Flying✈️Transatlantic🌊In 4 Hours 17 Minutes⏱️!!: My Trip From Saint John’s, Newfoundland🇨🇦To Dublin, Republic Of Ireland🇮🇪

“Birds go flying at the speed of sound to show you how it all began” – Chris Martin.

Nope, I was NOT on the defunct Concorde nor one of Richard Branson’s sky rockets!! I flew from North America to Europe in 4 hours 17 minutes!!! This was the fastest I have EVER done that. I was thinking about Tranatlantic flights I have taken before and there were not that many of them DESPITE me being on over 1,000 flights!! Only 18 of those were Transatlantic!!

1996 – Belfast to Orlando / Orlando to Belfast.
1997 – Belfast to Orlando / Orlando to Belfast.
2001 – Belfast to Toronto / Toronto to London Gatwick.
2007 – London Heathrow to Toronto.
2011 – Sao Paolo to Johannesberg.
2014 – London Heathrow to Sao Paolo / New York to Barcelona.
2019 – Munich to San Francisco / San Francisco to Frankfurt.
2021 – Frankfurt to Barbados / Saint John’s Antigua to London Heathrow.
2022 – Madrid to Havana / Bahamas to London Heathrow.
2026 – London Gatwick to Saint John’s Antigua / Saint John’s Newfoundland to Dublin.

This time, I had been backpacking in the Caribbean and Canada. I visited Saint Kitts, Nevis, Antigua (again), Saint Martin (again), Sint Maarten (again), Anguilla, Saint Barth, Toronto (again), The Republic Of Rathnelly and The Barony Of Caux. I never book return flights – it just doesn’t exist in my travels. I haven’t flown into an airport and back the same way for about 10 years! It’s a ridiculous concept for long term backpackers.

Here are some of my recent examples.

2025 – Flew Warsaw to Sharjah, Sharjah to Maldives. Maldives to Mumbai to Dubai to Zanzibar. Zanzibar to Comoros. Comoros to Mayotte. Mayotte to Reunion. Reunion to Paris. Paris to Gdansk.

2025 – Flew Gdansk to Cork. Trains and buses to Belfast. Belfast to Stansted. Stansted to Bournemouth and back Stansted to Gdansk.

2026 – Flew Warsaw to Paris. Paris to Bastia. Boat to Sardinia. Olbia to Bristol. Bristol to Gdansk.

2026 – Flew Gdansk to Amsterdam to Birmingham. Bus to London. Flew Stansted to Olsztyn.

You get the idea – I hate return flights and repeat journeys. I buzz off the wacaday madness.

When it came to booking a flight in July 2026 back to Europe, many and various options came up. The usual suspects all came up – London (Heathrow and Gatwick), Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and Frankfurt. But I wanted to be back in Northern Ireland for the World Cup Final. I typed in Belfast – no can do – NO direct Transatlantic flights. But Dublin (as much as it pains me)…has a better airport than the Belfast brace and there was a wild flight from Saint John’s in Newfoundland to Dublin for £230 on WESTJET. For me, that is decent value, so I booked it. The only catch was – I was in Toronto and the flight was actually TWO flights with a tight 1 hour to change planes in Saint John’s. Of course I am hand luggage loyal and hand luggage only, so this should be okay, right?

I had both my boarding passes in advance and I was through security in Toronto, which meant I was ALSO through security in Saint John’s before even landing there!! Weirdly I now had a 5 year visa for Canada (it cost around £20) and because of that, they DON’T check your passport on leaving – not at all!! Crazy right? No passport check and no passport stamp. They only do that for those with checked in luggage. Remember, I had both my boarding passes – I printed them at the airport from the machine after checking in online. I didn’t speak to ANY airline worker at all apart from when boarding the flights. I grabbed a Molson beer in Toronto by the gate in Finn McCool’s Irish Bar and I had left Toronto (the home of Don’t Stop Living) behind.

My first flight was Toronto to Saint John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. That took just under 4 hours and was a domestic flight with Westjet. When I’d land I’d have 55 minutes before boarding my next flight. One weird quirk is that the coffee served onboard is from DickMonalds (McDonalds) and McCafe. A company I usually hate and once boycotted for 5 years. I needed a coffee though and was curious, so I took that. It was served with a snack of salty mix. Also of note, if flying Westjet you get a McDonald’s coffee for 1 CAD in the airport too.

Westjet have Wi-Fi available, I have never used Wi-Fi on an aeroplane – it feels weird – I was not even tempted!

I was assured by Westjet staff that I would NOT miss the connection. The reason? A wild one – it was the SAME plane!! Yes my flight from Toronto to Saint John’s would offload in Saint John’s – we all left the plane. Then we would reboard the same plane for the journey to Dublin!!

I had a window seat for both flights. We landed in Saint John’s on time and I had time to go online, buy a postcard, fridge magnet and sandwich (I already had water). Although I wasn’t to leave the airport, this was my first time in Saint John’s, Newfoundland!

While charging my phone near a sign for an Irish Pub called O’Reilly’s (which looked shut), I asked a guy if the bar was still open! And he said “yeah come and join us, there is stout and live music on!!” This was Tom, from Saint John’s and he was with his wife Katie.

What astounded me the most is that the flight from Saint John’s to Dublin was virtually FULL yet nobody except for me was IRISH on it. They were all Canadians, wild!! Tom shouted me a drink, they told me to come back one day to see Newfoundland and Labrador and then it was time to board. I was in seat 8F and the seat next to me was empty so more legroom.

Food served was a salad, a roll, butter, a chocolate bar, a chicken dish, a red wine, water. I also had coffee and an orange juice.

The airline is Westjet have their problems, but this flight included food, 2 drinks – 1 alcoholic drink and a blanket. We also landed smoothly and on time in Dublin. The views on the way in were tremendous!

Emigration in Dublin was quick and easy – a hasty Guinness and some blogging before the bus to Belfast. I had gone Transatlantic in 4 hours 17 minutes – AMAZING!

Here are some videos from Flying Transatlantic In 4 Hours 17 Minutes!!: My Trip From Saint John’s, Newfoundland To Dublin, Republic Of Ireland: