Free transatlantic kids' flights, when two adults fly

LDSgroover

bollywood_rani wrote: »

Has anyone flown with Zoom before ? What are they like as an airline ?

I flew with zoom July 2007 from London to Edmonton. They were great. We were first to board as we had young children so no long ques:j , the flights were direct, and we would definately use them again. In fact I'm going to see if I can find a flight now for next year and get the kids to go free.:T

Kore

bollywood_rani wrote: »

Reading the reviews looks like Zoom are fine, but might be worth upgrading to Premium Economy.

I flew Zoom on the Toronto-Manchester flight last year. I paid extra for Premium Economy but did not think it was worth it. The seats are only slightly bigger. The planes are old with fabric seats that are sometimes lumpy. You get a free headset with Premium Economy but it's cheap quality. The only real value was the extra luggage capacity.

mrs_lds

I tried with 5 of my 6 children and I would only discount 2 of them

bollywood_rani

mrs_lds wrote: »

I tried with 5 of my 6 children and I would only discount 2 of them

Thanks everyone for all your help and details with this. Its pretty mixed, and reading the reviews on other sites, it can be a bit hit and miss on service, etc you get. Biggest gripe with most people is that flights were cancelled ................... would be gutted if that happened to us.

Mrs lds I'm getting a similar thing to you, a message that we don't qualify for the Free Kids places when I try to book via website (even though we are 2 Adults and 3 Children, we should at least get discount for 2). May ring them up and see what they say.

simon_worsfold

This deal would sound lovely but for the worrying information of Zoom not having airline failure insurance and this is why you are being offer deals like this but if the airline fals and you paid without creditcard you will loose all your money. Doesn't sound such a great saving now.

http://www.ipplondon.co.uk/airline-news.asp

http://www.travelweek.ca/newweb/Page.aspx?PaId=690

MSE_Jenny wrote: »

Tues 29 July 2008

What’s the deal?

It's possible to slash the cost of a cost of a family holiday to Canada or the States by over £1,000. Transatlantic budget airline Zoom is giving away free kids’ seats when two adults fly if you book before Thursday 31 July (taxes & charges still apply).

The offer’s valid on all its routes, which include London to New York, Cardiff to Vancouver, and Manchester to Toronto.

How does this compare

As an example, I searched for return flights from Manchester to Toronto, for two adults and two kids, in October. The cheapest price for the whole family on any other airline cost £2,435 all-in. Under Zoom’s special offer, it was only £1,377 – a saving of £1,058.

Alternatively, family flights from London to New York cost £1,080 under the offer, compared with £1,433 elsewhere (its less because most of the cost is taxes and charges, which aren't included in the free flight)

There are no date restrictions, so you can travel as far in the future as you like; as long as the schedule’s released. It's also worth checking the flight flys direct, as the plane may make a stop along the way.

To qualify for the deal, flights must be returns and at least two adults need to travel. A maximum of two kids get a free ride and they must be 17 or under when travelling.

How to find the very cheapest flights

Either go to Zoom directly or use The FlightChecker which speedily tells you when to go away to get the ultimate cheap budget airline prices. As Zoom is one of the budget airlines it searches, simply enter a range of travel dates (e.g. October to April) a destination (Bermuda or New York) and the maximum price you're willing to pay including taxes and charges (e.g. £150) and it'll find when you need to go to grab the cheapest flights.

Then once you've found the flights

• Step 1: Enter promotional code Children2008 which you can find on the homepage of Zoom's website so check there to see its still running. Look for the orange bar!
• Step 2: Select your inbound and outbound return flights.
• Select seats. If you want to select seats before you fly, additional charges apply; these are from £7.50, depending on where you sit.
• Step 3: Click through to “Itinerary” and the system should automatically deduct the price of the kids’ flights. You still have to pay taxes and charges.

Always check it against other deals

Don't assume this will always work out cheapest; use the tips in the Cheap Flights guide to see if you can get the flight cheaper elsewhere. If you spot any cheaper flights, please post below.

Thanks to sonofmatrix below for the top spot. This post was inserted so we could give MoneySavers the full lowdown.

