Canadians Flying Out Of The US

[Maritime Q-Scout]

is it really any different from people from my hometown (Sydney NS) driving to Halifax to get all their flights?

My roommate is driving to Bangor ME to fly down to Florida during spring break. Very common to spend the marginal cost to drive to another city/airport to fly cheaper from there.

Why when I look to fly I always check the costs to fly out of not only YQY, but YHZ, and YQM

[calgaryrocks]

Originally Posted by Dan02

Sure you saved 65$ in the short term, but when you factor in the costs of vehicle ownership you probably lost a significant amount of money long term if indeed you went down there from Calgary by yourself. These things obviously vary significantly for each person depending on their ride.

I shall use myself as an example and use round numbers cause they're fun/easy. I drive a truck so its obviously more expensive for me. we'll say the purchase cost with financing was 40k and i expect to get 250k out of the truck, another 10k for general maintaince(50 oil changes at $60 each is 3k, another 1k for a decent set of rubber at 125k, 6k for various maintainence related items and repairs after the warranty period), we'll ignore insurance and registration because those are sunk costs regardless of the amount you drive.

total cost to drive 250k is $50,000 or around 20cent per kilometer, not including gas. so a 1500km round trip to great falls from my house is going to cost me $300 in vehicle costs, $200 in gas, and $35 for parking.

So i need to save $535 to break even before we consider the 12 hours spent driving and the probability of having to take extra time off work.

Next let's look at spending 12 hours driving to save $65, next time you want to save $65 let me know and I'll put you to work for 12 hours and you can fly out of Calgary instead. The government might take issue with me paying you essentially half of minimum wage but we don't need to inform them of our special little deal.

To me, I'd put the threshold at around $800 savings for me to drive down there. Obviously if there were 3 other people with me $200 a head would do it. And obviously most people are driving cheaper vehicles.

If this thread is any indication there seems to be 2 types of people flying out of the us, those like superflyer saving a #### ton of money and those people who think they're saving money but in reality probably aren't and are just wasting their time. Kinda reminds me of people who lookup the cheapest gas prices on gas buddy then go way out of their way to drive there not realizing the gas they burnt getting there was worth more then the $1.20 they'll save with 3 cents cheaper gas in their 40l fillup.

anyways Calgary in particular is far enough from any reasonable American airports that it is essentially insulated from price discrepencies.

Hey thanks for breaking that down, interesting to get a better understanding of vehicle value declining type of stuff. of course my car is a cheap early 90s car that cost 4k and is in the mid to high 200,000 kms, so 1000km isn't going to make a huge difference for resale. for maintenance, sure thats 1/5 an oil change, so an extra $5. I have had the same tires for 70,000kms so not a big dent.
so a little math (more for myself than anything) $4k cost, expected use 100,000km. general maintaince rounding up $5k(20 oil changes at $30 each is $600, one time cost of tires $500, 3k for various maintainence related items and repairs), ignoring insurance and reg. lets round up so my total cost to drive 100k is $10,000. that is 0.1 dollars per km. so a 1000km round trip to Great Falls will cost me $100. my car on highway is 7.5L/100km, so at $1/L that is $75. parking $35 and lunch $5. $215. so I guess that is my breakeven, interesting. I did lose money going that route, although normally I would get the benefit of seeing family in Lethbridge, so two trips in one. Thanks for forcing me to think about this Dan and cm.

Now I would never have done it anyways if it was a long range flight to florida or overseas etc. but I did cut my flight time almost in half, as well as saving time and hassle at the airport. too bad there is not much sight-seeing on that trip. If it were multiple people It would make it worthwhile though. I get that 10 hours if driving is alot, although really it added 4 hours each way to my travel time instead of 5 because of above factors. 8hours though I can make $200, so if I had to take a day off work to do it, it would not have been worth it.
You are probably right CM, I would hope that the government would realize it, but Calgary being so far from Great Falls probably doesn't make it worth it. saving $300 on a flight to Vegas though? I would do that, on a day off though.

after the math, my future threshold for savings travelling on my own using Great Falls I will say is $300 to consider it.

those people who think they're saving money but in reality probably aren't

haha that was me, I almost broke even. Good ole math is good for something. I never did that gas thing though, i realize the cost of driving extra to a gas station isn't worth the savings when considering the fuel used. unless I am already in woodbine and need to fill up, I may go to the reserve, but not from Bonavista

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Dan02

total cost to drive 250k is $50,000 or around 20cent per kilometer, not including gas. so a 1500km round trip to great falls from my house is going to cost me $300 in vehicle costs, $200 in gas, and $35 for parking.

