Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by billybob123

I'm still finding tons of dates on AC.com for $114 each way, but the surcharges are nuts. $339 on a $224 fare. That's disgusting. They used to have a feature that would break down the surcharges, but it's gone now it seems. Hmmm wonder why? Maybe it's your $100 fuel surcharge!

I checked yesterday and the taxes/surcharges were $150ish. Seems that's the difference.

That's the bull**** that AC pulls. Their 'fuel surcharge' is essentially an arbitrary number that seems to have no correlation with distance flown, or actual fuel costs, or anything else for that matter. It can change from day to day, on the same flight! The rest of the tax prices remain consistent.

They manipulate that number higher whenever they want so that they can promote a 'sale' using a lower base fare (ie: $99 each way!). The total cost remains the same.

The after tax price is the only number that matters, and airlines & travel agencies should only be allowed to advertise this number. Other countries have laws about this, but we don't.

[FlamesKickAss]

72 hour seat sale on westjet, started yesterday!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by cmyden

That's the bull**** that AC pulls. Their 'fuel surcharge' is essentially an arbitrary number that seems to have no correlation with distance flown, or actual fuel costs, or anything else for that matter. It can change from day to day, on the same flight! The rest of the tax prices remain consistent.

They manipulate that number higher whenever they want so that they can promote a 'sale' using a lower base fare (ie: $99 each way!). The total cost remains the same.

The after tax price is the only number that matters, and airlines & travel agencies should only be allowed to advertise this number. Other countries have laws about this, but we don't.

Figures. I thought <400 for MEX was too good to be true, since I've been meaning to head down there for awhile. I'll have to be quicker next time, before the person in charge of making sure they gouge enough on extras at AC headquarters gets back to their desk.

[Mazrim]

This seems like a good place to ask, with the Westjet seat sale going on right now.

I want to take my girlfriend somewhere nice in May for our 5 year anniversary. Somewhere in Canada or the US...but I really don't know where would be good. Los Angeles? Las Vegas? New York? Somewhere in Florida? I have no clue. Any suggestions? Somewhere interesting/fun/relaxing.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

This seems like a good place to ask, with the Westjet seat sale going on right now.

I want to take my girlfriend somewhere nice in May for our 5 year anniversary. Somewhere in Canada or the US...but I really don't know where would be good. Los Angeles? Las Vegas? New York? Somewhere in Florida? I have no clue. Any suggestions? Somewhere interesting/fun/relaxing.

Don't be too fooled by Westjet and Air Canada's 'sales' (btw AC came out with their own 'sale' yesterday after Westjet posted theirs). They basically just copy-cat each other (to a tee) within hours. There doesn't seem to be anything too far from the norm in terms of prices.

All the places you mentioned could be considered interesting and fun! The question is, what's interesting to you ? Theme parks? Beaches? Museums? Architecture? Food ?

Florida in May has some pretty good prices at the moment, American Airlines has their flights to Orlando down to $342 roundtrip after tax. They have really short stops in Dallas each way.

Non stop to LAX is around $375 on Westjet in May right now.

New York will usually cost you more than the other 3 destinations in terms of flights and hotel. But it's definitely an awesome city! I remember last year Westjet and AC had those ridiculously cheap flights to NYC in the first week of May ($230 roundtrip after tax) and they were around for a while too.

[drewboy12]

Hey cmyden,

Do you know the cheapest time of the year to fly to Sydney, Australia? From any destination, Calgary, Vancouver, San Fran, LA... I can get around to any departing city cheap. Just weary of flying standby to Sydney on a different airline, if its possible to get a $500 flight.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by cmyden

All the places you mentioned could be considered interesting and fun! The question is, what's interesting to you ? Theme parks? Beaches? Museums? Architecture? Food ?

That's the other thing...I have to surprise her so I can't exactly ask if she wants to go to Disneyland or just tour a city and relax. (She's never been to the US) I like buildings but she doesn't.

I'd love to go to see the Grand Canyon, and I imagine that's doable from LA, so that might narrow down some options.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by drewboy12

Hey cmyden,

Do you know the cheapest time of the year to fly to Sydney, Australia? From any destination, Calgary, Vancouver, San Fran, LA... I can get around to any departing city cheap. Just weary of flying standby to Sydney on a different airline, if its possible to get a $500 flight.

