Air Canada vs West Jet advice

[ozliz]

Another option would be to take the train (VIA Rail) from Qc city to Montreal and then fly to Orlando. I personally love the train station in Quebec city since it's in a historic building. Also check if they have Quebec to Dorval (city where the Montreal airport is located).

Thanks for this suggestion. Unfortunately it’s not really any cheaper for the early flights we want. I did consider changing our itinerary to end in Montreal or Toronto so we could take a direct flight but it would have taken up time back tracking and our time in Canada is already so short. I’ve been to all these places before but my mother is joining me on this trip and it’s likely her only chance so I’m trying to minimise travel and maximise time in each city.

 

[Shanti]

I am looking at two flight options for Halloween to travel from Quebec City to Orlando (one way only, part of a longer trip). The prices and travel time for the two options is similar enough so I would like some advice based on airlines. I’ve flown Air Canada before but never Air Canada Jazz, Air Canada Rouge or West Jet/West Jet Encore. Two options below, I would appreciate your local resident thoughts.

1. Quebec City to Toronto on West Jet Encore then Toronto to Orlando on West Jet (all booked through West Jet)

2. Quebec City to Montreal on Air Canada Jazz then Montreal to Orlando on Air Canada Rouge (all booked through Air Canada).

Also, while I’ve got your attention, I see that the cheapest options of these flights don’t include checked baggage but when I look at booking details I don’t see anywhere to prepay for my checked baggage - is this correct, you always pay at the airport? I’m not used to the budget airline options much as I’m in Australia and they don’t fly to my home city however we always get a better deal paying for baggage at time of booking rather than at the airport.

Any other tips on booking flights from Canada to USA would be welcome.

We booked our flights to and from Vancouver for our Disney Alaskan cruise via WestJet, and got a great price & times.

 

[xlxo]

I LOVE the WJ April Fool's commercials, my fav has to be the child-free flights!!!

Agreed. All they need is more pixie dust! https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/about-us/fleet/disney-frozen-themed-plane

They already have the Adult only areas on the DCL cruise ships.

 

[cdnusagurl]

Our flights got changed last minute by Westjet and we now a short connection (1.5 hours) in Toronto. I wouldn't be too worried about it, but considering I ALWAYS have a bad experience when I fly through Toronto (my flights are always either cancelled or extremely delayed when we fly through there) I'm not exactly happy about it.

 

[ozliz]

Our flights got changed last minute by Westjet and we now a short connection (1.5 hours) in Toronto. I wouldn't be too worried about it, but considering I ALWAYS have a bad experience when I fly through Toronto (my flights are always either cancelled or extremely delayed when we fly through there) I'm not exactly happy about it.

How long do you think is best for Toronto transfer times? My choices include either 1 hr 50 mins in Toronto or 1 hr 30 mins in Montreal.

 

[cdnusagurl]

How long do you think is best for Toronto transfer times? My choices include either 1 hr 50 mins in Toronto or 1 hr 30 mins in Montreal.

You should be good with the hour and a half as long as the customs lines aren't too long. I personally prefer always having at least 2 hours for a layover if it involves customs, but I'm also super paranoid about missing my flight connection. I've never flown through Montreal so I won't be much help there.

 

[starvenger]

WestJet just announced a new service.

This and the CFL one (https://twitter.com/CFL/status/980444923404144642) were my favourites. Probably because they have to do with vacations.

 

[bookbabe626]

We just did the AC Rouge Toronto-Orlando trip over the Easter weekend. Meh. It reminded DH and I why we prefer WestJet. Late flights both ways, thanks to late incoming planes and slow loading/unloading. Tiny overhead bins. Worn, uncomfortable seats. Only one plug per pair of seats, and no USB ports. Rouge is definitely AC's budget line, and you can tell it. Good thing was that AC had a Thursday night flight, which WJ didn't, and the seat arrangement is 2-3-2 so DH and I didn't have to negotiate about who was stuck in the middle. Flight attendants were competent and friendly enough, but not nearly as funny and personable as the WJ ones.

Was it a horrible flight? Nope, it was just fine. If you don't fly a lot, you likely won't even notice a difference, really. And unless you are collecting airline points, go with price and timing and just pick what's best.

However, we fly about once every month or six weeks, and we vastly prefer WestJet. Out of the 11 completed/scheduled trips between December 2017 and January 2019, this past weekend was the only AC one. And the only AC one in likely about the last six years or so of frequent flying. (And all of those are out of Pearson, which isn't that bad most of the time. Maybe one trip a year we have long lines or other issues, but then again pretty much all those flights are over school holidays.)

 

[starvenger]

Rouge is the very definition of “it is what it is”. They are (usually) somewhere between “meh” and “fine”, and you’re not gonna get anything better than that.

 

[ozliz]

And Air Canada rouge prices just went down by about $60pp so I guess we’re booking that one and booking it now.

