 Poster: A snowHead
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Okay, has anyone got any recent experience of Air Canada? I've flown with them a few times, but that was the best part of a decade ago  .
I'm looking at flights at the moment, and they're working out at about fifteen quid cheaper than BA currently - of course with the flight time being a few hours earlier I'd have to get the train around rush hour, so that might cost enough more than later in the day to negate the saving.
Anyway, I ask because: I've yet to have a bad experience with BA, especially their excellent (if not as attractive as some  ) cabin crew. I know others have had less than excellent experiences, but that's the same with every airline, except EasyJet of course  . However, Air Canada have a good reputation and an extra one inch of legroom, but on the other hand they are still using overhead entertainment systems (rather than the seatback system now used on BA - even when the fully personalised feature is not fully functioning you still get a choice of 15 or so feeds).
So, how do people:
a) rate Air Canada (as they are now)
or
b) rank the two compared to each other (only if you've actually flown with both)
or
c) simply what would you go for
And, if AC do get the nod, are the pros enough to outweigh the fact that I've almost got enough BA miles to get a free return flight to GVA (and that of course means a cheap week of skiing  ).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Gone with Air Canada once flown with BA (used to work for them), Swiss, Qantas, SAS, AF , Lufthansa a lot more and really with any of them Service is pot luck on the day. I have had great service with all the majority of the time but also had bad service with all.
The best example I can give was a trip to Aus, from Heathrow to Singapore it was like a party on the plane, crew were outstanding and very attentive, were visable for the whole 12 hours, the crew changed for the second leg and we virtually had our meals thrown at us and as soon as the meal was over the curtains were closed and never saw the crew till just before landing unless it was for one of thier mandatory walk throughs or in this case run through.
The best service we have ever had was when flying with our sons, the crew suggested we feed them first, then we eat after everyone else and they took the boys for a walkround the plane. That 20 min of peace to eat was bliss.
Air Canada were fine but what would swing it for me is the entertainment. Extra movie choice makes a long trip go a lot quicker. £15 for more movies is worth it
An alternative could be with one of the charter outfits, my brother got a very good deal from Brum last year cant remember which airline but he said the entertainment was seatback. Its worth looking around
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I flew with AC out to vancouver in november. Flight was on time, was 30 mins quicker than stated, the plane looked brand new and I had plently of stuff to watch on the tvs. There was even a socket to run my laptop, although I didn't make use of it. No complaints at all really.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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skisimon, check what aircraft is likely. I went AC to Toronto summer before last, no IFE...(old 767)
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Have been using AC every winter for 12 years and highly recommend. Tried BA one year but AC flight times suit me better.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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skisimon, one other point is that allegedly AC timings work better for preventing jet lag.
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skisimon, We went with Air Canada last January, again this month and will be with them again in a couple of weeks time. What swings it for us is that the flight gets into Vancouver a lot earlier than the BA one and we can be in Whistler by around 6pm. It's pot luck as to what the plane is like. In January we didn't have seatback TV's but didn't really miss them. The cabin staff were great both ways. This month we had fab, new seatback TV's on the way out but not on the way back. The cabin staff were a bit friendlier on the way out too. The food wasn't up to much either way but it never usually is. The other benefit so far is that we have sailed through immigration with barely a wait and the bags came out quickly. With BA it has been hit and miss. The first time we flew with our daughter (she wasn't even 5 months at the time) we waited about an hour and a half but then other times it has been half an hour.
So all in all, we are tending towards Air Canada.
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I've read something about extra baggage charges for skis and boards being implemented on Air Canada. Check before you go - also read posts on www.epicski.com
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Regarding the baggage charges, i think you have to preregister ski equipment with them or they will charge you at check in 
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geetee, I seem to remember that our BA flight landed at the same times as flight from Japan or CHina, and the queues at passport control were horrendous. If we go back I will go Air Canada because of the better flight times. AC were fine when we went to Calgary
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Helen Beaumont, I remember standing in a queue for well over an hour once when we first brought our daughter over - she was 4.5 months at the time. Wasn't good. However, I think we've been lucky in the past with immigration queues at Vancouver because the first couple of times we flew Air Canada it was on a Friday. This was the first time we've arrived on a Saturday and the flight gets in around the same time as Zoom (I think it was the Gatwick flight) so we were faced with a half hour wait to get through. The queue looked quite bad as we joined it but it moved quite quickly as they had 6 desks open. The Canadian residents queue actually looked worse.
The flight was fine and we had seatback TV's but the system broke down a couple of times and some of the channels didn't work.
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