That day flight is great if you don't mind effectively losing a day stuck on a plane (which, with at-seat power and seatback entertainment, isn't necessarily such a hardship - flight loads on that day flight can be pretty light, too. It's always far easier when you've got an empty seat next to you!)

To be honest, I didn't find Transat *that* horrific (but then, I made the mistake of trying Globespan... now that was dire! Just wish another carrier would come in to YHM and make it feasible to fly back from here... the AC feeder to YUL was great, did that for during my 'winter recce' before we made the big move!). That said, we were also flying as a family, so had a row of three together which always makes life easier.

I think so long as you know what you're getting in to (seatguru and a bit of online research wrt trip reports usually does the trick), it's not too hard to set your expectations at the right level. Of course, there's a trade-off to be made, and everyone's preferences and levels of trade-off varies, but it's worth doing the research before getting one's hopes up. These days, I've sometimes ended up under-estimating a flight and ended up pleasantly surprised (USAir domestic economy really have upped their game south of the border, for example).

Just planning my Mum's next trip over. Looks like Transat is way cheaper for the outbound leg, but she's flying back in biz class for the overnight (gotta love bmi miles!).

Out of interest, has anyone tried Icelandair? They seem to have some very aggressively priced deals - and the free stopover in Reykjavik sounds appealing... always wanted to visit, and as we don't get quite as many vacation days here, a two-centre holiday might just be the clincher...

Just remember you can ONLY pay for drinks/snacks on board with a credit card. Not cash, not debit card.
We waited in the queue for check in for nearly two hours and had to sprint to departure, so no time to grab the dinner and shopping we had planned, my daughter was crying with hunger by the time they bought out the meal and she ate it despite it being disgusting. Plan in an extra hour or three for the two checkin staff for a full a330.
That said would have to use them again if we ever go back, difference in cost is vast!

It's the day flight that made my mind up. I never sleep on the night flight, and worry so much about driving from gatwick to either Wiltshire or Worcestershire - which ever daughter I go to first. Not so bad in the summer, when I can get the flight to Birmingham.

I remember one year I went back in December, waiting for the car hire desk to open at 6.30 am. It was pitch black, and heavy rain. There was a Canadian family from my flight waiting with me, they had a boy about 2 and baby in arms. They were at the desk, and being offered an upgrade to a vehicle with a stick change, he had never drove one before and never been to the UK before, they were headed to London, anyway they took the upgrade. My drive to Wiltshire was really bad, the rain was so heavy, couldn't see through it, and it was so dark. My thoughts were with that family, who had never drove a stick change, never drove on the left, or the M25. The conditions were appalling, no sleep and small children in the car.

I think driving after a day flight, may be a safer option.

You should have been able to join the family queue? We arrived at Calgary airport to sadly see quite a line ahead of us and then a member of Air Transat staff spotted us and said that with kids under 12 you join the "young person line". straight to the front - thank you very much!