Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

cmyden,

Any thoughts or recommendations about travel (one way) from Venice, Italy to Calgary? It doesn't have to be direct, so if you can save some money (and visit another city) by flying or connecting elsewhere that's an option too...

I'd say your best shot for something cheap is likely a flight from Venice (or surrounding area) to a city that Air Transat or Condor is most likely to have a cheap one way flight to Calgary (London, Manchester, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt are the usual suspects)

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Thinking of doing a trip to the South Pacific next summer but the airfare is outrageous. Do these places ever go on sale, or is there right time to buy, etc.?

Probably be looking at Bora Bora or Fiji.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Thinking of doing a trip to the South Pacific next summer but the airfare is outrageous. Do these places ever go on sale, or is there right time to buy, etc.?

It's definitely not too common for fares to the South Pacific to drop much from YYC. It's usually only when a significant drop from LAX occurs, causing YYC to LAX to South Pacific destination to be better priced than usual.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Venice does go to Montreal direct and I have seen decent prices on that flight from time to time (Air Transat).

Except that takes you across the fat part the earth and ends up taking a bit longer. If you are doing that take a look at Vancouver as well, as believe it or not going to Vancouver direct and back-tracking home takes about exactly the same amount of flight time as returning through Eastern Canada from most points in Europe and you can find some deals that way sometimes.

I prefer getting to an airport that flies to Calgary directly as it will save you about 2 hours of flight time.

[CaptainSunshin3]

Flying from YYC to NYC on October 1st, from BOS to SEA October 8th and from SEA to YYC on October 16th. What would be the best way for me to book my flights? All separate, or with a multiple destination thing?

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Probably be looking at Bora Bora or Fiji.

RE South Pacific-

French Polynesia = Expensive!
Fiji = good
Tonga = meh
Samoa = really good
Cook Islands = really good

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by surferguy

RE South Pacific-

French Polynesia = Expensive!
Fiji = good
Tonga = meh
Samoa = really good
Cook Islands = really good

Yeah, I was doing some more research yesterday and Tahiti/Bora Bora is definitely cost prohibitive. Tonga looked to be the best bang for your buck, as from what I read you can live quite decently there for $70USD/day. A couple other places I'm looking at are New Caledonia, Maldives, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by CaptainSunshin3

Flying from YYC to NYC on October 1st, from BOS to SEA October 8th and from SEA to YYC on October 16th. What would be the best way for me to book my flights? All separate, or with a multiple destination thing?

It would be worth trying both. I would try a partial multi city like this:

1.

YYC to NYC
SEA to YYC

and then look for the cheapest one way between BOS and SEA.

2.

And then try a full multi city of:

YYC to NYC
BOS to SEA
SEA to YYC

3.

And lastly, just looking at one way fares separately...

YYC to NYC
BOS to SEA
SEA to YYC


All 3 of those could yield different results.

[Nammer403]

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with Vueling Airlines compensation for overbooking?

I've looked everywhere and getting no where

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Nammer403

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with Vueling Airlines compensation for overbooking?

I've looked everywhere and getting no where

I had that happen to me with Danube Wings in Europe. If it was in the EU, they have to pay the compensation. How long have you waited?

Danube took forever (2-3 months) but did eventually transfer the money to my bank account.

[Nammer403]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I had that happen to me with Danube Wings in Europe. If it was in the EU, they have to pay the compensation. How long have you waited?

Danube took forever (2-3 months) but did eventually transfer the money to my bank account.

My flight was from Amsterdam - Barcelona and this was a week ago on July 10th, 2012.
Original flight was at 9:40am got delayed until 630pm.

Found it useless how the customer service desk told us to go on the vueling site to apply for the compensation.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by cmyden

All 3 of those could yield different results.

How so? Just by searching different flights? Or do some airlines/websites provide discounts if you book a roundtrip (multi-city) versus two direct flights?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

How so? Just by searching different flights? Or do some airlines/websites provide discounts if you book a roundtrip (multi-city) versus two direct flights?

Yes, prices will sometimes be different when one segment is bundled with another, vs being booked separately. Or there could be a partner airline on one of the segments that offers a discount when it's booked together.

It's not quite as common on domestic flights (U.S./Canada), but still worth checking all combos. When it comes to airfares, you just never know!

[billybob123]

Also, if you book a flight (incl multi-city) that includes a flight FROM Canada, it appears that you pay GST on the entire flight. Most flights to/from USA seem to sell as one-ways, so I'd book the intra-US and US-to-Canada segments separately from the Canada-USA segment.

This holds true for any roundtrip, you can save the GST on the return by booking it separately.

[cmyden]

[PROMO CODE] Westjet: 15% off flights to destinations in Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and certain U.S. destinations [expires: July 22]

link: http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/deal...pc-ge-20120718

Save an extra 15% off* for travel to all Canadian, Mexican, Caribbean and select U.S. destinations.

To redeem this offer, bookings must be made on westjet.com. Both the Promo code WJC07 and Coupon code Y8WDKW9 are required at time of booking on the first page of the booking process. Bookings must be made by July 22, 2012 (9:59 p.m. MT) and travel must occur between September 3, 2012 and December 14, 2012.

Also available on Air Canada...

http://www.aircanada.com/en/offers/a.../discount.html

[cmyden]

Calgary to Lima, Peru - 10 night trips - $706 roundtrip after taxes.


Looks to be August flights that are experiencing the approximately 30% price drop. Pick your flights and click through to United to book.


http://www.google.com/flights/#searc...3;r=2012-08-23

Calgary to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - $330 roundtrip after taxes

This is an example in September. Looks to have affected dates up to about February 2013. Try your own flexible date search.

http://www.kayak.com/flights/#/YYC-P...09-19-flexible


The situation is similar for Charlotte, North Carolina. Currently experiencing a price drop down to the mid $300s throughout large parts of the 2012 and 2013 schedule.

http://www.kayak.com/flights/#/YYC-C...09-19-flexible


And again, it's the same for Philadelpha, low $300s throughout dates in the 2012/2013 season.

http://www.kayak.com/flights/#/YYC-P...09-19-flexible

[Notorious Honey Badger]

amazing prices. its really too bad about this damn lock out looming.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Nammer403

My flight was from Amsterdam - Barcelona and this was a week ago on July 10th, 2012.
Original flight was at 9:40am got delayed until 630pm.

Found it useless how the customer service desk told us to go on the vueling site to apply for the compensation.

I would try to follow their process. I though Danube was super sketchy with communication, but they came through eventually

[Maccalus]

I have a quick question regarding google flights. Does the price listed on google flights include taxes and fees?

I ask this as I am using it as one of my tools to find a good price for a flight to vegas on March 7,2013. A little early to be looking for that flight I know, but I want to be able to jump on a good discount or seat sale when it comes up. I am also trying to nail down what the fairs would bottom out at around for that weekend for vegas flights.

Thank you

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Maccalus

I have a quick question regarding google flights. Does the price listed on google flights include taxes and fees?

Thank you

It does indeed! Sites that don't include taxes & fees are useless and should be going the way of the dinosaur soon.

Of course you still need to be aware of 'extra' fees that an airline might have, such as checked luggage, etc.