This Flight Stinks! Airbus A321LR Review: Air Transat Economy From London

It’s no secret that the transatlantic aviation market is quite competitive. And it’s not just flights between New York and London. Indeed, flights from a number of major North American cities will bring up competitive fairs from numerous carriers. This is the reason why our flight reviewer today decided to take a cheap Ryanair service to London, and then book a flight from London to Vancouver with Air Transat via Montreal. This also afforded them the opportunity to try a different airline with different aircraft!

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[ExplodeTheCake]

I recently flew on Jetblue from LGW to JFK on their a321. Trust me the size of the seat and amount of legroom is much more important than the size of the plane

[magnustan]

Props to Air Transat for installing not one, but two, mid-cabin lavatories. Not enough A321 operators do that and with the A321 flying further and further going forward, the seat-to-toilet ratio needs to be closer to widebody figures.

[captainCaybrew]

Never seen BO so bad on a plane that it made someone vomit multiple times, the smell must’ve been horrific

[AttaboyIII]

That BO must have been pretty horrific

[TheMrFishnDucks]

The best part is that you also cover the airport experience also. Nice video. Keep up the good work.

[djlondon]

You can't expect too much for about half the price of a full-service airline. It's a miracle they can offer this service at such a reasonable price. It wouldn't be my own first choice but if I needed to economise I'd accept it.

[Chris_de_S]

Flew Air Transat last month from Dublin to Toronto - comfortable 321LR. Seven plus hours, but aircraft was roomy enough and good service (economy)🙂.

[freddiesflightreviews]

I was skeptical about transatlantic on a narrowbody but that cabin actually looks great! They've even added extra toilets in the middle of the cabin.

[ronwest]

Flew on a Jetstar flight from Bangkok to Fukuoka some years ago on a service that no longer operates. The flight was more than five hours in an all economy plane. The seats were the normal Jetstar seats – hard and almost bearable for short hops but not suitable for long distances. Seat pitch was very tight and it was an uncomfortable trip.

[johnblower]

Airline employee here. Thanks for the review and comments.

[edwink]

My longest narrow body flight was on an A321 from JFK to SFO. About 6 hours if I remember correctly, so not exactly “long haul” imo, especially after flying 18 hours between JFK and HKG a few months ago. That was brutal in economy even though the A350 was otherwise very comfortable.

[quirinbraun]

I was living in Vilnius for 6 years and only now found out that someone working for one of my favourite aviation yt channels apparently is living there as well.

[antoniomiguelbarbarona]

The a321neo LR is really good. Especially for long range flights

[serafimpereira]

Air Transats A321neoLR's are VERY NICE
The in-flight service is great and their prices are pretty good.
I disagree completely on paying 20% more for better comfort . The comfort on their A321neoLR's is well worth it.

[kashimokid]

My longest narrowbody was a 6.5-hour flight from SGN to NRT on Vietnam Airlines in an A321. It was an enjoyable day flight with maybe only 65% seats full. Good IFE, nice service, and yummy meals. It was not too hard on the body since I got the row to myself.

[heidirabenau]

I once landed at LGW with Easyjet a few years back but I had a very bad experience because of an issue with gates and terminals and there weren't any train services, as it was after Christmas, and I had to get a bus to London Victoria which was 2 hours late and then I had go on the tube to another station. After that I said to myself that I would never fly to or from Gatwick ever again

[matsv]

I have flown the A321 for 6 hour flight more times than i count... It just happen that my favorite destination is 6 hours away, and they fly A321. I don´t think its much of a problem. My favorite airline switched out there old A321CEO for A321NEO pretty much as soon as they was available.

The reason was quite obvious to us the last time we flow with the A321CEO... There was a head wind, and we couldn´t made it to the destination, was forced to go down an refuel, that added quite a bit on the time. Its clear that with the CEO they was on the absolute edge of making the very popular route.

With the A321NEO they not only can easily handle the route, also take a few more people, a bit more belly cargo, and the also added new destination that was out side the previews range. Flying 6 hours on a A321Neo is really not that bad. I flown with babies toddlers and school age children as well. Never a problem

I have also flown 9½ hour on a 737-700... That.. was quite something else. Not very enjoyable. They landed and refueld to handle the longer route.

Also Flown the same 6 hour route with a 767-300 as well as a 737 Max 8. Got to say, even if the 737 max and the A320neo is similar on paper, the A320 is way nicer to fly.

I also flown the 757 for 9 hours, also a bit cramped but less people on the plane did help a bit. I would say that the A321LR is probobly a bit nicer.

Everything around that.. i really have no problem flying 6+ hours in the A321... and i guess that 7½ wouldn´t bet that much worse.

The problem is for the air crew. There rest area is horrible.

Its sort of have been a flip over the last 20 years. It use to be that the charter /chair flights was the pessant flight, now its almost like the regular, specially the low fair one is. I really never very very rarely with ill mannered passengers.

[stephenfienberg]

Kenya Airways does a 6 hr CPT-NBO flight with a fuel stop in VFA or LVI on a E190. Seats are quite comfy but over 6 hrs it gets quite pokey.

[davidsavage]

Flew on 757s with Continental and then United multiple times over the Atlantic and once to Hawaii. The small business class cabin felt so personalized and cozy. The crews were wonderful on every one of my long 757 flights, and the seats were very comfortable. I even booked my elderly aunt and her husband to Oslo on a United 757 in economy and they really enjoyed the flight. One thing I noticed is that the flight attendants went through the aisle with carts of food and drinks multiple times, then also brought water, coffee and orange juice out on large trays in between the cart service. They would also offer additional snacks if anyone was hungry in between their regular lunch and dinner flights. I thought United might have the extra-attentive service to keep everyone more comfortable and less aware of how crowded the plane was.

[sainnt]

I flew TAP Air Portugal from IAD to LIS in an A321LR. Overall not a bad experience, but a widebody is still preferable on such an overnight flight.