Air Transat?

[StarSeven7]

I am a former travel agent so I've booked clients on Air Transat flights and Transat Holidays vacations but I've never actually flown with them myself! We're looking to travel with our kids to the UK next year and the flight prices are great with Transat. I know that the seats are a bit narrower and there's not as much leg room - that's a fair trade to me to pay less money. Any feedback on them as an airline? We are used to flying budget airlines - we regularly fly Spirit to Florida, have flown with Frontier and also Ryanair and Easyjet in Europe and we have no issue with them. I don't mind paying for the things we will use as long as the bottom line price is lower (and it always has been for us). I would love to hear any personal experiences from people. Also, I signed my kids up for their kids program which says it includes free seat selection - can anyone tell me how this works? Thanks!

 

[Debbie]

We flew for the first time with AT in October. We flew YYZ-YUL-FCO Coming home it was direct FCO-YYZ. The flight was good. We left late from Toronto, so were much more rushed in Montreal for the connection. Coming home was great. Food was decent, entertainment fine. We had upgraded to their Eco Flex, so got a few extras along with priority boarding and 2 suitcases each. I'd book Air Transat again. In fact I keep looking at their winter packages.

 

[StarSeven7]

We flew for the first time with AT in October. We flew YYZ-YUL-FCO Coming home it was direct FCO-YYZ. The flight was good. We left late from Toronto, so were much more rushed in Montreal for the connection. Coming home was great. Food was decent, entertainment fine. We had upgraded to their Eco Flex, so got a few extras along with priority boarding and 2 suitcases each. I'd book Air Transat again. In fact I keep looking at their winter packages.

Thanks for the feedback! The flights we are looking at are nonstop which is perfect!

 

[mkmommy]

I just got back from a package I booked with Air Miles to Lisbon and it was Air Transat.

I was impressed. The plane was a new Airbus321 , more legroom than my last Air Canada or Delta flights. Service and food were fine and the on board entertainment was great, watched, Aladdin, Lion King and Toy Story 4.
I thought it was great value and would not hesitate to book them again.

 

[StarSeven7]

I just got back from a package I booked with Air Miles to Lisbon and it was Air Transat.

I was impressed. The plane was a new Airbus321 , more legroom than my last Air Canada or Delta flights. Service and food were fine and the on board entertainment was great, watched, Aladdin, Lion King and Toy Story 4.
I thought it was great value and would not hesitate to book them again.

Awesome! I was expecting people to tell me horror stories so this makes me really happy! Thanks for the feedback!

 

[dish rag]

I like Air Transat.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Beware....as you know they " contract " planes to come in at times. We had used them with my daughter's destination wedding. We had some nighmarish things occur.

The Edmonton Crew had a horrible time trying to log in at the 24 hrs to check in and select their seats - Both ways. Families with younger kids were separated, and were told at the airport that they would NOT be willing to try to move people around so my 2 nieces who were 8 and 10 wouldn't have to sit with strangers - as the families were scattered all over the plane. And this was both on the way down and return.

The crew that left Calgary ( us ) we had no problems doing the 24 hr check in. but our plane was NOT an air transat plane. It was an older canadian north plane on the way down. We did have an app that we could quickly download onto our devices about 10 minutes before we boarded, as they were over an HOUR late arriving for a 9:00 am flight. Other than that plane...which was not full ( thank god ) we could spread out. NOW....coming home. Again...plane was late. Only this plane was freeking ancient and should probably not be in service anymore.

It was noticeable that this plane was ANCIENT. It still had the seats that used to have the ashtrays in them but were retrofitted to have the headphone jacks in them. The onboard entertainment was from the early 90's when the screens were part of bulkhead cabinets - where they put in a DVD...which never worked. The seats were VERY cramped - and should NOT to be used for long haul flights. Our flight was 6+ hours. When the movie actually worked...the earphone jacks did not. And if you have a newer phone that needed the attachment for your earphones to work you were SOL for actually be able to watch and listen at the same time. There was NO food...only softdrinks and water and some gross pretzels that tasted like they were from 1972. The plane was full!!! It was a VERY long trip some cramped, sitting in the middle seat for 6+ hours on this plane. I'm a tall women ( over 5'10 " ) and I was CRAMPED. My legs and arms kept falling asleep because the woman beside me decided she needed to use both arm rests. The bulk heads kept randomly opening...with items falling out hitting people in the head. It was a freeking joke.

I felt very sorry for the travel agent for our group, as she got many angry calls from our family over this...and i'm sure any other travel agents from the people on our plane, were calling them or AIR Transat over their experience. And honestly...they didn't care less. I won't ever be travel with them again. They were rude, disrespectful and cheap!!!!! I'll be willing to pay more next time to make sure my comfort and my concerns are addressed instead of basically be given the the f you.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I've travelled AT many, many ,many times. The service has gone down hill in recent years but that's the same with most. Onboard comfort and inflight services are good, not really any worse than any other major carrier. I would recommend them to just about anyone with a warning. Do your research and know what equipment they are operating for your flights so that you know what to expect. The inflight services vary widely based on the route and the aircraft.

Where they have really taken a nose dive is ground services at YYZ. Partially AT staff but also they have a bad relationship with Swissport which provides baggage handling and it spills over to the customer. Never fly AT without adding an upgrade like Option Plus for a flight into YYZ. You will need the priority baggage service or else you'll be waiting a very long time for your bags. Make sure that whichever upgrade you add you know what you're entitled to with it because often the FA/ground staff don't know. The long and short of it is that AT is not at the top of my list but often I need to fly at a certain time of day and if they offer it at the right price then I'll fly with them again.

 

[StarSeven7]

Thanks for the replies everyone! We did book flights with them. The planes to Europe look like they have more services/amenities than some of their other flights so I think we’ll be ok. We did not do any upgrades as for us that kind of defeats the purpose of booking cheap flights! If we have to wait a while for our bags that will be disappointing but we’ll survive!