AirTransat - Reliable?

[Frozen2014]

Anyone flown on AirTransat? Seeing a good price for holiday season next year and don't know whether to jump on it. My only issue is that we are on a cruise Sat - Sat and they only have one flight Friday and one one on Saturday. We would book a flight on the Friday. We did book with AirTransat once before and I was nervous beforehand if they cancel the flight.
We are ok with less bells and whistles on the flight. Anyone know if AirTransat is reliable and rarely cancels? When flights travel so infrequently...if they do cancel, then do they add a different flight? This is for March break from Toronto so weather hopefully not an issue, but not unheard of.

 

[Donald - my hero]

***Edited due to others comments

 

[dancin Disney style]

In the past we had good experiences with Transat but the last two times it has gotten progressively worse. I’m now questioning if we will travel with them ever again.

 

[minnie56]

Just flew with them ...first time / last time.
Never again.

 

[lizzyb]

Flew with them 5 years ago and had no issues.

 

[pigletto]

Flew with them to Scotland in 2012, and Orlando in 2016. Both times were fine and I had no complaints.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thank you. Sounds like mixed reviews. We almost bought tickets...very good price but just nervous of having only one flight for the day. If it breaks down, then no way we are going to get another flight the Friday of march break. Not totally shutting it down, but we didn't hit that final purchase button....for now.

For those above with issues, what didn't you like?

 

[dancin Disney style]

Thank you. Sounds like mixed reviews. We almost bought tickets...very good price but just nervous of having only one flight for the day. If it breaks down, then no way we are going to get another flight the Friday of march break. Not totally shutting it down, but we didn't hit that final purchase button....for now.

For those above with issues, what didn't you like?

My issues have been with communication and baggage.
Communication.....major weather delays which are not their faulty but we kept being told 'only a few minutes'. Those few minutes turned into over 2 hours. I would prefer them to just be honest and say 'we don't know but we're doing our best'. I've had this type of situation with them multiple times. For some reason they don't want to tell you anything. We have also been at all inclusive resorts with Transat and the rep was no where to be found. On our last one we were never told where/when the rep would be onsite. Even the hotel didn't know where he was.
Baggage....twice upon returning to YYZ our bags were delayed with no explanation what so ever. The first time it was 45 minutes after the priority bags came off. The second just took place last month. There were about 20 people on our flight, including us, that waited 1 hour and 50 minutes for our bags to come off the plane. The ground staff had no idea why and were completely uninterested in helping. It took an angry mob, yelling at the ground agent to convince her to call someone. After our bags finally appeared mine was broken. I went back to the agent and she could not have been more rude or dismissive. She flicked a business card at me and said 'make a complaint' then turned her back and started talking to anther employee. I have written a very long email to Transat that was sent on Feb 11th...they have not responded.

So after our last trip I'm not sure I would travel with them again. The problem being that they often have the better flight times (for us) and when it comes to all inclusive packages they often have better prices on the resorts we like. I can also tell you that if you have some other problem that requires a phone call to them they are not willing to do much.

 

[minnie56]

We booked flights to Florida for this last Feb / March last July.
They changed our flight times 4x so what was originally an early but not too early departure became 06:40.
Okay, fine.

Then they changed our aircraft 3x each time dumping the seats we’d booked and paid for which necessitated multiple calls to amend and each time they were abrasive and the vibe they were doing me a favour by moving me back to my originals was evident.

Then they subbed out our aircraft to a low cost - budget airline with horrible reviews from the Czech Republic! That did it for me.
I chose a Canadian carrier with Canadian mechanical worthiness and Canadian trained and certified crew.
My first call to Air Transat to express my displeasure, they said huh , I’m not sure who this airline is? Well, if you don’t know .... why am I on them? The agent went away to check and returned to say that sometimes they use them it appears and basically too bad, so sad..they have the rights. I could change to another day for $350plus fare difference if I wanted ( now there’s a deal) but of course “ no guarantee that it wouldn’t be subbed out again”
I called the ministry of transport who launched an investigation how a foreign carrier could pick up in Canada and transport passengers to the United States. They finally updated me that the aircraft had to meet Canadian standards upon entering Canada and the crew would be Air Transat crew. I asked about front end crew ( pilots) and was assured yes, also Canadian Air Transat crew. I reluctantly had no choice and thought oh well!

