Air Transat

Flew to Amsterdam on July 20th and returned to Calgary August 10th 2013. My experience has been very good. On the flight to Amsterdam I had requested a gluten free meal somehow it was not recorded and there was not a meal for me. I think my booking was too close to my departure which I was not aware of. The crew were very helpful and gave me cheese fruit and milk as I had taken my own crackers and cereal for my stay in Holland. It was not a big deal. Called their office upon my arrival in Holland and was told they would make sure I would be given a gluten free meal on my return to Calgary. Again staff very pleasant and apologized for the mistake that was made.

Flew Gatwick to Edmonton on 15th July and Edmonton to Gatwick on 29th July on Airbus flew club class for the comfort. Both flights were good with excellent food and service. The journey home was a night flight and the cabin lights were turned off though of course flying that way it never gets completely dark. My only complaint was with Gatwick we arrived two hours before check in opened due to us having travelled from Manchester by coach. There was nowhere to sit down so we had to stand for the whole two hours. Once we got to check in we were told that our club class ticket did not give us entry to the club lounge and we would be expected to pay extra for that I did not pay as when we flew from Manchester to Calgary in 2011 again club class we were given both fast track through security and entry to the club lounge. I would recommend Air Transat but not Gatwick.

Vancouver to Paris and back. Flight over was great plane with new interior. Food was decent and the staff very friendly. On are way back we had an older plane the individual LCD screen that was not very responsive but once the film started it worked well. My only complaint is that when there was an announcement on the intercom when you were using the entertainment "with ear buds" was way too loud.

Toronto (YYZ) to Italy (FCO) - July 2013. We flew Toronto to Rome on one of their A330's with the upgraded cabin design. A very welcome sight given that it won be just shy of a 9 hr flight. The flight was on time and the crew were very friendly and professional. Food was adequate and sufficient with both a main meal of either chicken pasta or beef and a light breakfast snack just prior to landing. While the upgraded cabin was a welcome addition it appeared that the seating was a little less spacious than that of other flights we have taken with Air Transat. In any event it was a pleasant flight and we will continue to fly with Air Transat.

Booked a family flight to Paris in July to stay there 8 days before our final destination which was booked as a separate segment with another carrier. I flew Air Transat before so I knew the food quality older planes and other things to be expected with a lower cost carrier. After all that why/how you save money. Wrong - Air Transat decided to change the schedule of our return flight to Toronto by 2 hrs (delaying it) so we only had 55 minutes between flights in Paris with a terminal change in CDG which is physically impossible. If you really want the cheapest flight and it's only one segment then maybe you can consider them. However for multi-segment flights it's asking for trouble. Don't waste your money unless you're flying point to point and are prepared to accept the mediocre flight conditions.

Check-in off to bad start at Gatwick - slow moving queue not enough staff. Real problem started when arrived at desk girl checked our passports then disappeared with them for inordinate time eventually returned but without giving us any info disappeared again to see her supervisor. After delay of over an hour it eventually turned out Air Transat had messed up my wife's booking and given her a completely wrong name but they did not seem to have a clue how to sort it out. It was only because our travel company rep had back-up evidence of our booking that we were allowed to travel and then not seated together otherwise we'd still have been in Gatwick not Calgary. Once on aircraft the service was slow and disorganised - not that it mattered the food was virtually inedible and the air conditioning was so ferocious I was completely clogged up and single-handedly keeping Kleenex in business for most of the flight and the next day. These are just my main complaints.

After fiasco of outbound flight to Calgary we were promised better seats inbound from Vancouver to Gatwick. Air Transat's idea of better seats differs from mine. While theoretically we had more legroom being by the emergency exit that space was virtually permanently occupied by the queue for the loo so far from being able to stretch out my long legs I was claustrophobically hemmed in. Add to that it was the narrowest airline seat I've tried to fit in and I may be tall but I'm not wide. Problem is the standard economy class configuration for an A330 is 8 across Transat fit in 9 - maybe tolerable on short haul ludicrous on long haul. Food and inflight entertainment still rubbish charging if you wanted headphones! Could go on but will just summarise with - never again.

I live in Canada and my Daughter lives in Scotland I have flown with this Airline many times but this was my Daughters first time to Canada. We booked her ticket with Air Transat because of the non-stop flight . My Daughter is 12 and I was quite wary of her flying all this way alone so we paid for the Kids Club she had a great flight all staff were warm and courteous towards her. She wanted to return early to Scotland and her ticket was changed. From the moment we approached the Air Transat desk she was given VIP treatment and she had the same on her flight home. All in all I would recommend this Airline for anyone wishing their young kids to fly anywhere.

LGW-YVR-LGW. Booking suggested that flights would be on refurbished planes so we were disappointed to discover at check-in that both flights were on an old tired A330-300 with 21 rather than 12 seats in club class and very dated overhead IFE. Despite that the overall experience was surprisingly good with priority boarding and baggage friendly FAs reasonable food and wine and departure and arrival on time both ways. There were also small touches like individually served main courses and freshly grated parmesan and pepper/salt grinders that was superior to big-name carriers like BA. Overall definitely not full business class but better than premium economy.

First time with Air Transat and we were very disappointed in the level of customer service. They only take credit card on the plane so if you want to buy a blanket you have to charge it. The plane to Amsterdam only had TV's in the overhead so if you didn't like the movie on the 8 hours flight then you had to suffer. If you are sitting near the front and have to use the bathroom - good luck because the toilets are at the very back of the plane (the other two at the front of the plane are reserved for the 20 people in Business Class). During check in at Pearson they only had 1 counter open for economy class and 2 counters open for Business Class. We were also lied to at the check-in counter about a 'change of planes' for the reason we didn't get out pre-purchased seat assignments. Overall a bad choice of airline.