tagor

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone could provide any information on Harmony Air?
I have never heard of them. They are offering a fare from YYZ-YVR over Christmas that is a full $300 less than A/C.
Since I need 3 seats this is a big savings.
I wanted to make sure that they aren't in financial trouble, or have a terrible safety record before I book the flights.
I have fears of Jetsco or Canada 3000
Would it be safe to book a flight for the end of December?
If anyone has any info it would be appreciated.

why fly

Taupo has used them in Business Class and so have a few other FT members... looks like the airline is in great shape and offers very good service... for $900 savings go for it.

LeSabre74

Harmnoy has been around for a few years now, based in YVR with flights to several leisure destinations. They are bankrolled by Dr. David Ho, a very wealthy man. Those I've spoken who've flown them speak highly of their onboard service. They do have small fleet, so theoretically the possibiltiy of delay is greater, but as discussed in another thread here their compensation for delay seems quite generous.

Coffeebean

4 B757 aircraft, (the only B757's in Canada), 10 sched destinations spread 4,983 miles apart, with an average stage length of 2,100 miles, or about 5 hours, with half the fleet completely occupied with either YVR-Hawaii or YVR-JFK during daylight hours and zero sched redundancy........

On peak days, a/c 1 is busy 8:00-21:30, a/c 2 is busy 8:25-01:05, a/c 3 is busy 9:10-22:00 and a/c 4 is busy 8:00-18:35, then a redeye from 23:45 to 07:15.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens if weather or an IROP hits the schedule. Not a big deal from April-October, but in the winter, with Toronto and JFK on the sched, all bets are off.

Like the people who bought C3000 and Jetsgo, you get what you pay for....

LeSabre74

What a disingenuous answer from a so-called industry insider. The poster can read about how well Harmony treats their pax here:
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...hlight=harmony

What would WS do, an extra bag of peanuts? And after hearing a Westjetter bash them again here, maybe HMY will put their pax on AC next time!

Simon

What Westjetter? We've heard only from "an accountant, a working stiff who flies ACE when the opportunity permits"

why fly

Coffeebean this is the NEW FT..... we are trying to be nice to each other...

and I must admit I often fail... anyhow HMY seems to be doing a nice job of keeping passengers happy.... yes its a new airline with just a few planes but so was West Jet not that long ago.
Also AC seems to be using all its planes, so when they breakdown we all have longer waits for replacement planes that we want....

Lets hope WHEN..... "rather than if" a HMY plane breaks down they are quick to put the passengers on AC or West Jet... so the customer gets where hes going.

Cascadia

I have flowen HMY twice this year, both in f. Once YVR to LAS rt and once YVR to OGG rt. I was not impressed. Service was non exisitent and the food pretty bad (and drink service).

On the Hawaii runs their only competitive advantage is the sked. Daytime flts both ways. However the odds of a late departure are very high so that takes away from that advantage.

I will not be flying HMY again.

Coffeebean

I've had experiences with their customer care department.....which is only open during normal business hours. Like most airlines, if there are no issues, the flights are fine. My personal experience is when they stumble, they stumble badly. No one seems to have the authority to make decisions which is typical of the top down nature of the owners of the business.

When you try to operate 10 cities with 4 aircraft with the distance between the longest two points (JFK / HNL) being almost 5,000 miles, the average flight length being 2,100 miles, and other than YVR-YYZ, no daily multiple frequencies you are asking for trouble when an IROP happens.

Recall that when WJA had 4 aircraft, the distance between destinations was 850 miles, with an average flight length of 335 miles and one aircraft was scheduled for about 5 hours a day to be able to recover an IROP situation.

As everyone knows, if a flight is delayed more than 2 hours and it's WJ's fault, the customer is given a credit for 100% of the amount paid for the affected flight. That's been the policy since day one.

This is one of the reasons why WJA has industry leading OTP as well as being ranked #1 for customer service in all industries in Canada.

People fly because they want to get there without issues. I don't know anyone who choses to fly an airline because when they screw up, the compensation is good.

BTW, there haven't been peanuts on WS aircraft for about 6 years.....

LeSabre74

I wouldn't know. Perhaps I had to fly them once in the last six years but I've managed to expunge the experience from my memory.

taupo

This is in complete contrast to my two experiences with HMY. Service and food were excellent.

The other huge advantage HMY has on the HNL/OGG run, is comfort. HMY's seats are wider, more legroom etc than AC

Coffeebean

There are two types of air travelers. People who pay for there own tickets and people who don't. My guess is that you are in the latter category.

LeSabre74

I certainly paid dearly for the WS flight : crammed into a middle seat, bad jokes (thanks for unlocking the painful memories). They've definitely been westjettisoned from my future travel plans.

Tractor Boy

Don't want to take this thread OT, but doesn't Skyservice also have 757s?

Frayed_Yak

My experience with Harmony is that their jets tend to be a bit old and not in the greatest of condition; however, their superb and friendly service makes up for that. As far as economy travel goes, I highly recommend them (having never tried their business class product).