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dennis1

Just a warning about booking flights with zoom airlines. We travelled to Bermuda with Zoom last year after seeing cheap flights advertised on moneymatters website. The airline functions at a very basic level hence the prices. We upgraded from economy and are really glad we did as the seats in economy were unbearably uncomfortable, cramped, no seat back entertainment etc, you are literaly paying for the flight and nothing else. Not good for kids for long flights. Our return flight ended up being turned back to New York due to a mechanical failure where we were abandoned by the airline for 24 hours until they could use fly another plane form Canada. They operate a very tight schedule with no spare aircraft so when things go wrong it is big style. Passengers for 4 days after us were delayed 24 hours with no compensation for the delay! Beware

saab2007

I wanted to quickly book and pay for flights today as i heard about this deal only today.

i went on to the zoom website, and put inthe code for free children flights (children2008) and it clearly says that you can get these flights until 31 August 2008 AND NOT 31 JULY 2008!

Great news if you thought you had missed out..... you still have another month.

MSE_Jenny wrote: »

Tues 29 July 2008

What’s the deal?

It's possible to slash the cost of a cost of a family holiday to Canada or the States by over £1,000. Transatlantic budget airline Zoom is giving away free kids’ seats when two adults fly if you book before Thursday 31 July (taxes & charges still apply).

The offer’s valid on all its routes, which include London to New York, Cardiff to Vancouver, and Manchester to Toronto.

How does this compare

As an example, I searched for return flights from Manchester to Toronto, for two adults and two kids, in October. The cheapest price for the whole family on any other airline cost £2,435 all-in. Under Zoom’s special offer, it was only £1,377 – a saving of £1,058.

Alternatively, family flights from London to New York cost £1,080 under the offer, compared with £1,433 elsewhere (its less because most of the cost is taxes and charges, which aren't included in the free flight)

There are no date restrictions, so you can travel as far in the future as you like; as long as the schedule’s released. It's also worth checking the flight flys direct, as the plane may make a stop along the way.

To qualify for the deal, flights must be returns and at least two adults need to travel. A maximum of two kids get a free ride and they must be 17 or under when travelling.

How to find the very cheapest flights

Either go to Zoom directly or use The FlightChecker which speedily tells you when to go away to get the ultimate cheap budget airline prices. As Zoom is one of the budget airlines it searches, simply enter a range of travel dates (e.g. October to April) a destination (Bermuda or New York) and the maximum price you're willing to pay including taxes and charges (e.g. £150) and it'll find when you need to go to grab the cheapest flights.

Then once you've found the flights

• Step 1: Enter promotional code Children2008 which you can find on the homepage of Zoom's website so check there to see its still running. Look for the orange bar!
• Step 2: Select your inbound and outbound return flights.
• Select seats. If you want to select seats before you fly, additional charges apply; these are from £7.50, depending on where you sit.
• Step 3: Click through to “Itinerary” and the system should automatically deduct the price of the kids’ flights. You still have to pay taxes and charges.

Always check it against other deals

Don't assume this will always work out cheapest; use the tips in the Cheap Flights guide to see if you can get the flight cheaper elsewhere. If you spot any cheaper flights, please post below.

Thanks to sonofmatrix below for the top spot. This post was inserted so we could give MoneySavers the full lowdown.

[threadbanner]box[/threadbanner]

ehemuu

I emailed this to my friend in Canada who is coming over next sumer with her husband and 2 kids and her cousin, husband and their 2 kids. Each family is saving over $1200cdn. A fantastic offer - thanks for posting it. They are over the moon with the savings:j

DuggyMak

bollywood_rani wrote: »

Has anyone flown with Zoom before ? What are they like as an airline ? I would like to go to Toronto with my family this August (we are 2 adults and 3 kids aged 12, 9 and 7, so the eldest is deemed an adult, so we would need seats for 3 adults and 2 kids) and the kids going 'free' is very tempting. I realise the offer ends in a few days, so any feedback would be great before we book. Thanks !

Hi bollywood_rani.

Obviously, with the massive increase in the cost of fuel etc, since I last flew with them, (October 2007) it is difficult to know what recent cutbacks have been introduced. However, I would definitely recommend Zoom and certainly don't recognise any of the problems/faults described in others comments.

