Airfare from Pittsburgh to Vancouver

[Frwinkley]

We will be spending a few days in Vancouver prior to an Alaskan cruise in mid June.

Airfare is currently about $670 per person. Yes, there are cheaper options (2 stops, red-eye, etc.)

I am currently looking at Air Canada; early a.m. flight from Pittsburgh, with a 12:30 departure from Vancouver following the cruise.

Anybody have any experience with such an itinerary?

Just wondering if I should wait a bit or take the plunge now?

 

[havaneselover]

I can’t help with Pittsburgh but I did it from Richmond with two stops and It was rough. This year I’m probably doing sw out of Dca and taking Amtrak to Vancouver.

Is your departure the day you disembark? If so that’s doable but would make me a little nervous.

 

[bcwife76]

12:30 flight out of Vancouver after your cruise is totally doable (I live in Vancouver and have sailed out of Vancouver twice, trust me that's fine). However, that's a costly flight. Have you looked at flying into Seattle and taking the train up?

 

[Frwinkley]

We have considered flying into Seattle. The flight to Vancouver from Pittsburgh is cheap—about $210 per person. Not much difference from here to Seattle and both require a connection.

We return from the cruise on a Saturday and have to be back to work on Monday. Train from Vancouver to Seattle means a hotel room in Seattle which is just another expense and a flight home on Sunday. The real issue is that there’s no other flight in between 12:30 and 10:30 p.m. That makes for a very, very long day. I guess it’s just a case of supply and demand.

Thanks for the reassurance about making a 12:30 flight. Folks on TripAdvisor were rather negative about it, but people on Cruise Critic said it is absolutely doable and provided me with lots of strategies.

 

[3boymthr]

I have a friend who just flew back from Canada. The big thing would be allowing enough time to get through customs. My friend said she was told to allow three hours minimum to get through customs which she thought was a lot (she travels internationally a lot) but it turned out she just barely had enough time she said she made the gate with just minutes to spare. I’m not sure where she was in Canada but I know it was a large city. I’d double check the average customs time for your airport before booking.

 

[tvguy]

Have you checked Westjet? I flew them in October after 50+ years of using Air Canada and I was VERY impresssed.

 

[Frwinkley]

We actually flew them a few years ago in and out of Calgary. We too were impressed.

Their flight times aren’t convenient for our return trip home.

 

[Sarahraegraham]

We did this same trip from PIT twice this year. We made the decision to fly into Seattle on southwest, stay overnight in Seattle, and take the train up the next morning. We were very happy with this decision. Yes, the extra night and the train ride were added costs, but they about equaled about we would have spent on the direct to Vancouver flight, but gave us some breathing room with time and let us not worry about missed connections, luggage, etc. I believe we flew Alaska Air back and had a wonderful experience. Have a great trip! Alaska is amazing

ETA: the 12:30pm flight home won’t be any issue. Take the skytrain direct to the airport. It’s a couple blocks from the port and goes straight to the airport in about half an hour. $15ish per person. Super safe and easy.

 

[Frwinkley]

Thanks for the reply. We decided on a 12:45 flight, so we should have plenty of time. We’ll fly out of Vancouver.

I wanted to avoid Seattle also because that’s our trip for next year:Mt Rainier, etc There was no way we could do and see everything in one trip!