Air Transat question

[ad836]

Hello everyone,

We will be travelling to Orlando this coming April 2nd using Air Transat. "We" are two families - 4 adults and 3 kids (aged 5,6,9). This will be our first time to use Air Transat, also our first time to WDW. Our departure time is 6:30 am. We live about 30 minutes from the airport. We plan to leave the house at 3:30 am (kids will have to be in bed at 7pm the night before), then do the "Park 'n Fly" thing, arriving at the terminal at 4:30 am. Has anybody taken this early flight before? Are the Air Transat counters open by 4:30 am? Are the food places inside the airport open for breakfast by that time? Any tips/suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[SandraC]

We had that flight from Toronto to Orlando via Air Transat last year. You should call Air Transat to see when the counter opens. I think we got to the airport (from Streetsville area in Mississauaga) about 4:30-5am (I should check my notes to make sure) We had plenty of time and it went very smoothly. I like Air Transat. We are flying Air Canada in April 2002 for a change. Good luck! Sandra

 

[mickey65]

I flew with them a few years back. We arrived that early too, I think the counter opened at 4:30 or 5:00. It was good to be there early because if you don't have reserved seating tickets....you can ask for good seats. The ones near the emergency exits have the most room. The seats are pretty small if you have tall adults in your party, but the ones by the emergency exits have no seats in front of them so it is very roomy!

There was one place open when we first got there...( a coffee donut kinda thing I think) we had packed granola bars, water and fruit to eat before we got on the plane, so we just go in the line to wait, and ate as we were waiting.....and waiting.

Have a great time!!

 

[Sandiebean]

We flew out Air Transat on that early flight a few years ago. At that time.. nothing opened until shortly before we boarded. We had enough time to grab a coffee and muffin though.

You need to arrive at this time if you want to have your choice of seats.. and to ensure you get seats together. (unless you are spending the extra money to pick your seats ahead of time)

Sandie

 

[tracycd]

Hello ad836,

We too flew with Air transat last April. and had an early flight.
I believe the counter opened at 4:30 am. But then we had to wait
for US customs to open. I don't think they opened until 5:30 am.
You should have seen the line up behind us. I was soooo glad we had
arrived early!!
Hope you have a great trip!
Tracycd

 

[SandraC]

Okay! I just dug out my Q-cards (yes, I made daily Q-cards for the trip ~ it was great for dh to glance at them the night before and they had our PS# and schedule). I made a mistake in my first post (you think you'll remember everything!) Our 6:30am flight was changed to 8:00am several days before departure, flight 544 8am departo (we arrived early in Orlando). In 1998 the flight was 6:30am with Canada 3000! OOPS!

Here is what we did: (Friday, April 20, 2001)
4:00am wake up (we live near Streetsville, about 20-30 minutes drive to airport)
4:30am wake up kids
5:00am Airport Limo to arrive (it was 10 minutes late)
5:35am-ish arrive at airport
The counter was open, we only had two families ahead of us and it went fast. By the time we sat down at the gate (we were the first people there!) we had almost 2 hours to wait. Can't remember the gate #, but it was the last one at the very end of the hall. There was a great snack counter, one of the fancier types with flavoured coffee and LOTS of food ~ like a Starbucks but WAY better! Lots of variety of food and drinks.

We prebooked our seats with Air Transat. dh, dd (7 years old at the time) and I had seats ~ ds was only 15 months old (small kid) didn't buy him a seat. We prebooked the bulkhead with the TV screen. As soon as we got on the plane we asked for a bassinette. ds sat and played in the bassinette the whole time, FREE seat! Prebooking cost $10 per seat each way, the added $60 was worth it! This April we are flying Air Canada and prebooked seats as well, it's free to prebook with AC. Air Transat was fine to fly with, the food was the worst airline food we ever had, but I'm not on the plane to eat. With Air Canada I made special food requests for my kids. Have a great day! Sandra

 

[ad836]

Thanks, everyone. That was a lot of useful information for us.