Europe fare war?

Well if you want those fares to stay low you'd better be supporting WestJet with your money instead of AA or Delta.

I wish I could...but they don't fly where I need to go. WestJet does seem to be a pretty top notch bunch, but they're strictly in and out of Gatwick with no other European stops. The cost to backtrack to London, not to mention the lost time, would have made using them cost prohibitive.

I like using Gatwick

Where are you connecting with WestJet? I don't believe they operate out of Nashville.

I doubt that the low WestJet fares will last too long. This is the first year they've operated the international flights with their new wide body aircraft. They will switch those planes to the "sun destinations" such as Cuba or Mexico in the winter.

WestJet does operate out of Nashville. I think there are 6 US cities they operate from. They probably use a "partner" airline into Toronto and then to Europe from there. As for switching the routes to somewhere warm, the website says the Glasgow and Dublin routes discontinue in October and are apparently seasonal. The Gatwick flights are supposed to be year round.

Thanks for the clarification on that. They must be using a code share partner from Nashville, as AFAIK the flights to Gatwick always originate from Canada. I always check WestJet every year, but unfortunately have rarely been able to make their flights work with my Itinerary (except for one year on a flight via AMS with KLM). Air Canada always has the flights and the timing to get me to the destinations I want, so I tend to use them most of the time.

WestJet has been flying from Canada to Dublin for some time but not non-stop. A year ago it announced plans to serve a number of European cities from various Canadian cities by acquiring wide-body jets capable of crossing the Atlantic without a stop. Air Canada and Aer Lingus replied with a certain amount of competitive marketing but it is too soon to know if a genuine price war has been launched. Other factors include the expansion of Norwegian and WOW, the long-term price of fuel and the relative strength of the US dollar. Last year was the most profitable for airlines in a very long time, which should prompt them to keep their prices up. Having said all those gloomy things, I've just bought a trans-Atlantic itinerary from Air Canada, originating in Canada, for about $100 less than I paid for a similar ticket at the same time last year.

When WestJet inaugurated their first transatlantic flights to Dublin, they were using 737's. The flights started in Toronto and then stopped briefly in Gander or another location in the Maritimes to refuel. When I first heard about that I was a wondering whether using such a small aircraft over water for such a long distance was a good idea. However, I was chatting with one of their senior Pilots one day, and he reminded me that the flights to Hawaii are over water longer, so I guess it's not a big deal.

At the moment, they only have four 767-300ER aircraft, and I imagine those are going to be in heavy use.

I booked Monday for a Sept trip r/t from Nashville to Zurich for $840. Yesterday the price was back up to $1240. American had several cities including Frankfurt and Amsterdam for that rate on Monday.