Westjet or Air Canada

[Burgermom]

We are planning to fly from Toronto (YYZ) to Orlando (MCO) first week of February 2018.
Any thoughts on whether we should go Westjet or Air Canada?
I like the flight times for Westjet better and price is about the same but Google Flights indicates that the flight I am looking at is often delayed by more than 30 minutes.
Anyone have an opinion of WJ or AC?

Also, any hints on when I should book (eg: 4 months out; 6 months out)?

 

[Donald - my hero]

We are planning to fly from Toronto (YYZ) to Orlando (MCO) first week of February 2018.
Any thoughts on whether we should go Westjet or Air Canada?
I like the flight times for Westjet better and price is about the same but Google Flights indicates that the flight I am looking at is often delayed by more than 30 minutes.
Anyone have an opinion of WJ or AC?

Also, any hints on when I should book (eg: 4 months out; 6 months out)?

For us it's WestJet because the planes that Air Canada tends to use on short haul flights are the Rouge ones and those are less comfortable, harder seats, less leg room. However, that might become a moot point with the announcement that WestJet will be starting up a no-frills line as well and who knows what type of plane that means and which flights they will use them on???

Regarding the comments of flights being delayed, in my experience that has nothing to do with the airline and everything to do with the weather & the airport. Our last flight home from Orlando was on WestJest and it was actually 45 minutes EARLY leaving and landing. I wouldn't base my decision on which airline based on comments on delays.

When to book -- you will get answers all over the place but my suggestion (and the rule of thumb we follow) is to decide what you consider a reasonable fare and when it hits that point book it and stop looking afterwards.

Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[mjhtvchick]

Personally, I prefer WestJet but if I found a better price / flight time I would (and have) flown Air Canada.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

We are going last week of January / first week of February 2018.

In the fall 2016, I started monitoring prices for the last week of January 2017. Fares from Halifax were as low as $300 return. I would think from YYZ would be that cheap, if not cheaper. And that is across the board for all air lines.

 

[samsteele]

I'd take WestJet if the prices are comparable and the flight time works for you. I usually have to fly Air Canada (Rouge) because I need a later flight time in order to work with my transpo or drive to Pearson. At the moment, WestJet has somewhat better seats & legroom than Rouge. However, as PP mentioned, with the expected introduction of their no frills flights, this will change. When AC switched to Rouge a few years ago, many guests expecting regular AC seating were unhappily surprised when their flights to Orlando got "rouged". However, there was little backlash in terms of lost sales for AC so sadly expect WestJet to go down the same trail when they put their no frills flights in the air. I would be shocked if they didn't do no frills to Orlando.

 

[drag n' fly]

It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. I always want to use WestJet based on their customer service. It really boils down to budget however. For this food and wine palooza I used Aeroplan miles so I'm flying rouge this trip.

 

[starvenger]

I would prefer WestJet or non-Rouge AC but it always comes down to price. As for booking, I agree with looking until a fare hits a price you find acceptable.

However, I am a glutton for punishment and so I will check fares for a couple of weeks past booking. Don't be me in that respect.

 

[mullysisters]

My dsis (rgt) prefers Westjet, l (left) prefer AC. I have had better times and there are more flight options in case of delays. My dsis only wants WJ 1228 and 1229. That's 1030am depart and 230pm return. I've been on both AC and WJ. Comperable, imho. I can endure almost anything for 21/2 hours, except Air transat. They'd have to offer me a free flight. LOL, no I'm serious.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

Price and times. This upcoming trip Dec 30-Jan 9, i had westjet $$ but the price and time round trip was not as good
So we did AC early am direct and WS late night return direct.

AC has since cancelled outbound direct is now Sat instead of Sun so what was 31 is now 30. Lol. Extra day! For us direct was important

 

[BLAZEY]

I've only flown WestJet on one trip. Victoria to Calgary return. This is the only flight I've ever been delayed more than 30 minutes. 3 hours later we finally boarded our flight back to Victoria. Not a great first impression of this airline.

 

[22Tink]

We always fly WestJet when we can. We just find the service so much better and the flight times are better for us too. We prefer to fly into Orange County and Air Canada's options aren't very good into OC. We fly out of Vancouver though so I'm sure that makes a difference on flight choices too.

 

[kuhltiffany]

Whatever is cheapest and best times. Next March Break we're going down on WJ and coming back on AC...

 

[hdrolfe]

I prefer Westjet but since kiddo will only fly direct I do whatever is direct. Our summer trip is booked on Air Canada, I will make sure to pack snacks for the flight. I found WJ at least gave us a little pack of something, AC we got nothing.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Westjet has a direct flight to MCO from YYC. 4.5 hours in-flight... there is no way I can handle longer than that with my anxiety... it's WJ all the way, no matter the price, as long as they keep that direct flight route in place!

 

[cjbcam]

For my family it's westjet if it's an option. The last three times my DH had to fly for work they booked him on air Canada and all three times they lost his luggage. They were also all late. Never have had any problems with westjet. Plus I heard they are one of the only companies that don't oversell their seats.

 

[kerreyn]

We have the Westjet Elite MasterCard, so we'll definitely be flying Westjet for our trip in Feb. 2018. We get another companion voucher when our cards renew in a July, so I'll be watching for seat sales after that.

 

[JenniKleims]

we finally booked our flights and decided on air Canada (Ottawa - Montreal then Montreal - Orlando) only reason we went that way was price point. The flights kept on going up in price (WestJet) and we were hoping for lower...plus our trip dates are set (due to FD booking) we ended up paying around 935 return (two tickets) plus taxes on one flight (via air miles)

 

[grantclaire]

We usually fly WestJet as I have the WJ credit card, but if Air Canada was a lot cheaper I would book with them. I have noticed that WJ has more flights now that connect in New York that could cause some delays.

 

[morrik5]

I'll take whoever gives me the non-stop flight times I want. Keeping in mind if you have to be at Pearson a minimum of 2 hours before a flight to the US and Magic Express picks you up 4 hours before your flight,we have to think about a 3 year old and 7 year old. Commute to Pearson is 1+ hours depending on the 401 "sidewalk" we'd like at least a 10 am flight out of Toronto and mid-afternoon out of Orlando. Not much choice out there right now for when we're looking at - hopefully the prices will be more affordable and flights added to fit our preferences.

 

[deedubb]

This thread made me go have a look at flights again to compare cost. I booked our flights in early April for our Christmas trip. The same flight is now just over $1100 more for the 4 of us compared to what I paid in April. I guess booking early really paid off. We're flying Westjet.