cathies

Hi everyone, we are considering flying Toronto - Honolulu with Air Canada. As we are from Australia we aren't familiar with this airline at all so I would really be grateful to have some feedback before we book.

thanks, Cathie

beachmom

They're terrible.
My husband just flew them yesterday. Small puddle jumpers and they still lost his luggage.
They took off 2 hrs late because the crew didn't have the customs papers.
If you go to their site, you can see their terrible on time record.
Their customer service people will kill any stereotype opinion of polite Canadians you ever had.

WWanderer

It's funny because they were voted best airline in North America recently by some publication or other.

Honestly they are not that bad. Puddle jumpers on short hauls, yes, but not long hauls. Not perfect, we complain about them all the time (I'm Canadian), but they are pretty good. They aren't nearly as bad as many of the American carriers now.

cathies

hi beachmom and WWanderer, is there another carrier you could recommend for this flight?

mowmow

We flew them to Europe via Toronto, no real problems. On the way back, they had cancelled my son's flight to Dayton, but rescheduled him to Indianapolis, and changed me to an earlier flight.

When my suitcase didn't arrive in LAX (came on the original flight probably) the LAX workers were totally unhelpful, but Air Canada cust service arranged for the suitcase to be sent on to my local airport (4 hours one way from LAX) and I picked it up there.

The FA's, food, plane were all average cattle class fare.

LEANNA

I flew them last year, LAX to Montreal and thought they were just fine. No better no worse then most. But then I was so happy to have what I considered a short flight......I may not have noticed very much!!! I did arrive w/ my luggage!!!

Cruiseryyc

They are the airline that Canadian's love to hate. I wouldn't fly them domestically however, on long haul international flights (which is what you are considering) they are fine. My favorite airline WestJet flies Toronto to Honolulu; check them out.


http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/home.shtml

rkkwan

They are similar to other big N. American airlines. If you're flying YYZ-HNL, no reason to choose or avoid them over other NA airlines.

flyme2themoon

i agree with some of the posts on here about the short haul flights being so so mostly because of lack of friendly in-flight and ground crew service. the ground and in flight crew seemed indifferent. i recently flew an Air Canada operated flight from YYZ to EWR. agree with the puddle jumpers.

if you are flying interisland in HI, Hawaiian Airlines fly jets for a 30 min interisland flight. no puddle jumpers which i find rather uncomfortable and if you have a bit of hand carried luggage, they might check your bag in on the ramp because of lack of overhead bin space. just to be on the safe side, i wouldnt put anything of significant value on the hand carried luggage. i'd put it in my purse.

cathies

Thank you everyone, we'll probably go ahead with this airline and take a chance on the luggage arriving with us!!

cruiseryyt I had a look at the westjet flight times but they aren't very good. They don't leave until about midday and then get to Hawaii at approx 10pm. Thank you for the advice though.

We have an airline in Australia called Jetstar that sounds similar - their short haul flights are awful, but their international flights are somewhat better.

WWanderer

I don't think you'll go too far wrong--once in a while you get some really surly employees, but for the most part it's not a bad experience, by today's (terrible) standards, at least in North America.

taggie

Air Canada is generally fine, no worse than any other airlines. Have had the odd problem with luggage not arriving when I do, but that's in a small percentage of the flights I take with them. I prefer them to most of the other airlines I've used in different parts of the world.

Some Canadians love WestJet, but I've had nothing but problems with them. And I also find the phony friendliness of Westjet staff off-putting.

frogoutofwater

beachmom: I can't believe you're judging an airline as "terrible" based on one flight. I've flown Air Canada for about 25 years, on a wide range of aircraft, on flights ranging from 30 minutes to as long as 13 hours. FWIW, my bags have always landed with me.

In addition to Air Canada, I've also flown on more than 25 other airlines. I'd say that Air Canada is better overall than most other U.S.-based airlines I've flown (although Continental has been pretty consistently decent and Alaska is much friendlier). And I think that Air Canada's long-haul fleet (e.g., if you're flying to Europe, Asia - or Hawaii) is very good from a comfort perspective.

My experience with Air Canada personnel has been mixed, as has been the case with pretty much every airline I've ever flown except Cathay and Alaska (where the staff have been uniformly polite/service-oriented, and super-friendly, respectively). I've encountered very good AC staff and some surly, less helpful staff.

One thing to consider if you do decide to fly US-Canada (presumably Vancouver?)-Hawaii is that I'm pretty sure that you'll have to pick up your bags and clear Customs in Canada before continuing on to your connecting flight to Hawaii. Budget sufficient time for that process (at least 2.5 hours to be on the safe side although you'll probably be done in about 30 minutes).

nz101

I recently flew with them from LAX to Calgary and return - no better or no worse than any other. I just can't get used to the fact that you have to pay for your food on board when flying within USA/Canada.

leuk2

ditto about AC being no better or worse than any other. Last year we weren't particulary pleased when the computer system crashed and we were attempting to fly from Paris to Toronto. HOurs later, we eventually boarded the flight and made it to Toronto, only to miss our flight to Vancouver. We were a bit cranky and it didn't help when the AC flight attendants sitting behind us on the flight discussed how they would 'phone in sick to AC' in order to work at another job. The advice given by the co-worker was to "phone in sick with a back problem because it couldn't be accurately diagnosed"

As mentioned previously, as Canadians it is the airline we love to hate (probably because we are subsidizing it with our tax dollars. And, rumour has it that the AC customer service motto is "we're not happy until you're not happy."

willit

I flew AC for the first time last month (London to Calgary) and found them very good - which suprised me because I had seen them get a great deal of bad press on assorted travel boards.

I do not fly long haul that often (maybe once/twice a year) so it is probably unfair to judge n a small sample of flights, but I'd certainly rank AC better than BA/Virgin/Air France/SAA or Quantas over the last few years or so.

cathies

Thanks everyone for the feedback. We have booked Toronto - LA, so hopefully it's a good trip. It will be a long day but that can't be helped. We change planes in LA and then fly straight through to Honolulu that day! We have 4 days in Honolulu though, before heading home to Sydney.

hawksbill

Well, I wish you luck, but my opinion of Air Canada is extremely negative. I'm from the U.S., and I've only flown on Air Canada for a total of two multi-segment round trips. The first was fine. The second, which was in August, was probably the worst experience I've ever had with any airline. I've discussed the experience in another thread here. I certainly won't be flying on Air Canada again.

cathies

Well, I'm home now after a fabulous trip to the US and briefly to Canada. Air Canada was great, certainly a whole lot better than the Qantas 767 we caught home to Sydney from Honolulu which was an appalling flight with no individual entertainment systems and seats so small I was able to read my book but didn't have enough arm space to read the inflight magazine!

The Air Canada flights left on time and our transit in Vancouver was very smooth. The cabin crew on both legs were lovely - very attentive and friendly. Sure you have to pay for food and beverages but we knew that before we booked so no surprises there. Our luggage arrived on the same flight as we did. I have nothing but praise for Air Canada.

MissGreen

I've flown Air Canda from Sydney via Honolulu to Vancouver. I had no problem with the airline. Flights left on time, crew was pleasant and the food was fine. Think it was before individual in seat entertainment systems so cannot comment on that. Never had a problem luggage not arriving in about 5 flights with Air Canada and Canadian Airlines.