Jerseygirl

Traveling to and from Buffalo to get a flight to the UK is a major pain in the bum IMO. There is only one flight per day (evening) from Newark to the UK and that's with United. There used to be two per day years ago when it was Continental. Sooooo...a lengthy journey to Buffalo...then two planes to Manchester...that makes for an extremely long journey.

Oakvillian

I would agree. If the question is "nicest airline company between TO and UK" I would instantly rule out any that require a stop on the way. The least pleasant part of any journey by air are the bits that require you to hang around in airport departure lounges and/or arrivals halls. Going out of one's way to do that more often than absolutely required would not by any means fit my criteria for "nice."

If, otoh, the question were "cheapest" then options through Buffalo might come into play. But increasingly not even then - especially with the Loonie where it's currently sitting if ticket prices are in US dollars - and certainly not if convenience and length of journey are factors for consideration.

It really does, sadly for the OP, boil down to Air Canada vs British Airways.

Jerseygirl

I normally only book non stop flights. Years ago we sometimes flew into Heathrow from Newark or JFK...then onto Manchester. Instead of getting into Manchester early in the morning it was usually around lunchtime...meaning a loss of several hours vacation time and by that time I was well and truly cream crackered.

not2old

if the difference is a few dollars, my suggestion for you is to pick the one that is direct with the shortest flight time & that doesn't get you into the UK at 5:30 am, because on the return leg you need to be up & at the airport while you're still sleeping.

They are all much the same for a 7 hour flight.

As some folks are aware, YYZ to the UK can be 21hrs when you include things such as - getting to an airport, waiting, stops, changes, layovers & connections, either through Buffalo, to Newark and/or Philadelphia.

For YYZ to the UK, take the shortest flight time (7-8 hrs max), cheapest direct flight that gets you in the UK after 8am, is my suggestion to you.

Just to show you value for money & flight time YYZ-SYD.

If you were thinking YYZ - SYD (Australia) then its the one stop change 21 -24 hr flight for $1562

Departing Flight Information - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 Toronto, ON, Canada to Sydney, Australia

Air Canada
Flight 739 Departs: Tue Sep 15 6:30pm
Toronto, ON - Pearson International (YYZ) Arrives: Tue Sep 15 9:10pm
San Francisco, CA - San Francisco International (SFO)

United Airlines
Flight 863 Departs: Tue Sep 15 10:25pm
San Francisco, CA - San Francisco International (SFO) Arrives: Thu Sep 17 6:25am Sydney - Kingsford Smith (SYD) Flight Duration: 21h 55m

Returning Flight Information - Monday, September 28, 2015.

Sydney, Australia to Toronto, ON, Canada

United Airlines
Flight 840 Departs: Mon Sep 28 9:50am
Sydney - Kingsford Smith (SYD) Arrives: Mon Sep 28 6:40am
Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles International (LAX)

United Airlines
Flight 8328 Departs: Mon Sep 28 11:35am
Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles International (LAX) Arrives: Mon Sep 28 7:10pm Toronto, ON - Pearson International (YYZ) Operated by: AIR CANADA Flight Duration: 23h 20m

Goodbhoy

I have flown both AC and BA for the previous year every 2 weeks. (back and forth)
In my opinion BA was superior for a level of service.
Alcoholic drinks are free.
Leg room is pretty poor though.

Air Canada was OK for service and soft drinks were free and leg room was a little better than BA.

I had lots of issues going through Heathrow though as I needed to go from Terminal 5 to terminal 2 and needed to go through security twice.

I am now here permanently.
When my wife and kids came over to join me, they travelled with air Transat as it was a direct flight and we were also transporting our pets.
We booked economy but then upgraded to premium economy.
She reports that it was the worst airline she has ever flown with.
The planes were old and you didn't even hae your own TV screens.

I have never flown with Air Transat and do not intend to so I cannot comment from a personal level.

ChrisBan

Just have to point out that alcoholic drinks are free on AC too.

Goodbhoy

Oh OK, I don't remember that.
Perhaps it was another airline I had to pay for a beer.

ChrisBan

Yup, very much enjoyed my plastic bottle of wine and pee beer a couple weeks ago on way back from YYZ

Dahab

Really useful information - thanks. As a woman traveling on her own and having to struggle with luggage on the shuttle bus to car hire from T2 BA will always be my first choice now.

Aaron.Cat.89

I've also just done a round trip from the UK to Calgary with ac. The airline supplied plenty of refreshments and the seats were comfortable with lots of legroom in premium economy. My only gripe has already been mentioned and that was the entertainment, very bland selection of films and TV shows however I would definitely use ac again and would also recommend them.

colchar

I have used Air Transat but both times it was a Thomas Cook plane staffed by Thomas Cook employees. Other than one return flight from Gatwick that was severely delayed (a passenger on the inbound flight had left a bag on the plane which, of course, caused a bomb scare which resulted in the delay) I had very good experiences. I wouldn't hesitate to fly with them again.

withabix

Was this before 2013?

I don't think they work with Thomas Cook any more (or rather I don't think Thomas Cook run any long-haul services to Canada any more).

Aviator

Airlines are no different to other consumer goods. What is the 'nicest', best or best value is down to each of our expectations and what is most important, cost or comfort and what we can each afford or justify spending to achieve the objective of getting one place to another.

