goodpikey

hi guys,
looking at booking flights with canadian affair for may for myself the wife and the dog.
a bit worried that as they are a low cost airline they might suffer the same fate as zoom and globespan!!

anyone have any knowledge of how well or badly these guys are going at the minute? are they likely to be in existence in 4/5 months time?

many thanks

el_richo

By all accounts (pardon the pun), they're doing ok financially. I wouldn't worry.

goodpikey

pun excused!

thank you!!

DigitalGhost

I don't think that they are a low cost airline, if you notice they seem to be selling charter seats on flights ran by other organisations. I don't think they actually have their own planes although I could be mistaken.

PeterF

That is exactly right.

Be aware though, they oversell seats to ensure they sell all.

They buy blocks of seats from other companies, like Thomas Cook and I believe they pay an up front price for these, to ensure they get their money back and make a profit, they oversell.

They have a system to select the 'unlucky' ones to stay behind, I know as they did this to me when I first came over, because my wife did not come over straight away I was flying alone and as a single male passanger, I was #1 on their list to hold back.

I had to wait until all the others were through and I was lucky enough to get on. Maddening as I was one of the first there when the counter opened, I had to sit around for 2 hours thinking I wasn't going to fly and I would be late starting my new job.


We're planning to make a trip to the UK soon, I will be looking at CA simply because we will be a family of 4 so unlikely to be 'selected'.

DigitalGhost

I've also noticed that sometimes when you put the dates in for a round trip it will find an outward and return flight and on other occasions it doesn't find a return flight unfortunately. Is this because they do not have any flights available at that time or is it just some sort of system error? I only ask because I have tried then looking at an outward flight on the same date and it has been fine and I doubt that it will be because all of the UK-bound flights are sold out on that date.

burton bunch

Yeah this has happened to me too but not too sure if it actually means they are sold out - as I have also had a messaged "we are unable to provide ......".

Maybe there is something to do with maybe - have they confirmed their routes with the actual airports for future dates ? Could be a whole Sh1t of things

Helen Parnell

the overselling of seats is done by a lot of airlines. Apparently there are people in this world who book a flight and then do not turn up. but then in the event every one does turn up the airline has a problem.

My brother when he young free and single use to offer to stay back and catch the next fight. He would be compensated with a reduced flight in the future or some other monetary gain. Cos he was young free single and broke, he could just sit back in a chair at the airport and read a book for 12 hours or so!

Not for me, but for the right person.

Miss Clinique

This has happened to me also. I think its because in the winter they dont fly to all of the destinations that they do in summer. So, if you try to book Birminghan, Heathrow ect after Oct and before aApril-ish then you will get that message. Basically they only fly to Gatwich and Manchester in the winter months.

brummi

I was looking at flights for end of July and British Airways were cheaper than Canadian Affair

DigitalGhost

Now that is interesting.

joinerboy

[QUOTE=brummi;8259590]I was looking at flights for end of July and British Airways were cheaper than Canadian Affair[/

just one problem could all the cabin crew be missing on these
'cheap' flights with BA

farjojo71

CA did this on my return flight back to the UK last month from Calgary. Basically they had overbooked the flight and anyone who hadn't prepaid for a seat was put in another queue to wait until the end. Thankfully I had prepaid for my seat even though I was on my own so I was ok but I heard that there was about 30 people not able to board.

London Mike

We booked Air Transat from London for 27th July. Nothing else came anywhere near (SwissAir was actually quite close but still substantially more overall). Book via Expedia because they allow cancellations and changes (for a fee). Booking direct with the airline is a non-changeable, non-refundable ticket!

lins and Stef McLachlan

Hi
You are right. We have flown several times with Canadian Affair and the used Thomas Cook and Air Transat......they are the planes in their current brochure. They are ABTA and IATA registered so should not be a problem if they do go bust and you need to get home.......Unlikely....as they are using other companies who would all have to go bust for you to be stranded.

Just my opinion
Hope this helps
Stef