Well thats it guys.

Have taken the big plunge !!!

Went into Canadian Affair in George Square, Glasgow City Centre yesterday and booked the familys flights to Vancouver. Must say it left a massive dent in my wallet, but who cares its only money !!!!!!!

Leave Glasgow Airport 15th July 05, arrive the 15, via Calgary.

CANNY WAIT

So all you folks in Vancouver who like taking the mick (WILLMORE) had better watch as this hairy arsed, kilt wearing Scotsman will be on his way to get ye all back !!!!!!!!

I opted for Canadian Affair as they were given good reviews on this forum and my friend in work travels to Toronto at least 3 times a year with them, he has never had a bad flight.
I looked at Flyzoom.com, did not like the 31 inch seat pitch. I believe it is 35 with Affair.

Anyone had any bad experiences with them at all. Your views would be appreciated.

Eddie

[QUOTE=Voyager970]Well thats it guys.


So all you folks in Vancouver who like taking the mick (WILLMORE) had better watch as this hairy arsed, kilt wearing Scotsman will be on his way to get ye all back !!!!!!!!

Promises, promises.....I'm still waiting for the photo......

Great to hear that you booked the flight - it's pretty exciting isn't it?

Though I thought Canada had reached its quota of allowing grouchy/smart-ass Scotsmen to enter this country?

Well you've booked them now, so you are not really wanting to hear they are bad are you?

Three things I'd mention though.

1) Our flight was changed to a different day and different time at two weeks notice just about when we were expecting our tickets to arrive. Caused considerable inconvenience altering travel arrangements, taking kids off school, changing accomodation bookings and the kennel etc etc..... not a good start!

2) I found the seats very cramped compared to Air Canada we'd travelled with before, and tho the idea of seat back tv was nice, if the person in front reclined their seat, the tv was much to close for comfort! I swore I'd not travel with them again, unless perhaps we had the upgraded seats! I guess you gets what you pay for, eh?

and 3) the book-in at Gatwick was complete mayhem, so anyone travelling from there I'd advise get there extra early to be in front of the mass! Actually if you have the afore-mentioned upgrade you get fast check-in so that would solve that one too!

You could probably upgrade the seats you already booked. I'd say it'd definitely be worth it if you can afford it.

Morw

We have used Air canada and Zoom.
Found Zoom to be better at half the price and that was without the upgrade in seat size. My Dad liked them so much that he was going to write a letter to say thankyou!

We flew to NS where the Halifax airport is a dream esp. compared to Gatwick stinky Gatwick. The shorter flight also makes seat sizes a bit less important.

Flew Mytravel Premium out to Canada in September and back with Air Canada.

I have to say that Mytravel premium was streets ahead of Air Canada in every way, from the service through to the in flight entertainment. Personally I will always travel this way in future, if possible...

Where do they fly from and are they "budget" priced?

They're one of the carriers that Canadian Affair use, and are indeed cheap.

Not sure how much the premium upgrade cost, just that they were cheaper than scheduled...

They fly to all major Canadian Airports from Gatwick/ Manchester and possibly other UK airports too...

As noted above, it is a bit late now that you have booked.

We flew with zoom, as did my parents, in laws and brother in law over the summer. All I can say is that they were excellent, only one hickup with the in flight movies on my brother in laws flight going back to glasgow.

I am amazed at how cheap Zoom is compared to the quality of service. For example there is a flight in February, Glasgow to Toronto one way for 39 GBP plus taxes.

I can only praise Zoom.

My mother in law travelled with Canadian Affair this summer to visit us in Edmonton. She had flights changed with less than a week to go, found the communication to be poor and was stuck in Edmonton airport for 2hrs when she arrived because they couldnt get the luggage doors open on the flight.

I think there will always be the odd problem with flights.

For some reason Zoom have changed their flight program for UK to Edmonton next year which is annoying as they fly in on a Sunday but dont fly back until the Wednesday, this will cause a lot of people to switch to Canadian Affair I think.

Anyway, there is my 2 pence worth, have a great time and get some fishing in when you go to Vancouver, I managed to catch a 35lb Chinook salmon !!! it was a monster.