My mother flew on a charter carrier, much to her disgust, as I could not get her on a company flight when she wanted to travel. She said she would rather walk next time than fly them again. We never got to put that to the test!

I have certain expectations of travel comfort and would adjust my schedule to meet those expectations and convenience. A charter would not come into the equation for me.

SchnookoLoly

I usually avoid the AT flights operated by Thomas Cook, I've had some bad experiences with them in the past.

AT operated by AT is decent, though, and their customer service is good even for a charter.

First, I had a bike box that I wanted to accompany me. Both AC and BA wanted me to pay the fee for a second checked bag, PLUS then an additional handling charge for "special cargo". AT just wanted a flat 25 quid - would have cost me more like 100 on AC or BA. Score one for AT. It did take a little bit longer for my bike box to come out on the other end, but the box came out in tact, albeit slightly later than the rest of the luggage! Not a big deal at all.

AT was also pretty good about the most ridiculous plane delay I've ever experienced. This was January 2014. A bit of a saga...

Flight was meant to leave at 9am and arrive in Toronto around noon. Cool. Get to the airport, check everything in including my bike box, and then told that the flight is delayed by about 4 hours, so they gave me some food vouchers and said to just go sit tight. Alrighty. Had breakfast with my in-laws (and paid for theirs as I think my voucher was for like 25quid, lol) and then went through security etc. I had some lounge passes from a credit card, so this seemed as good a use as any!

The delays continued through the day. 1pm departure became 2pm, became 3pm, became 4pm. I'd gone to the AT desk a few times, naturally they were swamped with people, and the attendants looked completely frazzled, but just kept saying that they had no idea what was going on, they just kept getting calls from Toronto saying the delay had been extended, then later calls saying the same from Montreal. They were confused and really apologetic, I felt bad for them. I got another 25quid in vouchers and went back to the lounge.

I kept trying to find the incoming flight on things like FlightRadar, but the flight number was coming up as "departing from Montreal" which I knew wasn't right... again, just seemed to be total confusion. Instead I ordered my sixth gin and watched movies on Netflix.

Eventually the departure time changed... jumped from 4pm to 11:59pm. Okay, wtf! Back to the desk... still no real word other than "yeah, it's going to be a really late departure". Another 30quid's worth of vouchers, back to the lounge I go! At this point I was pretty drunk, haha.

Around 10pm the lounge closed, so I went wandering around the airport. It was hilarious, there were only two flights left to depart, ours and one going to Stockholm. Everyone left in the terminal was either asleep, sprawled out on benches, or otherwise in the restaurants getting spectacularly drunk.

Finally we got a departure gate assigned, got on the plane, etc... pulled away from the gate at about 1am. So at this point I'd been at the airport since about 7am - 18 hours. Woohoo.

Once on the plane, the pilot came on the PA system and told us what happened. Honestly, I felt awful for everyone involved.

The plane pulled away from the gate in Toronto on time. While it was taxiing out to the runway, one of the passengers became quite ill, and the plane had to turn around and go back. While on the way back, a second passenger also started vomiting. The two of them were offboarded, and then a delay happened because their bags also had to be removed.

While they were waiting for the baggage removal, two asshats started causing a ruckus and getting really beligerent, so they were kicked off the plane. Their bags also had to be removed.

So after this delay, finally the plane was able to head back out... except a snowstorm had pulled in, flights were grounded. Great.

Finally things clear up enough that the plane can take off... except with this long delay now the flight crew does not have enough flying hours left to actually make it to London. They decide to take off from Toronto anyway as the forecast wasn't looking great, and would land in Montreal just to change crews... given the flight isn't very long, it would take just as long to get a new crew to Toronto anyway, so they decided to do that.

So off they go to Montreal. Touch down in Montreal, new crew comes on, ready to go, aaaaaaaaaaand SNOWSTORM. They are stuck on the ground in Montreal an additional 3 hours.

Finally it clears up enough to take off and the plane makes it to London. Just the biggest faff EVER.

I was pretty impressed generally with how AT handled things at Gatwick... the staff there were clearly frustrated that they didn't know what was going on but were doing their best to appease everyone, and I got about 80 quid's worth of free food in the process, haha, which was well more than I could eat, lol... particularly as the last voucher was rather late in the day and I'd already pigged out on free food and booze in the lounge. I ended up buying McDonalds for a bunch of people milling about the restaurant as it was the only thing still open after 11pm!

So an interesting experience... landing in Toronto at 5am after being quite drunk and spending the day at Gatwick was, uh, interesting... not sure how thrilled Mr Schnooks was either to have to trek out to Pearson in the middle of the night on a Wednesday morning, lol... but overall it was a decent flight.

I was on one of the refurbished planes, it was pretty nice. Good selection of movies, nice screens, way fewer ads than on AC's system, no complaints overall, really.

(I would generally still fly AC or BA if given the choice, unless AT comes up way cheaper - airline points also factor into the decision slightly as well!)

not2old

what you are really saying at the bottom of that last long post #44 is - 'lowest fare (cheapest) is the only way to go', whether it comes in a discount fare by way of points or price?

And if you didn't have the points, you'd always fly the cheapest out of pocket cost no matter what?

and this