on moving me to a Canjet flight that was 3 days later. Well, that did not work; we already have hotel reservations, car rental, etc.
The worst part: I wondered if they ever planned on telling me it was cancelled, it was just a fluke that I came upon it - they said they would have contacted me in the next 2 - 4 weeks to let me know !!!! That's nuts, I can't imagine not finding out till then!
So long story short I got a refund, am booked with Westjet (for $100 more total and one extra night at Disney so at least that part is cool!)

Soooo, if you are booked on Air Transat for November (or anytime!) to Orlando from Toronto, just take a peek online and check the flight schedule and make sure yours is okay!

 

[C&B Young]

That's awful! I've heard about US carriers doing this (the similarly named Air Tran in particular). Thank goodness you got a comparably-priced flight on a more reliable carrier.

 

[coastgirl]

Whoa. That is some pretty awful customer service. Thanks for telling us--we usually drive to the US to fly, but there's another reason not to fly Air Transat. (The only time we did was a charter to Mexico years ago, and it was AWFUL.)

 

[Polydweller]

Flew Air Transat a couple of times years ago but won't again, it just wasn't good.

The thing is that unlike Air Canada and West Jet they aren't a 'scheduled' air carrier. They are officially a charter company with only 18 air craft. That means that if a flight hasn't enough passengers they don't fly it.

Our experience also has been that if they have a problem with an air craft the fleet is too small to provide another. Years ago we got stuck in Las Vegas because the plane that was to pick us up was stuck in Toronto with mechanical problems. Then when it was fixed there wasn't a flight crew available due to the reasonable laws about the number of hours they can fly in a day. Heard stories like this from friends too so it wasn't a unique situation.

So yes, you're right people should check frequently and decide whether this company is the correct choice for them.

 

[TheBig2na]

They are terrible. our last trip the guy booking us in ignored me when i tried to talk to him casually twice. Then they changed our flight while we were down there to a canjet flight that was 4 hours later and didn't tell us. worst part is i checked on the internet and our flight on transat said it was on time just before we left Disney. At the airport i had to call them and got passed around and around before i finally told one lady i wasnt getting off the phone until she figured it out. 45 minutes later we were told it was Canjet and it was later in the evening. always fun with a 2 year old who didnt get on the plane until 45 minutes after his bedtime. melt down. to top it off i contacted their customer service department and got no reply. They lost me after that...Back to Buffalo for us.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

This was way back in December 1997 but my family and I had a horrible experience with Air Transat. We were scheduled to fly on their afternoon flight from Toronto - Orlando, however when we picked up our tickets from our travel agent he said they changed the flight and we would first stop at St. Pete/Clearwater International Airport, then after a layover over there we would be flying into Orlando. Well the problem was that 5% of people on that flight were going to St. Pete/Clearwater and the 95% of the others all continued onto Orlando. So we couldn't understand why they made such a stupid decision and didn't arrive in Orlando 1st and St. Pete/Clearwater 2nd, plus our travel agent said there was nothing he could do in terms of getting us on a direct flight.

 

[2gr8DisneyKids]

I have had flights canceled or moved on US carriers before, but was always informed and if it was a big change I got them to change me to another flight for free. Taking a hit of 3 days and no phone call is unacceptable, not to mention the other stories here... add in the fact that no one in the air safety division of my husband's office will fly them we will hope for a WJ or AC deal or trek to the US.

Glad you found a good deal on WJ!

 

[jemd]

This is TERRIBLE! I can't imagine them not contacting you!!
We had a bad experience 4 yrs ago with them... our flight to Orlando was suppose to leave early morning and when we got to the airport it was delayed. They continued delaying until 12 hrs later. We missed 1 day at disney but some other people missed their family reunion cruise because they weren't honest about how long the delay would be.

Bad customer service.

 

[cpbjgc]

Just keep checking your flights. Westjet has done the same to us a few times(and didn't tell us, we only discovered it each time because I was checking the itinerary). We lost a full day on our trip this past March.

 

[SmilingGrump]

I have had flights canceled or moved on US carriers before, but was always informed and if it was a big change I got them to change me to another flight for free. Taking a hit of 3 days and no phone call is unacceptable, not to mention the other stories here... add in the fact that no one in the air safety division of my husband's office will fly them we will hope for a WJ or AC deal or trek to the US.

Glad you found a good deal on WJ!

As bad as the stories are about cancelled or delayed flights, this is the reason to never fly them.