Air Canada or Continental
 

Hi

Planning a trip to Quebec in Feb 2010. 2 best options are either AC or CO.

AC from LHR via either YUL or YYZ.
CO from LHR or BHX via EWR.

Any opinions either way? Most likely be in economy both ways, possible upgrade on the inbound.

Haven't used either. Am member of BA Exec & VS Flying Club if it sways anything either way.

Look forward to your opinions.

cheers ;)
FF

Former Flyer

I don't have recent experience of flying either airline, but if I were choosing, it would be the route that offered the transfer in Canada, not the US.

I have flown with CO, would definitely use them again, I used to hear bad reports about AC service some years ago from a regular (business) pax but I would still give AC a try rather than enter USA.

Cheers
UFO

I've just returned from a trip with Air Canada in economy class and found them to be perfectly acceptable. The flights were on time; aircraft clean and as comfortable as to be expected down the back. Crew were friendly and efficient. The only gripe is that you can forget about a pre-dinner drink (I do like a G&T in a plastic glass) and the portions were about as small as they can get away with.

Transiting through the U.S. really is not worth the hassle.

All you input is appreciated & as expected!

I'd like to avoid transitting the US, just the rub is that the CO timings & connections are so much better.

My partner flew to Toronto and back with AC earlier this month and found the whole thing satisfactory. They seem to have 2 direct flights a day, she came back in a 777. I was monitoring the flights while she was away and punctuality in both directions was good.

Both are good & EWR transit is relatively painless compared to other ports of entry into the US, I'd use either route.

One minor thing is that if you go LHR / EWR / YUL, rather than LHR / YYZ / YUL, you might end up with a shorter flight as you won't be flying over YUL to get to YYZ in the first place.

I agree with Donkey about EWR, but overall IMHO I think immigration thru Canada is a better/quicker bet

Anything to avoid US immigration. I did LHR-YUL-YQB, but that's mainly because I was coming back from Montreal (the return journey from Quebec to Montreal being by bus, as I was also visiting Trois Rivieres :eek: ). It is slightly aggravating overflying your eventual destination!

When I reached the hotel in Quebec, the staff were 'en greve' - I told my French colleagues with whom I was travelling that this was just a little touch to make them feel more at home. They found the monolingual dedication of the Quebecois hilarious - there are plenty of KFCs in France, but in Quebec they have to be PFKs (Poulet Frites Kentucky) - not that I would ever frequent either establishment :)

I'm not 100% sure but if you were to fly CO, you may get VS Flying Club points. You'd need to investigate and I guess how much the points mean to you versus the delight that is US immigration.