johnhawkwood

Anybody know if strike* by Air Transat cabin staff late summer of 2011 likely to effect Canadian Affair flights to the UK (Gatwick) ?

*Air Transat cabin staff currently negotiating new contract and are in a legal position to strike at the end of July, 2011

furries

If it goes ahead, I can see no reason why it wouldn't! sorry ...

rich07

It will depend on which airline is actually doing the flight. Many flights into gAtwick are Thomas Cook flights, which should not be affected

diablorouge

Just back from Vancouver yesterday and flew on a Thomas Cook flight, by far and away the worst flight experience I have ever had, and I have had many.

justkidding

Why was it the worst? What happened?

DandNHill

I agree with rich07, alot of the flights in the summer with Canadian Affair are with Thomas Cook. Are you sure you're flying Air Transat?

furries

Depends on airport ... not found a CA flight out of Glasgow this year yet thats not been Air Transat and I am flying out on Air Transat from Manchester on 8th ... I think that Air Transat operate out of some airport, TC out of others ...

TheCanary

Really disappointed to hear this, as we are due to go via Thomas Cook. Anyway I guess we will see what happens, cant change things now. I do have a question about baggage allowance, please can you confirm with me how many kilos you can take with check in luggage and how many in hand luggage? Thanks.

furries

From the UK, 20kg hold and 5kg hand. If going club class you get 30kg in the hold, still 5kg hand.

On air transat, I believe (and will be testing the claim on the website!) that you get 20kg and 5kg economy and a massive 40kg and 15kg (only one item though) hand in club class...

Laptops are separate for each class... just the laptop - not it and its bag.

Not flown TC yet ... but certainly the staff at Air Transat are hot on bag dimensions, weight etc at check in ...

rich07

TC are also very hot on baggage weight. They weighed each bag separately including hand luggage, excess baggage charges are also very expensive at £15 per kilo

Auld Yin

Firstly, I understands people's desire to save money but cheaper flights are cheaper for a number of reasons vs scheduled airlines. Shorter seat pitch, poorer quality meals, lesser paid cabin crew to name a few. I don't believe one should expect BA quality when flying Canadian Affair/Thomas Cook, etc. BA cabin crew are, I understand, are the highest paid in the world and it should be reflected in the service quality but I know from personal experience this isn't always so.

furries

I would certainly agree with Auld Yin on this ... certainly Canadian Affair (TC/AT) are the economy crossing ... and having flown with others they are pretty basic in a lot of ways. Having said that, if you are happy with not having the service that you expect (but as Auld Yin points out, you don't always get KLM! grr...) from a major airline, they do a great job. Ipod, kindle, job done. No need for films, games etc ... and the upgrade to club class does start to get a more reasonable baggage allowance ... but quite agree - do not expect a £200 service to equate to a £600 one ...

TheCanary

5kg in the hand is almost nothing, the bag it self weighs 2 maybe 3. This weight thing is getting ridiculous and making travelling a nightmare.

diablorouge

This would not have been our first choice of carrier but on this occasion we needed a direct flight to YVR from Manchester, and TC was it. Several reasons for absolutely hating this service, lack of leg room and room in general, below standard food, cabin crew who on the whole were miserably unhelpful, the constant round of sales, whether it be drinks, or duty free, or drinks again. The majority of seats around our position seemed faulty in some way, either refusing to recline altogether or, being stuck in the reclined position, these faults only made already cramped conditions worse. Next time we will suck up the cost and fly from Heathrow.

Lorry1

We used Canadian Affair when we first came here 4 years ago. Too be honest I don't care which airline it is as I totally hate flying anyway.

I have to say they were really good back then though. There was 4 of us with 8 massively over sized suitcases. It should have cost us a fortune in excess but once we said we were emigrating he let them through without charging a penny. We were so grateful!