Flights to Quebec from Manchester, UK!!

[Queenie1603]

We will be joining the QM2 in Quebec in October next year For a 7 night Cruise to NY. Flying from Manchester, UK. Has anyone  on the Cunard Forum done this journey and if so was it a direct flight and who was the carrier? I can see that there are no scheduled direct flights from Manchester. I have travelled with Titan airways on other cruises with Cunard and wondered if they chartered planes to get passengers to Quebec. Returning via Newark NY. So same question. Thanks 

 

 

Thanks

[mef_57]

Just because I live nearby, I thought I would throw out some food for thought. Would you consider adding a few days and fly to Montreal from  Manchester, then train to Quebec City? I realize you will see the changing tree colours via the cruise, but a 3.5 hr train trip gives a different perspective. Montreal is more vibrant with a younger vibe than Quebec, with a beautiful botanical garden, several art galleries, its own Old Town and extensive history. ViaRail is your train provider for Canada. With a little pre planning, the train can be as low as $45 Cdn (if you are a senior). Also, the Quebec train station is within a kilometre of the port.

[Fairgarth]

There are no flights from Manchester to Quebec City or Montreal.  Air Canada and Air Transat fly non-stop from Manchester to Toronto.  Flights are non-daily so watch your dates.  Connecting flights from Toronto to Quebec would be either Air Canada or WestJet.  Just watch out though.  If you book two separate flights on different airlines on two separate tickets you can come unstuck.  If the arriving flight is late and you miss your connection, tough!  Your treat.  If you are booked all the way through on the same airline then they have to look after you when things go wrong.  Personally, I wouldn't go through the U.S.  You have to contend with U.S. immigration and then do it all over again arriving in Canada.

[d9704011]

Could fly into Toronto on Air Transat on Friday, stay overnight at an airport hotel and fly with Air Canada direct to Quebec on Saturday.

[mef_57]

A 3rd airline option from Toronto is Porter Airlines which flies from down town Toronto (if you decide to do a few days visiting prior to sail away). But if only want a connection or overnight in Toronto, then stick with same airline on same e-ticket. 

[d9704011]

Porter doesn’t fly between Toronto and Quebec.

[mef_57]

9 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Porter doesn’t fly between Toronto and Quebec.

It certainly does.  I did a dummy booking prior to typing the comment. Direct flight, though sometimes only once a day.

[d9704011]

Sorry, excuse me.  I was certainly wrong about that!

[mef_57]

2 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Sorry, excuse me.  I was certainly wrong about that!

No worries.  I have been caught with not providing current information before, so I always check now.  Also good to know current options.  Personally, I like Porter, so introduce it when I can. Have you seen their new Toronto Island terminal? Big and modern.

[d9704011]

Never used Porter but have relatives who have and they liked them.  Just never had any reason to fly in/out of Billy Bishop airport rather than Pearson.

[kmerlin14]

23 hours ago, mef_57 said:

Just because I live nearby, I thought I would throw out some food for thought. Would you consider adding a few days and fly to Montreal from  Manchester, then train to Quebec City? I realize you will see the changing tree colours via the cruise, but a 3.5 hr train trip gives a different perspective. Montreal is more vibrant with a younger vibe than Quebec, with a beautiful botanical garden, several art galleries, its own Old Town and extensive history. ViaRail is your train provider for Canada. With a little pre planning, the train can be as low as $45 Cdn (if you are a senior). Also, the Quebec train station is within a kilometre of the port.

If you do decide to take the train, make sure it is running on the day that you need it because the Ocean train has been cut back to only three trips a week now and it never seems to run when I want it to. Here is the link to their website to check

https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan-your-trip

 

And I really enjoy flying Porter, but I wouldn't want to combine it with an international flight because you'd have to switch from Pearson to Billy Bishop in Toronto. If you fly West Jet or Air Canada, you will fly out of either Terminal 1 or 3 at Pearson.

 

[SALAD MUNCHER]

We flew back from Quebec to Manchester last year. As there were no direct flights we flew Delta to New York then Virgin back to Manchester. 

[sailinglisa]

Quebec City is a small regional airport.  Only planes I have seen flying in or out are regional jets.  You will probably have to fly into Toronto Pearson and transfer to Quebec. 

[VintageCCG]

23 hours ago, sailinglisa said:

Quebec City is a small regional airport.  Only planes I have seen flying in or out are regional jets.  You will probably have to fly into Toronto Pearson and transfer to Quebec. 

 

That's not really accurate.

There are indeed numerous direct international flights in and out of Quebec, which last year almost doubled the size of its terminal; otherwise for most overseas flights you connect to Quebec through Montreal, Toronto, Halifax or a half-dozen other large international airports.

From Manchester one could transfer via Heathrow, Gatwick or various other airports which can be reached direct from Manchester (AirCan seems to connect from MAN to Quebec via Newark, Brussels or Munich) or of course AirCan flies via LHR, or Westjet via Gatwick).

As mentioned above, the major domestic carriers are Air Canada, Westjet and Porter ... flight times to/from Montreal are about 45 minutes in the air (and about 20 minutes taxiing on the ground). Porter serves from Montreal but as mentioned above they do not fly to Quebec from Toronto Pearson ... only from Toronto City or from Montreal, etc.

Toronto Pearson is the only Canadian airport which requires a change in terminal if you mix airlines; otherwise mixing airlines is only a problem if you have tight connections (less than 60-90 minutes).

VIA Rail or Orléans Express bus service (i.e. "coach" service) provide ground transportation from Montreal to Quebec City, with multiple trips throughout each day.
Montreal is certainly worth a visit on its own merits, and hopefully you have allowed for a few days in Québec City, which is a beautiful historic city that enjoys UNESCO World Heritage status. Many gorgeous boutique hotels in Québec, especially in the "lower" vieux-Québec. Auberge Saint-Antoine is one of the nicest in the lower town, but there are half a dozen nice ones within a few blocks. Manoir Victoria is a favourite in the upper town, or of course the iconic Chateau Frontenac.
 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by VintageCCG

[Dancer Bob]

Nobody can really answer this question until we find out how the OP intends to cope with the time change, and whether the simplest, least physically demanding routing is important to them.

Given that the OP is sufficiently inexperienced to need to ask on CC, I would go with AC MAN-YYZ-YQB, arriving a few days early as VintageCCG suggests.

Edited November 25, 2018 by Dancer Bob

[Queenie1603]

On 11/22/2018 at 1:22 AM, mef_57 said:

Just because I live nearby, I thought I would throw out some food for thought. Would you consider adding a few days and fly to Montreal from  Manchester, then train to Quebec City? I realize you will see the changing tree colours via the cruise, but a 3.5 hr train trip gives a different perspective. Montreal is more vibrant with a younger vibe than Quebec, with a beautiful botanical garden, several art galleries, its own Old Town and extensive history. ViaRail is your train provider for Canada. With a little pre planning, the train can be as low as $45 Cdn (if you are a senior). Also, the Quebec train station is within a kilometre of the port.

Thank you very much for your reply. It sounds wonderful and I would have really liked to stay longer than just the 7 day cruise. Unfortunately I am limited to that time but hopefully -  if I get chance to visit Canada again - then it is something we will do.

[Queenie1603]

7 hours ago, VintageCCG said:

 

That's not really accurate.

There are indeed numerous direct international flights in and out of Quebec, which last year almost doubled the size of its terminal; otherwise for most overseas flights you connect to Quebec through Montreal, Toronto, Halifax or a half-dozen other large international airports.

From Manchester one could transfer via Heathrow, Gatwick or various other airports which can be reached direct from Manchester (AirCan seems to connect from MAN to Quebec via Newark, Brussels or Munich) or of course AirCan flies via LHR, or Westjet via Gatwick).

As mentioned above, the major domestic carriers are Air Canada, Westjet and Porter ... flight times to/from Montreal are about 45 minutes in the air (and about 20 minutes taxiing on the ground). Porter serves from Montreal but as mentioned above they do not fly to Quebec from Toronto Pearson ... only from Toronto City or from Montreal, etc.

Toronto Pearson is the only Canadian airport which requires a change in terminal if you mix airlines; otherwise mixing airlines is only a problem if you have tight connections (less than 60-90 minutes).

VIA Rail or Orléans Express bus service (i.e. "coach" service) provide ground transportation from Montreal to Quebec City, with multiple trips throughout each day.
Montreal is certainly worth a visit on its own merits, and hopefully you have allowed for a few days in Québec City, which is a beautiful historic city that enjoys UNESCO World Heritage status. Many gorgeous boutique hotels in Québec, especially in the "lower" vieux-Québec. Auberge Saint-Antoine is one of the nicest in the lower town, but there are half a dozen nice ones within a few blocks. Manoir Victoria is a favourite in the upper town, or of course the iconic Chateau Frontenac.
 

Thank you very much for your detailed reply. It looks like there are lots of options if we were organising our own flights. I should have made clear in my post that the flights are being organised by Cunard therefore we will have very little say in the route by which we get there. They don't release the flight details till 180 days before the cruise. I was hoping  that someone from the UK may have done the trip via Cunard Fly Cruise to give us some idea as to how our journey will be organised and how long it will take.

 

 

[Queenie1603]

On 11/23/2018 at 5:04 PM, SALAD MUNCHER said:

We flew back from Quebec to Manchester last year. As there were no direct flights we flew Delta to New York then Virgin back to Manchester. 

 

3 hours ago, Dancer Bob said:

Nobody can really answer this question until we find out how the OP intends to cope with the time change, and whether the simplest, least physically demanding routing is important to them.

Given that the OP is sufficiently inexperienced to need to ask on CC, I would go with AC MAN-YYZ-YQB, arriving a few days early as VintageCCG suggests.

Hi Dancer Bob, Thanks for the suggestion.  I realise that I should have been more explicit in my post -  Cunard is organising all the flights so we will have no say in how we get to Quebec. I was hoping that someone who had taken the same trip on a Cunard Fly Cruise could give me some insight into how Cunard arrange the flights. Time change is always an issue. I am recently back from 2 nights in New York and a TA on the QM2 -  so gained 5 hrs then lost an hour for 5 days QM2. Good way to beat jet lag though.

[Dancer Bob]

I'd be wary of Cunard arrangements. It's unlikely they would charter an aircraft unless they could fill it both ways, which to Manchester sounds unlikely.

[Queenie1603]

On 11/22/2018 at 2:13 AM, d9704011 said:

Could fly into Toronto on Air Transat on Friday, stay overnight at an airport hotel and fly with Air Canada direct to Quebec on Saturday.

Thanks for your response - Cunard are organising the flights so I will have to trust they will get us to the ship for Friday 11 October. The flights aren't released until 180 days before we go. This does look like one of the options they will choose though I don't think we will be overnighting in Toronto.

[d9704011]

No, I expect they’ll make sure you get to Quebec without a night-long stopover in either Toronto or Montreal.

[Queenie1603]

Thank you all for your help. Our Travel Agent thinks the most likely route will be Manchester to Quebec via Newark NY. Air Canada codeshare with United and a regional airline  will get us there for 15.30hrs on the 11th! Time and Cunard will tell!