Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Draug

Hey Chris,

So, I fly back to Calgary from Houston in mid February. I noticed something with the pricing. Flying direct from Houston to Calgary is about $1000. At the same time, with the same originating flight, flying from Houston to Victoria, through Calgary, is about $300 less.

What's to stop me from booking the Houston to Victoria ticket and just walk out in Calgary, never showing up for the Victoria leg?

Other than having checked bags, I can't think of anything. Will I get blacklisted with that airline? Will it raise flags with Canada Customs and cause me trouble there?

Has anyone tried this before? It's not the first time I've noticed such pricing.

Thanks!

You have to pick up your bags to go through Canada Customs and Immigration in Calgary, so this works even if you have checked luggage. The airline will cancel any future flights on the same ticket though, so you can only do this on one way flights or on the return leg. Tons of information is available online, it's called hidden city ticketing.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by Oy Tiggins

Anyone have a hotel recommendation near MSG?

I will send you a PM right now...

[greyshep]

I am wondering if the sub $300 direct flights to Orlando with WestJet are a thing of the past? They have a Saturday direct flight that doesnt seem to ever drop lately.

Has anyone seen a direct flight to Orlando, heck even a reasonable connection flight to Orlando around the $200 mark lately?

We are looking for October of this year.

Thanks.

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by greyshep

I am wondering if the sub $300 direct flights to Orlando with WestJet are a thing of the past? They have a Saturday direct flight that doesnt seem to ever drop lately.

Has anyone seen a direct flight to Orlando, heck even a reasonable connection flight to Orlando around the $200 mark lately?

We are looking for October of this year.

Thanks.

In April of 2011, I was able to get a sub-$200 connecting flight from United (I believe). It connected through Dallas. The return direct WJ flight I had was a little over $300, so total cost return was about $500, but I could've done better had I went connecting on the way back too.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

In April of 2011, I was able to get a sub-$200 connecting flight from United (I believe). It connected through Dallas. The return direct WJ flight I had was a little over $300, so total cost return was about $500, but I could've done better had I went connecting on the way back too.

Yeah, in 2010 we were able to snag the direct flights from westjet for $249.

We would love to find a round trip total cost at $500 per person if possible. I kinda figured YYC-MCO would be a trip you could usually find a sale on since there is quite a few carriers that make that trip in one way or another. Maybe we just need to wait a while.

[mykalberta]

The problem is all the competing sections connect.

WJ knows it can charge a premium for those who want to fly non stop.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Ace

I also wonder if you could ask the agent to check your bags to the first leg, so you could access them before the connection?

In this case it works, as mentioned because of customs.

I have asked an airline to do this for me two times, one time worked and one time didn't.

The time it worked: I actually had a legit reason to do it. Following a vacation at the Olympics in Vancouver, I was flying to Chicago but the flight had a stopover in Edmonton. It was a business trip in Chicago and I didn't want to have to bring a suit on my vacation. I was also only in Chicago for two days so I didn't want to bring a week's worth of luggage all the way there. Since I lived in Edmonton, I put my Chicago luggage in my car in the parkade. I asked in Vancouver if they would short check my bags to Edmonton and they did. Then I swapped luggage out of my car and re-checked my other bag.

The time it didn't work: I was flying from Oklahoma City to Edmonton with a stop in Chicago. My company had a charter flight out of Chicago that night so I wondered if I would be able to just get out at the Chicago connection and watch the Blackhawks game that evening and then fly back on the charter.

I asked at the desk if they would short check my bags to Chicago and they were pretty irritated and said they wouldn't do that for me. I was travelling with a co-worker and what we ended up doing is checked both bags under my name and he got out at Chicago while I went all the way back to Edmonton.

[Boblobla]

I am going to be in Vancouver (Burnaby) from Feb. 14-19. What is the best site to check for smoking deals on hotels?

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I am going to be in Vancouver (Burnaby) from Feb. 14-19. What is the best site to check for smoking deals on hotels?

www.priceline.com and their "name your own price" feature.

Then use www.betterbidding.com to see what kind of deals you can get.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Hey RubeCube, can you refresh my memory, I don't recall seeing a message about this on Twitter? Did I reply?

I think the tough part is defining what you consider a 'deal'. It can be a pretty subjective term.

On my site, I'm comparing the current prices from the Canadian Tour Operators against the quality of the resorts involved, to determine in which packages a person is getting the most for the least. I like when a price gets way out of line (in favor of the traveler) relative to the quality of the resort involved. The more out of line it gets, the higher the Deal Score.

Using historical price data could be another way to define a 'good deal', if the price for resort X is cheaper now than it usually is.

Sorry, I meant I had been bugging you to create a version of your ultimate all-inclusive finder for Victoria, similar to the ones you had for YVR, YYC, etc. Just a suggestion, but something you may want to consider doing is allowing people to choose the departure city in the tool, especially for YVR where we have YYJ, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, etc. all within striking distance.

