Many of you helped me decide how to best fly to BCN from YYZ, here is what happened.

[jonthomas]

Some of you emailed me asking how did our flights turn out for the recent TA from BCN to MIA.

 

So here is how it all went down.

 

We originally had a flight with O, but because of our airport ( worst in the world)  rated for several months in the summer. We thought that staying with O would give us some assurances but knew that we were taking a big risk in not making the ship. 

 

So going in a couple of days earlier, doing our own flight, saving on the deviation seemed our best choice and many of you agreed. We booked Air Canada and two nights hotel in Barcelona. We left on a Thurs night, ship sailed on a Saturday

 

The Air Canada plane was on time, even early, which was unusual, I tracked it for two weeks. Then we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours. The reason, there was no one to load on the luggage. We travelled with carry on only. It is difficult to find anyone to work in Toronto, that is not just for airline industry. The reasons for it, I wont discuss here, too political. 

 

Our connection was in Zurich. We missed our plane by 5 minutes. I was prepared for that. The next flight was 5 hours later. If we had luggage, the flight would have been the next day as the small plane was for NO luggage only. Zurich airport was very  nice, small, clean. They gave us generous vouchers for lunch and dinner. 

 

We arrived in Barcelona by 9 pm...exhausted, jet lagged. Took us 5 days to get over it. The Air Canada flight, seats so crammed together, like a straight jacket for 10 hours, including the 2 sitting on tarmac. A heavier lady in the isle seat, slept on me the whole way, I did not. At one point, feeling a panic attack coming on. 

 

Bottom line, had we taken this exact flight with O the night before sailing, we would have missed getting on the ship, which sailed at 7 pm.

 

However, acquaintances of ours risked it and flew with O, British Air,  getting onto the ship on time. NO deviation fee, no hotel. O reassured them they had plenty of time, going through Heathrow. 

 

We have a similar TA next November and once again, will be wondering what to do. There are No direct flights from YYZ to BCN. 

 

Has our airport improved, the politicians say yes but a slight snow storm just recently has thrown this airport into total chaos again.  

[Robroy]

I share your pain with the debacle which is YYZ and Air Canada in particular. Our last Med cruise from BCN we took BA through Heathrow and found them to be very good with a short layover for the BCN leg. Unfortunately with AC's unreliability over the past few years, we always book alternatives assuming there is one although I wouldn't consider Westjet/Air Transat/Sunwing etc qualifying as viable alternatives in my opinion. Good luck next fall - I would certainly recommend BA even with the connection.

 

Cheers,

Rob

[shank63]

Our experience in flying AC through YYZ was not good, polity said.  We flew thRough YYZ connecting to EDI, both incoming and connecting flights were AC.  QThe first flight was 4 hours late resulting in missing the flight to EDI.  The customer service of AC was frustrating, they could not even book another flight to get us to EDI.  We were told that they would not call AC reservations because it was a 2 hour wait to get through to an agent.  They did give us a hotel voucher, etc. We were able to get through to AC reservations very early the next morning and were rerouted through Frankfort. These flights were booked through O with deviation fees, but we found O to be useless in rebooking our flights, in fact that would only suggest alternatives, they refused to rebook it for us.  We learned from this trip to limit checked luggage and carryon as much as possible, always arrive 2 days minimum before boarding, and at all costs avoid AC and YYZ.

[mumcat]

Have you considered asking AC for compensation following the delay? Recently my husband's Air France was delayed and he missed his connection by 15 minutes making him 5 hours late getting to his destination.  We applied online on Air France website and he got 600euros in compensation. Its worth looking on AC website for the details.

[Robjame]

Jon - 

 

If you had a do-over what would you do?

 

I still stand by the advice to get out of TO to Montreal, a smaller, friendlier, better run facility.

[LHT28]

some of the issues this past year with any of the airlines/airports is staff

Many had to apply for security clearance  after the shut downs due to covid

Plus limited flights all over the World

 

 They cannot put you on a flight where no seats are available

 

The World  still has not recovered after Covid  even if you  are over it

JMO

 

 

[jonthomas]

5 hours ago, mumcat said:

Have you considered asking AC for compensation following the delay? Recently my husband's Air France was delayed and he missed his connection by 15 minutes making him 5 hours late getting to his destination.  We applied online on Air France website and he got 600euros in compensation. Its worth looking on AC website for the details.

 

with AC the rule is anything over 2 hours....they make sure they stick to that or a minute under it, so they dont have to give any comp.....also we did not lose any funds over this delay....they did give vouchers for lunch and dinner...

[jonthomas]

1 hour ago, Robjame said:

Jon - 

 

If you had a do-over what would you do?

 

I still stand by the advice to get out of TO to Montreal, a smaller, friendlier, better run facility.

 

Excellent question.

 

and we do have to do it all over again, next November...again a 20 day TA, fly to BCN...same scenario.....

 

so what to do....

 

hoping that the situation with airports will be better a year from now...but hoping and praying wont make it so....this is our national airline and our national disgrace....things will not change significantly while the same govt is in charge...sorry political and probably most will not agree with me...thats ok...

 

right now we have air with O and with Premium Economy....I have checked it out....so far British Air does not offer the PE on the planes they are using for this date, AC does...so here we go again....