 

[Barbanellie]

For what it's worth, I live in Quebec City, and we flew QC-MTL-Orlando when we went to WDW in 2016, and will do te same for our upcoming trip in May. Flying economy out of QC, options are limited, prices will be high, and you won't be comfortable anyway you look at it I don't have any preference of one over the other, for us, it was all about the time and prices and the flight times we chose with AC were better for us than what we could get with WestJet, and for a better price (at the time we booked).

I'm not very familiar with WestJet airplanes, but Air Canada Jazz to Montreal will be a small propeller plane, 2-2 configuration with maybe 15-20 rows. It won't be very comfortable, but it's a 45-minute flight so it doesn't matter much. Air Canada Rouge will be a "nicer" newer plane, but with small seats, not much legroom, and you need to install the AC app on your device for in-flight entertainment. It's not fancy, but, like I said, not that many options coming out of Quebec City, and whatever gets us to WDW is fine with me

Someone mentioned the train to go to MTL. If you're looking at cutting costs, you can also take the bus (https://www.orleansexpress.com/en/) I don't think flight directly out of Montreal is significantly cheaper than starting in QC with a connection, but if you don't want to do 2 flights, buses are cheap, clean and economical. I think they also have a bus running to the airport.

 

[ozliz]

For what it's worth, I live in Quebec City, and we flew QC-MTL-Orlando when we went to WDW in 2016, and will do te same for our upcoming trip in May. Flying economy out of QC, options are limited, prices will be high, and you won't be comfortable anyway you look at it I don't have any preference of one over the other, for us, it was all about the time and prices and the flight times we chose with AC were better for us than what we could get with WestJet, and for a better price (at the time we booked).

I'm not very familiar with WestJet airplanes, but Air Canada Jazz to Montreal will be a small propeller plane, 2-2 configuration with maybe 15-20 rows. It won't be very comfortable, but it's a 45-minute flight so it doesn't matter much. Air Canada Rouge will be a "nicer" newer plane, but with small seats, not much legroom, and you need to install the AC app on your device for in-flight entertainment. It's not fancy, but, like I said, not that many options coming out of Quebec City, and whatever gets us to WDW is fine with me

Someone mentioned the train to go to MTL. If you're looking at cutting costs, you can also take the bus (https://www.orleansexpress.com/en/) I don't think flight directly out of Montreal is significantly cheaper than starting in QC with a connection, but if you don't want to do 2 flights, buses are cheap, clean and economical. I think they also have a bus running to the airport.

Thanks for the info. I’ve booked the option now with Air Canada rouge so all good. We’re not tall so not worried about leg room. I also live in a smaller city that is about 50 min flight on a small propellar plane to connecting flights on a regular basis so I’m not too worried about the short flight.

So long as we AND out bags get there not too late (flying in the morning and doing the Halloween party that night) we will be fine.

 

[bookbabe626]

It just occurred to me...how long is your layover in Montreal? You'll need extra time since that's where you'll do US Customs.

 

[Magrathea]

I haven't read any of the responses, just the OP. I prefer WestJet over AirCanada, I have always had better service checking in and while in the air however, if I was to save a good chuck over money going with Air Canada- I would suck it up. We are a family of 5, so any bit we can save on flights, we take it.
I don't care to fly out of Toronto and always to try avoid it. Having the layover in Montreal seems like a nice option, I have heard good things about that airport.

Whatever you decide, have fun!

 

[dis_guy]

I LOVE the WJ April Fool's commercials, my fav has to be the child-free flights!!!

Ah, yes, "Kargo Kids", lol. I sprayed coffee all over the place when I first saw that one.

 

[Mumketeer]

I am looking at two flight options for Halloween to travel from Quebec City to Orlando (one way only, part of a longer trip). The prices and travel time for the two options is similar enough so I would like some advice based on airlines. I’ve flown Air Canada before but never Air Canada Jazz, Air Canada Rouge or West Jet/West Jet Encore. Two options below, I would appreciate your local resident thoughts.

1. Quebec City to Toronto on West Jet Encore then Toronto to Orlando on West Jet (all booked through West Jet)

2. Quebec City to Montreal on Air Canada Jazz then Montreal to Orlando on Air Canada Rouge (all booked through Air Canada).

Also, while I’ve got your attention, I see that the cheapest options of these flights don’t include checked baggage but when I look at booking details I don’t see anywhere to prepay for my checked baggage - is this correct, you always pay at the airport? I’m not used to the budget airline options much as I’m in Australia and they don’t fly to my home city however we always get a better deal paying for baggage at time of booking rather than at the airport.

Any other tips on booking flights from Canada to USA would be welcome.

I prefer Westjet, I have never had any problems with them whatsoever. Really not crazy about Air Canada Rouge. Westjet has better customer service and the airplane seats were cleaner.

 

[dis_guy]

Westjet has better customer service and the airplane seats were cleaner.

We just got back from Orlando and as we were using Aeroplan points we were on AC with one leg on Rouge. For two of our flights, our connecting flights arrived at the gate less than an hour before our scheduled takeoff time. We saw the workers go onboard to clean the plane and take out the trash. I'd guess they were onboard maybe 15 minutes and you can be sure there was no "cleaning" of that cabin other than going down the aisle and picking up large items of garbage.