sfowler

Please tell me that a 2 hour layover is enough each way in Toronto?

Please tell me the service on Air Canada is better??

The price was right ... but please tell me I won't be sorry

BeachBoi

Yes.Yes.How Much?

sfowler

$424. with all taxes -- Air Canada Aug 25-Sept 9.

I got trip insurance and a paper ticket for various reasons. So that added, but it seemed a good fare for late August.

ms_go

We used Air Canada last year to fly from Chicago to Madrid, via Toronto. Actually, it was United on the ORD-YYZ legs, and Air Canada on the transatlantic legs. We flew in economy.

I had no issues with Air Canada service. The plane over was nearly empty; the plane back was full. Comfort was about what you'd expect in economy. The food was edible. Service was pretty good. It took a long time to check in at Barajas because they only had two counters, but I don't think that is an issue in London.

You will have to change terminals (by bus) in Toronto. I recall that we had about two hours going and three on the way back, and we ended up with a lot of time to kill.

A couple of things to note:

They have very strict weight requirements for carryon baggage. I fly United all the time and take my 22" rollaboard on virtually every flight. In fact, United allowed it on to start this trip, but Air Canada required us to check them in Toronto because they were over the 10kg weight limit.

Also, if you are checking bags, be aware of the cumbersome process on your return. We had to deplane in Toronto, go through Canadian immigration, claim our bags, go through Canadian customs, recheck the bags before leaving the international terminal, hop on a bus to the domestic (including US) terminal, reclaim our bags there, go through US customs and immigration, then recheck the bags again, then go through security. Ours was the only incoming flight, so it didn't actually take that long, but it was a pain. And everyone we asked gave us a different answer as to what we had to do next. There is a new terminal in the works that should alleviate a lot of this, but I don't know when it opens.

ms_go

Oh yes, and one other thing if your ORD-YYZ segment is on United (they code share on this route). I was told in advance by both that United could check us in all the way through to Madrid. Not true, at least that particular day. We had to get our boarding passes for the transatlantic segment in Toronto.

sfowler

Thanks for all the great tips -- I usually carry on and mine has never been more than 10kgs -- so I'm not worried.