But how much would it cost you to park or take a cab in Calgary?

[FlamesKickAss]

When I was looking for Calgary to Toronto flights, just for fun I put in Calgary to Miami that connected in Toronto on the same flight and the direct flight was more. Why is that?

[Ryan Coke]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Westjet's seat selection fee table is here: http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/trav...election.shtml


I've attached the link for Westjet's buy on board menu of snacks. Non-Alcoholic beverages are free, estimated value of two cokes, $4 if you had to buy them post security in the airport.

http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/trav...election.shtml

So you have to consider the savings on checked baggage, plus a couple of bucks for a coke if you want one.

Westjet gives assigned seating always and for free, those are options if you want to pre-book specific seats. But if you don't pay, you still check in and get a specific seat. On Allegiant it is 'open' seating--get on and find an empty one. Obviously not a required expense, but an example of the kinds of things you have to pay for that you don't on any Canadian airlines.

Snacks---again, I wasn't saying that there is nothing to buy on Westjet, it was that not even basic drinks or snacks are included. I'm not sure if they even have complimentary water on Allegiant.

I am not trying to mislead, my point is that there are several of these types of additional costs, and if you end up using any of them, it adds to the cost of your cheaper ticket. The vehicle ownership costs post is great. It is often a little too abstract for people to really appreciate though.

Same with the time vs. money equation, which varies from person to person. I just start to wonder where the cutoff is....a person can save 100% of the airfare by driving the whole way. You can get to Vegas in about 21 hours, and 4-5 tanks of gas. Then you don't even have to worry about flying costs at all, but the reason flying has gotten popular is because people want to get where they are going faster.

Anyway, I just want to ensure people are aware of the true costs, and we'll keep lobbying the government to reduce the additional fees and taxes.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by calgaryrocks

after the math, my future threshold for savings travelling on my own using Great Falls I will say is $300 to consider it.

That's about what I've found, around $300 in savings (per person, after expenses) is the minimum for most people to consider driving 5 hours each way worth it.

Traveling solo, it still might not be worth it. If it's a couple, or family, it makes it more attractive.

When I was looking for Calgary to Toronto flights, just for fun I put in Calgary to Miami that connected in Toronto on the same flight and the direct flight was more. Why is that?

It basically just comes down to supply, demand and competition. On the Calgary to Toronto route, you have 2 airlines competing for your dollar. From Calgary to Miami, you have 8.

So the fact that it connects in Toronto almost becomes irrelevant, it's more about the fact that the market will bear $350 (roundtrip after tax) to get from Calgary to Florida (with 8 airlines competing for your dollar) vs $500 to get from Calgary to Toronto (with 2 airlines competing for your dollar).

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

Westjet gives assigned seating always and for free, those are options if you want to pre-book specific seats. But if you don't pay, you still check in and get a specific seat. On Allegiant it is 'open' seating--get on and find an empty one. Obviously not a required expense, but an example of the kinds of things you have to pay for that you don't on any Canadian airlines.

Snacks---again, I wasn't saying that there is nothing to buy on Westjet, it was that not even basic drinks or snacks are included. I'm not sure if they even have complimentary water on Allegiant.

I am not trying to mislead, my point is that there are several of these types of additional costs, and if you end up using any of them, it adds to the cost of your cheaper ticket. The vehicle ownership costs post is great. It is often a little too abstract for people to really appreciate though.

Same with the time vs. money equation, which varies from person to person. I just start to wonder where the cutoff is....a person can save 100% of the airfare by driving the whole way. You can get to Vegas in about 21 hours, and 4-5 tanks of gas. Then you don't even have to worry about flying costs at all, but the reason flying has gotten popular is because people want to get where they are going faster.

Anyway, I just want to ensure people are aware of the true costs, and we'll keep lobbying the government to reduce the additional fees and taxes.

I'm not certain, but I think federal law requires that drinking water be provided free of charge.

[Barnet Flame]

I live in London and last year I could not believe that Air Canada was charging me £551 for my flight to Calgary, yet they charged £469 on the same date to LA and that flight was via Calgary!

I cannot understand the rationale for that.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

I live in London and last year I could not believe that Air Canada was charging me £551 for my flight to Calgary, yet they charged £469 on the same date to LA and that flight was via Calgary!

I cannot understand the rationale for that.

Never took economics, did you?

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

Never took economics, did you?

Yes I did, thanks for being a smartass though.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Yes I did, thanks for being a smartass though.

Sorry. My mistake.

Never PASSED economics, did you?

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

Sorry. My mistake.

Never PASSED economics, did you?

Again, yes.

Yes I did.

I see you passed Trolling 101.