Anyone flown Air Canada or Icelandair?

[TheBlonde]

Anyone flown Air Canada or Icelandair with a toddler?

Trying to sort flights to the US and wondering if they are any good
TIA

I used Air Canada (or was it Canadian Air?) many years ago, at the time I was very pleased with the food... but then I was flying Continental and Southwest most of the time so.... I might have been biased...

Not sure how they are with toddlers but I couldn't help but notice how lovely well behaved were all the children in the flight.

I've flown Air Canada with kids, I've flown Icelandair without. I think both are fine.

BA is better, though, as they have seat-back tv, and Air Canada doesn't, always. I don't know about Icelandair, as I haven't flown them in 7 years or something.

DH is thinking Icelandair would be good as we can break the trip and stretch the miniblonde's legs
Still end up in JFK with a 4 hr drive

Aircanada we can fly into Toronto and then straight to Albany = 45 min drive

When I lived in Toronto I used Air Canada loads of times but this was before children

have flown AirCanada several times but pre-kids.

They are a very good ariline IMO.

I would take the second option, the more stopovers you do, the more tiring the trip becomes.

Ah, but the airport in Keflavik is pretty titchy. Also, breaking up the flight on the way there is reasonably tempting - breaking it up on the way back, not appealing at all, as then you don't get enough time to sleep.

Oh, I've flown Icelandair twice now, I remember - we went to Eastern Canada with them, and had a stopover in Reyjkavik on the way back.

That being said, Air Canada do daytime flights from Toronto to London which are v v worthwhile, as you don't even have to try to sleep on a plane, and when you get home you're very tired.

I'm sure either is much better than the US carriers.

Hi,

Doing a transfer from Canada into the US by air is not for the faint hearted. It can be both time consuming (transitting US immigration at Pearson can mean long lines) and can put hours on your day if you miss your flight. You will need to allow plenty of time for transfer. Air Canada are okay, far better than some US based carriers like United for instance.

Would suggest instead you use a British based carrier like BA or Virgin and fly direct into the US instead without stopovers.

"DH is thinking Icelandair would be good as we can break the trip and stretch the miniblonde's legs
Still end up in JFK with a 4 hr drive

Aircanada we can fly into Toronto and then straight to Albany = 45 min drive"

I would choose the second option over the first. No contest. Cheaper does not always mean cheerful and seats on Icelandair are cramped especially if the pax in front of you reclines the seat. The main problem is the stopovers both ways - it will put hours on your day.

If you still want to fly into JFK use a British based carrier instead. No stopovers will be needed then.

Attila - when you say "transitting US immigration at Pearson can mean long lines" do you mean that we would go through US imm at Toronto instead of at Albany?

Yeah, you enter the US while still in Canada - then you don't have to do it in the US.

That being said, DH did Toronto->NY and found the queues ok. But you would have to do Canadian customs and immigration and then the same for the US, when you got to Canada, which would be a bit annoying and pointless.

Thanks NQC. US imm is only a problem for me, the others have US passports

"Do you mean that we would go through US imm at Toronto instead of at Albany?"

Yes. There is an Immigration facility at Pearson airport in Toronto for pax entering the US.

Shudder at the thought of breaking any air journey! Waiting around, all that boring boarding malarkey and sitting in your seats waiting for landing and take-off? Mad! It's only a 7 hour flight, you'll be fine!

Yeah but if we do a 7 hour flight then we have to do a 4 hour drive

There are no direct flights to Albany?

I think the Toronto thing is maybe worthwhile. Iceland definately not.

Nope no direct flights to Albany

You have basically two choices:-

Either fly direct into the US (i.e JFK or Newark, out of the two I'd go to Newark) and make an internal flight to Albany or fly Air Canada to Toronto going through both Canadian and US immigration to fly onto Albany. Out of these two I would choose the US route over the Canadian one.

Certainly do not bother using Icelandair!!. You really do not want to be stopping off any longer than you have to.

Airlines serving Albany International Airport:

Air Canada
American Airlines
American Eagle
Continental Connection
Continental Express
Delta Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines
United Express
US Airways
US Airways Express

So unless you want to go on an American carrier (ewww), you should go via Canada.

Thanks for your help. All booked now, virgin to JFK. Will worry about the drive later