Airfare from Edmonton...Oh My!

[dis_guy]

I've been watching the fares from YEG to MCO and our dates for Christmas 09 have finally come up.

How does CAD $5,933.40 sound for the 4 of us on United? Northwest was worse and even WestJet is in the $4100 range! True, these are not the bottom rung prices, but they aren't exactly "prime time" flights either.

Oh well, I'll keep watching. After all I do have until Nov. to cancel if we need to! :confused3

[Tantor]

It is still way to early. You will most likely have better prices by Sept.
I have signed up for WJ and Air Canada web sales to come to my email. That does help as they usually have fairly good sales.

[Disney_Mama]

Around the same price out East as well.

[Sillyminny40]

I've been watching the fares from YEG to MCO and our dates for Christmas 09 have finally come up.
How does CAD $5,933.40 sound for the 4 of us on United? Northwest was worse and even WestJet is in the $4100 range! True, these are not the bottom rung prices, but they aren't exactly "prime time" flights either.
Oh well, I'll keep watching. After all I do have until Nov. to cancel if we need to! :confused3
Oh you will find better prices come the fall. Do not rush. We got 5 of us for $2300 on WJ for this month. Direct from Wpg. We LOVE Westjet. You have to get on that WJ email list, also Air Canada as Tantor above suggests. With WJ you have to be prepared to book online immediately or you will lose that great price. You also have to be very flexible and lose some school days but it is worth it.
Do not forget Southwest Air going through Minneapolis can offer some good prices at times. Expedia etc is not always the best price either.

[Tantor]

Oh you will find better prices come the fall. Do not rush. We got 5 of us for $2300 on WJ for this month. Direct from Wpg. We LOVE Westjet. You have to get on that WJ email list, also Air Canada as Tantor above suggests. With WJ you have to be prepared to book online immediately or you will lose that great price. You also have to be very flexible and lose some school days but it is worth it.
Do not forget Southwest Air going through Minneapolis can offer some good prices at times. Expedia etc is not always the best price either.

yes I found going directly on the WJ and AC websites , I agree Expedia does not always show the best prices.
A lot of people think you have to book so far ahead, you don't. Just keep watching the deals and when you like the deal book it. But don't book so far ahead. That's a common mistake people do. ( I've booked one month ahead of a trip and gotten a great deal!)

[ABCanada]

We booked this time last year for 2008 xmas, tickets were under $400 all in pp. Have been watching and have not seen anything near that.
The Canadian airlines do tend to have specials as you get closer to the dates. Over the last few years with the US airlines it seemed to be that the less expensive seats were offered immediately and sold out quickly (this may have changed).
Air Canada did have a special for Christmas for about three days a week ago, tickets were $600 YEG to MCO return at Christmas.
Agree with the suggestion above to get on their email list. Also check Wed & Sat that seems to be when they announce their special. Also Kayak.com has a good page that shows the recent lows by month for a specific destination.

Very jealous of Calgary and Wpg with direct WJ flights. Canadian airlines from Edmonton, while nicer to fly on, tend to be much longer flights. I would take 7 hours of lower service over 13 of even WJ.

Good luck. Post if you get a good price.

[BraMax]

I've been watching the fares from YEG to MCO and our dates for Christmas 09 have finally come up.

How does CAD $5,933.40 sound for the 4 of us on United? Northwest was worse and even WestJet is in the $4100 range! True, these are not the bottom rung prices, but they aren't exactly "prime time" flights either.

Oh well, I'll keep watching. After all I do have until Nov. to cancel if we need to! :confused3

Which is why we go to Disneyland in California :lmao: . I don't want to pay the expense of flying to Orlando lol. But I am also willing to :drive: to Calgary to get a better price and flight times, even though I live 15 minutes from the airport.

[Sillyminny40]

Very jealous of Calgary and Wpg with direct WJ flights. Canadian airlines from Edmonton, while nicer to fly on, tend to be much longer flights. I would take 7 hours of lower service over 13 of even WJ.

Good luck. Post if you get a good price.

