Flights to Canada

balsingh

A few Q's about flights to Canada:

1. I've noticed that other than the normal expected carriers (Air Canada, Ba etc), you can get to Canada by https://www.flyzoom.com and https://www.airtransat.com -has anybody used these carriers? They are cheaper but are they any good?

2. For Canada flights, is it a case of book sooner to get the best price or will we get some good deals in the next couple of months? We are looking at going in June and the current prices range from around £300 on Air Transat to over £400 on BA.

3. To make the most of the time difference, are there any preffered flight times? I like the idea of leaving the UK in the morning and arriving there early afternoon due to the time difference. Also, coming back there are flights leaving Canada early evening and arriving here the next morning due to the time difference. Are those recommended flight times????

Sorry to ask all this stuff - never flown across the Atlantic before ever - only ever been the other way (Europe/Asia/Africa).

tumbleweed261

When I lived in Canada a couple of years ago I flew with Zoom and they were brilliant - the seats are a little small, but treat yourself to the £40 upgrade to first class and it's amazing. Book early and you should be able to get the lowest £89 fare to Toronto from Gatwick (this was the route I used, so I don't know the fares for other routes, sorry). If you exceed your luggage allowance it's only £2.50/kg, as opposed to £10/kg+ with BA etc. I think my flight to Canada was a day flight, left Gatwick early-ish morning and got to my flat (downtown Toronto) about 4pm I think - the way back was also day I think, but I have a memory like a sieve unfortunately. I think Zoom only has one flight a day and when I used them they didn't fly every day, so as it's a budget option you might be a bit limited - but as the fares are half of the other airlines and they offer such good service I say go for it with Zoom!

Avoid Air Canada like the plague! I got a bit homesick and booked flights with them (even with student ticket fares I think it was well over £200!!) and I can quite safely say it was the worst service I have ever had - frozen meals, a plane far older than I am and the worse for wear for it, exceptionally stroppy cabin crew - they're just not worth the hassle. Neither are BA in my opinion, but that's a different story...

Hope this helps - if there's anything else you want to know about Canada ask away, I might just know the answer!

Edit: just had an email to say Zoom have a sale on to Toronto and Calgary at the moment if that helps?

MunsterGirl

I've used Canadian Affair - https://www.canadianaffair.com a few times for holidays to Canada - and booked again with them for this year's holiday.
They use Thomas Cook airlines, MyTravel and I think Air Transat.
Never had any problems with them. I believe you can do flight-only bookings with them - not sure because mine have all been for flights and motorhomes.

M

sundin13

You will find that all the charters fly daytime out to Canada, and overnight back.

The only daytime flight I've ever been on from Canada to the UK is one of AirCanada's - 9am dep Toronto, 9pm or thereabouts arrive Heathrow.

And can I give a second vote to Canadian Affair. Haven't used anyone else for years - they're really hard to beat and if you go with Thomas Cook there's a bit more legroom than AirTransat or Zoom.

HTH

balsingh

Canadian Affair have some excelent price. They deal with 3 carriers out of Gatwick, Air Transat, Thomas Cook and My Travel. The previous post mentioned about Thomas Cook planes having more legroom than AirTransat but what about My Travel??

Also, I doubt it but do any offer personal TVs or is it the overhead ones?

MunsterGirl

Looking at the Canadian Affair brochure :

Air Transat - 30 inch seat pitch

Thomas Cook 35 inches on Boeing 757, 30 inches on Airbus 330, seatback tv on Airbus only

MyTravel - seat back tv , 30 inch seat pitch.

HTH

M

Craig_A

Flew Transat from Manchester into Toronto last year. Was absolutely fine. They're cheaper but you're paying for a longer walk at the airport, less in the food department and a lower standard of in flight entertainment. But this IS a money saving site and they do exactly that. If the price is right I'd have no problem flying with them again.

Polotoo

Hello!
Have to agree with Tumbleweed - Zoom Airlines are great!
We flew with them last year, took a bit of a chance as never heard of them, but pleasantly surprised, we flew economy and found we had loads of room, but said next time we would upgrade (£50 for first class), mainly for the extra luggage allowance! The staff were friendly, helpful, aircraft very clean and we would recommend them to everyone!! The only think to watch is sometimes the flights are not direct, we stopped briefly to let people off in montreal on the way there - but the stop was very brief and crew came round with snacks and drinks etc. Snacks and meals are included in the fare, including alcohol with your meal. Was supposed to be only one, but the flight wasn't full outbound so we got extra!
As for travel times, we left here in the morning and arrived in toronto early evening, seemed to work well. Coming back we left there late at night, and slept all the way home to arrive in the uk early morning, which seemed to minimise the effects of jet lag on the return.
Hope this helps - have a wonderful time! We love canada so much we are planning to emigrate there!!

Tustastic

My relatives in Vancouver all think Zoom is fantastic. When I went there last year I was all set to go with Zoom until I saw that I could get a scheduled BA flight in their January seat-sale for £15 less from Heathrow (which is closer to me than Gatwick). This obviously gave me much greater choice of flights each way.

Regarding the night time flights, I have no scientific evidence for this but I am convinced that flying overnight gives me truly terrible jetlag. I would never save money by flying at this time of night ever again. But that's just my individual belief.

Good luck with booking it all and have a great time - Canada is fab all over.:)

MegS

I flew Air Canada last year and they were good but the cabin crew are a little scary. When we landed in Vancouver it was the best, could hardly feel touchdown but I digress. My friend flew Air Transat and she said they were great, comfy seats with plenty of leg room. She flies a lot on all sorts of airlines so I feel I can trust her judgment. Incidentally both her and my husband have said their worse flight ever was on BA (different flights).

Sorry for hijacking your thread but when is the best time to buy flights for Vancouver for Christmas time?

Spendless

Another vote for canadian affair from me. We have flown with them several times, the last time to Toronto last August. The seats had a larger pitch than standard. As to prices we found the price went up by waiting and we had to pay £200 more for booking in January than we would have done for booking the previous month.