Air Transat: Good or Bad?
 

Have you ever flown Air Transat from Toronto or some other Canadian city?

We are going to Aruba & can choose any of the following for Non-stop flights:

1. Air Canada
2. Air Canada Jazz ( which I think is Air Canada Vacations for these flights to/from Aruba)
3. Air Transat

We usually take Air Canada non-stop from Toronto but are considering one of the others.

What do you think? Pros? Cons?

Somebody told me that the Air Transat seats are very narrow & cramped. The flight is about 5 hours.

Hi, I've flown to Europe twice on Air Transat. It really is much like the other airlines; I found the seating no more cramped then on Air Canada. Price is what dictates what airline I choose.

I agree with your informant about the narrow, cramped seats - the one and only time a friend and I used them to fly to Scotland the seats were worse than AirCan and I don't need a lot of leg room. We were sure they'd squeezed in a couple of extra rows.

A friend uses them frequently, due to price, it seems she tells me that her flights leave late most trips, usually on the return portion. The plane on my one trip also left late coming home.

Personally I have done better with Air Canada (flights on-time and a bit more leg-room and seat width and in general better times). But Air Transat is in my opinion no better or worse than other charter-type airlines.

I flew AT to P.V. in Mexico and it was the most uncomfortable
flight I've ever been on - I'm tall and the seats were jammed so
close I couldn't straighten my legs out.

Of course, the loud drunken fools on board may have coloured my
opinion; the flight home was SO much quieter as they went into
recovery mode.

IMHO, flying AT would depend on the length of the flight and making
sure you had an aisle seat.

The airplanes that Air Transat operate, based on our experiences, are just a means of getting to/from Canada, they are no better or worse than the other Canadian charters. Re-fitted seats, cramped, with no leg or other room, and etc. The "charter way"!!! Did many - too many - now choose to use the scheduled airlines for our flights.
But if a 'cheap' package price is the key deciding factor, they often (not always) offer the lowest deal. The 'best' deal ... guess that depends ...