The day comes, February 24 ...the crew were a leased crew from ? English speaking ..but really rough around the edges. One sat texting on her cell phone during the entire boarding process...the front end? Captain Igor? I’ll say no more but they were not Canadian crew. The aircraft was a bucket of bolts with trim hanging off everywhere and the safety cards in the seatbacks written entirely in Czechoslovakian. We were option plus ..I asked for a glass of wine (yep needed it ) and was asked well where’s your seat sticker? Excuse me? Seat sticker? They apparently stick an option plus sticker on your seat ..well that’s not for me to know anything about is it? I guess from my reaction she knew I wasn’t enamoured and from thereon , she pretty much threw anything at me that came along. I won’t go on you get the idea... it was appalling service and I was not one bit comfortable on this aircraft. I didn’t choose this airline and wasn’t okay flying on them. I did consider not using the southbound segment of my flight but was then advised they would charge me the full one way fare home not having used half of the round trip ticket.

For me, there’ll be no second chance for Air Transat.
And ..
I’m a travel agent so they won’t be getting any recommendations from me either.
None.

 

[star72232]

I flew AirTransat from TO to Paris and then from Rome to TO last May/June. No problems, no changes to our flights, no delays. The food isn't great, but it's airline food, and you can pay to upgrade (we didn't bother).

 

[tgropp]

We have them booked for a flight to Fort Lauderdale in December for a very good price. Fingers crossed

 

[Frozen2014]

dancin Disney and minnie, thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry it was so negative for both of you. I agree...communication is a big thing. We had similar situation not with airline but with airport at JFK...bad weather but they wouldn't tell anyone anything. Ended up staying there for 3 hours and then they started cancelling flights. And that's the worst when they change the time on you...and aircraft. And the bad service. It's really backfired on AirTransat considering your job.

 

[Ahmne]

We have flown Air Transat several times to the Caribbean and once to Rome. Always good experiences and I like that they have activity bags for the kids. I just booked for our next trip. It will be our first time flying them to Florida. The one flight a day doesn’t worry me too much...at least on the way back, but I do like starting my vacation when I planned to.

 

[dancin Disney style]

We booked flights to Florida for this last Feb / March last July.
They changed our flight times 4x so what was originally an early but not too early departure became 06:40.
Okay, fine.

Then they changed our aircraft 3x each time dumping the seats we’d booked and paid for which necessitated multiple calls to amend and each time they were abrasive and the vibe they were doing me a favour by moving me back to my originals was evident.

Then they subbed out our aircraft to a low cost - budget airline with horrible reviews from the Czech Republic! That did it for me.
I chose a Canadian carrier with Canadian mechanical worthiness and Canadian trained and certified crew.
My first call to Air Transat to express my displeasure, they said huh , I’m not sure who this airline is? Well, if you don’t know .... why am I on them? The agent went away to check and returned to say that sometimes they use them it appears and basically too bad, so sad..they have the rights. I could change to another day for $350plus fare difference if I wanted ( now there’s a deal) but of course “ no guarantee that it wouldn’t be subbed out again”
I called the ministry of transport who launched an investigation how a foreign carrier could pick up in Canada and transport passengers to the United States. They finally updated me that the aircraft had to meet Canadian standards upon entering Canada and the crew would be Air Transat crew. I asked about front end crew ( pilots) and was assured yes, also Canadian Air Transat crew. I reluctantly had no choice and thought oh well!

The day comes, February 24 ...the crew were a leased crew from ? English speaking ..but really rough around the edges. One sat texting on her cell phone during the entire boarding process...the front end? Captain Igor? I’ll say no more but they were not Canadian crew. The aircraft was a bucket of bolts with trim hanging off everywhere and the safety cards in the seatbacks written entirely in Czechoslovakian. We were option plus ..I asked for a glass of wine (yep needed it ) and was asked well where’s your seat sticker? Excuse me? Seat sticker? They apparently stick an option plus sticker on your seat ..well that’s not for me to know anything about is it? I guess from my reaction she knew I wasn’t enamoured and from thereon , she pretty much threw anything at me that came along. I won’t go on you get the idea... it was appalling service and I was not one bit comfortable on this aircraft. I didn’t choose this airline and wasn’t okay flying on them. I did consider not using the southbound segment of my flight but was then advised they would charge me the full one way fare home not having used half of the round trip ticket.