To Sydney, flying from LAX is almost always cheapest, at least from cities in North America. How cheap can you get there? If it's under $300 or so it could be worth it, as long as you get a flight from LAX for less than around $

United has flights from Calgary for around $1275 roundtrip after tax at the moment in May. I would say the bottom price I've seen is usually around $1050-$1100 or so, but haven't seen that price in a little while.


V Australia has flights from LAX for $1000 roundtrip after tax at the moment (May). I've seen flights as low as $700 from LAX, but doesn't seem to be any right now.


So a $275 difference between leaving from Calgary and leaving from LAX. I guess whether it's worth it or not depends on how much it would cost you to get to LAX.

And this is assuming you can't get to Honolulu, Hawaii for cheap? Because if you can, that would probably be my 'break-up' city of choice between here and Australia.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

That's the other thing...I have to surprise her so I can't exactly ask if she wants to go to Disneyland or just tour a city and relax. (She's never been to the US) I like buildings but she doesn't.

I'd love to go to see the Grand Canyon, and I imagine that's doable from LA, so that might narrow down some options.

7-8 hour drive from L.A., 4.5 from Vegas. Plan now if you want to stay at the bottom overnight. (Pretty tough to get the permits, even for the camping, forget about the lodges, need to call exactly a year in advance for those!). It's definitely something you have to see though.

We couldn't get a permit in time so we hiked down to the bottom and back up on the same day which apparently isn't recommended. Definitely wouldn't want to do that in the summer, even in April it was really hot at the bottom (20 degree difference between top and bottom).

Go see this if you're in the area:



Trippiest rock formation ever.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by drewboy12

Hey cmyden,

Do you know the cheapest time of the year to fly to Sydney, Australia? From any destination, Calgary, Vancouver, San Fran, LA... I can get around to any departing city cheap. Just weary of flying standby to Sydney on a different airline, if its possible to get a $500 flight.

I would advise against flying United if at all possible.

I flew Calgary to San Francisco to Sydney to Melbourne on United and back from Sydney through SFO, and it was not an enjoyable experience (I think I've posted about it before in this thread). The food was mediocre, and the "entertainment system" is one big screen at the front of the section, and it broke about 2 hours into the flight on the way down, and didn't work at all on the flight back (five weeks later). I believe if you check on Seat Guru, United also has some of the worst leg room and seat widths on the 747s they fly down there (Air Canada's seats are 1.5 inches wider with an extra inch of leg room in Economy and they fly much newer 777s).

If the price is in any way competitive, I would try to get on the Vancouver-Sydney flight that Air Canada has. It has the added advantage of not requiring you to go through US Customs/TSA Security in either direction (I didn't have any hassles, but you never know).

I met a few other Canadians down there who took the AC flight, and they had no complaints, where I had nothing but complaints for United.

I took a few Qantas flights within Australia and I didn't find them to be anything special. In talking to some Aussies, they don't particularly like Qantas's international service either.

Air New Zealand is well liked, but I think may require a stop in Auckland.


When you're going to be in the air for 12+ hours, I'd be willing to spend a couple hundred more to have a more enjoyable flight.


As for price, I've had a fare watcher set up for Sydney for at least 2 years, and there doesn't really seem to be any particular time of year where the prices usually drop.

[drewboy12]

Originally Posted by cmyden

To Sydney, flying from LAX is almost always cheapest, at least from cities in North America. How cheap can you get there? If it's under $300 or so it could be worth it, as long as you get a flight from LAX for less than around $

United has flights from Calgary for around $1275 roundtrip after tax at the moment in May. I would say the bottom price I've seen is usually around $1050-$1100 or so, but haven't seen that price in a little while.


V Australia has flights from LAX for $1000 roundtrip after tax at the moment (May). I've seen flights as low as $700 from LAX, but doesn't seem to be any right now.


So a $275 difference between leaving from Calgary and leaving from LAX. I guess whether it's worth it or not depends on how much it would cost you to get to LAX.

And this is assuming you can't get to Honolulu, Hawaii for cheap? Because if you can, that would probably be my 'break-up' city of choice between here and Australia.

