Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[flamesflames444]

Hi,
Just wondering what would be a super cheap deal from Calg to Barbados... Air Canada is advertising a seat sale of $339 (not sure how much of a sale it is). I looked on the website and the regular rack rate fares going out to next Oct or Nov are around $360 each way + fees.

What's the cheapest you have seen? Reason being is Hilton is jacking up all of their redemption rates on points so I have to book something by Jan 14 or my points will be devalued by almost 50%.. so I was looking at the Hilton in Bridgetown for a week in Nov or early Dec.

Thanks!

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by flamesflames444

Hi,
Just wondering what would be a super cheap deal from Calg to Barbados... Air Canada is advertising a seat sale of $339 (not sure how much of a sale it is). I looked on the website and the regular rack rate fares going out to next Oct or Nov are around $360 each way + fees.

What's the cheapest you have seen? Reason being is Hilton is jacking up all of their redemption rates on points so I have to book something by Jan 14 or my points will be devalued by almost 50%.. so I was looking at the Hilton in Bridgetown for a week in Nov or early Dec.

Thanks!

Looks like the Air Canada ones are going for about $698 USD after tax, or about $730 CDN. I don't really see much cheaper than that for Jan/Feb. While not the worst price, I'm pretty sure I've seen cheaper.

I'd say around $550-$600 USD it would start to fall into the 'good deal' category for me. I'm pretty sure I've seen that price range to BGI before, but maybe that was off season.

[flamesflames444]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Looks like the Air Canada ones are going for about $698 USD after tax, or about $730 CDN. I don't really see much cheaper than that for Jan/Feb. While not the worst price, I'm pretty sure I've seen cheaper.

I'd say around $550-$600 USD it would start to fall into the 'good deal' category for me. I'm pretty sure I've seen that price range to BGI before, but maybe that was off season.

Wow... that was lightning fast!

Thanks again

[Tyler]

Anyone else apply for the Westjet RBC Mastercard? I wonder if there will be a yearly fee associated with the card. Looking forward to getting some Westjet dollars for my tri-yearly trip to Palm Springs

[Swift]

Hi cmyden,

I'm just a newbie here, but I've been following this thread for a while. The flight you got to Dublin at the start of the thread amazed me, and obviously I realize that was highly unusual, but I would appreciate some help in finding something similar.

Our (2 adults + 1 infant) dates for Dublin are leaving around 26-29th March and coming back on 12th April. My mother got a good price coming to Calgary in July on a site called edreams.com, so I searched on there and the best price I've found is 518 euro ($780CDN) going through Amsterdam. That's certainly the best price I've found in my searching.

Is there anything else out there? Are there likely to be better deals available in the coming weeks?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Cameron Swift

Hi cmyden,

I'm just a newbie here, but I've been following this thread for a while. The flight you got to Dublin at the start of the thread amazed me, and obviously I realize that was highly unusual, but I would appreciate some help in finding something similar.

Our (2 adults + 1 infant) dates for Dublin are leaving around 26-29th March and coming back on 12th April. My mother got a good price coming to Calgary in July on a site called edreams.com, so I searched on there and the best price I've found is 518 euro ($780CDN) going through Amsterdam. That's certainly the best price I've found in my searching.

Is there anything else out there? Are there likely to be better deals available in the coming weeks?

Hi Cameron,

Yes, that $300 something dollar flight to Dublin was definitely unusual, and most likely a mistake fare. The odds of it happening again, to the destination you want it to happen for are....well.... remote.

I took a look at the site you mentioned, and tried the dates you mentioned, but couldn't see anything lower than $1200.

1. Can you tell me what dates you're entering to get a fare of $780 CDN?

2. Any idea if that was the before or after tax price ?

3. Which 'country version' of the site are you using? I noticed that you quoted in Euros.

The cheapest I can see is about $1100 after tax, so I'd definitely be interested in finding out if it's really available for $780.

Europe is really expensive right now, even London, typically the cheapest, is close to a grand except for some January fares.

[Swift]

Oops, my mistake. You're right. The lowest price is around $1000.

They have a funky way of displaying the price on that site. They list it as $780, which actually turns out to be the average price per passenger. So, on my search there were 3 passengers, and even though the baby costs about $140, they divide the total price ($2350) evenly.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Cameron Swift

Oops, my mistake. You're right. The lowest price is around $1000.

They have a funky way of displaying the price on that site. They list it as $780, which actually turns out to be the average price per passenger. So, on my search there were 3 passengers, and even though the baby costs about $140, they divide the total price ($2350) evenly.

Ah, yeah that would have been a great find. Your best chance might be to watch for a cheap flight to London and EasyJet/RyanAir it over to Dublin.

Keep an eye on Air Transat, Thomas Cook, and now Monarch Airlines which I just noticed the other day. If any should post a fare in the sub-$600 range after taxes it'll be posted by me.

