Well, it’s getting closer and closer to those fantastic winter games, and we’ll be doing another article on them within the next week. But, as everyone knows it’s always a good idea to get those flights booked nice and early – this obviously to get the best price you can get! Well the cheapest flight to Vancouver and back for the Olympics for one week is £452.80!

Thomas Cook 757 at Toronto in June 2006

Thomas Cook 757 at Toronto in June 2006

I’ve been looking for a while and once again our recommended company to book flights with comes tops again! The £452.80 fare is based on you flying out of Gatwick on 11th February 2010 – getting you to Canada in time for the opening of the games, and after a week of experiencing the games in Vancouver flying back on 18th February. This is why i always book my flights to Canada with Canadian Affair.. They are the absolute cheapest way for anyone in the UK to get out there and experience Canada for themselves.

So you’re thinking about that flight? here’s how to find it:

Outbound: Thu 11 Feb 2010
departing London Gatwick: 10:30
arriving Vancouver: 12:40
Non-Stop
Thomas Cook A330

Return: Thu 18 Feb 2010
departing Vancouver: 10:30
arriving London Gatwick: 12:40
Non-Stop
Thomas Cook A330

So, what about my experience with Canadian Affair? Well every time i have ever visited Canada, i have always booked through Canadian Affair. This is because back in 2005 i went hunting for the best prices and Canadian Affair won hands down every single time. Since then I’ve been on 12 separate flights booked by Canadian Affair and I’ve never had any major problems what so ever.
What I’ve found on review sites are a few people who mention Overbooking being a problem.. I have only ever seen this happen twice out of my 12 flights. Canadian Affair’s method to deal with overbooking is very generous and they try to make it as fair as they possibly can – The first time i knew my flight was overbooked was my flight out in May this year. An apologetic person went through the check in queue asking for Volunteers, letting people know the flight was overbooked and offering them if i remember right over £100 off their next Canadian affair flight and accommodation for the night if they would take the offer of going on the next flight out to Toronto. It is entirely voluntary – BUT do as i do. ALWAYS get to your check in when it opens, just because you have 3 hours to check in doesn’t mean you can get there an hour after it opens – if you get there first, whether you have booked seats or not, you will always be guaranteed to fly out on the flight you booked.. Oh and the second time? My return flight last Saturday, this time the apologetic Canadian woman going through the queue was offering £250 off the next Canadian affair flight, as well as accommodation for the night if someone would volunteer to transfer flight. £250 was the entire amount i payed for that flight! So as you can see Canadian Affair do all they can to be fair and honest to their customers.

A My Travel A330 - my outbound flight in 2006

A My Travel A330 - my outbound flight in 2006

How about the quality of the flights? Well, I’ve flown on Thomas Cook and Air Transat as I’ve mentioned before (as well as My Travel before they were bought by Thomas Cook) and the food – in my opinion – for airline food was top quality. Thomas Cook, being a British airline company will usually serve two hot traditional style meals (such as a chicken dinner or pasta bake) or, depending on the time you’re flying a hot meal and a snack – usually of a small sandwich, crisps, cheese and biscuits and a branded chocolate bar. Air Transat however are a French Canadian Airline and the food you find on these flights are usually different, with a nice french/American twist to their meals – for example a carrot and cinnamon muffin for breakfast, and a portion of three bean salad with your hot meal. On either Airline you fly with i have always found the service by the crew very helpful and polite, and in the case of my flight back last Saturday very patient, since my partner kept accidentally pressing the “call” button on the armrest!

Entertainment varies on your flights greatly. It’s very difficult to say that there is good entertainment on specific flights simply because everyone has different preferences as to what they want to watch. Most of the flights operated by Air Transat or Thomas Cook in my experience have TVs that come down from the roof, so offer only a single channel of TV. These usually include two recent movies one oriented at kids, and another oriented at Family, or in the case of when i was flying back last Saturday on a Thomas Cook A330, we had three films which pretty much filled up the whole flight – Pink Panther 2, 17 Again and Aliens Vs Monsters. If you’re lucky – some of the Thomas Cook A330 Planes have back seat TVs built in, which gives you a much greater choice of what you can watch – but my tip is if you’re pretty specific about what you like to watch, try take a PSP or small DVD player with you, or maybe even a good book, for the programs or films you may not feel like watching

The GPS Map Channel on Thomas Cook A330 Aircraft

The GPS Map Channel on Thomas Cook A330 Aircraft

My experience with Canadian Affair has always been positive, speedy response to queries be it email or telephone, kind personal responses which make you feel respected and valued, great quality service and flights and the absolute best prices.

If you book with them for your next Canada Trip please email them and let them know if you’ve had a great flight and service, also feel free to leave a comment here to let everyone else know what you think! The funny thing about us British is we’re always quick to complain, but we very rarely take the time to complement – and Canadian Affair, certainly over my last 12 flights deserve all the compliments they can get! So let me know your experiences with Canadian affair by leaving a comment!

One final question.. Why are they so cheap? The truthful honest answer i can find to that question is simply that they want to be the one company which anyone in the UK thinks about using if they’re traveling to Canada.. to offer people flights to parts of the world people could only dream about – at more than fair prices.

If you want to look for the latest deals, the cheapest flights are made easier to find, when you get to the home page after clicking the link to Canadian Affair below – check the “Special Flight Offers” section on the right, it’ll take you to the list of all the lowest priced flights and which dates they’re on, so go check it out at Canadian Affair!

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