Etsi halvat lennot: Air Transat

Will not be travelling with air transat again

Miinukset: Last week lost my luggage on a direct flight. Flight to Toronto would not let me print my boarding pass after I had checked in online and had no checked baggage to be delivered. Missed my flight due to this as the company was debating to print my pass

Disorganized airline

Plussat: The crew was friendly and helpful, and when we ran into problems they were confident and professional.

Miinukset: The plane was an old Airbus 310 with no entertainment systems in the seat backs. Instead, it was equipped with the old-style system where everybody watches the movies on a few screens. The choice of movies was poor: the "feature film" was a nature documentary made by Disney where they gave the animals names and talked about their feelings. The food on the flight was awful. We were told there would be be a choice of chicken, beef, or vegetarian noodles. But apparently there were only 5 chicken meals placed on the plane, so the only non-veg option was the beef. This consisted of 3 small pieces of beef in a gravy, and a pile of mashed potatoes with an unfamiliar texture. It was also oozing some sort of orange fat. Not very appetizing. Due to weather, the flight was unable to land in Montreal, and had to be diverted to Plattsburgh, NY. I don't blame Air Transat for this. We sat on the tarmac for 2.5 hours in Plattsburgh, but at least we had air conditioning, and the crew served us water. (This is better than the planes that were diverted to Ottawa that day.) We were assured by the crew that, while we surely missed our connections (to Toronto in my case), the Air Transat agents were well aware of the situation, and they would rebook us and we would arrive home that night. Upon arrival in Montreal, nobody from Air Transat seemed aware of the situation. I was with ~50 other passengers trying to get to Toronto, and the agents had no idea what to do. They sent us to a gate, and told us there was a flight leaving at 9 pm. (The flight was originally scheduled for 5:45, but, again, I don't blame them for the weather.) When we got to the gate at 8:45, there were no Air Transat agents anywhere. Passengers became agitated, and we tried looking for Air Transat agents at other gates, again with no luck. Some passengers even tried calling the Air Transat call center, but they couldn't get through. There was one Air Transat employee present, but when she saw the group of 50 of us, she hid behind the door to the jetway. (She said she was off duty.) By 9:30, some agents arrived. They were just as confused as us about the flight, and did not know what was going on. In particular, they thought there should be a flight crew present, but they couldn't find any. Eventually, at 10 pm, they announced that the plane would be leaving at 12:30 am for Toronto. Restaurants were closed at this point, of course, but at least a bar was open. By 1:30 am we eventually departed, after waiting for passengers to arrive from Ottawa. I have never seen so many sleeping people on a plane before it even took off. Total transit time from when I boarded in Barcelona to landing in Toronto was 20 hours.

Plussat: Entertainment, movies etc.

Miinukset: Cramped seat

Plussat: Entertainment

Miinukset: Our flight from Barcelona was late and we had to rush across the airport to get the connection to Toronto. By the time we landed it was almost time for the Toronto flight to depart. No information was given to the passengers when we landed informing them that the Toronto flight was waiting for us. No information was given by the ground staff either, just told to drop your checked bag off and get to the gate and hope the flight was still there. Would have been a lot less stressful if someone had said "don't worry, the Toronto flight is waiting for you"

Boarding

Plussat: The price of the flight

Miinukset: 2 hours and 45 minutes to board a plane that was supposedly not cool enough to board. Then once we were on our way for an almost 11 hour flight, no coffee was available due to "contaminated water". Landing in Toronto after 10 hours and 45 minutes, we had to sit on the plane for another hour because there was no available gates. We were bussed off from a nearby field.