West Jet or Air Trans?

[littlesuitcase]

We are planning a trip to DW in Feb 2007. We flew Air Canada last time and were not really impressed considering the cost.

We are looking at West Jet out of Toronto or Air Trans out of Buffalo. If we fly Air Trans we can cross the border on the ground and it will save us about 600 Canadian. If we fly West Jet we are closer to the air port (especially if there is a storm).

ANyone have any advice?

Thanks,
Helen

 

[Prairiemom]

I have a question as we will be flying Air Canada. What were you not impressed about? What happened?

 

[littlesuitcase]

We didn't find them to be very friendly - they offered no extras for the kids - not even a simple "I hope you have a nice flight" considering it was their first time on a plane. We paid for the flights but thought we just got the basics. So we thought if we are not getting anything extra why pay - that is why we are considering the others.

 

[Prairiemom]

I'm sorry to hear this as I do hope that maybe when we go it will be ok although we are prepared as we will be sure to have some snacks and things for the kids to do when we fly in December. How long ago do you fly with them?

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

We flew both Westjet (to Calgary) and Air Canada home to Toronto from Calgary in May. I'd take Westjet hands down. Friendly service, they brought extra drinks for the kids and I really liked the tv's in the backs of the seats. I really wasn't impressed with the air Canada leg - we found cashews and almonds under my tree nut allergic ds' seat and couldn't get a flight attendant so we could clean it, the plane made some really funky noises going out to the runway and it was delayed b/c of computer problems. Fight attendants just seemed to be there - no smiles or anything.

We are flying Westjet again in October b/c we managed to get $347 taxes in for our flights to Orlando but if we hadn't been taking the IL's I would have tried flying out of Buffalo. Next time I guess!

 

[miraged]

My two children and I flew West Jet from Toronto to Orlando on May 29, 2006. It was very friendly. The stewardesses were hilarlious. After the safety lecture in english, our stewardess said, "Since my act was such a hit, I've been requested to repeat it in french." They also joked with us by saying, "If you have and questions or concerns, please write them down on 20 dollar bills and pass them forward to us." We were surprised to find that there were tv's in the back of all of the seats and we could watch our plane's progress on a map. The kids loved that! We purchased 2 headphones to keep for just $3.00 each. My son already had a set of headphones so he was good to go. We could watch a lot of great tv channels at no charge. The kids enjoyed that, but also loved to switch back to the map to see how close we were to landing. We did receive a free snack and a beverage, and sandwiches were available for purchase. We left right on time, and arrived exactly on time at 1:03 p.m., which was fabulous since the previous trip we flew on a different airline and had a stopover of 45 minutes that stretched into three hours. The direct flight was worth every penny. The return flight was just as perfect, and again the attendants were friendly and very funny. We departed and arrived exactly on schedule. I would fly with them anytime.

 

[donkthemagicllama]

I'd always fly WestJet unless I was able to get a significantly better price elsewhere. These days AC or most of the big American carriers don't really offer anything more than WestJet's "no-frills" service. There's no chance of being "bumped" to first class (since there isn't one), but that was a pretty rare occurance anyway. WestJet's planes are new and nice, the TVs are a huge bonus, and the staff has always been friendly.

That said, if I had the ability to save say... 50% by driving to a nearby airport in the States, I'd do so.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I have been on both West Jet and Air Tran. Loved them both. For me the choice would be price driven. I live 35 minutes from YYZ (if there is no traffic) and 70 minutes from BUF so the half hour difference doesn't really matter. Also, BUF park and fly is a lot cheaper.

Last summer we flew AT to MCO and it cost me $740 USD for 4 tickets including all taxes and fees. This was during peak summer. The best price I could get from a Canadian carrier was about $1000 more and it still had a stop over(Hamilton-Ottawa-Orlando).

The people at AT treated us just fine. I wouldn't say they were exceptionally friendly but they are no different than any other airline. The flight crew did give the kids extra drinks and snacks as well as plastic wings. We departed on time and arrived on time.

So really, if the price is right and you get to your destination on time what more do you need.

 

[bbangel]

I love WestJet. One of the great things about them is that they will never bump you off a flight. Does Air Tran offer the same? If you collect AirMiles, get the WestJet Airmiles card. Our flights are only using 1600 miles (instead of 4500) because we have the card.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I love WestJet. One of the great things about them is that they will never bump you off a flight. Does Air Tran offer the same? If you collect AirMiles, get the WestJet Airmiles card. Our flights are only using 1600 miles (instead of 4500) because we have the card.

West Jet airmiles card? Do you mean the Mastercard?

 

[bbangel]

Yes, sorry, I did mean Mastercard with WestJet and Airmiles.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I've never flown with Westjet or Air Transat. However, I've flown with Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Garuda Indonesia and Japan Air Line.

The aboslute worst by a landslide is Air Canada. Second worst is Garuda Indonesia (I know for a fact that they are number 57 on top 100 'best' airline), and the best is Singapore Airlines (they are number 1 on top 100 'best' airline). Don't know where Air Canada is because they are not listed on that 100 list.

