Purley

I was going to search the forum to see what people said about flying Zoom, but I can't get the search function to work.

Is Zoom part of some other airline - like Air Transat and Canadian Affair?

Someone told me last night that they are really good, have new big planes and seat back screens etc. and are much better than Air Canada.

I am not planning on going right away, but it would be much more convenient as they fly into Gatwick.

Anybody got any comments on Zoom?

Biiiiink

No, they're just Zoom... started by a Scot who moved to Canada with the intention of going into semi-retirement! I think he formed a holiday company and when he had difficulty getting the aircraft to use for that, he started his own airline. As you do

I haven't used them but equally haven't heard anything about them that would stop me making a booking. Look forward to reading others' comments.

louisbourg

hi there
my cousin used zoom last year
halifax to london
they were the best price , and they had no problems at all

but i do remember , people on here who have had not so good experience's with them

good and bad with all i guess , just hope you get lucky and be trouble free
sharon

frankieforehead

At the moment they are advertising on the TV...They are a budget airline, and if you search the archives you'll probably find some negative comments....We have flown with the other budget airlines over the years, and Canadian affair (Thomas Cook) are pretty good. The only thing is, if you can't upgrade, your luggage is limited to 20kg. But if you want to fly the pond cheaply ...who cares??

JAJ

Try http://www.airlinequality.com

dbd33

My parents zoomed from Gatwick to Toronto recently. They upgraded to the better seats. They liked zoom. Note that they're very old, semi-mobile, prone to cramp and extremely experienced budget transatlantic travellers.


Zoom is, of course, not a patch on Wardair, ruddy marvellous Wardair, if we'd had Wardair when your Uncle Bill was killed fighting in Normandy ........... <fades into confusion>

Rich_007

Hi, we flew Sept Manc-Vanc. It worked for us regarding times and date of flight versus cost. We had asked around and knew there was a slight service risk involved.

Upgraded to the longer legroom seats. Space was fine and worth the small extra, but seats were cheap leathery stuff and sweaty, tended to fall off front of them. Service and food was fine no probs. Flight staff were fine.

The only hassle we had was a 3.5 hr delay. No compo as this was a charter. Also not covered by our insurance due to less than 8 hour delay. Missed connector flight to Kelowna from Vancouver and had to pay overnight hotel costs. Loads of hassle in Manc from snotty CS bod who had clearly been well trained for her role by watching 'Airline' repeatedly ad naseum. We had 50kg excess baggage and were asked to pay half of that which was OK as we'd budgeted for it.

Basically given the choice of a bagfull of spare cash I'd use Zoom again, no real complaints, ref the delay yeah sh1t happens, it could've been handled better by Zoom but WTH. If the difference in price between Zoom and another airline is minimal go elsewhere but if it's a few hundred quid I'd Zoom it with a slight [known] risk factor.

Rich.

yonk

Yep. bloke who used to own Direct Travel (see branches here in Scotland) and then sold it making a lot of money.

Zoom were fine, much better than I expected after reading up about them. Easy check-ins, food was ok, seats were good and there was plenty of space to move - I think I had a row of 3 to myself most of the time, not bad at all.

R I C H

Yes - used them 3 times between M'chester, Calgary and Vancouver. Never been delayed, always been competitively priced and reasonably convenient scheduling.

I upgraded for extra legroom twice and once to their premium class (extra baggage allowance when I moved to BC) and found the flights pretty comfortable each time. Agree with Rich concerning the slippery seats, but it wouldn't put me off using them again.

agibson6

This year I've flown between UK-Canada about 9 times this year and 12 time in last 18 month. Have tried most options several times including Air Canada, Zoom, My Travel, and Continental through Newark (don't ask - I collect Virgin airmiles and they're partners). I've also spent the last 20 years travelling the world on business and believe me I've seem the inside of more airplanes and airports than most !!

Frankly nothing much to choose between AC/Zoom/Mytravel but if you can upgade to the larger seats in the last two they're usually a good deal.

Would not route through USA again as getting out of Toronto Friday night for a connection in New York is a big problem in winter. Usually have had few hours delay in Toronto missing connection in Newark and believe me overnighting in Newark area - even with airline paying hotel - is no fun.

In summary get direct flight, avoid Heathrow unless you live local to it (car journey times too unpredictable and car park exhorbitant), and pay to upgrade to seat with more leg room.

For me I use AC now as I'm collecting airmiles on them now !

macadian

Just back from the UK...flew ZOOM for the first time. Have also used Air Transat, BMI, etc in the past. Great flight, lots of leg room, excellent cabin staff. Would be my first choice in future!

us3andthedog

We booked Zoom on 26/12/04 for Manchester to Calgary flight 27/5/05 and they cancelled it 2 weeks before saying that it was their first flight from Manchester and the plane wasnt ready.
Had to frantically look for another flight, ended up going with Canadian Affair

Linda P

My parents came over Gatwick to Edmonton in the summer, they are 91 & 79 years young! no problems at all, I booked everything from Canada and they just picked the tickets up from the airport. I even had them put a note on the screen to remind my mum & dad to move about during the flight. This sounds strange but my mum thought she would bother people if she moved around, bless her .
Also my friend has just used them last month, again no problems!


Linda

DavidL

..ZOOM,we've flown with them , great flight...........people sometimes think that cos of flight delays it the fault of the airline..............we've also flown with Canadian Affair, and of the two, .Zoom were better, but with me been a Yorkshireman, i'd go with the cheaper company anyway............

JoD

Like others have already mentioned, Zoom are a budget airline and it's luck of the draw whether you get a good flight or not. We flew with them in June from Manchester and the flight was due to leave 11am. We were told on arrival at the airport that we weren't flying til 3pm and that we had to go via Glasgow. We didn't actually get on the plane til 5.30pm and we were stuck at Glasgow for hours and didn't arrive in Toronto til 1am (we should have arrived at 1pm) which wasn't great seeing as we had an 18 month old with us and then had to get through immigration! We weren't given any info whilst at the airports did not get the seats we had previously pre-booked. As you can imagine we weren't very happy with them, but then I've heard of people getting here without too much hassle, so like I say it's luck!