We only go with Canadian affair now, we have had an awful flights with transat. And on the whole have got fantastic prices with them.
may try Zoom one day, but like the seat back T.V;s with Can Affair
Once the premium cabin only offered extra leg room, but last year the Thomas Cook flight offers 34" seat pitch on all seats. The only difference with premium now is slightly wider seats sectioned off area and complimentary drinks. But you can get 30kg baggage each opposed to 20kg.
Good if this is a one way trip.
Gatwick check in is rubbish though . I really hate this airport, and although with Premium we were meant to have priority check in and luggage handling we didn't!
Maybe Glasgow will be better organised?
One piece of advice, if you like your food take plenty of your own, and drink, as if you are not in premium they charge. Food offered is not very filling for long flight, and kids will definately need plenty of snacks, and drinks.

Zoom food is all complimentary with wine (liittle tumbler) which is topped up. Free drinks trolley except for alcoholic. Clean plane. Very friendly crew.
It was just Gatwick airport (smokey, congested, noisey and hard to get to through traffic) that I hated.

Guys a mixed bag of comments
I found Can Affair cheaper by £280, I have just checked out Zooms prices, way to dear.
The price I got also included pre-bookable seats, they were charging us £7 per person each way, which for the 5 of us, the price soon mounts up.

The seats are 34 or 35 inch pitch, which is 3 inches more the Zoom, and as most folks would appreciate an extra 3 inches is quite a lot !!!!!!!!!!.
( The woman will agree with this one )

Glasgow is obviously not as big as Gatwick, we fly from there most of the time as it has good parking facilities. I would agree that Glasgow is more organised, but I must admit I do not know what Gatwick is like.

Yes we are all really forward to the holiday, and my wife is looking forward to seeing her relatives, has not seen them in 11 years.

It is My Travel that I will be using, a Airbus 330-200 I think

Anyone been on this plane, is it any good !!!!!!

Views and advice on this plane would be greatly appreciated

Eddie

With the numerous trips backwards and forwards, between the family we have covered BA, Transat, Zoom and Canadian Affair. The BA one doesn't really count, we did'[nt pay for it my company did and it was business class with the lay down seats, really good but really expensive. Personally I would'nt pay for it, but it's a nice freebie.

Bottom of the list is Transat, Toronto - Manchester, Toronto - Cardiff & Manchester - Toronto. All three flights pretty crap, crap service, cramped etc etc etc.

Next is Zoom, Toronto - Glasgow, upgraded to premium, not worth it. I only did it to get the extra room on the overnight flight to try and get some kip. Service is better than Transat but your'e still cramped like Transat, even in the Premium.

My preference now is Canadian Affair, it was My-Travel Gatwick - Toronto. Once you get past the check in at Gatwick (probably did'nt help that we arrived an hour later than planned) it was really good. If my memory serves me right it was an Airbus A330 - 200. Liked the flight because of the seat back TV's, good for keeping the kids quiet, plus the service was good and near the rear of the plane the seating plan is different and rather than having 3-3-3 it was 2-3-2. Good when there's 4 of you and that if you don't get right to the very back the aisles are wider and there is a better feeling of space. Plus the price was right.

Will definitely use Canadian Affair again.

Phew, the Thomas Cook flights sound ok. That's who's my Canadian Affair flights in January.

We all flew with Canadian-Affair. There was loads of leg room...my husband is 6ft 4 inches and his knees still didn't touch the seat in front!!! It was clean and comfortable and because quite a few people didn't turn up for their flight we had an extra free seat so we could really spread out.

Meals were fine and we seemed to be forever eating or drinking (all water, coffee, tea and meals included in flight).....we sat near the toilets (in pre-booked seats) which was actually quite handy with the three kids.

Were also able to stock up with stuff from the duty free trolley also.

One thing that may be worth mentioning though as your pets cannot travel on Canadian-Affair. Our dog had to fly a couple of days later with Air Canada......still cost far less than flying with Air Canada. Husband who had flown with Air Canada earlier on in the year said there was far more leg room on the Canadian Affair flight and we much preferred flying from Gatwick.....no queing!!!!

When I said Canadian affair was cramped, it was the width I meant more than the length.

As for not queuing at Gatwick???!!!!! WOW I'm impressed...was there a bomb-scare that day?

We had pre-booked seats at £7 each, but on the way out, when they rescheduled our flight, and after we had queued for so long, we were told we could not have the seats we'd paid for and the family were split into 2 and 2, and not even in the same row as eachother, let alone anywhere near the row we had selected!

The food was poor, I felt, compared with what we'd had on Air Canada, and the service slow and grudging.

Morw