That's about the cheapest you can get to Europe these days. The sub-$600 flights were common for January, hopefully that will continue into the spring.

[cmyden]

Ok so I was browsing the TripAdvisor forums and found this thread

A deal at Dreams Punta Cana all inclusive resort for $77/night. It's a fairly decent place...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Republic.html

and from what I can see, kids under 12 are free.

Some caveats ...

1. This is only valid for dates in September and October. The Caribbean hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30.

During the month of October the temperature in the area starts to decrease. The temperature range from 31ºC (88ºF) in the middle of the day to 23ºC (73ºF) in the night time. While some tropical storms might hit the area is way less frequent than in September. Don’t forget that the very high humidity can make the temperature feel higher than it is. Similar to September the month of October is quite rainy with an average rainfall of 6.5 inches of rain. The UV index for this month lowers a bit (10) but is still quite elevated.

2. Flights are around $1000 at the moment. Of course, it's way too early for any flight deals and who knows if you can even get one for the dates you pick. There's flights right now on Air Transat in January to Punta Cana for around $450 all in.



Anyways not sure if anyone can take advantage of this but thought I'd share it.

cM

[Scoopdogg]

Hello cmyden.

I'm looking for a one way flight from John Wayne airport in Anaheim (SNA) to Phoenix AZ (PHX) for May 1st. I need 3 tickets plus an infant. The best I can find is on the southwest site for $69 each with a grand total of $239.10 USD.

Do you think that's pretty good or is there cheaper flights out there.

Thanks

Scoopdogg

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Scoopdogg

Hello cmyden.

I'm looking for a one way flight from John Wayne airport in Anaheim (SNA) to Phoenix AZ (PHX) for May 1st. I need 3 tickets plus an infant. The best I can find is on the southwest site for $69 each with a grand total of $239.10 USD.

Do you think that's pretty good or is there cheaper flights out there.

Thanks

Scoopdogg

That's after tax I take it? US Airways is $80 USD/person after taxes, about the same.

Only thing you'd maybe want to check is the infant policy for each and maybe the baggage fees.

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/...ge-fees-chart/

Believe SW is free, at least it was, so that's probably the way to go.

Oh and LAX -> PHX is showing for $60/person, but probably not worth it (traffic etc).

[Scoopdogg]

I know Southwest doesn't charge baggage fees and anyone who travels with kids will know that is very important as you have alot of extra bags to check. Thanks for having a look.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Scoopdogg

I know Southwest doesn't charge baggage fees and anyone who travels with kids will know that is very important as you have alot of extra bags to check. Thanks for having a look.

Yeah I think SouthWest is pretty hard to beat for short flights within the U.S.

[Swarly]

hey cmyden,
I have a couple friends looking to go to vegas from Feb 12-16 or 13-17, any deals around that time? straight flight deals or flight/hotel deals would be great. Thanks

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Any tips on when the deals come out for Disneyworld or Florida?

we're looking late july but all the deals seem to end in June.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Swarly

hey cmyden,
I have a couple friends looking to go to vegas from Feb 12-16 or 13-17, any deals around that time? straight flight deals or flight/hotel deals would be great. Thanks

The WestJet packages look pretty pricey for that week. Imperial Palace is at $832/person, ouch. Best deal looks like Mirage for $931 (13-17)

If you try building one yourself, cheapest flight is $591 USD on United (13-17). Your lower end 4*'s on the strip look to be around $108/night (Monte Carlo, Bally's). So that would be $807 USD/person or about $850 CDN.

Treasure Island looks like maybe the best deal at $140/night or $871 USD/person for 4 nights.

Keep in mind though this is on a United flight with stopovers (1 on the way down, 2 on the way back) compared to a WestJet package that would be direct.

There are also flights on Delta for $614/person on the 12-16 with 1 stopover each way. Hotels look slightly more expensive, but about the same range.


Can also look at the 'flight + hotel' packages on Travelocity or Expedia. Treasure Island is showing for $696 USD/person for 13-17. Looks like an Alaska Airlines flight with 1 stop each way. Apparently there's also a $90 'resort fee' upon checkout.


Overall, the prices don't seem too great for those dates. That week seems inflated for most everywhere.

[Neeper]

Qlop[
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[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Neeper

Qlop[
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My thoughts exactly.

[FlamesKickAss]

Why is Canada the only country to totally ban carry on luggage to the States?

And for a 7:50 am flight to the states would you still need to show up 3 hours before hand like it says on Catsa's website?

[malcolmk14]

Hi Chris,

Excellent work with this thread and all the other work you've done. Really awesome.

Anyway, me and a couple friends are looking at something for reading week. Requirements are:

1) open water, we want to try get our PADI certificates while we're down there.
2) over 25 degrees, gotta be nice!
3) all-inclusive, we like to drink and eat.

Dates are Feb 13-22 (we're looking for 7 nights in that range).

Think you could find anything good?

Thanks in advance,

Malcolm