[rubecube]

For instance, where would this rank as far as a deal goes from YYJ?

https://www.expedia.ca/daily/enc4105...ripdetails.asp

Price Summary
2 adult(s) x C$969.00 C$1938.00
2 adult(s) x C$230.00 tax C$460.00

Final price: C$2398.00

Hotel: 7 nights
Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort Spa - Ai /156

It advertises itself as 4.5 star, with an average 4/5 on TA.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by rubecube

For instance, where would this rank as far as a deal goes from YYJ?

https://www.expedia.ca/daily/enc4105...ripdetails.asp

Price Summary
2 adult(s) x C$969.00 C$1938.00
2 adult(s) x C$230.00 tax C$460.00

Final price: C$2398.00

Hotel: 7 nights
Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort Spa - Ai /156

It advertises itself as 4.5 star, with an average 4/5 on TA.

There's a fairly identical package from YVR, for a nearly identical price, for 7 nights, to the Grand Palladium Vallarta, and it has been given a Deal Score of 65 out of 100.

Not sure where you're seeing it listed as 4.5 stars, but it's listed as 3.5 star on TripAdvisor. Based on that, in combination with the review feedback data, I'd say it probably deserves a solid 3.5 stars out of 5.

[cmyden]

Calgary to San Francisco | Direct flights for $294 roundtrip after taxes

Similar to the flights to Phoenix last week, there's another temporary member in the $200-something club from YYC. This week it's the non-stop, direct flights to San Francisco, through Air Canada (although the flights look to be operated by United Express).

http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-san-f...ip-after-taxes

Availability from March through June.

[Kipper is King]

A little Giants baseball, A's baseball, San Jose Earthquakes soccer and Sharks playoffs (possibly!) and eating cioppino? Sounds great! I'm trying to convince a buddy!

Getting a deal on a hotel in SF seems tough...

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

A little Giants baseball, A's baseball, San Jose Earthquakes soccer and Sharks playoffs (possibly!) and eating cioppino? Sounds great! I'm trying to convince a buddy!

Getting a deal on a hotel in SF seems tough...

Give AirBNB a try!

[rubecube]

Hey Chris,

Am I missing something, or does the U.S. seem to lack a lot of designated charter companies a la Transat, Sunwing, etc.? Also, do you know operates charters from YVR to Panama, and if the all-inclusives down there are worth it? I've seen a few deals and mixed reviews but can't locate the carrier.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Hey Chris,

Am I missing something, or does the U.S. seem to lack a lot of designated charter companies a la Transat, Sunwing, etc.? Also, do you know operates charters from YVR to Panama, and if the all-inclusives down there are worth it? I've seen a few deals and mixed reviews but can't locate the carrier.

Nope you're not missing anything, charter airlines offering flights to warm destinations (and Europe) are kind of a Canadian only thing. It's one area of travel where prices can actually be more competitive from Canada than from the U.S.

Air Transat is the one who offers charters from Vancouver to Panama. There's really just the Royal Decameron down in Panama that's offered as an all inclusive hotel through Transat Holidays and Nolitours (who uses the Transat flights).

Ok, there's a couple other all inclusive hotels in Panama, but the Decameron is the one that can get cheap enough to be a decent deal. The Decameron in Panama seems to be deserving of a 3 out of 5 in my opinion, certainly not a spectacular place by any means. The point being, there's not a whole lot of all inclusive hotels to choose from in Panama!

I have seen 1 week all inclusive packages to the Decameron go down into the range of $700 something per person, after taxes & fees, which is a pretty decent deal considering most people pay at least that for airfare alone to Central America. It's like getting accommodations, meals and drinks for free.

When you get into the realm of all inclusive packages though, I find a person almost needs to compare it against the big 3 of Cuba, Mexico, and the Dominican, where there are a *ton* of all inclusive resorts and you generally get the most resort for your dollar.

Unless of course you place value on the fact that it's in Panama, and not a typical all inclusive country. Flights to Panama are typically more expensive than flights to Mexico, the question becomes, does it matter to the all inclusive traveler that they're in Panama and not Mexico?

If it doesn't matter, then I'd say the traveler may as well look at packages in destinations where you're going to get the most resort for your dollar.

If the fact that you're in Panama does add value to the traveler, then I'd say considering what it would normally cost you to get a flight to Panama and accommodation, there can be some pretty good package prices from Transat on occasion.

[rubecube]

Yep, I think that's what we may end up doing. I've stayed at Decameron complexes before and they're all relatively the same, and my buddy and I have been dying to hit Panama.

I'm also looking at taking Allegiant out of Bellingham and then packaging a flight from LAX with a hotel in Panama, but it doesn't seem to save any money or time.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Air Canada has a seat sale right now (until tomorrow night) which doesn't mean a whole lot for most of its routes but if you are flying Calgary-Toronto round trip at some point between now and late June it's about $100 off of what you would normally pay. You don't get a greater discount than that usually.

[Brannigans Law]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Air Canada has a seat sale right now (until tomorrow night) which doesn't mean a whole lot for most of its routes but if you are flying Calgary-Toronto round trip at some point between now and late June it's about $100 off of what you would normally pay. You don't get a greater discount than that usually.

is 512~ to Toronto there and back really a good price tho?