Canadian Affair??
 

Hi all. The wife and I are headed to Brum for a holiday in June, so we've started looking for deals. I've read a few scarey reviews about FlyGlobeSpan, so I'm hoping to avoid them, but they are the cheapest.
I read somewhere here that Canadian Affair had been sold. Is that true? Who to? Thier website is still up and running. And they have scheduled flights for the time we want to go.
We're just a little nervous after the Zoom fiasco. :unsure:

Any recent news/info/reviews would be a great help.

Thanks, :thumbsup:

Mark :beer:

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Hi, we have been to Canada 3x now and due to fly out again xmas day. All of our trips bar one have all been with Canadian Affair. They are still operating and I have no complaints what so ever. 1st class service all round and a good price. Hope this helps.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Air Transat owns Canadain Affair UK, 2 Years ago you use to buy Air Transat tickets through Globespan, but Transat went on a spending spree and bought Thomas Cook Canada, Canadian Affair and a few other tour companies.
Then Globespan began using there own aircraft to service Canada.
Over all opinion, You get what you pay for.

If you want regular delays, poor service use Globespan.
If you want a lesser chance of a delay and better service, book through Canadian Affair, (Air Transat or Thomas Cook UK aircraft, depending on time of the year).

Plus, since this summer, Air Transat has increased it's seat pitch throughtout all Planes.

If you book Air Transat, let me know, i'll let you know which are the best seats.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Used Canadian Affair twice this year to Manchester & return. Three flights with Thomas Cook and one with Air Transat. Leg Room and general customet care far superior on the Thomas Cook flights. Will make a point in future if dodging the Air Transat flights if possible....

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

yep ditto, we always use them if the flights are available

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I think I'd rather walk than use Globespan again. There is only once in a persons life you risk flying on a plane that has been duck taped:eek:

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I've always wondered... is it duck tape or duct tape?

Flew with Thomas Cook Canadian Affair in Sept and the service was very good. Took off and landed early both flights.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Both. It was invented in the 1940s for the US military, to seal ammunition boxes. It was probably originally called duck tape, as a reference either to the material it was made from (cotton duck) or to its water-repelling characteristics. After the war, it came to be used in civilian applications, such as sealing joints on heating ducts. Just to confuse matters, "Duck" is also a brand of said tape.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Thanks, excellent answer.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

My pleasure.

<I'll get me anorak>

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Thank you all. :thumbsup: We were 95% sure we wanted to go the Thomas Cook way, and now, thanks to you all, we have decided to book through Canadian Affair. We plan on going in June. Fly to Gatwick. Visit my sis in London for a few days, then hope a train to Dublin to do a little R+R in Ireland. Maybe look up some long lost family in the Dundalk area, then off to Brum to see my brothers and sisters. I can almost smell the Bull Ring!! :D

Thanks again for all the info.

Mark :beer:

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Thomas cook operate on behalf of Air Transat.
If you are going Toronto - Gatwick, Thomas Cook only operate one flight per week, Air Transat offer daily and on some days twice daily.

Here's the thing with Air Transat, The 2 main crew bases are Toronto and Montreal, some Toronto flights are crewed with a montreal based crew, these are the ones i tend to find are not the friendly ones to be on.
A group of French Canadians serving a flight full of Anglo Saxons.

I fly Air Transat 3-4 times a year, no problem, i'm not there to make friends, just as long as they say thanks and smile i'm happy.
Though i was impressed with Thomas Cook, a very warm welcome, but somewhat over-scipted.

Advantage of Air Transat, if there is a mechanical problem, much better chance of getting another aircraft, less delay.
Thomas Cook went throught a few very large delays this past summer.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

We'll be flying out of Calgary.

Mark :beer:

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

If you fly into Gatwick be prepared for how dirty, disgusting and smelly it is and if you need a trolly grab one asap because there are never enough to go around. And the loos are barftastic.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I find that comment rather difficult to swallow. I've been through about 90 airports in my life, 20 of them this year alone. In terms of facilities/amenities, ease of use and convenience, Gatwick is one of the best I can think of.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

tell me about it! August 24th was one i was on!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

IMO of course, but I stand by my opinion that Gatwick IS smelly, dirty and disgusting. I don't fly if I can help it and certainly don't have your experience of the world's airports, but the comparison between Calgary and Gatwick was pronounced.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I agree. I don't fly into Gatwick too often (every 2-3 years), but I've always found it clean and easy to get around, especially compared to some international airports. Have you seen O'Hare in Chicago?

Mark :beer:

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Had the displeasure of getting a connection there recently - mind boggling! Fortunately my connecting gate was quite close otherwise I can imagine it being an absolute nightmare to get to a connecting flight in a reasonable time frame!

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

You are entitled to your opinion, of course. Mine is, as you say, based on a rather broad sample. Gatwick couldn't hold a candle to, say, Singapore, but it's miles ahead of places like Chicago, Toronto or Montreal.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

It is.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

How depressing it must be to have to fly a lot if Gatwick is rated as a 'nice' airport.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Flying stopped being romantic for me years ago. I'm rather more concerned now with practicalities. I deliberately make some of my journeys longer than they need to be, just to avoid things I've come not to like.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

The only thing I don't like at Gatwick is the long walk to/from the gates but you can say the same thing about a few airports.

Toronto airport doesn't come close to Gatwick at all, never thought of having a few more shops? Travelling on my own with a child, Gatwick is a good choice and you actually get treated like you are a human being than you are here. Little things make a big difference to me like going in the quick passport queue, not being interrogated about why I am visiting, just generally asking why I am on my own with a child instead of being ripped to threads in Toronto because we printed off that letter and just filled in the gaps and it wasn't notarised and this was all when I was coming back! Sorry, I have gone off on a tangent here but I find Gatwick a really nice airport to fly from/to, it has everything you could possibly need in a nice environment.

We are flying Northwest in 3 weeks to Gatwick via Detroit, I have 4 hours in Detroit and looking at their airport website there is lots more at the airport than any Canadian airport. Lots of shops and restaurants and 6 kids play areas. Where are the kids areas in Toronto? Oh right, in terminal 1, there is a kids area with a statue of a bear? Great!

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I'm curious to know if you'd happily pay, say $10 for the kids to have somewhere to play while you wait for a plane? Or should those sort of facilities be funded by increased landing fees, and therefore your ticket price?

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I would pay the fee, money isn't an object when I am flying, especially if I am my own.

I want him to be very active before getting on the plane (not just to get him tired;)) but he is going to be on a plane 7+ hours and needs the activity as he will just be sitting down.

Gatwick has a soft play area in the north terminal (we couldn't find the one in the south terminal) and it kept him entertained for quite a while.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I would second that!
Gatwick is not that bad, in fact i think it's a great airport. From the gate to collecting bag and then boarding the train can be less than 30 minutes upon arrival.
I flew into Exeter a few months ago, 1hour from getting off the plane to leaving the hut (airport) and we were the only arrival.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Really, we have something in common then!!
Passenger or crew?

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Let me know how that flight goes? Northwest fly from the airport 10 minutes from my home (YKF-DTW) and have thought about trying it out, mind you they charge an arm and a leg but i would liketo use it in an emergency.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

and you remeber to thank them for any service received and smile to them also.
Sorry to have to raise this point, but i work in hospitality service industry, and if any customer approached me with a sour face and no pleases and thank you's theres no way me or my colleagues would smile and be very polite back. The old saying "dont ***** witht the person that prepares your food" (and drink) applies.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I always try to smile and be happy, but if you are saying that you will not greet someone with a sour face i think you need re-training, sensativity training we call it.
Just because someone is not smiling does not mean they should not get the same customer service?
Ever thought that the person with a sour face may be coping with a serious disease? or a death in the family?

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

No, the liberals (dream on :rofl:) would make it an essential service, then we would all get to pay for it...

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Hi Mark

I hope you are okay, just answered your PM, sorry I don't come on this site very often now. We would not travel with Canadian Affair again, our experiences and our families experiences are as already stated, you get what you pay for...no leg room, poor service and delays...we flew first class or business whatever it was last time and it was no better. Personally I prefer Air Canada as does my Dad but my MIL had good experiences with BA in September :eek:

Julie

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

From our recent experience, I'd strongly suggest considering Buffalo, NY (BUF airport code) as a good (small) kid-friendly airport. It has a small, but great, play area for very young kids - IIRC, it's because Fisher-Price has a presence in the Buffalo area so kitted it out. It was invaluable for keeping our 2-year-old amused before a long flight to Europe via IAD (Washington DC) on United.

United also cost us about 1/3 less than flying AC from YYZ - transiting through IAD was pretty painless, I'd definitely suggest upgrading to economy plus for extra legroom (35" instead of 31", IIRC) for the long-haul leg. We didn't do this outbound, FRA-IAD cost just under 200 euro for 3 of us. Well worth it, and still a lot cheaper than the AC flight!

Detroit sounds worth investigating as a future option, too - 6 play areas. Wow!

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

I've always preferred Gatwick over Heathrow, I think it's a pretty good airport and never found it dirty or smelly at all. The location is just inconvenient for me so I have to opt for Heathrow. While I believe that Vancouver is the best airport in the world, I might be a bit biased there:D, but I can tell you many airports that are a nightmare compared to Gatwick. LAX is one, O'Hare, and terminal 3 at Heathrow.

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

Here's a tip for you, the edge of the fountain is wet, water pours down it despite the fact that it looks like dry stone. Don't let your son lean into it. There are hundreds of damp and uncomfortable-looking kids wandering around the NWA terminal ;)

Re: Canadian Affair??
 

canadian affair are the best for flights,i just bookes hotels seperate through hotels.com way cheaper