Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[billybob123]

You might be able to visit the site of Jonestown too while you're there.



Cool find. Too bad I can't take advantage.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Will I get kidnapped?

[Bankai]

Hi cmyden,

Do you know of any special rates that are going to be on from Edmonton to china this year? I have found rates of 1160 round trip in October and am just wondering if that is as cheap as it gets?

Thanks

[Knalus]

Originally Posted by Bankai

Hi cmyden,

Do you know of any special rates that are going to be on from Edmonton to china this year? I have found rates of 1160 round trip in October and am just wondering if that is as cheap as it gets?

Thanks

I'm not Chris, but that's pretty well what I paid to hong kong from Calgary.

Awesome trip, btw. It was an amazing trip. I went for part of it with g adventures. I would totally recommend it to nearly anyone. What part of china are you going to?

[Bankai]

Originally Posted by Knalus

I'm not Chris, but that's pretty well what I paid to hong kong from Calgary.

Awesome trip, btw. It was an amazing trip. I went for part of it with g adventures. I would totally recommend it to nearly anyone. What part of china are you going to?

Nice to know you had a good experience there.

I am going to be spending most of the two weeks in Beijing but will also be traveling to Jilin province in northeastern China as well.

Looking forward to my first trip to China

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Bankai

Hi cmyden,

Do you know of any special rates that are going to be on from Edmonton to china this year? I have found rates of 1160 round trip in October and am just wondering if that is as cheap as it gets?

Thanks

It certainly isn't unheard of for flights to Asia to fall into the $900s from Calgary & Edmonton. Typically Shanghai and Hong Kong are the cheapest cities.

October 28 to November 7 for example...

http://www.google.com/flights/#searc...8;r=2012-11-07

(Click on Priceline at the bottom)

I've been noticing some pretty cheap flights from Calgary to Shanghai using a combination of Westjet + China Eastern out of Vancouver. The prices never seem to verify though, except for with Priceline.

For example...

September 26 to October 6 - $823 roundtrip after taxes
http://www.google.com/flights/#searc...6;r=2012-10-06

Click through to Priceline and the price allegedly verifies.

On other sites though, the price jumps up to $1088.

It wouldn't surprise me though, to see some really cheap flights from Alberta to Asia at some point thanks to the competition between the Asian airlines out of Vancouver, and the recent code-share agreement between Westjet & China Eastern...

http://www.vancouversun.com/business...822/story.html

[J pold]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Yeah, but even the weekend and non-weekend dates aren't much different. In fact a few I've found were cheaper on the weekend. Oh well, looks like we found a weekend to do 4 nights and return airfare for around $500/each.

Who did you find them through? I'm also looking to do a trip to Vegas in August.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by J pold

Who did you find them through? I'm also looking to do a trip to Vegas in August.

http://www.google.com/flights/#searc...0;r=2012-07-24

^^^ click on the calendar icon. Plenty of 4 night August fares in the $400s after taxes. Some in the $300s.

[cmyden]

July 17 to August 1 from Calgary to Glasgow, Scotland has dropped to $699 roundtrip after taxes on Air Transat.

Flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) are a fair bit cheaper than usual at the moment ($430 roundtrip after taxes) between August and mid December.

http://www.google.com/flights/#searc...0;r=2012-08-30

Lima, Peru (LIM) is down into the $700s...

http://www.google.com/flights/#searc...0;r=2012-08-30

and Bogota, Colombia (BOG) is down into the $600s...

http://www.google.com/flights/#searc...0;r=2012-08-30

[Slacker]

I hate the fact that the Glasgow fare is so soon.

[cmyden]

And now July 12 to 26 from YYC to London, UK just dropped to $649 roundtrip after taxes on Air Transat.

[bcsoda]

Hi Chris,

I'm trying to find the cheapest flight I can to get to France. I'm leaving from Calgary and going to Lyon (though I'm open to the idea of leaving from Edmonton and/or flying into just about any European city that is a reasonable plane/train ride away, if the price is right). I can't leave until August 27, and I'd like to come back sometime before Christmas (the stay being longer than 90 days is not an issue). Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated

(an alternate possibility would be leaving after August 27 and coming back anytime in August 2013, but I don't think any airlines book that far in advance?)

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by bcsoda

Hi Chris,

I'm trying to find the cheapest flight I can to get to France. I'm leaving from Calgary and going to Lyon (though I'm open to the idea of leaving from Edmonton and/or flying into just about any European city that is a reasonable plane/train ride away, if the price is right). I can't leave until August 27, and I'd like to come back sometime before Christmas (the stay being longer than 90 days is not an issue). Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated

(an alternate possibility would be leaving after August 27 and coming back anytime in August 2013, but I don't think any airlines book that far in advance?)

In general, flying out of Edmonton to Europe won't help (unless Air Transat is offering a major discount that's not available out of Calgary).

And with such a long stay, flying a charter like Air Transat to London and then a cheap flight to Lyon likely wouldn't be worth it, at least not with the current roundtrip prices. I don't think the price differential vs the major carriers would be enough.

I think it would basically come down to 2 options...

1) Flying on a major carrier to Lyon ...

http://www.kayak.com/flights#/YYC-LY...12-12-flexible

^^ $1262 roundtrip after taxes

2) Buy a cheap one way flight to Europe on Air Transat

http://www.kayak.com/flights#/YYC-LO...09-05-flexible

$300 after taxes

+ $56 on Easyjet from London to Lyon.

And then you would need to wait until November or early December for Air Transat to drop their one way prices back home from London, and you would just do the reverse route, hopefully for a similar price.

There's a risk with method #2 of course, if Air Transat decides not to drop their prices (although they pretty much always do in the non-peak months). And you're at the mercy of their charter schedule.

[JayP]

Just a quick question:

I won a 30% off any WestJet flight promo code at the Stampede this past weekend and was thinking of using it to go visit San Francisco sometime this fall (September or November). Any idea on what the average return flight would cost?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by JayP

Just a quick question:

I won a 30% off any WestJet flight promo code at the Stampede this past weekend and was thinking of using it to go visit San Francisco sometime this fall (September or November). Any idea on what the average return flight would cost?

The average bottom price is typically in the mid to high $300s these days (roundtrip after taxes)

http://www.google.com/flights/#searc...012-09-12;a=WS

The WestJet promo code is likely off the base fare only (not the taxes) so it's really closer to a 10-15% discount off the total price.

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by JayP

Just a quick question:

I won a 30% off any WestJet flight promo code at the Stampede this past weekend and was thinking of using it to go visit San Francisco sometime this fall (September or November). Any idea on what the average return flight would cost?

I got 30% off too. It's nice that this year you can use it for up to 4 people on the same flight. I won 30% off last year (and used it), and was with my friend a few years ago when he won a free flight anywhere WJ flies.

Unfortunately I've already booked 3 trips this year, so I'll probably be giving this away as I don't think I can do another trip.

[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...

[Meelapo]

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...

This may not help but we just came back from Italy and had to do Rome --> Amsterdam --> Calgary. I don't think there are any direct flights from Venice so I'd imagine you'd have to visit a major hub city (Amsterdam, London, etc.) in order to get to Calgary.

[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).

[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.?