Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Kalispell to Chicago - $200 roundtrip after taxes - any date

Darn, is this deal already dead? I tried some dates but couldn't find anything on Delta or otherwise...

We enjoy heading down to Kalispell every now and then to do some shopping, but it would be sweet to use it to bookend a cheap 4 day trip to Chicago...

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Darn, is this deal already dead? I tried some dates but couldn't find anything on Delta or otherwise...

We enjoy heading down to Kalispell every now and then to do some shopping, but it would be sweet to use it to bookend a cheap 4 day trip to Chicago...

Unfortunately that one barely lasted a day. Hard to say what it was, maybe Delta forgot to load some fuel surcharges on their fares. It was a pretty unusual drop to Chicago, haven't seen it happen before from Kalispell.

[fundmark19]

I'm always to slow to decide are all the Philly deals in June gone now?

[cmyden]

This one seems to be one of my most popular posts yet...

Calgary to Belize or Costa Rica - $634 roundtrip after taxes - throughout winter

United, American Airlines, Continental, and Delta just engaged in a serious fare ware to Central America!

They've made an unadvertised price drop to Belize City (BZE) and Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) down to $634 roundtrip after taxes.

The most affected prices look to be between now and January 2012, although the rest of 2012 looks to have dropped as well.

Belize is probably the most interesting to me, as Belize *never* seems to go on sale and almost always bottoms out at around $1000 roundtrip after tax.



There's also the fact that United's fairly quick, and relatively uncomplicated flights to Belize are part of the drop. There are a lot of complicated flights to Belize out there.

And on top of that, even Christmas looks to be available, which is amazing in and of itself.

So let's start with a sample search to Belize over Christmas...

http://www.kayak.com/flights/YYC-BZE...01-04-flexible

Nice!

But try a flexible date search on Kayak between now and January 2012 to Belize City (BZE) and see what comes up for you.

The other thing you should do is click on 'Stops' to make sure you're finding fast flights. Look for ones that are 1 stop each way in Houston. United looks to be the fastest.

screenshot:



In addition to Belize City, you can find similar prices to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR). You can also try Costa Rica's other major airport, San Jose (SJO) but prices are higher.

Roatan, Honduras (RTB) is another one that is part of this fare war.

No, I have no idea how long it will be available. It's an unadvertised drop,and can come and go at any time.

[Ozy_Flame]

Not that I've been there, but I remember watching some news channel clip on how Belize City is like Latin America's version of Mogadishu. Somehow I think their beaches are better though.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Not that I've been there, but I remember watching some news channel clip on how Belize City is like Latin America's version of Mogadishu. Somehow I think their beaches are better though.

I think comparing the level of safety in Somalia to Belize might be a bit of a stretch.

That would be like saying Edmonton is Canada's version of Mogadishu. I guess the analogy would make sense, but doesn't really offer an accurate picture.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Scotland and other UK destinations - $568 to $592 roundtrip after taxes

Air Transat has been putting the axe to their late September and October prices, notably to...

Glasgow, Scotland
London, England
Manchester, England

October 19-26 from Calgary to Glasgow looks to be the cheapest ($568) but other dates in late September and early October aren't much more.



Late September/Early October seems to have the cheap ones to London Gatwick ($589) and Manchester ($592).

To find them, you can try a flexible date search on www.AirTransat.ca

You can use these cheap fares to go anywhere in Europe for a good price. For example, I've been thinking of going to Turkey, and you can fly between London and Istanbul for around $232 roundtrip after taxes on Air France.

That makes for a total cost of around $800 for the two flights, versus around $1300 for one flight between Calgary and Turkey.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Seattle - $267 roundtrip after taxes - Oct to Dec

It looks like Alaska Airlines just dropped the price of their flights to Seattle down to $267 roundtrip after taxes.

Seattle is a nice little getaway city from Calgary, but fares always seem to hover over $400 these days and it's rare to see them drop lower than that. It's nice to see a 33% drop off that bottom price.



The date range affected looks to be between now and early December. The date selection looks to be very good, with most days of the week affected by the drop.

Here's an example search in October...

http://www.kayak.com/flights/#YYC-SE...10-26-flexible

screenshot:

[Mista_Incognito]

Chris,

I just wanted to give you props for finding and sharing all these great flight prices with fellow travel junkies like myself.

If I personally thanked you every time you brought a great deal to my attention then your inbox would be overloaded. Its clear that you are passionate for travel and experiencing the world and I imagine your deals have opened up many people to new worlds and experiences.

Thanks so much and keep up the great work!

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Mista_Incognito

Chris,

I just wanted to give you props for finding and sharing all these great flight prices with fellow travel junkies like myself.

If I personally thanked you every time you brought a great deal to my attention then your inbox would be overloaded. Its clear that you are passionate for travel and experiencing the world and I imagine your deals have opened up many people to new worlds and experiences.

Thanks so much and keep up the great work!

Thanks man, I really appreciate that!

It truly is my favorite part, hearing from people that took a trip somewhere that they might not otherwise have thought of, or went to a place they didn't think they would ever get to go.

This is my favorite way for people to give me a thanks...



^^ Portugal, from someone who took advantage of a flight for $281 roundtrip after taxes this summer (from Toronto).

