Canadians - Your Airline Experiences?

[Canuckdave]

Eventually it will be time to book a flight out of Toronto for my first ever trip to LOS. Just wondering to the Canadians who have flown from YYZ or wherever, what airline did you choose and why? What was your experience with that said airline as well? I know cathay pacific may not be the cheapest offered but I read is one of the better in flight experiences. Is it worth a few more bucks for a 20 hour journey for a better airline?

[Mike Asia]

Eventually it will be time to book a flight out of Toronto for my first ever trip to LOS. Just wondering to the Canadians who have flown from YYZ or wherever, what airline did you choose and why? What was your experience with that said airline as well? I know cathay pacific may not be the cheapest offered but I read is one of the better in flight experiences. Is it worth a few more bucks for a 20 hour journey for a better airline?

 

You can't get much better than Cathay Pacific. Spend a few more bucks and it will be worth it.

[hippopot]

Air Canada provides a good service from YYZ to Tokyo and Hong Kong. From there it's code-share on Thai or ANA to Bangkok.

These routes are very popular and profitable for Air Canada, so they use the newest planes with personal on-demand entertainment systems on every seat in economy. Cathay Pacific is good as well, but more expensive. Although you may find some good deals on Cathay at the moment.

[ontherocks]

Go with the cheapest flight you can get. Use the money you save on girls/shopping/hotels etc.

Cathay Pacific & Air Canada provide excellent service and use the same planes B777-300ER with similar seats and configuration. Both of them have personal entertainment systems and the food is pretty much the same. You will be better off transferring in Hong Kong and taking the codeshare Cathay Pacific or Thai flight from there if you fly Air Canada.

 

In my opinion, just fly with any reputable airline that offers cheap fares. Cathay Pacific out of Toronto is very expensive. I flew them out of New York last year and I paid $1050 return. Check out www.mobissimo.com its very comprehensive and gives you good results on cheap fares.

[wolfy]

I fly Cathay all the way. Would not fly air Canada if it was the last airline in the world. Also tried EVA and was disappointed. For in flight service and attention to you CATHAY!!!!! Works for me!!!

[dudebrah]

Air Canada is the crappiest airline in the world ! I would rather DHL myself than fly with them . I prefer China airlines when possibe . For me its because they have reasonable prices on biz class tickets to asia

[Ohyesuare]

I flew with Air Canada, short stopover in Tokyo for $1338 return a few weeks ago. Code share with ANA on the way there and Thai Airways on the way back. It wasn't bad at all, was great that it wasn't packed so I always had a row to myself I could move to after takeoff. Hate sitting elbow to elbow with someone on a plane. Air Canada wouldn't be my first choice but was the cheapest flight I could find last minute. One thing that really made me laugh was that they served Mr Noodle as a snack on the flight to and back from Tokyo LOL. They are really breaking the bank with those. They also served some imitation bento box type thing with some crappy sandwiches inside.

 

Flight attendants on Air Canada were cows, Thai Airways and ANA had some hotties.

[lespaul5000]

Air Canada is the crappiest airline in the world ! I would rather DHL myself than fly with them . I prefer China airlines when possibe . For me its because they have reasonable prices on biz class tickets to asia

 

 

the 80 year old flight attendants do it for me

[ontherocks]

I have flown Air Canada to London Heathrow on their new 777's and the flight attendants were great, so was the service and the plane.

To Asia, I always use Northwest/KLM or Cathay Pacific.

To each his own I guess.

 

I flew British Airways from the Middle-East to Canada about 2 months back and Air Canada was much much better than BA.

Edited July 2, 2009 by ontherocks

[lespaul5000]

I have flown Air Canada to London Heathrow on their new 777's and the flight attendants were great, so was the service and the plane.

To Asia, I always use Northwest/KLM or Cathay Pacific.

To each his own I guess.

 

I flew British Airways from the Middle-East to Canada about 2 months back and Air Canada was much much better than BA.

