Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[Claeren]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Looking for a recommendation here.

I am booking a honeymoon in January (dates are flexible), looking to spend around $8k for 10 days, all inclusive. Only catch is we will have a 5 month old baby, so the destination would have to be relatively close (within 4 hours per leg). Possibly YYC-YYZ, overnight, then somewhere else, and also have some kind of child care.

Looked at Turks and Caicos, but F me is it ever pricey for a mid level room. I'll spend the money if I have to, but I would think that for a 10 day hotel stay in T&C you could get something as good or better in Mexico or maybe Jamaica.

Anyone have a recommendation on resort? something along the lines of "best resort I've EVER been to"? I'm hoping a 1%er on here has something to say.....

For the Caribbean, WestJet flies YYC to NAS direct on Saturday's after October 26th but it is quite expensive for dates after Christmas. The connecting flights via a stop in YYZ should be less expensive. VRA is the other seasonal direct option but you don't sound like a Cuba kind of guy.

Under 4hrs is tricky though, personally it sounds like it would make more sense to deal with the extra 2hrs of travel time and for you to go to Hawaii but maybe you have done that before? (The only other choice is Mexico)

ZLO and ZIH are also options direct from YYC, a little more off the beaten path in Mexico. Both are quite popular though and there are not a lot of flights.

For connections via YYZ, some less obvious premium caribbean options you could look at (I am thinking via WestJet) are Antigua/ANU, Aruba/AUA, Curacao/CUR, and St.Marteen/SXM -- but they all have pretty long flights from YYZ. Barbados/BGI is also great outside of the peakest weekends and is a bit closer?

I feel like if you stick to your requirements you will end up in Cancun though....

[fundmark19]

Does anyone know if the US companies match the west jet bluetag deals. I'm going to Phoenix and the flight I really want to take home is on US airways and it would be awesome if they price matched the westjet offer dates are nov 21-24

[Hi-Psi]

I've been to the Beaches resort in Turks and Caicos and it's pretty damn awesome. My gf used to teach diving there so I got to stay for free which was nice. It's is pretty expensive to stay there though and would be better if you had a slightly older child so they could take advantage of all the wicked kids stuff.

[MacDaddy77]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Looking for a recommendation here.

I am booking a honeymoon in January (dates are flexible), looking to spend around $8k for 10 days, all inclusive. Only catch is we will have a 5 month old baby, so the destination would have to be relatively close (within 4 hours per leg). Possibly YYC-YYZ, overnight, then somewhere else, and also have some kind of child care.

Looked at Turks and Caicos, but F me is it ever pricey for a mid level room. I'll spend the money if I have to, but I would think that for a 10 day hotel stay in T&C you could get something as good or better in Mexico or maybe Jamaica.

Anyone have a recommendation on resort? something along the lines of "best resort I've EVER been to"? I'm hoping a 1%er on here has something to say.....

While it's not all inclusive we stayed with kids at the royal West Indies on Turks and Caicos. It's just down the beach from beaches andthe rooms have kitchenette which is nice with families. Also there is. Quiet pool so if you request a room on the ground floor by the quiet pool you can be poolside while baby sleeps. They had free bikes to use to go I to town and it was a short bike ride. The local beer was pretty decently priced but everything is imported so it is expensive. I loved this resort with the kids

[Norseman]

Has anyone booked flights to Brazil, specifically Rio lately?

I have a friends wedding down there in May 2014. I'm seeing round trip flights on Delta for about 1070/person.

Seems pretty decent from my perspective, I was just wondering if anyone has some numbers to compare against.

Thanks!

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Norseman

Has anyone booked flights to Brazil, specifically Rio lately?

I have a friends wedding down there in May 2014. I'm seeing round trip flights on Delta for about 1070/person.

Seems pretty decent from my perspective, I was just wondering if anyone has some numbers to compare against.

Thanks!

Around $1000ish roundtrip including taxes is close to as low as it usually gets from YYC to Brazil these days. Occasionally they dip into the mid $900s (see the same Delta flights in November 2013 for example)....

https://www.google.ca/flights/explor...4;d=2013-11-20

Anything too much lower than that would be an unusual event. The fares between Calgary and Brazil are pretty stable.

[Inferno]

Has anyone had any experience with cancelling a flight with cancellation insurance due to getting a new job or having a change in your work schedule? Preferably with Expedia and Air Canada.

I had planned on flying back to Manitoba on the 14th due to me not being able to afford to live out here unemployed anymore but I just received a job offer that I most likely will start ASAP. From what I've read the only work related reason that cancellation insurance covers is loss of job.

Thanks in advance.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Around $1000ish roundtrip including taxes is close to as low as it usually gets from YYC to Brazil these days. Occasionally they dip into the mid $900s (see the same Delta flights in November 2013 for example)....

https://www.google.ca/flights/explor...4;d=2013-11-20

Anything too much lower than that would be an unusual event. The fares between Calgary and Brazil are pretty stable.

I wonder what the chances are that prices go down for the World Cup? They've been up and around $2000 round trip for quite awhile now. I was hoping it might drop the closer we get to the date.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Has anyone had any experience with cancelling a flight with cancellation insurance due to getting a new job or having a change in your work schedule? Preferably with Expedia and Air Canada.

