West Jet or Transat London - Vancouver

[sonjadog]

We are looking at going to Vancouver next summer and have found reasonably priced flights with West Jet and with Transat. We have no experience of either company. Has anyone here flown with them? What did you think?

I’ve flown Transat from Vancouver (and Toronto and Calgary). They were fine.
They are a budget airline. The food isn’t great (actually was pretty bad but not the worst airline food I’ve had, take your own snacks), but the legroom was fine and the inflight entertainment was a good selection of films in a seatback screen. They were on time every time too.

I’ve only flown Westjet on a short internal Canadian flight and they were absolutely fine for that but no idea what they are like long haul.

We went to Vancouver with Air Transat a couple of years ago. It was fine. Definitely worth the saving in fare compared to the non budget carriers (about £300 pp for us). In-flight ents were good and seats were comfy enough.

The only odd thing I recall is that when they served you a drink, eg a Coke, they would only pour out half the can - so stock up on liquids once you are through security.

Have a great time!

Thanks!

DP flew with Transat a few years ago, he says if you are small framed you’ll be fine (seats are small). A lot of his colleagues fly West Jet and are happy with them.

For 200 pounds more we can fly with Air Canada. Any thoughts on them? And are they worth so much more?

some cheap prices at the moment with klm Air France for autumn/spring it was on jacks flight club

To:

Vancouver (YVR)

From:

London (LHR) - £327
Birmingham (BHX) - £307
Newcastle (NCL) - £307
Leeds (LBA) - £341
Cardiff (CWL) - £371
Bristol (BRS) - £374
Norwich (NWI) - £389
Durham (MME) - £342
Southampton (SOU) - £305
Edinburgh (EDI) - £307**
Travel Dates: November - March, with some slightly higher fares in Sept/Oct & April-June (excludes December holidays)

Airline: KLM/Air France

Standard Fare: £600

Bags: Checked bag is extra

Book by: These fares may go up within 1-2 days

Note: Jack's Flight Club does not partner with nor receive referral fees from any of the sites linked below. Our only incentive is to help you snag a great fare.
Here's how to book:

1. Head to Google Flights and use their handy calendar tool to find the best travel dates for your route, by locating the dates with the lowest fares (those highlighted in green). This flight is not any cheaper on other websites, so we recommend you book direct with the airline. Follow the links from Google Flights to the airline's website and book.

Note: The cheapest dates vary greatly by departure city, so make sure to tweak the 'Trip Length' setting within the calendar tool to see the options available from yours. Each time you change the setting, the calendar will update, highlighting the cheapest departure dates in green.

DP loves flying with Air Canada, he’s 6’3” and quite broad, yet he feels comfortable in the seat and says the service is good! He flies to Calgary regularly.

Thanks. I like a bit of space so that could tip us towards the Air Canada flights.

Flew Air Transat last Oct Lgw to Toronto. Honestly better than BA in our experience. Sign up your children to their kids club and seat booking is free. I really rate Air Transat. Usuallly fly BA, AA and EasyJet in Europe.

WestJet has stopped providing meals on the Gatwick/Vancouver flight unless you are in premium economy.

Our son and his family just flew with them and we are told they even ran out of the food for purchase. Not so good for a 16 year old boy.

DH and I flew premium economy on WestJet in June and had no big complaints. We are just too old and crotchety to fly 9.5 hours in economy any more. The food was acceptable.

If you do choose WestJet, you need to have your own "screen" with the WestJet app installed to watch the movies etc.

Our other son and his family usually fly Air Transat. As far as I know you still get meals.

Personally I think it is shocking not to provide any meals on such a long haul flight.

We have also flown Air Canada and British Airways from LHR to Vancouver. I sound like I only think of my stomach, but Air Canada's food was terrible, even in Premium Economy. Generally speaking we prefer British Airways to Air Canada.

Air Canada has a habit of changing seats and schedules. You also cannot pre book a seat without paying and there is a charge for luggage.

Originally Canadian here and have flown on all three airlines.

Air Canada:
Service on board has been terrible every single time I've used them. The food is garbage, getting drink service is nearly impossible, and if you have any issue with the plane they will fly out a new jet from Montreal. This happened to us when we flew LHR - YYZ a few years ago, and it ended up being an 8 hour delay with no communication at all. No reps. Nothing.

Air Transat:
Budget airline. My husband is 6'2" and has a very hard time fitting in the seats, just to give you an idea of size. The food wasn't horrible, but wasn't great. My dad has flown their club class and says it is much better. Maybe you could see if this is an option.

WestJet:
Absolutely loved WestJet every time we used them - however never on such a long flight. Longest was Toronto to Vancouver. But they had great food and service.

Whatever which you pick the best thing is I have never ever had an issue with their safety. They take that very seriously. The aircraft have always been in good repair and the pilots and crew wholly professional. So in that way you can't go wrong - apart from that it's about price really.

That's really helpful, thanks for all the information!