 

if you flew Van. to Tokyo, you would know what i mean.

[gerry53]

I've flown Asiana and JAL several times each for cheap fares and you usually get what you pay for like lousy departure times, cramped seating, long layovers etc. My last 3 trips were with EVA air in the Evergreen Elite class, larger seats, proper foot rests, pre order your meals ie seafood, a nice step up from economy for a few hundred Cdn more. Vancouver to Taipei with a nice midnight departure then eat then sleep. Only a 2 hour change of planes in Taipei then a quick breakfast flight to BKK and caught the Bell Bus to Pattaya at 2pm local time. The cheaper flights always left me feeling drained upon late arrival in BKK. 8 hour layovers in Korea or Narita were no picnic either. This years flight was $1350 in the elite class(1630 Cdn with taxes and surcharges). It's worth the extra money for me to arrive well rested and relaxed. Just my experiences.

[Canuckdave]

Thanks for the replies folks. Luckily I live 2 hours from either Toronto, Detroit or Buffalo so I actually do have alot of choices when it comes time to book. I do have quite a few skymiles so maybe I would look at a partner airline first before deciding. Ultimately some comfort on a long flight like that would be ideal but then again not for an excessive price. This being a one and only trip to LOS i would probably splurge a little. Maybe even take a plane to LAX and then the non stop on Thai if the price was right. Thanks again for sharing your experiences and advice.

[Darth Slinky]

In February, 2009 I flew from Toronto to BKK via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, Flights were about $200 cheaper than the equivalent flight on Air Canada. On the way home, the plane left the gate but had to turn back due to mechanical problems so I missed my connection in Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific put us up in a hotel at the Hong Kong airport for the night and gave us vouchers for meals.. The next morning I requested that they provide some sort of compensation. They happily bumped me up to Business Class for the 15 hour flight from Hong Kong back to Toronto. I was pretty happy with the Coach Class. I was extremely happy with the Business class. I just wish I could fly that way all the time.

 

I would highly recommend Cathay Pacific over Air Canada.

 

Giggity...

 

Darth-Slinky...

[kdogg]

I have been flying Air Canada, but with all the aeroplan miles I get flying yo LOS I got a first class upgrade to Tokyo last trip so it was ok.

 

On Expedia Cathay pacific is cheaper usually.Plus they arrive at better times than the Air Canada flights, like 6 Pm instead of 10. The cheapest I saw for my September flight was JAL through Chicago, but I prefer not to fly through the US. Didn't really care for ANA on the flight from tokyo, the pilot flew slow and we got in an hour late.

[StrangerThanFiction]

I flew Air Canada from YYZ-HKG, then Thai Airways from HKG-BKK.

 

Ignore the haters because Air Canada's long haul flights in economy are equal to Cathay Pacific in the same class (I've never flown business or first class so I can't compare those).

 

Service: It always took over a minute for an attendant to reach me after I called for them, but they were available.

Food: Air Canada's caterer is Aramark (I think?) and they're horrible. Some of the worst airline food I've ever had and it always gives me gas. On the other hand, for my 15:45 flight they did give us four meals (two full meals and two larger than average snacks). Drinks were offered every hour and a half at least. On a previous YYZ-LHR flight I had, I was given two full meals and a larger than average snack as well. I've heard that Air Canada's rule is that any flight six hours or longer gets full meals while anything less gets just small snacks.

 

I was also on the new 777 last year for YYZ-HKG.

 

One bad thing of note however is that the washroom ran out of toilet paper and was never refilled or checked by any attendants. Really quite gross, especially on a 15:45 flight, but I didn't notice (nor need to use it) this until near the end.

 

Air Canada also has regular flight sales. Since they got rid of their YYZ-BKK I think two years back, it's now YYZ-HKG-BKK. Regular price is in the $1800 range, but I've seen it go down to $1400. I'm sure it can go even lower but my own schedule isn't flexible enough to keep an eye on and leave at any minute.