I have flown with them 3 times, twice in Premium and once in Economy, since 2004, Glasgow, to/from Vancouver/Calgary. In fact, I am booked (Economy) to fly to Vancouver on 17th August, returning from Calgary, in early October. Last year I flew in Economy for the first time and it was excellent. I would only suggest upgrading to Premium for someone over 6ft tall (I am 5ft 9in). Even then it would be cheaper simply to upgrade to an Economy seat, with more legroom, provided it was available.

Incidentally, I qualified for a 20% discount off the flight price (not the tax, security charges etc) by booking before their generous offer was withdrawn at the end of April. (It was originally valid until 31/12/2008!).

The seats in Premium were leather and had 5 inches extra legroom. Those in Economy were fabric but more than acceptable. Admittedly, their planes are older but that is how they can keep their costs down. Personally, if back-seat screens etc are that important to someone then they should simply pay the difference and travel with a much dearer airline. Incidentally, the meals both in Premium and Economy were excellent.

I just checked to see the details of their current fleet and it would appear that they have reduced the number from 4 to 2, since last year, but please don't quote me on that as I am no expert! (I seem to remember that 2 were ex-Air France and 2 ex-KLM planes about 15 - 19 years-old.) However, I know they stopped flying from Manchester to Calgary, earlier this year, and perhaps they have cut back other routes, as well, to consolidate flights/reduce costs. (Edited: Since discovered they have 5 planes,
2 Boeing 757 (average age 18.3 years) and 3 Boeing 767 (average age 14.4 years), making a fleet average age of 15.9 years.)

I have mentioned to the cabin staff, on every flight, that their service reminded me of the Canadian airline, Wardair, back in the 1980's. They were delighted to hear such a compliment, especially, one of the older flight attendants who used to work for Wardair.

Personally, I no longer think it is worth paying the extra money to upgrade, to Premium, unless you really need the additional luggage or dedicated check-in. Anyway, people tend to take too much with them if they have the luggage space. Incidentally, last year, in Economy, I was "checked-in" well under 10 minutes. However, I would recommend arriving at the airport as early as possible, 3 to 4 hours, especially if you haven't pre-booked your seat(s). I travel alone so seat choice is not as important as for couples or families.

Finally, because the weather was fantastic throughout my five-week visit, I simply kept the postcards, for those people I wouldn't be seeing immediately, and wrote them in the airport lounge to pass a few hours!

I trust this helps and hope you have a fantastic holiday. If it's your first visit to Canada prepared to be wowed, it's a great country and the Canadians are fantastic hosts. They really understand what customer care means and how important their tourist industry is to their economy!

DuggyMak

It's important to remember that Zoom is a minnow, especially on the transatlantic route, with only 5 planes (see my previous post, 20, above) compared to other airlines. Therefore, any unfortunate delays either technical, weather or security related will have a disproportionate effect on their customer's satisfaction reports. 1 plane amounts to 20% of their fleet whereas, the traditional airlines have a huge number of aircraft to "dilute" any negative reports. Also, I would imagine, purely due to human nature, disappointed or inconvenienced passengers are more likely to submit a message than satisfied ones.

When I flew from Glasgow to Calgary, last year, just a few weeks after the unsuccessful terrorist attack at that airport, our incoming flight from Canada was delayed because of a 2-hour security shut-down at Toronto airport. Believe me, no-one was annoyed, we accepted the situation because that is just one of the knock-ons in this terrorist age, plus it was totally outwith the control of Zoom.

Personally, living in Scotland, Zoom finally provided me with the opportunity of flying non-stop to British Columbia and Alberta without having to fly via Holland! (I would never think of using the nightmare called "Heathrow")

If more airlines used airports other than Heathrow then not only would it save passengers considerable journey time to get to and from them but it would do away with the need for a 3rd runway at Heathrow. Unfortunately, the Government, despite claiming to be concerned about the environment and cutting down on CO2 emmissions are blind to this common sense solution.

Incidentally, Air Canada pulled out of Glasgow airport completely after Zoom quickly proved their better service and route choice!