Awesome thanks, Ill check out the LAX flight, $500 each way is what i was hoping to find. It cost me about $50 to get to LAX. May would be about perfect timing for me to go to. Thanks for the fast response.

[drewboy12]

Originally Posted by getbak

I would advise against flying United if at all possible.

I flew Calgary to San Francisco to Sydney to Melbourne on United and back from Sydney through SFO, and it was not an enjoyable experience (I think I've posted about it before in this thread). The food was mediocre, and the "entertainment system" is one big screen at the front of the section, and it broke about 2 hours into the flight on the way down, and didn't work at all on the flight back (five weeks later). I believe if you check on Seat Guru, United also has some of the worst leg room and seat widths on the 747s they fly down there (Air Canada's seats are 1.5 inches wider with an extra inch of leg room in Economy and they fly much newer 777s).

If the price is in any way competitive, I would try to get on the Vancouver-Sydney flight that Air Canada has. It has the added advantage of not requiring you to go through US Customs/TSA Security in either direction (I didn't have any hassles, but you never know).

I met a few other Canadians down there who took the AC flight, and they had no complaints, where I had nothing but complaints for United.

I took a few Qantas flights within Australia and I didn't find them to be anything special. In talking to some Aussies, they don't particularly like Qantas's international service either.

Air New Zealand is well liked, but I think may require a stop in Auckland.


When you're going to be in the air for 12+ hours, I'd be willing to spend a couple hundred more to have a more enjoyable flight.


As for price, I've had a fare watcher set up for Sydney for at least 2 years, and there doesn't really seem to be any particular time of year where the prices usually drop.

I fly almost every week, and price is what matters for me. I got all the entertainment i need on my laptop and ipod. Food packs quite easily into my backpack, and 40 minutes in customs is not worth paying more for myself. Ya I don't like crammed seats, but im a small person, and willing to not be in pure comfort for the duration of a day to save a few hundred dollars.

To each there own, but a days comfort for me is not worth hundreds of dollars, I like having money to fly every week. haha, but thanks for the info, we have much different ideas of travelling.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by drewboy12

Awesome thanks, Ill check out the LAX flight, $500 each way is what i was hoping to find. It cost me about $50 to get to LAX. May would be about perfect timing for me to go to. Thanks for the fast response.

No problem, should be pretty easy to find something for around $1000 roundtrip from LAX. Take a look at V Australia or Air New Zealand or Qantas.

[drewboy12]

Ya I just checked out V Australia, $1053 after tax, and their economy seats sounds great.

From their website:

Seats

We have it on good authority that our ergonomically-designed seats are the Pacific’s widest for economy travellers.
You get 81cm (32 inches) of lovely legroom and a 15cm (6 inch) recline.
A USB (Universal Serial Bus) slot to power your personal devices so you can look at your photos, listen to your MP3 music and check out PDF files .
The latest full video on demand entertainment system for movies, music, games and more with your in-seat new gen 23cm (9 inch) screen.
Seat-to-seat chat.
Extra Legroom Seating:
Want more room to stretch out those long legs of yours? Well now you can with the option of selecting Extra Legroom Seating within our International Economy cabin.

Thanks again, saved me $600

and ill point out, its also on a 777-300.

[cmyden]

Blue Tag Thursday - Feb 10

Westjet's Blue Tag Thursday is out. Could be useful if you're planning a trip to Abbotsford, Comox, Halifax, Kamloops, London, Ottawa, or Victoria. They'll be around until 4PM.

http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/deal...thursday.shtml

cM

[VladtheImpaler]

Westjet direct to Orlando is $463pp all-in first week in March in case anyone is looking for sunshine... Just booked it.

[Byrns]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Westjet direct to Orlando is $463pp all-in first week in March in case anyone is looking for sunshine... Just booked it.

Thanks, just booked for $445 per person.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Byrns

Thanks, just booked for $445 per person.

See you there. I should have said I wasn't completely flexible on dates, so a slightly cheaper combination was available...

[cmyden]

Those cheap flights to Mexico City on Air Canada are back ...

[Antithesis]

Always interesting to hear different perspectives; I had such a poor experience with United a few years back (I know I posted it somewhere, if not in this exact thread) that I am fairly confident I will never spend another dollar of my money with them.