 

Tempted to do a flight with a 4.5 hours layover in FRA.....and get onto ship...no deviation,  no hotel....if we miss the ship, we miss BCN.....have been many times...next port is Cartagena...not sure how easy it would be to get there and if we miss that , we have also been there  many times...

 

seems like I am saying, if we miss all the ports, we will eventually get on the ship....I am laughing at my own logic...or lack thereof....

[Robjame]

1 minute ago, jonthomas said:

and we do have to do it all over again, next November...again a 20 day TA, fly to BCN...same scenario

And things are much improved over the situation when you travelled.

 

‘’We fly to Florida out of YYZ on Wednesday… right in the Xmas rush. (Not AC)  However our logic is we could hop in the car on Wednesday and drive and make it on time for the cruise if everything is crazy.

[jonthomas]

and we fly on jan 3, for a cruise on jan 4....yeah past the rush....staying in hotel one night..should be fine....

 

its the overseas stuff that has me in knots.....

 

things are not much improved with Air Canada/Pearson Airport,  same labour shortage.....as I said before, it was not the plane, it was early....is was not the pilots, they were all ready....it was the baggage handlers....still cant find people to work....until policy of handouts changes, there will be a shortage in the workforce....

[jonthomas]

4 minutes ago, Robjame said:

And things are much improved over the situation when you travelled.

 

‘’We fly to Florida out of YYZ on Wednesday… right in the Xmas rush. (Not AC)  However our logic is we could hop in the car on Wednesday and drive and make it on time for the cruise if everything is crazy.

 

 

best wishes to you for Wednesday....

[gaeltrav]

On our last TA in November 2022 we flew KLM from Pearson to Amsterdam and then KLM on to Barcelona without a problem.

[no fuss travel]

We avoid Toronto at all costs.  Every time they try to rout us thru Toronto, our TA goes to bat and gets us a better flight.  I missed a flight at Toronto that was a domestic and that finished me on ever flying into Toronto again  I just don't like it.

[mumcat]

9 hours ago, jonthomas said:

 

with AC the rule is anything over 2 hours....they make sure they stick to that or a minute under it, so they dont have to give any comp.....also we did not lose any funds over this delay....they did give vouchers for lunch and dinner...

Sorry, I  thought that you were actually delayed by 5 hours.

[the more ports the better]

Fly Toronto to New York.  Flights go hourly at least so you have a lot of control.  UA AA and Delta all fly nonstop to BCN.  All flights are in the evening and land in the morning.  Give yourself the entire afternoon in New York in case there is an issue in Toronto.  You can always get some work done, go shopping, get a massage, have a nice lunch….. anything to kill some time.  At least you know once you take off from New York, you don’t have to worry about missing connections in Europe.  Plus all the legacy carriers offer extra legroom for not a huge amount of money.

[dock]

Have travelled 7 times International out of YYZ since Nov 2021. Five times on AC,once  on Ethiopian, and once on WJ all with no issues. 
Checked luggage all 7 times ( I cannot travel  light). 

 

While AC imo ,is not a great airline they were efficient and we had no problems. 
 

I collect AP miles so we tend  to first check their flights before BA or KLM. 
I prefer to fly direct as less likelihood of my luggage getting lost.

 

Pre cruise, we generally allow at least 3 nights in the embarkation city except if it’s a US city then 1/2 nights has worked for us. 

I would still use AC to fly to Europe unless it’s Rouge then I’d look at another option.

Rouge seats and service is fine for a max of 3-4 hrs flying time, even in their Biz cabin, which is worse than AC’s PE seats imo. 

Had the misfortune of flying Athens to YYZ and Lima to YYZ  ( flights booked were mainline AC and switched up prior to departure ) and both times had an awful experience. 

 

 

 

 

[RD64]

Not a good week to be travelling out of YYZ or YVR - with things projected to get much worse over the weekend.

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, RD64 said:

Not a good week to be travelling out of YYZ or YVR - with things projected to get much worse over the weekend.

I wonder if  the major snow storm in the  forecast  has anything to do with  it ?? 🤔

[Robjame]

Jon we flew YYZ - MIA (Terminal 3) yesterday (Wednesday) and it could not have been smoother!. Only line was at WestJet to check in. Plenty of people working and very friendly and helpful. 
 

My recommendation for any Canadian would be to get a Nexus card. Breezed through US customs which is in TO (no line), security was easy with no need to remove shoes or show liquids. Again plenty of English speaking help. One hour from arrival at YYZ to sitting relaxing at gate.

 

Security personnel told us to avoid the early morning to 7am time slot. Busiest with business travellers and huge number of planes.

[jonthomas]

it has been impossible to get a nexus card during the border negations over covid...not sure if all that stuff is over now...

 

will look into it...

[Robroy]

Last I heard about Nexus is that you can no longer do your U.S. interview at Pearson and need to go to Buffalo. No thanks!

 

Cheers,

Rob

[FlyerTalker]

5 minutes ago, Robroy said:

Last I heard about Nexus is that you can no longer do your U.S. interview at Pearson and need to go to Buffalo. No thanks!

 

Yep....far better to spend the time needed to drive to the USA in a succession of lines at airports and other border crossings.  And even though Nexus is good for 5 years (IIRC), how many times are you going to cross a border in that period.

 

But thanks.  Fewer people using Nexus means even shorter lines for those of us who have it (or Global Entry).