Air Canada London, UK to Quebec City via Toronto or Montreal
 

We will fly to Quebec City form London, UK on Air Canada. We have the choice of connecting in Toronto or Montreal? Which airport is better? What is Air Canada like? Most importantly, does Air Canada charge for drinks on international flights?

Cheers.

Toronto airport is much larger than Montreal. For this reason I would connect in Montreal. There is only one terminal so your change should be much easier.

I haven't flown air canada internationaly in years, so I am not certail about drink charges, but it is a good airline, you shouldn't have any complaints.

Agree that Montreal will be less stressful. Free wine (I know) & beer (I think) but pay for hard liquor.

We flew Air Canada RT from Toronto to Madrid last October. They did not charge for beer and wine. Everything else was pretty comparable to other airlines. The plane was well maintained, service was good and food was edible.

As far as connections go, I don't have any experience with Montreal, but I'd avoid Toronto unless the new terminal opens before you fly. Until it does, most US and domestic Canadian flights leave from another terminal, which was a real pain -- we had to deplane, go through Canadian immigration, claim our bags, go through Canadian customs, recheck the bags, take a shuttle from T1 to T2, reclaim our bags again, go through security and US customs and immigration (our final destination was in the US) and then check the bags again.

One other caution: I don't know how big their operation in London is, but check-in at Barajas took well over an hour because they are a small player in that market and only had two stations open.

I would avoid the Toronto airport like the plague.

Montreal is much closer to Quecbec City than Toronto (at the least 2/3 closer),it is more logical to fly to Montreal.

Air Canada in London Heathrow Terminal 3 usually has many stations open, most of the time it takes no more than 5 minutes to check through. I fly the route (Toronto to London) more than half a dozen times every year.

Generally speaking, the service and punctuality of Air Canada is a little above everage. The food is getting better,for instance, on my fly back from London 2 weeks ago, besides the regular meals and free drinks, they served ice cream, hot muffin and pizza.

You have another choice. Air Canada flies direct from Heathrow to Ottawa daily, and from there you can connect to a direct flight to Quebec City.

Like the others, I would recommend against trying to connect in Toronto, as it is further away, and you would likely have to change terminals. Montreal (P.E. Trudeau Intl, formerly Dorval) is a mess as it has little upgrading since the 1970's, because the now closed white elephant Mirabel was the international airport until a couple of years ago.

Ottawa has a brand new air terminal and you can transfer there with a minimum of hassle. It's a much smaller airport than either Toronto or Montreal.

Air Canada is a good choice (in fact, it is the only choice if you want to go through Ottawa). I have flown Air Canada transatlantic many times and have never had any cause for complaint. In economy, you now have to pay for drinks, although wine and beer are still complimentary.