BA or Air Canada?

[White Heather]

Could someone out there who is a 'regular traveller' comment on which airline I would be best booking with for a forthcoming trip to Montreal, Canada?

I have never flown long haul before. I have the choice of a BA Boeing 777 at £231 each way (Economy) or an Air Canada A330 at £268 out and £221 back, and that is what they call Tango Plus. Apparently the A330's have just had cabin refits. Flight times for both are OK, but I am somewhat wary of the prospect of BA Industrial Action, although I am not flying until mid May 2010.

Of course, there is also the terminal issue - Terminal 5 (BA) or Terminal 3 (AC).

Any thoughts on which I should go with?

I have also looked at LGW but all they have is a 757 (Air Transat) which is actually more than the scheduled flights, although I could then fly to and from LBA on the Flybe.

 

[White Heather]

Thanks for that.

So far, its a draw : BA 1 - AC 1. A friend of mine told me he would fly with any long haul carrier other than BA, although to be fair he hasn't flown anywhere in the past 10 years. I do wonder though what Air Canada did to make your cousin to against them? I would have thought that when it comes to Economy class, they are all pretty much the same. I guess I will have to spend some time researching this further before making any decisions. I had not thought of Swissair, but it is certainly another option.

 

[White Heather]

Hi xboy999

Thanks for that. I am not able to do a land transfer, or rather I could but it is not ideal, as the place I am going will do an airport pick up at YUL but not from anywhere else. They will also 'deliver' me back to YUL for a flight home, but if I am going from anywhere else I have to sort myself out. So overall its simpler to fly to YUL and that means either AC or BA from LHR or Air Transat from Gatwick, but their fares are higher than the two scheduled airlines. I am not too bothered about fancy service on board, but what I don't want is long delays and I certainly don't want them to lose my luggage in either direction!

At least the AC flights are on the A330 and all their fleet has had a major refurb of the cabin during 2009, so the aircraft should be nice. I had been told that the BA 777's were looking a bit jaded now too, but hey, I am used to flying on Jet2, so whatever condition they are in I should find it acceptable LOL!

 

[lemonhead]

Heather have you considered using KLM from Amsterdam via a regional airport ?

 

[White Heather]

I have done, yes. However, as of last night, the each way fare from Heathrow with Air Canada is just £127, so if they don;t go back up before I book, it looks like it will have to be Air Canada. £254 return with them and a free seat choice. £462 with BA and can't choose a seat until shortly before departure.

 

[lemonhead]

Have you booked anything yet and if so who did you go with in the end ?

 

[White Heather]

No I am hanging on until I get confirmation of the appointment I have in Canada. The Air Canada flights are back up to their normal price of £456 return now. BA are £462 return, and KLM from LBA via AMS are £561. The KLM option is attractive, BUT the price quoted is only available if I get the 1035 flight from LBA, which lands in AMS at 1250 local time. My flight to YUL leaves at 1415, leaving a 1 hr 25min margin. However, that is not a lot really should my LBA flight suffer any delay at all. My reason for going to Montreal is very important and it would be disastrous for me if I missed my connection and although coming back it would be perfect, I am leaning towards Heathrow simply as their is less of a risk.

The annoying thing is that I could fly Air Canada or BA from Heathrow going, and KLM coming back, but to do that the cost goes up to almost £1500!! It costs more to fly one way than it does to fly return. How daft is that?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Heather,

It is daft and has been the case for so long on many occasions.

I looked at booking BRS-AMS with KLM and AMS-BRS with easyJet because of the timings.

The single with KLM was twice the return fare which was more than easyJet's fare both ways by some margin.

We used to use AMS for transatlantic a lot from BRS and it always worked well, except when the transatlantic bit was with their partner at that time, North West, whose on-board service was appalling.

AMS had a reputation for losing (or misplacing) luggage and I believe that reputation has not entirely gone away.

Over the years there were three separate occasion when our luggage did not arrive back in the UK with us on flights from or via AMS. It turned up within 24 hours each time, and once it was the fault of the originating check-in agent in the USA for putting the wrong destination code. It went to Brussels (BRU) instead of Bristol (BRS).

It's not so bad coming back but a loss, even a temporary one, of luggage on the outbound can be far more inconvenient.

I hope you sort out something suitable with a decent fare.

 

[White Heather]

Well, a good few months on, I am pleased to report that I made the right choice in booking with Air Canada. Not only would I have had major problems caused by the BA strike (which was ongoing when I flew back to the UK on the 27th), but the Air Canada Airbus A330's really are superb aircraft and beautifully fitted out inside following their recent refits. If only I had been able to afford to sit in their 'posh' seats up front, but even the Economy class was good, with excellent seat back TV/Radio/Films, excellent food and free drinks, including alcohol. Added to that I was able to book my seat for free and change it very easily on Air Canada's very easy web site (which was needed in my case).

Despite the ash cloud problems my flights were on time both ways too, although I think we may have flown over the ash on the outbound leg as West of Ireland, and cruising at 37000 feet, we suddendly climbed at full power to 40000 feet where we stayed until descending into Montreal, which I have to say ,is a very nice airport and very busy too.

Some may be interested to know that my flights down to Heathrow from MAN were on BMi, and although the flight down was upgraded from an A319 to an A320, it was little more than half full. The return was an A321 and was about 65% full, probably due to the BA strike.