tcook052

FYI TS isn't a "sketchy" airline.

Ancien Maestro

I've flown Air Transat.. and excellent FAs.. nice first class experience and modern planes. Nothing sketchy..

Q Shoe Guy

Well if 20+ year old A310 are modern then OK.....they do have some A330 which are from the previous decade though....

keithguy

Just as "modern" as AC's 20+ year old 767 fleet...

tcook052

The A310's are leaving the fleet and being replaced with newer A330's. Not that that really makes any difference as I'm quite sure based on AC's last LCC attempt, Tango, which used older 737-200's this latest venture won't be flying aircraft right out of the factory either.

Q Shoe Guy

Yes, absolutely I was just pointing out that the TS fleet certainly isn't modern !

They might be leaving the fleet, but they represent almost 2/3 of the fleet and those A310 are 22-25 years old ! Some even originated with Wardair ! BTW, TANGO used for the most part the former A320 fleet of CP(yes there were some 732 also), with the ZIP attempt using the 732 !

Ancien Maestro

TS is around for a long time and reputable..I've done TS on First to Cuba for our honeymoon.. I've done AC vacation down to the Riviera Maya before. Long term stable airline vacation companies are the way to go for us.. and will ensure that the vacation package doesn't become worthless overnight because of a business failure

Stranger

???

Not correct.

The 767-200s are long gone.

yulred

Yeah, but that doesnt change the fact that AC's oldest 763s came off the line around the same time as Air Transats A310s.

AC 763 Oldest Fins 213, 215, 219 and 220 first flew in 1988.
TS 310 Oldest Fins 447, 472, 483 and 485 first flew in 1988.


As a side note, some of ACs A320s first flew in 1989.

yulred

As shwon above, AC oldest 767 and TS oldest 310 came off the line at the same time.

AC will persist with the 767 till the 787 replaces it (it remains to be seen when that will happen). TS will probably phase out its 310s long before that.

ls17031

Those are all A320 fins.

yulred

Then you must be vacationing in some pretty exotic and faraway places, because the only airlines that serve the nearby vacation destinations - central America/Carribean are US airlines, AC and charter airlines. None of them would qualify as a "top quality" airline. They all fare pretty badly when compared to real "top quality" airlines like QR or IT or SQ. Unless, of course, in that typically North American manner, you've zoned out the rest of the world and decided that, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

If travelling is about getting people from point A to point B - and lets face it, even ACs service is pretty bare bones - I suspect you would get a bigger "continental" breakfast on TS than on AC these days - then TS will win in the value-for money category hands down. AC offers miles and status, which come in handy if you travel a lot. But with the devaluation of miles and the slow deterioration of perks, coupled with the significantly higher prices and the corresponding impact on how much one travels, a leisure traveller might just be better off buying a $900 ticket compared to a $1300 dollar one for the same route.

After all, TS can undercut AC by between $200 and $300 off peak and a lot more during peak. That means that, for a family of 4 travelling to Europe twice a year, their savings are significant enough to put up with a TS cramped seat for a flight of 8 hours. Hell, TS will have to really try hard to serve up smaller Y meal portions than AC.

Sketchy, or sensible?

yulred

How confusing. I just referred to the airfleet page and this is what it showed me. Perhaps I was wrong in assuming that the numbers in brackets were 767 fin numbers?

24082 (213) 767-375ER 29/03/2001 C-FCAB
24083 (215) 767-375ER 29/03/2001 C-FCAE
24084 (219) 767-375ER 29/03/2001 C-FCAF
24085 (220) 767-375ER 29/03/2001 C-FCAG

Oh wait - now I see it - so those would be fins 82,83, 84 and 85?

ls17031

Nope...

Here's the holy grail of AC fins:

http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/fleet/fin.html

Cheers

Q Shoe Guy

According to Transat IR , TS has a plan to phase out it's A 310 by 2013....but there is no further info that I can find. The info you misquoted above is all readily available at airfleets.net. Cheers!