A recent news report indicates that Air Transat will begin offering direct flights from Vancouver to Rome, Barcelona and Madrid, using a newly re-configured Airbus 330.
Vancouver-Barcelona-Madrid service will operate weekly from 4 June to 8 October, and Vancouver-Rome flights will operate weekly from 29 May to 9 Oct. They will also offer twice weekly direct flights from Toronto-Athens from 3 May to 18 October.
Apparently Air Transat has more direct flights to Western Europe than any other Canadian airline. In addition to flights, their Transat Holidays branch can offer a variety of accommodations, excursions, cruises, transfers, car rentals and daily breakfast packages. They have a fleet of 17 aircraft and fly to 90 destinations in 25 countries. BTW, I don't work for them!
This information should be reliable, as it was announced by media outlets. I thought it would be a good idea to post it here, as it might be useful for those in this part of the world who might be planning trips next year. Seattle residents could easily drive to Vancouver, but I've never had occasion to use the long term parking at YVR so not sure what's available? Given the current exchange on the Cdn.$, these new flights might be a good choice?
On a personal note, I've flown with Air Transat on several occasions on past trips, and so far the service has been reasonably good. Passengers are usually "packed in" quite tightly (a bit of discomfort on long flights), but the prices are usually quite competitive and it's always been easy to book "open jaw" flights with them.
Happy travels!