I had planned on flying back to Manitoba on the 14th due to me not being able to afford to live out here unemployed anymore but I just received a job offer that I most likely will start ASAP. From what I've read the only work related reason that cancellation insurance covers is loss of job.

Thanks in advance.

I have cancelled flights with Air Canada with no insurance and no valid reason and ended up with full credit less the change fee which is based on the ticket class.
I hear that you can also have the taxes and fees refunded which covers half the price or so but I have never tried.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Kelowna - $149 roundtrip including taxes | black friday deal

Another great price from JumpOn, the innovative Calgary-based charter airline.

http://www.yycdeals.com/calgary-to-k...ck-friday-deal

[ranchlandsselling]

Looking to get to Tofino in the next 6 months, any thoughts/experience? Im guessing driving from Nanaimo is the best route?

[username]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

Looking to get to Tofino in the next 6 months, any thoughts/experience? Im guessing driving from Nanaimo is the best route?

Tofino is an incredible place to go - it's just a bit of a hike getting there (fly into Nanaimo or Comox and then drive 3 hours) and it's quite expensive now. There are a lot of great lodges to stay at and some decent restaurants. The surfing is great and there's a lot of other activities you can take part in if that's not your thing.

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by username

Tofino is an incredible place to go - it's just a bit of a hike getting there (fly into Nanaimo or Comox and then drive 3 hours) and it's quite expensive now. There are a lot of great lodges to stay at and some decent restaurants. The surfing is great and there's a lot of other activities you can take part in if that's not your thing.

Thanks,

Yeah been there before but looking to go back. Last visit was a out of the blue trip and looking to plan this one a bit more. Flights into Nanaimo aren't cheap although forgot to look into Comox. It's an interesting drive, does it snow out there? Not sure I'd want to do that drive on icey roads. Great place though, surfing was good, beaches are nice, food is delicious, some of the dirty hippies that consider themselves "locals" are a bit annoying. But I'd guess they're the minority.

[Swarez]

Just an FYI I have been working for the yyc airport authority since October coming from Torontos authority.
I know lot of people want/expect Beijing to be announced. The slow down from AC's side is cannot get additional landing lots in Beijing nor does it have the additional wide body aircraft to do the route.
AC is shifting yvr-pek from 11 weekly to 7 but putting the larger 777 on that route instead of the 767. This means as of June AC is holding 4 landing slots in Beijing that will be unused and they will have the aircraft by next summer to add this route.
Yyc is pushing for this route, I know an incentive plan was presented to AC for first year of operations in November. (Airport funds not government, but yyc has gone to city and province seeing if they can get something).

Just to round things out AC can do a few other things with the slots, fly from a different city, Toronto for instance. I doubt that since AC and hainan will both do dailies next summer to pek
Lease out the slots to different airline, typically leases start at 2 years, or just sit on them.

Keep in mind these slots are poorly times and won't really allow connections, I think they land around 10pm local time in china.

I'll see if I can find out more and post when I do.

[lucky1]

777 as in the newer high density 777 like the one doing the YVR-HKG route... God I hope not, I fly to PEK once every month... Would hate to get stuck on that bird

[Swarez]

Originally Posted by lucky1

777 as in the newer high density 777 like the one doing the YVR-HKG route... God I hope not, I fly to PEK once every month... Would hate to get stuck on that bird

I believe it was the 2-class 777 so not the HD version. I'll try to confirm it Monday when back at work.

[fundmark19]

Was anyone able to get in on the crazy Delta fares yesterday? I wish I had seen that since I am in need of a flight to San Diego in March still

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Was anyone able to get in on the crazy Delta fares yesterday? I wish I had seen that since I am in need of a flight to San Diego in March still

I was literally about to press send to alert everyone about the Delta glitch, when Delta pulled the plug and made the fares unbookable. Probably for the best, as nearly everyone would have ended up disappointed, because Delta was on top of this very quickly, and you had to be very fast and very lucky. The glitch lasted an estimated 30-50 minutes, a super short period of time, even by today's mistake airfare standards.

I will admit to first taking a moment to book myself some tickets to Kauai, Hawaii (LIH) for $160 roundtrip including taxes. Moments after finishing the booking, the deal was dead.

There were some really crazy prices from YYC showing in that short period of time. San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) was $125 roundtrip. Most major U.S. cities (Boston, New York, San Francisco, etc) were $150 or less. The other interesting thing is that a lot of the fares were first class tickets.

[ranchlandsselling]

Any thoughts on when a good time to try to book flights to Nanaimo or Comax, or even Tofino?

Also looking at booking a Oahu flight in the next 6 weeks...

[Acey]

Swarez, any more to say on possible reasoning for the airport to consider giving AC their own funds for this route to happen? Seems backwards as far as seeking their own funds, then going to the gov't to see if they're interested. Nor, at this point, does it seem necessary as I was under the impression that AC has wanted this to happen pending aircraft availability, i.e. 787 frames that they should have had for a couple of years now.