Hello everyone, my name is Alex, and welcome to this trip report!
Today, I’m flying out of Calgary International Airport, on a rare domestic widebody route
not operated by WestJet or Air Canada.
Instead, I’m flying with Canada’s third largest airline, Air Transat, on board their
Airbus A330, to Vancouver!
Air Transat is a Canadian leisure airline that flies mostly to European and sun destinations
from eastern Canada, but they also have a few domestic routes like this one.
However, one thing about their aircraft stands out - it’s an A330 in a tight 3-3-3 configuration -
and Air Transat is the only airline in mainland North America
with a setup like these on their A330s.
For a point of comparison, the majority of A330 operators use a 2-4-2 configuration,
so that means these seats are quite a bit narrower than average.
This flight normally comes in from London-Gatwick, spends a couple hours in Calgary, and then
flies on to Vancouver.
Fortunately for me, the Calgary to Vancouver leg is indeed bookable, and for a pretty reasonable price.
As an aviation enthusiast, being able to fly on the shortest widebody route from Calgary?
I think it’s worth a try, just to see what it’s like!
Normally, the inbound aircraft would’ve arrived at an International gate and then
been towed over here, but it seems like there was a change of plans.
Fortunately, Air Transat ferried in another aircraft from Toronto for today’s flight.
Charlie Golf Uniform Bravo Hotel, a 16-year-old Airbus A330-200.
From Vancouver, the aircraft heads off to Europe, either Paris or Manchester from what
I remember, so luckily nothing went wrong for me today.
On this particular aircraft, Air Transat has a whopping 332 seats, but they do have another
A330-200 configuration with 345!
Sounds a bit concerning, but for some reason, I’m very curious to see what it’s like.
Here’s my seat for this 1 hour flight, 4A.
My first impressions of the cabin, even though this looks like… an obscene number of seats,
the cabin itself is actually very bright and modern.
The seats all have adjustable headrests as well, but you can see the difference in width
almost immediately.
For someone who’s quite tall like me, the legroom here is perfect!
Although this curtain is a bit annoying.
There’s plenty of storage space as well, though the middle seats don’t really get much.
Settling in, it’s as tight as at looks.
The headrest doesn’t actually go up far enough past my shoulders!
Luckily though, the armrests in the window seats are movable for an extra inch or two of space.
As you’d expect, the tray table is fixed in the other armrest, which reduces the width
of these already-narrow seats by quite a bit.
Under the seat is also an in-flight entertainment monitor, which has a USB port and headphone jack.
The flight attendant call button and controls for the light are also in a weird spot right
in the armrest, except mine just didn’t work at all.
The mood lighting is pretty nice though, and I gotta say, I’m very happy with this legroom.
This A330-200 is almost entirely economy, but there are two rows of premium seating
at the front, which Air Transat calls “Club Class”.
Might just have to try that out on a long haul flight someday.
Part of me wants to make a SkyTrax joke, but, y’know, despite the obvious, the cabin really
does look nice.
As always, I’ll go over the seatback pocket contents as well as the IFE once we’re in
the air, but for now, here’s our departure from Calgary, taking off from runway 17R.
My in-flight entertainment screen ended up just not working once we took off, but thankfully
the middle seat was free.
On this A330, Air Transat has a pretty good selection of movies, TV shows, music, and
so on, as well as a moving map.
It’s actually not bad at all, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much they have to offer.
Air Transat also has quite the lengthy literature package, which includes a standard A330 safety card,
…a fairly detailed menu, none of the items being available for purchase, since the flight
is just an hour long,
…a vacation brochure,
…Air Transat’s inflight magazine, which had a nice page on their new A321neos,
…and a lengthy duty-free catalogue.
Flying between Calgary and Vancouver on a clear day like today though, you won’t need
any of that!
Complimentary drinks were also given out, and I bought myself a package of cookies for a snack.
The lavatory on this A330 is nothing special, but it’s very clean, and I do like the little
splash of colour on the walls.
My camera doesn’t do it justice, but the mood lighting really is intense.
Again, the legroom is great, although, and it’s a little hard to show, but the shoulder
room in these seats is really tight.
Not sure I want to experience a flight with someone actually in the middle seat.
However, that’s all forgettable when you’ve got a view like this as we pass over Kelowna.
It’s such a clear day, you can even see what appears to be a Dash 8 Q400 holding short
of the runway.
Shortly after that announcement, the cabin crew came around handing out mints to everyone!
A small gesture but very surprising and unexpected!
Here’s our scenic arrival into beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, landing on runway 26R.
For this one hour flight, Air Transat was actually pretty impressive.
Service-wise, the cabin crew were all extremely friendly, plus that nice touch of handing
out mints to passengers.
When it worked, the in-flight entertainment had a good selection, and the cabin itself
looked pretty nice.
So, in the end, 3-3-3 on an A330 was tolerable for this 1 hour flight, although I would probably
think twice before doing that on a proper long haul trip.
If you’re an average sized person, I think you’ll be just fine.
Unfortunately though, it’s been announced that Air Transat will not be flying between
Calgary and Europe in 2020, so this might’ve been my only chance to fly their A330 on this route.
Air Transat is mostly based out of eastern Canada, so they’ll continue to have domestic
flights between Calgary and Montreal or Toronto for connecting purposes.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t fly with them again, especially since I do need to
cross off their A310 before they’re retired next year.
Regardless, this flight from Calgary to Vancouver was a fun way to try out a new airline, and
I’m glad I was able to fly one of their A330s on such a short flight.
That concludes my experience on board Air Transat’s Airbus A330!
Thank you very much for watching this trip report.
As always, please leave a like if you enjoyed, subscribe if you’re new to the channel,
and I’ll see you in the next one.