Well, we have never had a direct flight to MCO before so this is exciting! Thanks for being jealous, lol!::yes::

[chimo2u]

We fly from Edmonton too, and my husband wanted to fly only with a Canadian carrier this trip... we hated flying United through Chicago. Well, I had been watching flights all year... nothing under $4000.00 for our family of four. Until... the AC 50% off sale in Dec. We grabbed flights with good schedules at $620.00 pp... a bit higher than the $375.00 pp we paid to fly United in Jan/08....but much better than I had been seeing all year...The boys enjoy the service through AC direct much better... gotta have the inflight entertainment, or at least a radio, LOL! :)

[ABCanada]

... we hated flying United through Chicago. :)

Chicago is a connection to avoid. We have never had an issue with the United Denver connection. You do need to bring your own entertainment for the Edmonton - Denver leg.

[dis_guy]

Chicago is a connection to avoid. We have never had an issue with the United Denver connection. You do need to bring your own entertainment for the Edmonton - Denver leg.

Agreed regarding ORD. Way too likely a chance of a weather delay or any storm anywhere in the NE keeping your plane from arriving on time.

I love Denver, huge United terminal but very easy to navigate. Spring can be fun flying into and out of DEN, lots of chop coming over the mountains.

Many don't like the smaller CRJ but I just love them. We were at 36000 ft and were getting a bit of turbulence, the pilot smoothly brought on the engines and we rapidly left the bumps behind and were rocking along at 40000 ft. Sometimes I wonder if the A320s will even get off the ground compared to the way the CRJ climbs! :)

[joech]

I've been watching the fares from YEG to MCO and our dates for Christmas 09 have finally come up.

How does CAD $5,933.40 sound for the 4 of us on United? Northwest was worse and even WestJet is in the $4100 range! True, these are not the bottom rung prices, but they aren't exactly "prime time" flights either.

Oh well, I'll keep watching. After all I do have until Nov. to cancel if we need to! :confused3

It really depends on the day of your travel. We bought our tickets in Feb 08 for our last christmas trips and the tickets never go on sale. Our tickets were $1500 each Leaving YYC on Dec 5th to MCO and returning on Jan 4th. It was fortune I used my airmiles for 2 of the tickets.

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Count us among those flying from YEG to MCO ... while we've never traveled to WDW in December, we have gone in January, May and October. I religiously watch airfares and it seems the fares we got a year or so ago for $350/pp return are no longer :sad1: Fares for our May 2009 trip are running around $710/pp. Same with our October 2009 trip ...

[tpettie]

[QUOTE=Cdn Friends of Pooh;30050005][FONT="Century Gothic"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"][B]Count us among those flying from YEG to MCO

Us too we are joining the Price watch for YEG to MCO too. Hoping for seat sale for Nov 30 - Dec 09/09 :thumbsup2

[ABCanada]

Fares for our May 2009 trip are running around $710/pp.
Check www.kayak.com I saw some flights coming in at about $500 US from Edmonton and as low as $369 US if you are willing to drive to Calgary.

I think we should all lobby WJ for a direct flight from Edmonton.

[dis_guy]

[COLOR="Purple"][ religiously watch airfares and it seems the fares we got a year or so ago for $350/pp return are no longer :sad1: /COLOR]

That's about what we paid in for our last trip Mar-Apr 2008. In fact I had a peek when we got back and could've gone back immediately for around $250 pp! Those days are gone I'm afraid.:sad:

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Check www.kayak.com I saw some flights coming in at about $500 US from Edmonton and as low as $369 US if you are willing to drive to Calgary.

I think we should all lobby WJ for a direct flight from Edmonton.

