Any opinions on air transat? Flight to AMS is much cheaper than other carriers. I know it is discount and don't expect frills, just want a decent, safe flight! Not sure how they are for long haul. TIA

I missed out on a good deal to London last summer on BA and had to settle for air transat. I was pleasantly surprised at how great and comfortable the flight actually was. I would recommend it for a long haul!

We've flown Vancouver - Gatwick twice round trip (once with a 6-mo old and once with a 2yo). They were great and give decent toy kits for kids.

We took them to Paris and home from AMS, we paid extra for seats with legroom. Flight and service were great!

I flight AirTransat everytime I go to Europe (every year) never been disappointed. I choose air transat over air canada anytime. The food is so so. But I personally don't care

Sale on at air transat right now

Would not do it a again ,they bought my flight forward by 3 hours from London to Vancouver and didn't email me, then I had to pay 1800 to get home on british airways as transact couldn't get me on a flight for 4 days ,they're customer service sucks big time and they never refunded me anything

Yikes when was this?

2years ago

You were probably entitled to compensation under EU passenger protection rules by the way.

Flew to Europe via air transat the last 3 times (rt) and have never been disappointed. Some flights even have great leg room.

they are ok, but they do change flight times quite a bit. they changed my departure from Gatwick once by 10 hours later without any compensation which cost me (car rental) at the Vancouver end. go for a bulkhead upgrade and the flight itself is actually pretty good.

Don;t know when this was but you should have been compensated Erin - Europeans have good laws about compensating for delay of over 3 hours, I think, but you have to apply, doesn't happen automatically - signs posted in all airports of passenger rights

2012. I contacted air transat several times when it happened. The fine print says anything over 12 hours. so no compensation. i thought it was pretty bad and have never flown them since because of it.

I am not sure when it started but I think you would find it different now - we had westjet refund us part of our fare in 2016 because of this same issue - my understanding is that any airline that flies into Europe (at least Eurozone countries for sure) has to comply

So did I and they were bloody unhelpful, me too

i think there may be a difference between a delay on the day and a schedule change with weeks advance notice. mine was a schedule change - but they had done it a few times

Oh, it wasn't clear in your first post that you had "weeks advance notice" - then no you wouldn't have received compensation for that - the way it was presented the presumption was that it happened the day of travel

I've flown air transit twice to Europe: Vancouver to Glasgow RT about 5 years ago, and Vancouver to Gatwick last summer. I have no issues flying with them. Nothing particularly fantastic, but then again neither is WJ or AC. Definitely worth it for the price.

here is information to know - especially these days when delays seem like a normal part of travel http://www.airpassengerrights.eu/en/flight-delay.html
AIRPASSENGERRIGHTS.EU
Air Passenger Rights - Delay

They're fine. Know your rights if there are delays- you could walk away with a big paycheque. The passenger protection rules when flying into or out of the EU are very strict for all airlines.

Our flight was delayed by about 5 hours.. The flight itself is okay but definitely pack your own food. We were given a sandwich for dinner and a piece of bread for breakfast..

Happens even for train travel - we had a delay of over an hour travelling from Exeter to Edinburgh and thanks to a fellow traveller informing us of the rules, we got the total cost of our train fare back - it pays to know your right (just keep details of delays)

not a lot space to sit, very basic

Food is bad (like pretty much any arline nowadays), but apart from that always had good flights... flown with them 5 or 6 times and would do it again anytime it costs less than others.

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it's decent. I've flown them a few times

I've flown them several times and will fly with them again. I'm 5'4 and found the seats comfortable, but your mileage may vary depending on your height. I personally haven't found the food to be worse than any other airline, but apparently they've received so many complaints about it that they've changed (or about to change) their food provider.
My flights have always left and arrived on time. I've always felt safe and have found the flight attendants to be friendly, helpful and professional.

I also had a good experience flying round trip to AMS on air transat. Had a new cabin A330 both ways, good personal entertainment system, good service, on time, decent food, and a smooth flight. No complaints at all.