Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[NBC]

I would say it is preferable to fly into HK. The boat to Macau from HK is a round 1 hour.

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Calgary to Kelowna with Wine Tasting Tour | $198 roundtrip after taxes | May long weekend

http://www.yycdeals.com/calgary-to-k...ip-after-taxes

Even if you didn't go on the included wine tasting tour, it's still 50% cheaper than Air Canada or WestJet's May long weekend flights alone.

Thanks a lot for this! Booked last night. Any hidden gems in Kelowna?

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by cmyden

I'm a travel junkie who is hooked on deals from YYC. Here are my favorite ways to search....

FareCompare.com - You can set up alerts to notify you when price drops occur. The interesting thing is that you can set 'zones'.

For example, you can set 'Europe' as a zone, and it will constantly monitor every city in Europe, and notify you when the price drops.

Currently I have it monitoring every zone in the world, and therefore every city, for flight deals from Calgary. Earlier this year I managed to snag a return flight from Calgary to Dublin, Ireland in late June for $400 CDN after taxes (on Air Canada). Not sure if it was a mistake or what, the deal was gone the next day, and AC never mentioned a sale.

You can also view stats such as 'price per mile' from Calgary, which can be interesting to watch.


ITASoftware.com

Strange name, but a fairly powerful system, especially for flexible date searches. (One of the few left that can do international flexible date searches).


Kayak.com

Usually after narrowing down my dates, I like to use Kayak, because of the excellent filters you can use (ie: travel time, stopovers, etc).


TravelAlerts.ca

Updated quite often, with deals from the charter companies, which you won't find on the major search engines.


Facebook

I've set up a group on Facebook for anyone that's interested in being alerted instantaneously to any deals from Calgary. (I only post the deals that are truly great).

Calgary Flight Deals & Travel Specials Facebook Group
^^ now serving over 35,000 Calgarians!

I've found that when it comes to the really great travel deals, time is of the essence. You've usually got 24 hours or less to book it.

Anyone have any other favorite resources for flight deals from Calgary?

Post the best deals you've found lately!


Baggage Fee Chart

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/...ge-fees-chart/


YYC Deals Map

http://www.YYCdeals.com/map

^^^ Google Map displaying the cheapest price from Calgary to hundreds of cities around the world.

I have to ask if you think these are still the best. I will be planning (ok, she will) a destination wedding (in Malta) and I am trying to go about the best ways to find affordable airfare for my bride and I, as well as the few guests we are inviting.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

I have to ask if you think these are still the best. I will be planning (ok, she will) a destination wedding (in Malta) and I am trying to go about the best ways to find affordable airfare for my bride and I, as well as the few guests we are inviting.

I don't really care for farecompare anymore. I think Skycanner is a better site.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I don't really care for farecompare anymore. I think Skycanner is a better site.

This list can definitely use an update. FareCompare's data has gone downhill (it was never perfect to begin with), and Google has bought ITA Software and designed some interesting interfaces to make use of the data. I'll be sure to look at updating that post.

[Alberta_Beef]

the only one I used this morning was ITA because of the international aspect. But since it is so far in the future I am unable to book now, but at worst it gave me ballpark figures as to what they are running at now.

Maybe you have some tips based on what I am looking for exactly.

Calgary (or Great Falls if its cheaper) to London or Paris, where we would like to spend 2 or 3 nights there. Then from there to Malta.

I have also never travelled, so I don't know what additional fees I might be looking at at.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

the only one I used this morning was ITA because of the international aspect. But since it is so far in the future I am unable to book now, but at worst it gave me ballpark figures as to what they are running at now.

Maybe you have some tips based on what I am looking for exactly.

Calgary (or Great Falls if its cheaper) to London or Paris, where we would like to spend 2 or 3 nights there. Then from there to Malta.

I have also never travelled, so I don't know what additional fees I might be looking at at.

Getting to London or Paris will basically come down to 2 options:

1. Charter airline - Air Transat or Condor are the only two that fly out of YYC. Seats that are not as comfortable, and not as many scheduled flights as the major airlines, but they sometimes offer cheaper flights under $1000 roundtrip after taxes. At least, they used to. When they do slash their prices, it's often with under 6-8 weeks before departure. But both have been a lot more reluctant to do so this year than in year's past.

2. Major airline (everyone else) - Likely to cost $1000-$1400 roundtrip after taxes no matter when you book. The major airlines rarely seem to significantly drop their prices to Europe anymore, especially for peak travel dates (ie, all of summer)

For the flights between London/Paris and Malta, try a search on SkyScanner, which does a great job of covering all the budget airlines within Europe.

[Canehdianman]

Hey cmyden,

my BIL is getting married at the Dreams in Los Cabos in November.

He's been talking to a few travel agents, but so far none of them seem to be able to find any particular deals. Everything they come back with is a couple hundred higher than just booking online seems to be.

My BIL is about to cut everyone loose to start booking online for themselves.