Unfortunately that's the problem, we have a 45 min drive to the airport as it is (we're up in St. Albert) and really don't want to have to drive another 2 1/2 hours to Calgary to catch a plane

[dis_guy]

Well, the way WJ is adding new routes like Ft Lauderdale and direct flights from Winnipeg to MCO, maybe a direct from YEG once a week might be something they may try. Who knows? I'm at the stage in life where I don't mind breaking a long trip into a couple of shorter legs just to move around a bit. Spent too much of my younger life in small, cold cockpits for hours and hours on end. :rotfl2:

[chimo2u]

Unfortunately that's the problem, we have a 45 min drive to the airport as it is (we're up in St. Albert) and really don't want to have to drive another 2 1/2 hours to Calgary to catch a plane

:wave2: Howdy "neighbour" :) We are in Morinville, and we know what you mean about the drive, LOL.... it would be so nice if they had a direct flight from Edmonton. I also paid $350/pp last Jan for our flights, but grabbed AC flights at $620/pp when they went on sale in DEC. I think I got the best deal we will get this year, as I have religiously watched the flights all year as well.... And the flights I paid 620 for are now up to about $1000.00 each again...:scared1:

[CupidsKiss]

We just booked for Sept. We are driving down to Seattle as we found roundtrip for 5 on Airtran for $1500 Canadian.
That was with trip insurance and all the extra fees/surcharges. Under half of what we were finding out of Vancouver.

[mom2faith]

I have to agree with PP that flights are up from last year, but those prices are very high!! You should be able to get it for about $500 pp if you wait a bit more.

Also, check all of the airlines: NWA, Delta, United, etc. Last year we flew NWA for $325 pp tax in (keeping in mind the CDN $ was par). This year that same flight is $600 pp (and this is the same time that we booked).

Keep checking and like PP said, sign up for the emails. DH and I have a circuit we do and we said as soon as we got it for less than $1800 taxes, surcharges, etc in, we would book. And we did, about an hour ago.

Also, check different times a day. For example - this morning our return flight on A/C was $297 and this afternoon it was $238. For the 3 of us, that saves us $150!!

Just remember, the US flights (including the ones sold through Air Canada) have luggage fees of $15 each for Bag #1 and $25 each for Bag #2 (US dollars), so that is $40US per person you have to consider as well.

But, I would keep checking! Have a price you want, and the first time you see it at that price, GO FOR IT!! Because a lot of those good deals don't last long (especially during peak travel time like Christmas)

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I have to agree with PP that flights are up from last year, but those prices are very high!! You should be able to get it for about $500 pp if you wait a bit more.

Also, check all of the airlines: NWA, Delta, United, etc. Last year we flew NWA for $325 pp tax in (keeping in mind the CDN $ was par). This year that same flight is $600 pp (and this is the same time that we booked).

Keep checking and like PP said, sign up for the emails. DH and I have a circuit we do and we said as soon as we got it for less than $1800 taxes, surcharges, etc in, we would book. And we did, about an hour ago.

Also, check different times a day. For example - this morning our return flight on A/C was $297 and this afternoon it was $238. For the 3 of us, that saves us $150!!

Just remember, the US flights (including the ones sold through Air Canada) have luggage fees of $15 each for Bag #1 and $25 each for Bag #2 (US dollars), so that is $40US per person you have to consider as well.

But, I would keep checking! Have a price you want, and the first time you see it at that price, GO FOR IT!! Because a lot of those good deals don't last long (especially during peak travel time like Christmas)

I agree 100%

BTW - where in SK are you?

[CrazyDisneyMommy1]

We were looking for flights for 15 of us last July for Xmas 08. YEG to MCO was crazy. We ended up flying YEG to Tampa. It was $400 pp cheaper. We paid $650 each. Still high... but for the mouse.
Then we were looking for this May about three weeks ago and tried MCO, high still, so we tried and Tampa and got flights for $380 each Canadian. Woo Hoo!~!!! Using the flexible dates of 3 plus or minus days really helps if you can move your dates a bit. Good Luck!!!!

[mom2faith]

I agree 100%

BTW - where in SK are you?

Just outside of Sunny Saskatoon!!! (Sunny, but not warm, brrrrr it is -21 today!!!)

[skiloff]

Doesn't sound like Edmonton has any better flights than Saskatoon. Lucky Peggers get a direct flight! We went December 2007 and got our tickets from NW for about $1800 for the 4 of us. Cheaper than AC or WJ and had a better flight - just one stop in Minneapolis and we were at MCO by 2:30 in the afternoon - still had time to do a park stop the first day.