[Eb0la11]

I recently got a round trip from YYC to ATL for 387 after taxes. The trip also landed in ATL the day before American Thanksgiving, which usually should mean this flight is about 2x this price.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Eb0la11

I recently got a round trip from YYC to ATL for 387 after taxes. The trip also landed in ATL the day before American Thanksgiving, which usually should mean this flight is about 2x this price.

Nice find! Was that on United ?

[cmyden]

Another cheap one to Cabo - $221 roundtrip after taxes

You may remember that back around Labour Day there were some ridiculously cheap flights to Los Cabos, Mexico.

Well it looks like AirCanadaVacations has dropped another one, for anyone that can leave last minute.



Try searching for a flight from Calgary to 'All Mexico' on AirCanadaVacations.com (different from AirCanada.com)

Use the dates of September 24 to October 1.

screenshot:



Direct each way.

[cmyden]

Air Canada: 15% off anywhere they fly.

link: http://www.aircanada.com/en/offers/a.../discount.html

Save 15% off all fares to any Canadian, U.S., International or Sun destination that we serve.

To get your discount, simply enter this promotion code when booking right here at aircanada.com:
Promotion code
FLYDEC15

Travel within Canada and to the USA, including Hawaii: discount applies on both Air Canada operated and codeshare flights
Valid for travel until December 15, 2011.
Book by September 25, 2011 midnight, from your city of departure.

Travel to the rest of our destinations worldwide: discount applies only on Air Canada operated (codeshare flights are excluded)

Promotion code
FLYFEB29


Valid for travel until February 29, 2012.
Book by September 25, 2011 midnight, from your city of departure.

[cmyden]

Westjet: 15% off anywhere they fly - [expires: September 25th]

link: http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/deal...pc-ge-20110922

Save an extra 15% off all destinations on new online bookings.

To redeem this offer, bookings must be made on westjet.com. Both the promo code PCR95 and coupon code 6LU4ZWI are required at the time of booking on the first page of the booking process. Bookings must be made by September 25, 2011 (9:59 p.m. MT) For Canadian and U.S. destinations travel must occur before December 15, 2011. For international destinations travel must occur before February 29, 2012. 15% off promo code cannot be used when booking blue tag sale fares.

[Captain_Obvious]

Anyone have experience visiting Cuba?

Looking for something in Jan / Feb... flexible dates looking for the best price.

Is an all inclusive package the best way to go? Or flights and hotel separate?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Captain_Obvious

Anyone have experience visiting Cuba?

Looking for something in Jan / Feb... flexible dates looking for the best price.

Is an all inclusive package the best way to go? Or flights and hotel separate?

When it comes to booking your flights separately to Cuba it means looking for charter flights through one of the Canadian tour operators, or flights on Westjet/AC. Flights on U.S. carriers are out, since they don't fly to Cuba.

Those same charter flights are what the Canadian tour operators use when building their 'all inclusive packages'. As to whether you can 'beat' them or not by booking your own all inclusive hotel, well, that depends on how good a hotel deal you can find.

In my experience, all inclusive packages from the Canadian tour operators are quite competitively priced, just because there's so much competition. You do see the occasional crazy flight deal to Cuba, but it's usually from cities out East. There was one from Calgary last year though ($147 roundtrip after taxes to Varadero). But that's pretty rare!

[fundmark19]

Are there any tricks to flying last min? I may need to fly down to Tampa on Oct 11th and return on 14th. Right now it is looking at 500 ish round trip which isn't terrible. The bad part is I don't know if I need to make the trip untill earliest Oct 3rd latest Oct 6th. Is kayak still the best resourse to use?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Are there any tricks to flying last min? I may need to fly down to Tampa on Oct 11th and return on 14th. Right now it is looking at 500 ish round trip which isn't terrible. The bad part is I don't know if I need to make the trip untill earliest Oct 3rd latest Oct 6th. Is kayak still the best resourse to use?

Unfortunately there's no tricks, and to most destinations, on most flights, last minute flying is usually expensive.

Some exceptions are charter flights which do occasionally heavily discount last minute flights. There aren't any of those from Calgary to Florida though.

If you look a week ahead from now though, flights to Tampa aren't terrible, so you should be ok, unless there's a sudden surge of demand. Florida is routinely one of the cheaper places to get to from Calgary (although Tampa is usually a little more than Orlando or Miami).

Kayak is definitely where I would look and will cover all the bases when it comes to getting to Tampa. They've recently implemented a feature they call 'hacker fares', a name they've given to imply you're getting away with something, but really it's just looking for combinations of one way flights on separate airlines that might be cheaper than booking a roundtrip on a single airline. One could always do this of course, but they've made them easier to find.

For example you can see there are flights going down on Delta and back on US Airways that are cheaper than any roundtrip flight on a single airline.

[TimSJ]

hey all,

The wife and i are heding to Vegas for the first time dec 2-6 (fri-tues). She is participating in a half Marathon that they hold on the stip on sunday night. Trying to figure out the best place to stay.

The start finish line is at Mandalay Bay. She would like to stay there so it is easy to get to the start etc and anther couple that is going with us (his wife is diong the race as well) are staying there. Problem is that it is sold out on the sunday night.

I am leaning towards the following 3 options: 4 Seasons at Manalay Bay($229 night), The Venetian($129 night), or the Wynn/Encore ($170 night).

My wife's friends husband and i are looking to play a little golf so some suggestions there as well would be great.

thoughts or suggestions: