- 5,987
What is it?: Porter Airlines is a budget airline that flies from Toronto City Central Airport to various Canadian and soon some American destinations.
What is costs: It cost me 115$+taxes and fees to fly from Toronto to Montreal.
How long have I used it?: I took one flight last Friday, and have not previously used this service.
Pros:
-I took a 7 minute streetcar ride to get to the ferry/airport (which is located on its own island at the foot of Bathurst street in downtown Toronto). They also have shuttle services from Union station. I could've left my front door 45 minutes before liftoff and still gotten in my seat on time.
-I showed up well ahead of time to be safe as I was unsure of the process of the whole ordeal. Upon checking in my luggage, I was asked if I wanted to get on a flight taking off 2 hours earlier, leaving in half an hour. I was pleased.
-I was offered a window seat. I was yet again pleased.
-I went through security and found myself in a clean, spacious and comfortable lounge. I saw people drinking Porter-branded water and coffee. I turned the corner and found a coffee/espresso machine, snacks and a stocked fridge with refreshments. There were no people asking for money, it was entirely self-serve. I enjoyed a few lattes and I was pleased.
-On the other side of the lounge was a few computers. I checked up on GTP without any sort of complicated log-in system or anything.
-I heard my boarding call so I grabbed a Coca Cola and went to the gate. I was politely greeted by the staff and sat in my comfy window seat in the pictured plane. I was pleased.
-Within minutes of takeoff, I was asked "would you like the white wine or red this evening, sir?" I was very pleased (free, of course).
-We landed in under an hour. My baggage was waiting for me at the right claim. I was pleased.
Cons
-Since I had sports equipment, I had to sign a waiver saying that they were only liable for loss of my snowboards and not damage done to them. I can see why they do this, but it was still weird signing away for potential damages to my pretty investments.
-Although my flight was surprisingly cheap for being purchased a couple days before the flight, I was looking at their other rates, and they do charge more for higher-volume traffic flights where I can imagine the demand is higher.
Overall rating:9.5/10
Comments: Considering how many people have complaints about airlines and the whole flying experience, I felt obliged to give some well-earned free credit to Porter. I wouldn't have imagined myself making a writeup on GTP for anything, but I left the whole thing totally beaming, so I thought it to be a suiting recommendation to GTPs other GTA members, or those visiting the city. It's worth checking out, you might be able to save a whole lot of money and time and still get to where you want to go in amazing comfort and ease. Definitely check it out! I'm hella glad I did, that's for sure.
