Fly Alaska or Air canada?

[Linds]

I know I should be supporting A.C. but have been hearing some neg. comments about them lately. Flight costs are about the same, Alaska is a little cheaper and we have a party of 9...and an infant....


We'd take an Airbus with A.C and Boeing 737's with Alaska. Baed on your experiences, which would you choose?

Leaving Nov. 6th

 

[c&m]

Flew on both Alaska and AC this year on separate trips. Based on personal experiences, I think that Alaska is better:

- They serve food (not great, but they actually serve food!), and AC didn't.
- Lots of smiles on Alaska. AC flight attendants looked pretty grim.
- Line-ups LONG at AC counter at check-in; clearly understaffed during busy times. Alaska check-in was a breeze.
- Alaska gave our kids activity kits of colouring stuff/stickers. AC didn't.

In future, we'd choose Alaska first. If they don't fly to a particular city, then we'd consider AC.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[Linds]

What a production - booking over the web site for a party of 9! Had to do it 3 times as the seat assigning wasn't working properly for me at first - I could buy the seats but the seat map didn't show any seats available. Phoned for assistance and was told the plane blocks off a number - 20? of seats for what, she didn't say, but that I could book anyway.

I thought I could also use the mileage points from each Person's ticket I booked on my account but it wouldn't allow me to do so. I will read the fine print again tomorrow.

For any B.C.'ers , I paid a total of $263 american (appx. $361 Cdn), cheaper than the advertised $299 Cdn. sales, once taxes and fees are added- from
Vancouver to Los Angeles. All flights into John Wayne and others were all connecting flights that were 5 hours average or longer.
Now I must book transfers from LAX ...
Does anybody know the most economical transfer for a party of 9 plus a baby?!

 

[Linds]

That was $263 for each ticket!

 

[wee-haggis]

Transfers to where?

 

[c&m]

Hi Linds,

That's a good deal you got! For us, the cheapest was $370 on Alaska.

What worked well for us (DH, me, 3yo DD, 7yo DD), was to rent a minivan at LAX and drive to our hotel in Anaheim. We stayed at the Hyatt Orange County. The rental was around $45 CDN, which was well worth it since shuttles would have cost us around that much for the family. With the rental van, we also took the opportunity to pick up some breakfast cereal, snacks and bottled water on the way, so we didn't have to pay Disney prices for water.

We dropped off our rental car at the nearby Anaheim Marriott hotel, which has a Hertz counter.

For a party of 9, you might want to rent a bigger passenger van, should you go the car rental route.

Good luck!

 

[jersey shark]

As a NJ resident who frequently travels to and loves Canada very much, I have to give my vote to Alaska (or any other US carrier here) over Air Canada.

To me, Air Canada is a very funny airline....they have beautiful planes, lots of room in coach, seem to run smoothly as far as the flights go, BUT when trying to do the "simple little things" with them....watch out!

For example, have you ever tried to call Air Canada reservations on the phone? You could wait for an hour to get through! The flight attendants tend to be surly! It's the only airline where I routinely hear ticketing agents talk loudly (within earshot of passengers) about when their next break is! Upgrades are not generously given away to frequent flyers. Finally, separate lines for buying a ticket and then checking in (Toronto Airport) is ridiculous!!! I could go on and on....

Take it from me, go with Alaska, or any other US carrier over Air Canada (except US Airways, a whole other story!)

Happy with Continental Airlines,

The Jersey Shark!