Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[cmyden]

May flights to the UK just dropped - ~$633 roundtrip after tax

I've been waiting for these ones to drop, May is the unofficial start of the Europe travel season.



And right on cue, Air Transat has dropped their prices pretty much exactly a month ahead of departure, to London (LGW) and Manchester (MAN).

Play around with the flexible date search on airtransat.ca

screenshot:



There's actually one for $583 after tax, but that's a pretty short trip (May 14-19).

[Super_Jason]

Hey, do you think Calgary to Toronto tickets will drop in price for summer 2011? I noticed that outside of summer, it tends to stay at $200+ fares but that's probably due to business travel but will the demand drop during summer time?

Also, thinking about going to NYC as well. I hope WestJet has a seat sale to New York :P I can't believe I missed their $72 seat sale to New York two years ago because I already booked for Vancouver which was $79 -facepalm-

[Calgary Highlander]

Hi cmyden. We're looking to go to Pakistan over the summer but can't seem to find anything affordable. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated. We're extremley flexible with dates.

[cmyden]

There's another cheap one to Puerto Vallarta - $248 roundtrip after tax

Just like we saw last week, AirCanadaVacations has dropped another one at the last minute.

Try April 16-23 over at http://www.aircanadavacations.com

screenshot:


Also, if you haven't heard, Air Canada is planning to launch a low cost carrier to compete with the likes of Air Transat. Competition is always good news for prices.

Twitter - http://twitter.com/YYCdeals

cM

[cmyden]

Calgary to Philadelphia - $456 roundtrip after tax, throughout the schedule

Anyone who's tried to book a flight to the eastern U.S. (New York, Philly, etc) lately knows that the days of sub $500 flights appear to be long gone. It's rare to even see them drop below $700 roundtrip after tax now.

But Continental just slashed their flights to Philly throughout their schedule, down to about $456 roundtrip after tax. Even December 20-27 has dropped!

Look for Tue/Wed/Thu/Sat to Tue/Wed/Thu/Sat flights over on Continental.com right now.

Here's the screenshot:



@YYCdeals on Twitter.

[cmyden]

This week's Blue Tag Thursday deal is to New York and cities in California.

Pretty good price to Newark if you can find the cheap ones. Works out to $397 roundtrip after tax. San Fran works out to $313.

http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/deal...thursday.shtml

[Scrollbar]

I wish the NHL would release the schedule now so I can plan my football/hockey trips to the states. do you think these delas will be around?

[cmyden]

Calgary to Croatia - $771 roundtrip after tax

Last August, you might remember that I mentioned Condor Airlines was coming back to Calgary and how I hoped that would put some downward pressure on Europe prices.



Well, it's definitely helped. Condor seems to have just dropped some prices in a major way. One of the most interesting flights to me is this one to Zagreb, Croatia at the end of August.

Try this...

1. Go to Condor's site - http://www.condor.com

2. In the top right, change it to English (Usa/Canada) so that we can get prices in Canadian dollars.

3. Now let's search for a flight in the search box.

From: Calgary to Zagreb
Dates: August 29 to September 9

This is what you'll see... (screenshot)



To give you an idea of how ridiculous a price that is, the next cheapest flight using any date combination anywhere near that is on Air Canada for about $1900 roundtrip after tax. This one is a good 60% cheaper.

You can click on 'Previous flights' to scroll around and see what it costs on different dates.

Another thing you might want to try at this point is changing the airport from Zagreb to other European cities. They've fallen as well.

For example, Frankfurt is down to about $648 roundtrip after tax. Salzburg, Austria is about $800. Venice is $900ish.

But this one to Zagreb really caught my eye, because deals to Croatia are virtually non-existent.

Oh and that picture above? That's Plitvice Lakes park in Croatia, a pretty amazing place, an absolute must-do.


My attempt to answer the question I get asked the most -

Should I buy my flight now or wait?

http://yycdeals.com/should-i-buy-my-...asked-the-most

^^^^ Read it!

No matter how many times I tell people that airfare prices can't be predicted, this question always comes up in some form or another, so I've decided to write an article that I can start referencing people to.

cM

[Codes]

One of my favourite things about this thread, Cmyden, is that you post some stunning pictures of places I would have never seen.

Beautiful!

