The Elegance of Flying Rediscovered
April 27, 2008 - כ"ג ניסן תשס"ח by admin
I’ve just returned from a 7-day trip that took me from Toronto, to San Francisco, to New York and then back to Toronto. Instead of relying on the usual suspects (Air Canada, American Airlines or United Airlines) I decided to try out two of the newer airlines.
I flew on three different airlines – Air Canada (YYZ -> SFO), Virgin America (SFO -> JFK) and Porter Airlines (EWR -> YYZ)
Now we all know how badly Air Canada sucks and how expensive it is and how hip and cool Virgin America is meant to be. Air Canada lived up to it’s usual expensive, bureaucratic, government-like, cramped experience. Virgin America wasn’t much better – the seats were incredibly cramped and my high-tech video system didn’t work.
What about Porter Air? What a breath of fresh air! I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to/from Toronto. It has redefined the elegance of air travel – convenient, fast, comfortable, sophisticated, upmarket, friendly, cheap – did I mention FAST? Porter is a new regional airline that flies out of Toronto’s City Center Airport and it recently added a route to Newark Airport. My limo ride from Midtown Manhattan to Newark Airport took 20 minutes. I checked in at the new Porter Airlines terminal and boarded within another 20 minutes. The planes are super quiet and comfortable with tons of legroom and headroom. The plane landed 15 minutes earlier than scheduled on Toronto Island and from touchdown to cab was only 15 minutes including passport control, baggage claim and a short ferry ride! The door-to-door experience was approximately two hours vs. the regular 4-5 hour journey flying out of LGA on Air Canada or American Airlines. So, how much did this flight cost? I’m still in shock! $99 one-way! I arrived feeling refreshed, energized and received the best gift one can get – TIME! Porter, I’ll be back!
