A vent..

[minnie56]

I have a flight to FLL in November that I paid $267 for all taxes in with AC.
Today-I booked a flight to Quebec City with Porter..

Base Fare: $208.00
Air Traveller Security Charge: $14.24
NAV and Surcharges: $46.00
Airport Improvement Fee: $45.00
Harmonized Sales Tax: $37.48
GST: $1.25
QST: $1.97
------------------
Total Fare Price: $353.94


HUH??? What am I missing?
So much for encouraging us to keep our dollars at home! Where's the incentive?

 

[rodeo65]

Wow.

I think I'm glad DH won't fly.

 

[Tower]

HUH??? What am I missing?
So much for encouraging us to keep our dollars at home! Where's the incentive?

Porter never advertised themselves as a discount airline. Their motto is 'Flying Refined'. I've checked their prices before and was never impressed.
It's all supply and demand. If there are many flights to a popular destination, you can expect lower flight costs. Of course, you already know this, but I'm helping you vent.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

My Best fare on a trip from YHZ - YQB with Porter leaving Oct 5 and returning Oct 7 is $2,639.90.

I'm driving .....

 

[photomama]

yep, it SUCKS!

We got $99 dollar flights to San Franscisco for my family of 3, after taxes we almost paid $1000 dollars. Yep, 200+ in taxes Westjet

 

[grantclaire]

Drives us crazy as well! Would like to fly within Canada for vacation but the flight prices are very high. Plus the CDN $ keeps us looking south.

 

[webworm]

Ya I see Porter has some flights for $69.00 ow or $274.84 rt. So let me get this the airfare is $138.00 but the taxes and what's piled on top are $136.84. The garbage on top is almost the same as actual airfare or 49.8% of the total fare. It is ridiculous that it cost so much to fly anywhere in this country.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I hate to say it, but high airfares are the major reason we go to DL for vacation instead of WDW. I did some checking and airfare to MCO was close to $4000CDN at the AC site, but when I check the Alaska airlines website flying from Seattle, the prices were almost 1/2 less. Still $2000 is a bit high for a family of 4 to fly, so we're driving down to DL in Feb, instead of flying to WDW for our family vacation.

 

[rance]

The canadian government uses canadian airlines as a cash cow and it is ruining the industry.
I don't know why canadians don't revolt against all the gov't fees.

If I buy a $200 shirt the tax is approx. $26.

If I buy a $200 airfare the taxes added up to $125. ***

 

[ABCanada]

Sore point for me as well. Rant to follow.

I do believe in user pay so feel it is fair to pay for security and NAV costs, although I have concerns about the efficiency and wish there was accountability. Government agencies and the like that have the ability to basically tax us seem to have no accountability so the costs go up.

It is the Airport Improvement Fees and the Airport Authorities that I find the most frustrating.

Here is an example for a one way ticket Edmonton to Orlando.
Base Fare :

Fare 178.99 CAD
GST: 11.54 CAD
HST: 3.25 CAD
AIF: 45.00 CAD
ATSC: 24.21 CAD
US Taxes and Fees:
28.83 CAD
NAV/Ins:
7.50 CAD
299.32 CAD

Not only do we get to pay $20 AIF to Edmonton we are charged $25 plus HST to Toronto Airport for the pleasure of having to connect there if the connection is more than three hours or so (not certain what the break point is under this time it is only $8)

Given
-the amount of money the Edmonton Airport Authority spends on advertising telling us how wonderful they are
-the amount they charge for parking (cost me $8 to drop my daughter off and wait for her flight to leave)
-the bonuses they pay their executives
I would think they could redirect some of this money to pay for what ever improvements are needed.

Reduce the AIF and improve the service and they would not have to pay for advertising to say they are doing a good job.

They advertise that
-there is a new direct flight when they lost that direct flight less than a year before
-that you should not be flying from Calgary (which has much better flights)
-that they win awards for advertising (given by the advertisers, suspect it might have something to do with the $ they spend)

 

[jtdl]

Yup, same as the all inclusive specials you see in the Sunday newspaper - "Cuba, all inclusive, 7 days, $199" but then in small print "plus taxes $399". Ridiculous. I'm glad we live close to Detroit!

 

[disneymath]

It's funny but we found Porter to be much more reasonable than Air Canada for our flights this summer to New York City. For three of us, the total cost was well over $2000 cheaper with Porter than with Air Canada - and we didn't have any deals with Porter and we also had some flexibility with our travel dates/times.

I will tell you that flying with Porter (from check in to baggage claim) was much more relaxing than AC. The Porter lounge in Toronto is fantastic - complementary beverages, snacks, internet, comfy seating, not overwhelmingly large. You name it. While the planes don't have seatback TVs (they are billed as a short haul carrier), the seats are comfortable and the complementary beverages and snacks were definitely a notch above ACs. The flight attendants were super nice too - we had the same crew on our return flight for one leg of the trip and they remembered us and went out of their way to ask us how our trip ha been. Never had that on AC - or WJ for that matter. I only wish Porter flew to the Orlando area!

That said, it is annoying that we seem to have to pay such high prices to fly within Canada. And even the deals to the US are hard to come by if you don't stay on it. I've already started tracking airfare to Vancouver for our DCL Alaska Cruise - which isn't until August 2011!

 

[minnie56]

Oh I know everyone seems to love Porter and my DD flies them to and from NYC often...but it's just obscene that the taxes are about the same if not more that the base fare. AC was a few dollars less..but we would have had to stop in YUL enroute. WJ was $50 more.

We should revolt!!!

 

[Ted in Halifax]

We should revolt!!!

I am .... on Tuesday I drive

 

[minnie56]

Originally--we were driving. But we are only there Wed-Fri so it seemed such a hike for so short time there. We took the plunge and booked the air. Now it has given me something to whine about at least

 

[pooksma]

And they wonder why so many of us fly from the US...

 

[crashbb]

Oh I know everyone seems to love Porter and my DD flies them to and from NYC often...but it's just obscene that the taxes are about the same if not more that the base fare. AC was a few dollars less..but we would have had to stop in YUL enroute. WJ was $50 more.

We should revolt!!!

Honestly, the only place where I find that Porter is better than Air Canada/West Jet is that I can walk to the airport - that is an amazing plus.

The lounge at Billy Bishop is nice, but you lose the stores that I like to walk through to kill time (and I can access the Maple Leaf Lounge if I fly Air Canada, which is a much nicer lounge - though I realise that most people cannot access it). I've had good and bad flight staff on all airlines (including the FA who did nothing after my brother had a full glass of tomato juice dumped on him when we flew Porter on the way to my uncle's funeral).

I had assumed that taxes would be less flying out of Billy Bishop (rather than Pearson), but they are not! However, I cannot blame the airlines for the taxes, as annoying as they are.

Since I don't have a car (and live so close to both airports), I've never flown out of the US - by the time I rent a car (or find other transport), I've reduced the savings and increased the annoyance and it is no longer worth it.