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Codes

One of my favourite things about this thread, Cmyden, is that you post some stunning pictures of places I would have never seen.

Beautiful!

I'd like to say I spend hours scouring for that one perfect picture, but the truth is it's just a Google image search and I pick the one that jumps out at me - I can vouch for the beauty of Plitvice though, I was lucky to go there in 2005.

Just as an update guys, Zurich, Switzerland is down to as cheap as $626 RT after tax on Condor, try Sep 2 to 9 for example.

Don't forget you could also look for cheap one ways to one city, and cheap one ways back from another.

[Gundo]

Condor doesn't seem to offer a Frankfurt to Budapest flight from Aug. 15 - Aug. 29. Any other suggestions for cheap inter-Europe airlines?

and on a side note the Croatian coast line is BEAUTIFUL! We spend a couple days there when I was in Hungary 6 years ago.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Gundo

Condor doesn't seem to offer a Frankfurt to Budapest flight from Aug. 15 - Aug. 29. Any other suggestions for cheap inter-Europe airlines?

and on a side note the Croatian coast line is BEAUTIFUL! We spend a couple days there when I was in Hungary 6 years ago.

Lufthansa has flights for $217 roundtrip after tax, not exactly dirt cheap for inter-Europe but not terrible. And I don't think you'd have the bag fees.

Try it on ebookers.com - it's at 111.00 pounds, which might be cheaper after the conversion.

2005? That's when I was in Croatia/Hungary as well. I think Croatia was just getting back on it's tourism feet. Well, I guess it had been 10 years since the war, but people were still a little afraid. Some people call Dubrovnik the most beautiful city in Europe, hard to argue.

[Gundo]

My wife is from Hungry so we are fortunate enough to have free room and board while we are there with her family members. We might just rent a car and drive from Frankfurt to Budapest with a 2 day stay in Austria on the way there. And if we do rent a car we were thinking of taking 4-5 days and doing a mini Italy trip possibly Venice & Rome possibly going to Monaco to see what its all about. Any suggestions on some do not miss sights in Italy

[Boblobla]

I sent you a PM.

[cmyden]

Another cheap last minuter to Chicago - $341 roundtrip after tax

If you read my article 'Should I buy my flight now or wait?' you may have noticed that I mentioned last minute flights on major carriers are *rarely* cheap. And that's true.



But American Airlines has offered up another one of those rare flights. At $341 roundtrip after tax this isn't just cheap for a last minute flight to Chicago (avg cost, about $900 roundtrip after tax) but cheap for a flight to Chicago *any* time (avg cost, about $700 roundtrip after tax)

Try Apr 23-26 over at http://www.AA.com



If you've got Easter Monday off, and are looking for a great deal, you might want to have a look.

[cmyden]

Update on Chicago - The AA price has now sold out, but interestingly enough, Delta has matched it, but into Chicago's other airport (MDW).


Try April 23 to 26 on Delta.com from Calgary to MDW
It's showing as $337 roundtrip after tax. The Delta flights however, have 1 stopover.


screenshot:





Update on the cheap Condor flights


There's some in and out of Zagreb for as cheap as $706 roundtrip after tax in September! Try Sep 12-26 for example. Same goes for Warsaw, Poland. Various other European cities in the $800 and under range, including Munich during Oktoberfest. Prague is another one that's cheap.

[Kybosh]

Some of those Condor flights are really intriguing. I have to do some serious pondering in the next couple days.

[MacGruber]

this is great news, all these seat sales. you keep hearing about how seat sales dont exist or are being phased out, but i have no doubt in my mind that as long as you are willing to be flexible with your destination, our good friend here chris will help you get an amazing deal. cheers!

[Captain_Obvious]

Hey cmyden,

Any advice on a possible trip from Calgary to Hamburg, Germany?

Dates are flexible as long as I'm there for July 2nd.

Was hoping to go final week of June, returning first week of July.

Cheers

[Hi-Psi]

Just to give everyone a heads up, Croatia can start to get quite a bit colder in Sept/Oct so I would keep that in mind if you're planning a vacation around that time. It's still warm, just not as nice as during the summer and a lot of the ferries stop running around that time too.

I was in the area the summer before last in Sept and had to skip Croatia due to the ferries not running and the weather being mediocre.