London Mike

As JamesM has said, we ran into each other in the line-up at Pearson yesterday after getting off of the same flight from Gatwick. That was without doubt the highlight of my traveling experience to and from Blighty.

AT are absolutely shit. I know you get what you pay for, but I didn't expect brown turd in exchange for my hard earned dollars. Never again. Seriously, if any of you work for them you should just resign out of sheer embarrassment with the connection. In fact, I'd get a new identity to be honest.

Way out = heat system broke so it was freezing on the plane. A few people asked for gratis blankets to compensate. AT's response? Only if you pay for them, and only with a credit card. I kid you not there was an old lady next to us who was shivering because she was that cold and that was even with one blanket on. My year old caught a chill (ok, it might just be crappy recycled air but I'm blaming AT) and is still recovering. Wankers.

Way back = one broken toilet and my OH get a rollicking for taking a short cut across the front of the cabin to get to the other loo. When the OH questioned why it was such a big deal she was told that her behaviour was "wholly inappropriate". Twats. Then, only movies on offer were shite, adult films that were totally not inappropriate for kids. At one point, all 18 screens in front of us showed someone having their eye gouged with a pen (or something) and the four year old flinched. It's fine if you can turn the screens off but not in AT steerage. After a chat with the flight director, who'd had lots of complaints, he reluctantly put on one crappy kids film that only some of the kids could enjoy. Wankers again.

Sorry for bad language. I'm not expecting any replies but I felt I needed to offload.

carrin

My single flight experience on Air Transat didn't make me eager to fly again.

*sigh* Next time I'll spend more money...

Londonuck

Weirdly, I had quite a nice flight with them about 3 weeks ago. Im still stunned.

JamesM

It really depends on the model of plane you get.

Last time I flew back in May it was a brand new plane and pretty much kicked the arse out of anything else I've ever flown. 12 inch screen at each seat with channel choice.

That plane was pretty lousy.

More peeved with Pearson- I ended up in there for almost two hours in the end.........

Aviator

The model has nothing to do with it really. How old and how well maintained is key. Even systems on new aircraft can malfunction.

End of the day with flights as with anything, you get what you pay for. Often the equipment is in good order, as is the professionalism of the flight crew.

It's the level of service, convenience of the schedule and what extras you have to pay for that often make the difference.

victorfoxtrot

Your story just reinforces my decision never to fly with them. Just the name Air Transat makes them sound like a freight shipper. Just booked Xmas flights and I think AT were about $80 cheaper, but factoring in that it's Gatwick and not LHR and where I am staying is a lot closer to LHR I plumped for AC.

On another note, I flew back from London to Toronto with Icelandair last week. They are kind of odd, but cheap and basically ok. Pleasant staff also. Basic economy gets you your own movie screen with half decent films (but you have to pay for headsets so remember your own), free hot & cold soft drinks, but any food you have to pay for, so I bought my own food beforehand at the airport which served me fine.

They stop over in Reykjavik so I did for a few nights (the Blue Lagoon is fab!!!) which was at no extra cost regarding the flights. It's about 2.45hrs from London to Reykjavik and then just shy of 6 hours from there to TO.

I would fly with them again.

macadian

Have flown with AT on a number of occasions. Got to say I have never had a bad experience with them. Had worse with BA! Fly with AT in a weeks time, back to the UK to see family etc

Will let you know how the flights went.....

iaink

Ive never had a problem with Air Transat either, but my expectations are low.

Great point about the movies though, Id have hated that travelling with kids. Its something that the airlines should give some thought too.

JamesM

The model has everything to do with the experience described by the OP.

Should each seat have had it's own screen his children would have not had to view two adult movies and been able to select more appropriate entertainment keeping them amused for the duration of the flight.

Similarly on newer model's in their fleet they have more toilets making relieving yourself a more pleasurable and faster experience.

Other than being given a couple of crappy meals and drinks what else does the end user really need on the cattle run.

Souvy

We took a AC flight down to Cuba (DR?) a few years back. The purser got the kids to vote on which of the available movies would be shown. I found that cute.

HPJOS

On the movie subject, it's amazing how when censoring a film for general viewing all the sex content and swearing gets edited but you can still watch someone have the absolute sh*t kicked out of them.

R I C H

I flew to Texas earlier this month, with American Airlines. Three flight sectors, of 1 to 3.5 hours duration. No food or drink on any sector, no inflight entertainment whatsoever, and the privilege of having to pay $25 per sector on top of the ticket price (which was $1,250) in order to take a 15kg piece of checked luggage, which got lost in transit twice. Never again.

Aviator

Don't think you understand the aviation industry. There are many 'models' of the same type. Buying an airplane is not the same as buying a car, all the amenities the pax get are customized for each carrier. Everything in the airplane is the configuration chosen by the carrier. The meals have nothing to do with an aircraft type or model. The number of washrooms has not increased with aircraft type for many years, it is designated by the number of pax and there are as few as possible. Toilet facilities add weight, cost money and are not a revenue source.

An A330 flying for Air Canada may be way different to an A330 flying for another carrier and this is the same for each aircraft type. It is the carrier that makes the difference, not the aircraft type.

JamesM

OK I don't understand the Aviation industry.

However I know Air Transat have new planes that are new models that give all passengers a screen.

You probably get these plane's in different configurations but Air Transat appear to be going for the best configuration as it was better than anything else I have flown including Air Canada, BA and Virgin.

The first of these came into play this year and they are actually planning to overhaul the whole fleet with these planes over the next few years.

Regardless of what one knows about the aviation industry as an end user you only care about cost, movies, food and toilet access.

I believe these new planes that are newer models would address most of Mike's concerns.

Something unique that did happen to me on my flight the other way was that Air Transat went missing and I was transported by World Airlines. I had never heard of them.

scrubbedexpat091

American might not be the best airline out there, but they still offer beverages, so I really have a hard time beleiving there was no beverages served on any of the flights.

Free food in the US however on airlines is not to be expected anymore.