Air Transat > Reviews > So I'll never fly Air Transat again....

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Poor
Customer Service	Unhelpful
Punctuality	Always on time
Space	Uncomfortable
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Got me to my Destination on Time
Disadvantages:	Slow Check In, Miserable Cabin Crew, Rubbish Food

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

For the first time, I was travelling to Vancouver Canada on my own to visit Family, so obviously I was looking forward to it.

I was travelling on flight TS503 from London Gatwick (LGW) to Vancouver (YVR). The flight was scheduled to depart at 16:05 GMT and arrive at 17:55 PT.

Arriving at Gatwick always puts me in a Holiday mood, so I made sure to be there at 13:00, the time suggested by the airline. Unfortunately, the check in queue was so long I only had 1 hour to eat and check out Duty Free before I had to board the plane. This was due to only 4 check in assistants dealing with 325 passengers. Organised, eh?!

The plane looked and seemed nice - Airbus A300-200 and was decorated nicely. Shame we couldn't have had seat back TV's, but what do I expect from a no-frills airline?! The seat seemed comfortable at first, but 5 hours later, that was no way the case! At least I had a view out of my window, which is worth the extra 7pounds booking fee.

We had hot food about 3 hours into the flight. I wish I had passed, but I was quite hungry. The food I was given was Rice (Stodgy), Chicken Casserole (OK), Peas and Carrots (Airline Quality!), acompanied with a bread roll, and bean salad! YumYumYum! NOT! I wish I had taken the vegetarian option of cheesy pasta (as the girl next to me did), that looked nice!

We had fairly standard entertainment on an airline for a long haul flight. 6 radio channels to appetise all needs, and the TV channels in French or English. The programs shown were Friends, Just For Laughs - Gags (a comedy program), Pink Panther and 3 films - Jersey Girl, 50 First Dates, Hidalgo. I only watched the 1st one (Starring the Happy Couple Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck!) which was pretty rubbish. I didn't bother with the other films as I really couldn't be bothered to watch them, so I alternated between Channel 8 on the radio (pop music - which seemed to only have 5 songs on repeat) and my iPod - which seemed to be the best sort of entertainment (optional accessory, visit apple.com/shop!!!! hahaha!!).

We had a snack box about 2 hours before landing, which comprised of a Scone, Cheese, and biscuit! I just didn't feel hungry!

The Cabin Crew were absolutely miserable and you never got a smile out of any of them! I think a smile never harms anyone, especially on a long haul flight.

Take off and landing was smooth which was good!

Thank god I chatted to a nice girl and her mother, or I probably would have died from boredom! I think the only good thing of this flight was the views over the Rocky Mountains, and Iceland - both of which were breathtaking!