Where should I book through? I've been searching on hotwire.com, selloffvacations.com and whatever other sites I can think of, but I wanted to ensure that I get a decent deal.

Any good advice?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Hey cmyden,

my BIL is getting married at the Dreams in Los Cabos in November.

He's been talking to a few travel agents, but so far none of them seem to be able to find any particular deals. Everything they come back with is a couple hundred higher than just booking online seems to be.

My BIL is about to cut everyone loose to start booking online for themselves.

Where should I book through? I've been searching on hotwire.com, selloffvacations.com and whatever other sites I can think of, but I wanted to ensure that I get a decent deal.

Any good advice?

When it comes to all inclusive packages, every Canadian travel site or Canadian travel agent is simply downloading the latest prices from the same 7 Canadian Tour Operators, to earn the same commissions, which is why they will all be virtually identical in price.

You may want to have a look at this guide which will help explain the truly unique sources of package prices to Cabo, and where and when to look...

Calgary to Los Cabos | How To Get All Inclusive Deals
http://www.yycdeals.com/calgary-to-l...nclusive-deals

[HOOT]

Random question...

Why is it cheaper for me to fly Dallas --> Houston --> Seattle --> Victoria than it is to just fly right from Houston --> Seattle --> Victoria?

Does not compute.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Random question...

Why is it cheaper for me to fly Dallas --> Houston --> Seattle --> Victoria than it is to just fly right from Houston --> Seattle --> Victoria?

Does not compute.

Random guess - smaller planes for the shorter flights vs large planes for more direct-ish flights? Fuel costs of a small plane for a short, more in-demand flights as opposed to less popular routes that require more fuel?

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Random guess - smaller planes for the shorter flights vs large planes for more direct-ish flights? Fuel costs of a small plane for a short, more in-demand flights as opposed to less popular routes that require more fuel?

But in the end I take the same route, so I'd assume same planes. Just seems weird that I save $75 just for them to fly me more and take up room on a plane they could otherwise sell a seat for if I were to just 'meet' the plane in Houston.

Dallas is where I want to take off from but just noticed a layover in Houston (which is heading a few hundred km's south to start) so I checked out the prices and was a bit baffled how that makes sense.

[rubecube]

A more popular flight is going to sell more tickets, thus no need to reduce ticket prices. They're basically betting they can fill the direct flight anyways and might not be able to fill the other routes.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Cmyden... any advice on travelling to Tahiti?

[Tyler]

Any recommendations on the best way to fly to Bali? Trying to get on an A380 too if possible

[drewboy12]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Any recommendations on the best way to fly to Bali? Trying to get on an A380 too if possible

If you want to fly LA-Sydney (quantas) Sydney-Bali (Air Asia) is the only way you will get there on an A380... I would suggest YVR-BKK (China Eastern) BKK-DPS (Air Asia)... You will save a ton...

I am going to Alice Springs, Australia at the end of August and it was almost $650 cheaper to fly YVR-BKK-MEL-ASP Then YVR-SYD-ASP. There for taking a two week birthday vacation in Thailand before going to work in the desert.

Edit: I should say I managed to get the flights to Alice from Vancouver for $850.

[username]

Just curious but does anyone know what a good price would be going from Calgary to Cape Town and back? This would be around Nov time frame.

I'm seeing 1615 right now and I'm thinking that's excellent considering I was expecting 2000.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by drewboy12

If you want to fly LA-Sydney (quantas) Sydney-Bali (Air Asia) is the only way you will get there on an A380... I would suggest YVR-BKK (China Eastern) BKK-DPS (Air Asia)... You will save a ton...

I am going to Alice Springs, Australia at the end of August and it was almost $650 cheaper to fly YVR-BKK-MEL-ASP Then YVR-SYD-ASP. There for taking a two week birthday vacation in Thailand before going to work in the desert.

Edit: I should say I managed to get the flights to Alice from Vancouver for $850.

Thanks. What were your thoughts on your experience with a mainland China carrier? Kinda shirk away from that for some reason. Irrational?

[FFR]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Thanks. What were your thoughts on your experience with a mainland China carrier? Kinda shirk away from that for some reason. Irrational?

I flew China Eastern from Vancouver to Shanghai and return. It wasn't half bad - the plane out had decent leg room but no individual entertainment systems - movies ran on the shared tv screens (english with chinese subtitles). 2 meals served - food was ok, not the best and not the worst. Flight attendants spoke English and service was good - they came through with water all the time and you could request something else.

The flight back was awesome - brand new plane with individual seat back entertainment - tons of movies in English (with chinese subtitles), tv shows and games. Again two meals with ok food. They were generally on time - a few minutes late going there and back (less than 15 each time).

I'd fly with them again for sure.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Random question...

Why is it cheaper for me to fly Dallas --> Houston --> Seattle --> Victoria than it is to just fly right from Houston --> Seattle --> Victoria?

Does not compute.

This is an interesting bit of info (and related to what you're talking about). See "Hidden City Ticketing":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_booking_ploys