For me, there’ll be no second chance for Air Transat.
And ..
I’m a travel agent so they won’t be getting any recommendations from me either.
None.

Ooooo....you win! You reminded my that we have also had Option Plus problems....approx. 3 years ago. We had flight attendants that didn't know what the inclusions were so I told them and then they acted like I was lying just to get free stuff. At that time they put a cover over the head rest of your seat that said, in big bold letters, Option Plus. Now they give you a glass of wine but at that time they gave you the little single size bottles of sparkling wine. They refused to give the bottle that was included with my DD's seat to either my DH or myself. IMO, Option Plus is no longer worth the money. They have upped the price and cut the inclusions.

 

[ccudmore]

With AirTransat, if for any reason your flight is delayed in cancelled it may be a day or two before you get onto another one, especially during the busy holiday season. All their planes are flying full and they don't have spare capacity to make up.

This is the airline that left passengers on multiple flights sitting on the runway for 6 hours in Ottawa last year. Passengers got so desperate that they ended up having to call 911 to get someone to bring them water.

Also they sometimes don't use the U.S. pre-clearance facility in Canada, so you have to clear customs at the U.S. airport you're arriving at.

 

[Frozen2014]

With AirTransat, if for any reason your flight is delayed in cancelled it may be a day or two before you get onto another one, especially during the busy holiday season. All their planes are flying full and they don't have spare capacity to make up.

This is the airline that left passengers on multiple flights sitting on the runway for 6 hours in Ottawa last year. Passengers got so desperate that they ended up having to call 911 to get someone to bring them water.

Also they sometimes don't use the U.S. pre-clearance facility in Canada, so you have to clear customs at the U.S. airport you're arriving at.

Thanks for confirming. That was exactly our only hesitation. We book the day before but with only one flight each day ...and at March break....we would miss the ship if they cancelled our flight.

 

[Minniemoo15]

Flown with them 2 years in a row and no issues. Just booked for next march break as well. They have the best flights for us (direct, early morning, cheap!) . The only thing that irks is me is that I have to pay for seat selection to be guaranteed to sit next to my 2 year old.

 

[Ahmne]

Thanks for confirming. That was exactly our only hesitation. We book the day before but with only one flight each day ...and at March break....we would miss the ship if they cancelled our flight.

I always feel better arriving at least a day before the ship leaves if possible.

 

[dancin Disney style]

With AirTransat, if for any reason your flight is delayed in cancelled it may be a day or two before you get onto another one, especially during the busy holiday season. All their planes are flying full and they don't have spare capacity to make up.

This is the airline that left passengers on multiple flights sitting on the runway for 6 hours in Ottawa last year. Passengers got so desperate that they ended up having to call 911 to get someone to bring them water.

Also they sometimes don't use the U.S. pre-clearance facility in Canada, so you have to clear customs at the U.S. airport you're arriving at.

No airline has 'spare' planes. If they had planes sitting around just in case the cost of a ticket would be so high that no one could afford to fly.

All airline experience delays and cancelations. Most of the time they are handled in pretty much the same manor. You wait, they rebook you or they refund you.

There are risks when you travel in winter and have something like a cruise to get to. My trip last month was delayed, delayed, delayed and all due to weather. I paid extra to get on the earlier flight so that we could have some useable time on our arrival day but it turned out that we lost that entire day.....all because of snow and ice.

 

[minnie56]

True they don’thave surplus aircraft sitting around ....but the likes of Air Canada can juggle aircraft and schedules in a timely manner because they have so many at their disposal. That said , when taking a cruise in any time that winter weather can be a factor , please always leave Toronto or Buffalo for that matter the day ahead to have some wiggle room. I could tell you a recent story ...