Worst Flight ever on Air Transat

[mandolinatou]

I flew Air Transat in December from Montreal to Paris. It was my first trip outside of North America and an overnight flight. I'd hoped to sleep a little during the flight. They placed me in an aisle seat which was added well after the cabin was made. I know this because one leg was over the Aisle runner. Which meant every flight attendant knocked me as they walked by. Worse yet is I was one seat behind first class. Which you might assume was nice or quieter. Instead I was knocked every couple of minutes by curtain that seperated the classes...face arms legs. I was constantly swaped with it. Now also important is they'd made this the baby on lap aisle....but of course put the families with their babies on their laps by the window. So in 9 tiny seats total there were 12 people...because there were three babies on the laps. Which makes for a very long over-night flight. It also meant I couldn't lean in to say move away from the stewardess hitting me because there was not really room for the baby and leaning in meant I got in the way of their family space. Lastly and this was not an airline issue....there was a foreign woman who'd never heard of deodorant before next to me. She'd wave her arms in the air from time to time and you can not believe the stench. She left for like 10 minutes or so and left her jacket and her jacket smelled so bad. I don't know how the young family on the other side of her dealt with her. I did tell Air Transat about my worst flight ever. They did get back to me and offered me free drinks on my next flight. I will never fly with a company that makes me feel like a member of the underclass.

[mandolinatou]

[xox2010]

I'm guessing it was an older plane without screens on the back of the seats? We flew AT from Toronto to the UK last year, and going there we had an older plan - very cramped - coming back was easier because it was a newer plane. As for the stinky lady, I don't understand why people have such a hard time with deodorant + showering.

[momgoneawol]

I hate flying with Air Transat (done it too many times to remember and each time there is some issue) but other than fork out twice the price and fly Air Canada or British Airways I've been stuck with it to the UK. Our worst was when the plane was delayed, they had to swap out the fllight crew because too much time had gone by, we ended up with a different plane, once we boarded we could not find our seats as that row was not in the new plane. (say row 36 but new plane only had 34 rows) Had to seperate our family of 4. The meals we preordered we did not get for the kids or ourselves. (finally got the refund a month later) and it didn't get better from there.

[xox2010]

My favourite is Lufthansa but they are like twice the price of all of the other airlines. No wonder why

[i_forget]

I have flown Air Canada and Air Transat.

All I have to say is that you get what you pay for.

I have never had any problems with Air Transat. If you have issues with being on an aisle or being around families with small children, they are very accommodating if you ask them to place you away from those distractions.
As for the woman smelling, well people who smell can be found on all flights. This is just one of the discomforts of being stuck in a small place with strangers.

Unfortunately, no overnight flight is really fun, regardless of who you fly with I think.

[charlotte1983]

Oh man, I feel for you. I sat on that seat with my 6 month old baby flying alone ... it was not fun! But then again ... Air Transat is not known for it's comfort (and that seat is probably -if not the- one of the worst seats of the plane). Always stay away from "bulkhead" seats that's where every airline will put babies / toddlers on the lap.

We fly Europe/Canada several times a year and always chose whichever airline is cheapest ... I learned to stop complaining after quite a bit of "unfortunate events" with several airlines. I now see it as a few hours of my life that I never get back and try to get through it lol.

[charlotte1983]

I knew I commented on this earlier ... You posted the exact same thing months ago; http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/333226-...ervice-canada/

I will probably sound rude, but truly you have to get over it. It is a few hours of your life ... Air Transat has people sitting on those 2 seats (one on each side of the plane) every single day. I'm actually quite confused why you posted it twice?!

I ones sat close to a washroom on JetAirways where a man vomited several times during the 7-8 hour flight against the toilet door ... I will never forget that one. Nor will I forget the time where I flew KLM and I was sitting close to a 6-7 year old autistic boy who totally lost it for 4 hours out of the flight.

[xox2010]

I thought I saw this before!

[CrazyQT]

Don't ever ask to sit in the back of the plane on purpose when travelling HOME from the Dominican Republic. It's like 90% of the plane had the craps and it's awful when you can't escape that stench. Now we ALWAYS pre-book our seats no matter what the cost. LOL

[happy_me24]

Repost? Or was it another flight with the exact same circumstances and picture.....

Either way, flights typically suck. Unless you can afford first class....or your own airplane.....or a company chartered plane....

[vesper]

All flights suck when you are 6 foot 4, there is no way to get comfy. I hate flying. First class would be ok, but I'm to cheap to pay. I seriously would drive from Cleveland, to Columbus, to buffalo, to Detroit then fly. In fact I'm doing that now!

Flights would be double, if they gave you space and luxury, so you get what you pay for.

P.s.mthank goodness we don't use ships that take 2 months to cross the ocean.

[mandolinatou]

I feel bad for reposting which was completely in error. I have been on a mission to be a pain to Airtransat. I believed I would have heard from their customer service within a couple of months of posting on another site geared towards customer complaints. The stewardesses who were french were unhelpful and even rude when I asked if I could move to an open seat, due to the curtain issue. The issue wasn't the babies. However being in a very crowded row didn't help matters. Babies need space. I'm only 5'1" and my leg was bumped all night and I felt enormous in that seat. Let me frame things as I see it they couldn't stick someone in those seats due to gender, race or religion. Why should it be legal to do so based on financial status or ticket price? Why is it legal to tap a poorer customer all night long so that a wealthier customer does not have to see them? I'm too egalitarian to tolerate it. So I dedicate 2013 to being super annoying to air transat until they agree to treat me and their other economy class ticket holders with dignity. I'll move on in 2014. So if Air Transit reads this maybe they'll want to make a real apology?

[Darth Penguin]

Mr P travels a lot..ie 20-30 segments a month internationally.and on every airline out of PET..he's never had a problem travelling trans-Atlantically .


And when we moved to Canada I was the b!tch with the sleeping baby..

Always stay away from "bulkhead" seats that's where every airline will put babies / toddlers on the lap.

no..they don't ..trust me on this..travelled too many times Mr P has told me they are all over the cabin..even in first/business class.

[charlotte1983]

Mr P travels a lot..ie 20-30 segments a month internationally.and on every airline out of PET..he's never had a problem travelling trans-Atlantically .


And when we moved to Canada I was the b!tch with the sleeping baby..



no..they don't ..trust me on this..travelled too many times Mr P has told me they are all over the cabin..even in first/business class.

Obviously babies can be anywhere in the cabin, we've sat in first class, comfort class and economy with our boy. Fact is that if people with a baby call into any airline to ask for the baby basinet, or extra legroom - the bulkhead seats is where they end up. Many airlines block some of these seats for customers with "special needs" such as travelling with a lap child. My advice to anyone would be to avoid those seats, even though that does not give you the absolute certainty to be seated away from babies.


Let me know if you win your fight with AirTransat