Air Transat

[tiffy]

We are thinking about flying Air Transat from Halifax N.S to Orlando this March. we have used Air Canada and Canada 3000 in the past Any information on Air Transat would be appreciated.

 

[SandraC]

We have flewn Canada 3000 a couple times to Orlando (from Toronto) and Air Transat once (April 2001). Both were fine. I wouldn't say I liked one better than the other. There were some differences but nothing significant to report.

 

[darkwing]

I've also flown both and can't really say that I have a preference to either. Normally that depends on whichever airline comes in the cheapest, especially since it's not a terribly long flight,

Chris

 

[dbltrbl]

Hi fellow bluenoser!

We flew to Orlando with Air Transat in Jan/Feb 2000 and Air Canada Jan/Feb 2001.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of travelling with Air Transat out of Halifax: DIRECT!! well, we actually had a short stop in St. Pete's... and cleared customs there very quickly. As far as I know, the Air Transat flights from Halifax to Orlando are typically 737s, and are almost always completely filled up. It was REALLY cramped. We actually had good times... flying out around 7am, and coming home arriving around 5pm. (I think they changed the times to flying out in the evening and returning really early am.) And of course.. they can offer some REALLY good prices.

What I enjoyed most with Air Canada was the flexibility in our dates... to leave on a day we chose, and stay for 10 days... the charters usually only fly out/into Halifax on certain days. I did not like having to go all the way to Toronto for a connecting flight to Orlando... we actually missed our connection because of bad weather. They weren't as packed as the Air Transat flights, so we were able to space out a bit with the extra seats. We managed to get a seat sale.. but the prices can be pretty high. And I love my aeroplan points.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[my3princesses]

Well, aside from Air Transat running out of fuel and flight attendants unable to control themselves - we had already agreed that we will never fly this company again (no matter how cheap it is to fly with them).

We had a nightmare with them at this time last year (changing flights/dates without telling us), terrible food, no extra space (especially leg room).

They have had 2 problems in the last few weeks!

Good luck!

 

[Home Alone]

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about the safety issues... right now they are probably being more closely "monitered" than any other airline because of their recent problems... which probably makes them the safest way to go!!!

 

[tiffy]

Thanks to everyone for all the information.

 

[kalamazoo]

I cannot believe that Air Transat is still in business (when so many good airlines have gone the way of the dodo). They are hands down the worst airline we've ever used (once was more than enough) - the staff was shockingly rude and they changed the flight schedule without notice causing a one hour flight to become a 4 hour one. I won't hold cramped seats against them too much since some other companies have similar cramped conditions. Now with this whole thing about the wrong parts being used when specifically warned not to and the plane running out of fuel over the ocean... YIKES, no thanks. not at any price!

 

[MikeJ]

Actually, to be fair to Air Transat (and that's hard to do since I've flown with them ) they weren't specifically told not to do what they did. According to several news sources what the airline's mechanics did was allowed, but not recommended, by Rolls Royce. Apparently, Rolls has since issued an advisory to say mixing old and new parts no longer is permitted.

Even though what the Air Transat mechanic did was apparently allowed, you've got to wonder why Rolls would say "well, ya, you can do this but we wouldn't recommend it."

- Mike

 

[sammi]

Boy .....this is so confusing for me and I'm very concerned!

It's hard to believe that any employee would take any kind of chance with the safety of it's passengers. We have always flown with Canada 3000 until this past November, when we got a better price and better flight time with Air Transat. I had nothing but praise for the airline and actually found the service BETTER than Canada 3000. We had to fly home the day after South western Ontario's bad snowstorn last Dec 11th. Our flight was the next day early in the morning and since the plane was delayed coming to pick us up from Toronto due to the storm we were delayed actually only by a 1 1/2 hours. Only half of the flights were coming and going from Pearson (only 2 runways.....1 for arrivals and 1 for departures) but we were one of the fortunate ones that got to go. Our pilot was fantastic all the way especially with the landing at Pearson as the runway was very snowy and blowing everywhere. I really was very happy with the service and we landed safe and sound.

I hope this situation improves as I really don't know if I'd feel safe flying with them again Hopefully some of the DIS'ers will give us feedback when they return from Florida??????

 

[Dumbo5]

We flew on AirTransat (9 of us) from Halifax-Orlando in April 2000.
The flight down wasn't very pleasant - full plane and very cramped. The air attendants were not friendly or helpful.
We spent 3 hours at the airport getting our luggage - it involved 2 different pickups - one through customs and one before that!
The second time all the luggage from our flight was put with another flight from Montreal.

The airport was hot and stuffy. We were miserable by the time we got out of the airport. And with all the hassles in getting our luggage we held up the driver from Tiffany's for almost 3 hours.

The flight back was a bit better. The airplane wasn't full and the attendants were a lot nicer.

None of us would fly with them again.

 

[MikeJ]

If you have close access to a large American city, (and granted, from Halifax your choices are limited) I would recommend driving across the border and flying from a US city. We've done both and to my mind the advantages of driving to Detroit outweighed the disadvantages:

Advantages:

- cheaper fares, typically
- greater selection of flights
- clear customs at the border, not at the airport (this is a big one for me)

Disadvantages:

- longer drive to the airport, perhaps in inclement weather


- Mike

 

[my3princesses]

Oops, they did it again! I give them one more year to survive if they keep making these mistakes (this time a fuel spill).