mkt

Hello all,

I might have meetings in the GTA (but not Toronto) coming up soon.

Since it’s an international flight and my employer's travel policies allows for premium airfare on international flights, I have to ask: which has a better premium cabin and service for transborder flights: Westjet or Air Canada?

Antonio8069

I don't think WS is really an option. AC has three classes of service, a newer fleet, better lounges and much greater presence (esp. in eastern Canada).
I am intrigued you limited your search for a TB carrier to these two airlines. What about UA? AA?

mkt

Some thoughts.

My main airport is MCO and I've got an 16 month old toddler so I want to avoid connecting flights to maximize my time at home with the kiddo. If I didn't have a kid, I'd probably just fly MCO-MIA-YYZ on AA and call it a day - but my priorities have changed, and I value family time more than anything else. As a result, I will generally schedule meetings/trainings/workshops/collabs until the last possible moment before heading to the airport and flying home in order to get as much work done in the shortest amount of time and maximize my family time afterward.

Since my work trips almost always include an Ontario component, but aren't Canada specific, I'll just cross the border in Windsor and drive to where I need to be. With my goal always being to be back home either Thursday very late in the evening or first thing Friday morning.

With that preface out of the way, WS and AC are the only two carriers that:

A- have nonstop YYZ-MCO flights
B- have a premium cabin on that route
C- have mileage programs that earn with one of my existing accounts (WS ➡️ DL, AC ➡️ UA)

tentseller

Only AC has a real premium CABIN. WS only have nicer seat with middle empty and f&b service at the front few rows.

I would also clarify in writing from HR that Canada falls under you company's definition of international.

mkt

AC wins, perfect.

Fair. The rule is written as "international" and "domestic over 6 hours", with no clarification as to what international means. I'll speak with my director to be sure, but I don't foresee any issues.

YYCCL3

This has not been correct for a couple of years now, WS premium cabin has full size domestic business seats at the front across the 737 fleet which are in far better shape than what you'll find on a battered AC A321. They were all refreshed during the pandemic.

allbrosca

You should also factor in that YYZ-MCO is not AIr Canada mainline, but Air Canada Rouge, their discount carrier, with a significant drop in quality in the premium cabin (but the premium cabin does make Rouge flights bearable).

Adam Smith

There's no appreciable difference between rouge and mainline in J. The seats are the same. The meals are the same. Mainline has crappy 20-year-old IFE, rouge gives you a free WiFi code. That's about the only difference. @mkt, as someone who flies both frequently, I'd say there's really nothing to distinguish them on this type of route. An AC J ticket would get you access to the AC lounge, whereas WS gives you no lounge access (unless you have PP or some other program), but the AC lounges are generally mediocre and it's probably not worth making this decision based on that.

The one thing that might be worthwhile to consider is it looks like AC has 4 flights every day, whereas WS is 1x most days, 2x sometimes, and once a week 3x. If you might want the ability to SDC or standby to an earlier flight, you might have more options with AC. This would also give you slightly better options in the event of IRROPs.

If you want to go with WS, try to ticket it with DL if you care about the status credit and RDMs. Earning is far better on DL-marketed flights than WS-marketed flights.