Has anyone travelled this airline to Italy from Toronto. If so, what are your opinions. Thank You.

Not Toronto, but from Vanc, to both London and Paris. Will be doing our 3rd trip in a couple of weeks using them.

They are OK. It is a pretty basic airline. The food has been hit or miss (bring your own snacks just in case). You pay for blankets, earphones etc. The service though has been excellent on all the flights.

Considering that it was almost half the price of flying Air Canada, British Airways or any of the other major airlines and having the flexibility to fly into one city and out of another, I haven't hesitated to use them again.

Linda

I've flown them Vancouver to Glasgow, and they were great; I always tell people to save their money and fly on Zoom.

We used them last September for Vancouver-Paris. As Linda mentioned, basic but acceptable level of service/amenities.

We upgraded to their "club class?". Larger seats, supposedly more amenities. I don't know if it is really worth it. Yes, the seats were a little larger and there was a little more legroom, but it was quite a bit more money for marginally better accomodation. When I've upgraded in the past on other airlines, I've felt it was a better bargain.

However, all said, we'll use Zoom again.... you can't beat the price.

Club Class is Air Transat. On Zoom, it's just called Premium Economy. Are you sure you flew Zoom?

Yup it was Zoom - I just forgot their terminology for their slightly larger seats.

We've also flown Air Transat with their Club Class - actually thought that was a better deal.

I booked Club Class with Air Transat for my flight to Rome. I'm glad to hear it's worth it.

I booked flights on March 24th for our trip this summer from Toronto to London and Paris to Toronto for $199 each way on...drum roll, please... Air Canada!
$922.14 for the round trip, with all taxes and assorted fees added. Not bad for high season!

I also checked Zoom on similar dates...$279 + $329 each way for the cheap seats, for a total of $1,066.45. Zoom's flight dates didn't match any of the dates we wanted to travel.
The upgraded seats on Zoom would have cost $1,358.45, quite a bit higher than Air Canada. Zoom didn't offer a direct flight from Toronto to London, either. There was a stop in Montreal on Zoom while Air Canada's flight is direct non-stop flight.

I haven't found that much of a difference between Zoom and Air Canada when it comes to the cost of the fare. In this case, Air Canada was actually the best price that I could find anywhere and they offered the exact flight times and type of flight that I was hoping for.

My experience with Air Canada has always been excellent, so I stick with them when I can get the decent rates. This trip, I desperately wanted a day flight to London, and the only airline that offered that was Air Canada. No other airline that I could find offered a day flight from Edmonton or Toronto to London or Paris.

I've been tempted to try Zoom, but so far I haven't had a reason to bail on Air Canada, which is a known quantity for me.

A little airline humour for you today:
After a very hard landing, a flight attendant came on the intercom and said, "That was quite a bump, and I know what y'all are thinking. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the airline's fault, it wasn't the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendant's fault, it was the asphalt." ~ Unknown
Brenda

http://www.albatours.com/content.asp?page=54421

The above link takes you to a page that shows a comparison between Skyservice Business class or Premier seats and Zoom's Premium Economy seats.

You really cannot compare Zoom and Transat, both economy and upper class. Zoom is cheap, so is its service. We flew Montréal-Paris 2 years ago and will never do it again. We thought Transat was basic service, we changed our minds... And now Transat has increased leg room and the quality of its foods, even in economy class. A few hundred dollars more is worth the game when you have to sit still or so for 6 to 7 hours.
Transat is now better than Air Canada and is considerably cheaper.
If you can try Corsair Classe Grand Large (their upper class). You are served real champagne and sit on the upper deck of a 747 on your way from Montréal to Paris but the return flight is Airbus 330 (which is better than the A320 from Air Canada)

Thanks for letting us know about your experiences with Transat, yymca6.Sounds like you have had some great flights!

When I was first planning our trip, I checked out both Zoom and Transat. Transat's fare for the same flight was $1069 + $513 taxes=$1582 total, with travel dates that didn't work for our trip.
My Air Canada flight cost $922.14 for the dates that we needed and it has a much-desired day flight as well, so it was a no-brainer which one to choose. Air Canada's lower cost and day flight option won, hands down.

I like the idea of AirTransat's Corsair Classe Grand Large, but I cannot find it on the Air Transat website. Is there a click-through to use when choosing that upgrade?

Zoom also uses Skyservice and Thomas Cook as alternate carriers, and you might be rerouted to one of those carriers on a variety of flights. If I was choosing Zoom, I would want to check out what the alternate carriers offer in the way of services, in case I was rerouted to one of them.

A little light airline humour for you:
A plane was taking off from Kennedy Airport.
After it reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement over the intercom, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight Number 293, nonstop from New York to Los Angeles. The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back and relax... OH, MY GOD!"

Silence followed, and after a few minutes, the captain came back on the intercom and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so sorry if I scared you earlier. While I was talking to you, the flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!"
A passenger in Coach yelled, "That's nothing. You should see the back of mine!"
Brenda

quote:

I like the idea of AirTransat's Corsair Classe Grand Large, but I cannot find it on the Air Transat website

Brenda, maybe yymca6 was referring to Corsair?

I'm glad to read the good comments about AirTransat since I am flying with them in October! (I had checked both Transat and Zoom and it was a tossup as far as cost, but the Transat schedule was a tad better for me.)

I used Air Transat three times in 2006 to go to Europe (Paris, London, Rome) and they were great. Food wasn't that good but overall the service was excellent. If you're flying economy, try to reserve the seats near the emergency exit. I read they'll have increased leg room in June 2008 though.

quote:

Brenda, maybe yymca6 was referring to Corsair?

Anne,
You are right! See what happens to westerners? I had no idea about this, 'cause it's not an airline available for us here. Still, for a great flight on a good airline, I'd take Westjet or Air Canada to Montreal and then sit in the lap of luxury while going to Paris on Corsair!

"Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society.
The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute." ~ Gil Stern
Brenda

Corsair is a French company owned by Nouvelles frontières, the biggest travel agency in France. In the summer (fromMay to October but do not know the precise dates), they have flights on Paris from Montréal and as of this year, from Halifax.
Econo is $625 CDN in June, about $100 less than Transat.
Transat has more flights though.
Corsair goes to Paris Orly while Transat flies to Paris CDG (flight is 30 minutes longer and CDG is 20 minutes from Paris while Orly is about 10 minutes cab ride, so half the price).

I agree sometimes Air Canada will have better prices than Transat, all depends from where you fly and when you book.