(this is a list of ALL airlines around the world. The list I have is part of airline rank report in the year 2000. Believe me, since year 2000, Air Canada have gotten worse... so does Cathay Pacific, quite unfortunately)

 

[michelle1]

We flew 3 times with Southwest and it was wonderful - the service is excellent and flying out of the Buffalo airport is so quick and easy. Last year we flew with Air Canada on points but we still had to pay the taxes (almost as much as our SW flights) and we hated it. It took so long to get from the park n fly, they had my family ( 2 adults and 8, 9 yo kids ) all booked into seperate seats although they eventually did some shuffling to get me with the kids and we were in the last row and they ran out of alot of drinks before the cart got to the back. We are flying this summer with AirTran for the first time because we got such a good price ($622 for 4) so hopefully it will be okay. If we ever fly out of YYZ again we would use WestJet...heard nothing but good things!

 

[Logans_Dad]

I flew Westjet a couple of weeks ago (WPG - TO). Great little airline with nice planes, but for our trip (unless something changes drastically) we're driving 8 hours to Minneapolis and overnighting in a hotel and we'll still save in the range of $1,000 based on todays airfares (AirTrans versus the next cheapest).

That's another $1K for *extras* or something special during our trip - no contest in my mind.

 

[wee-haggis]

Westjet is great if you get good fares. Friendly, clean and on time. We have flown both Westjet out of Pearson and Southwest and Delta out of Buffalo (can't beat the prices). Buffalo airport is great, small and easy to get around. If we are travelling in the winter we always use Sleep, Park Fly in Buffalo just in case the weather acts up. The cost is not much more than parking fees.
Have a great trip

 

[esdras]

We have never flown Air Trans - so I'm happy to hear that they're roughly the same as Southwest (which I have been on, and it was fine even if nothing special). Glad to hear since we will be using Air Trans from Detroit for our September Disney trip. 4 Tickets, round trip, both non-stop afternoon flights, roughly $650 USD - all taxes and fees included. At the exhange rate on our credit card, it came out to about $745 CDN. That works out to about $185 CDN per person. Not an amazing deal, but a lot better than ANYTHING we could get flying out of Toronto.

 

[Muzicman]

I would try Southwest out of Buffalo as opposed to Air Tran. I am going to Orlando at the end of July on Southwest, as I have done a few times in the past. The biggest issue I have with Air Tran is their schedule. Their hub is Atlanta so you must always have a stop over there. You can never have a direct flight from Buffalo to Orlando. And depending on what time you leave from Buffalo will depend on how long your travel time is in relation to the flight leaving out of Atlanta. You can have a 6 or 8 hour travel time if you leave Buffalo in the morning and the flight leaves Atlanta at 4pm, leaving you to sit for hours in the airport. Also on the pricing front, the regular pricing is similar between the two - approx $124US each way - but I find Southwest always has sales. By watching fares for about a month, I booked my flight for $89US each way - and they even dropped to $69 for a short time after I booked.

All certainly a lot cheaper than flying out of Toronto - the savings are well worth the drive.

Corey

 

[Claud26]

we flew air tran in December and were quite happy with them ... it's no frils airline but very clean and friendly... we had a 45min Stop over in Atlanta both to Orlando and back and it was a non isssue.
Airtran now offeres one Dirrect flight to Orlando on Saturdays in the morning ...

 

[michelle1]

I would try Southwest out of Buffalo as opposed to Air Tran. I am going to Orlando at the end of July on Southwest, as I have done a few times in the past. The biggest issue I have with Air Tran is their schedule. Their hub is Atlanta so you must always have a stop over there. You can never have a direct flight from Buffalo to Orlando. And depending on what time you leave from Buffalo will depend on how long your travel time is in relation to the flight leaving out of Atlanta. You can have a 6 or 8 hour travel time if you leave Buffalo in the morning and the flight leaves Atlanta at 4pm, leaving you to sit for hours in the airport. Also on the pricing front, the regular pricing is similar between the two - approx $124US each way - but I find Southwest always has sales. By watching fares for about a month, I booked my flight for $89US each way - and they even dropped to $69 for a short time after I booked.

All certainly a lot cheaper than flying out of Toronto - the savings are well worth the drive.

Corey

Most flights do have a layover but our flight to MCO is with a 1/2 hour stop and we don't change planes and our flight home is nonstop. We usually go with SW but couldn't get a good price..AirTran is $633 for 4 of us. One thing AirTran is known for is changing their flight times although they will notify you to see if you still want the booking.

 

[Claud26]

this happened to us ...
I booked the first flight out with a 45min stopover in Atlanta and that got changed to a 3hr stop over ... with two little ones that was just insane !!

SO I called then to see what they could do... but by that time they had already switched me to the next available flight.
After 5 changes to our flights I just gave up checking ... A week before we flew out I checked and we had the times I had orriginally booked BUT the flight numbers had changed, which offcourse was not reflected on our tickets...
they said NO problem as it was in their system ... once we checked in and recieved our bordring passes the correct flight numbers were reflected.