Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[secol]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

Any deals for a Calgary to New York trip from April 27 to May 1?

saw westjet had calgary to newark non-stop for 468 including tax i think.....search date was mid may to mid june

[cmyden]

Air Canada & Porter announce that effective immediately they will only advertise the 'all-in' price of its airfares.

http://business.financialpost.com/20...-for-airfares/

I'm actually pretty amazed that they implemented it long before the mandatory December 2012 deadline.

[Kybosh]

Hey Chris, do you have plans to bring back your travel map? I love that thing.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

Hey Chris, do you have plans to bring back your travel map? I love that thing.

Definitely! I miss it too, I've just been busy building a platform for some other new tools that the map will be a part of. You can try Kayak's Explore map to tide you over. It's not as good because it only shows fares that people have already searched for, not the complete data set, but it's a similar idea.

[secol]

Originally Posted by secol

saw westjet had calgary to newark non-stop for 468 including tax i think.....search date was mid may to mid june

matched by air canada now.....good price? i was looking earlier last month and it was ~600-700

[Notorious Honey Badger]

468 tax in to new york is a great price. consider that the lowest price ive seen to San Diego with westjet, tax in, is around 350~.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by secol

matched by air canada now.....good price? i was looking earlier last month and it was ~600-700

Yep, pretty much as cheap as it gets these days. Haven't seen anything in the $300s to NYC in quite a while.

[malcolmk14]

I'll be in NYC from May 9th to 19th.

Now that it's illegal to rent apartments to tourists in New York, what would people recommend for accommodations for four people? Two hotel rooms?

We don't want to spend a fortune but we want to stay as central as possible, or right near a Subway station if we aren't right in the heart of Manhattan.

[Temporary_User]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Would love to be able to make such predictions with accuracy, but all I can give are the facts and let people draw their own conclusions:

1) Have never seen them drop a price to Europe this low before.

2) When they do drop them, it tends to be 2-6 weeks before departure, and they usually bottom out at $550-$650ish roundtrip after taxes.

3) This one seems to be a part of their '25th Anniversary' special. The base fare is $25.00, but they had to drop the taxes/fees lower than they ever do to get it down to $399.

4) Pretty common to see drops in the non-peak months, up to about third week of June.

This doesn't sound as good as I would have liked. I'm looking @ going to London for a week or two end of June, early july. I don't want to book absolute last minute, but I'm willing to wait until may or so if it is advised.
What prices should I be looking for, and what prices should I just say that is good enough and book?

Any other advice?
Thanks!

[jjbouma]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

I'll be in NYC from May 9th to 19th.

Now that it's illegal to rent apartments to tourists in New York, what would people recommend for accommodations for four people? Two hotel rooms?

We don't want to spend a fortune but we want to stay as central as possible, or right near a Subway station if we aren't right in the heart of Manhattan.

I've stayed in Long Island City in Queens before - hotels were around $100/night, it was about a 5 minute walk to the subway station and about a 7 minute subway walk to Times Square.

I've also stayed in Times Square for around $150/night by using Living Social escapes coupons. You might want to browse living social escapes, or groupon getaways for some deals or else use Hotwire or Priceline if you don't care about the exact hotel you get.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by jjbouma

use Hotwire or Priceline if you don't care about the exact hotel you get.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=hotwire+revealed

[Byrns]

Westjet recently announced direct flights to Chicago from YYC. I just booked one for August, and it was about $300 cheaper than the other airlines for similar dates. I get to see the Cubs and the Fire play. (while also driving to Gencon)

[taco.vidal]

cmyden,

I need to fly roundtrip Calgary to Chicago during the first week in May. The Westjet announcement doesn't help me because they are not scheduled to fly until May 15.

Prices have hovered around $1000 round trip for direct roundtrip flights. In the past Ive seen them be around $700. Any reason why they've stayed high for months? Would you wait and risk it going up or book it at around $1000?

Originally Posted by Byrns

Westjet recently announced direct flights to Chicago from YYC. I just booked one for August, and it was about $300 cheaper than the other airlines for similar dates. I get to see the Cubs and the Fire play. (while also driving to Gencon)

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

cmyden,

I need to fly roundtrip Calgary to Chicago during the first week in May. The Westjet announcement doesn't help me because they are not scheduled to fly until May 15.

Prices have hovered around $1000 round trip for direct roundtrip flights. In the past Ive seen them be around $700. Any reason why they've stayed high for months? Would you wait and risk it going up or book it at around $1000?

Chicago has always been a pretty pricey city to fly to, but I can't think of any particular reason why the direct flights would be higher than usual. It always just comes down to supply, demand, and the amount of competition. Westjet flying there now should help at some point, hopefully.

I never like to make predictions when it comes to airfare, because I don't think it's possible. All I can say is that personally, I'm usually comfortable watching up to about 8 weeks before departure to a U.S. destination in hopes of something better, without too much fear of a price jumping up on me.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Now that it's illegal to rent apartments to tourists in New York, what would people recommend for accommodations for four people? Two hotel rooms?

When did this happen? What if you've already booked ahead for an apartment?

[BEANZ]

Amazing thread Chris, thanks from everyone!!

I will be flying with my wife and two kids in August to Halifax, we will be renting a car and touring about for a bit before catching the ferry to Newfoundland for a wedding. Rather than returning to Halifax we will fly home to Calgary from Deer Lake.

Any advice on when to book, who to book thru etc would be awesome.

Thanks in advance.

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

When did this happen? What if you've already booked ahead for an apartment?

It came into effect May 1, 2011 and there are certain exceptions.

http://www.frommers.com/articles/6912.html

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

cmyden,

I need to fly roundtrip Calgary to Chicago during the first week in May. The Westjet announcement doesn't help me because they are not scheduled to fly until May 15.

Prices have hovered around $1000 round trip for direct roundtrip flights. In the past Ive seen them be around $700. Any reason why they've stayed high for months? Would you wait and risk it going up or book it at around $1000?

I think I went with direct with United (can't remember for sure) in September of 2010 for about $600-$700 after taxes.

[FlamesKickAss]

whats a good price and place to go to April 14 - 21? Looking for an all inclusive

[red sky]

Originally Posted by FlamesKickAss

whats a good price and place to go to April 14 - 21? Looking for an all inclusive

What is your price range? Do you want R&R or a party atmosphere? Come on man! Provide some help here!