Watching our flight fares skyrocket ...

[disneymath]

Let me preface this by saying that, unfortunately, Air Canada is our only viable option for flying anywhere since it is the only national/international airline that flies out of our local airport. Again unfortunately, all connections are made at Pearson in Toronto - 8 hours from home. We were checking airfares for our upcoming trip and finally decided to bite the bullet at $334 (before the crazy taxes and fees) on the way to Orlando and $344 on the way back home. Not great but not bad either ... I checked the Air Canada site today - less than a week after purchasing our tickets - and our outbound flight is now $748 per person - before taxes!!!!! (Glad we decided to book when we did!)

Best of luck to all of you searching for those great airfare deals!

 

[mermaid&cinderella]

We flew AC last year but this year flying Air Transat Club Seats and they were cheaper than AC regular

 

[DutchsMommy]

Even though your rate is high, it is definately better than now - so yeah for you!! Just a question, maybe you could collect airmiles and use them to book a flight? I don't *think* there is a restriction on which airport you can fly out of. Anyway, congrats on snagging the better fare!

 

[SandraC]

If you are driving 8 hours from home to an airport, why not just drive 9.5 hours to Buffalo. Your Orlando tickets would be....at most, $99US one-way plus teeny weeny taxes and service charges. Even better is the $72US web-special at Southwest right now. Return airfare is ALL taxes+ is $165US. S

 

[dancin Disney style]

I don't think the OP meant that they drive 8 hours to YYZ. They fly from their local airport and have to connect in YYZ.

 

[SandraC]

I don't think the OP meant that they drive 8 hours to YYZ. They fly from their local airport and have to connect in YYZ.

my bad

 

[disneymath]

DutchsMommy ... we've looked at using Airmiles in the past, what happens is we usually can't all get on the same flight. So we usually cash in our Airmiles for gas vouchers - they come in handy when we do decide to drive the 8 hrs to Toronto - whether it's just to visit the city or to get to YYZ to catch a plane to Orlando.

SandraC - we've thought about driving to Buffalo ... have even researched the fares and know how much cheaper it would be. The problem is that a 9.5hr drive each way adds at least two days to our trip - not great when you have a limited number of vacation days.

One good thing about Air Canada is that we get our connector flight to/from home to Toronto for about $100pp each way. When you factor in the time saved and the cost of gas and hotel rooms, it make sense to fly from home. (Unfortunately, the segment of the flight from home to TO is normally as much as $400pp each way if you are not making an AC connection - we can't even take advantage of shuttles that get you from TO to BUF to make use of those much more reasonable flights.)

 

[pta-mom]

I know the feeling about the flights sky rocketing!! I've got a trip booked for August but I've been waiting for Free Dining to come out for the public to see if I can get it. I'm afraid to book my flights in case I need to move the dates by a day or two either way. So, I just keep watching & watching the flights from Ottawa creep up, almost daily!! I keep thinking I should just bite the bullet & book the flights & forget about the possibility of Free Dining! EEEEEKKKK!

 

[DutchsMommy]

DutchsMommy ... we've looked at using Airmiles in the past, what happens is we usually can't all get on the same flight. So we usually cash in our Airmiles for gas vouchers - they come in handy when we do decide to drive the 8 hrs to Toronto - whether it's just to visit the city or to get to YYZ to catch a plane to Orlando.

SandraC - we've thought about driving to Buffalo ... have even researched the fares and know how much cheaper it would be. The problem is that a 9.5hr drive each way adds at least two days to our trip - not great when you have a limited number of vacation days.

One good thing about Air Canada is that we get our connector flight to/from home to Toronto for about $100pp each way. When you factor in the time saved and the cost of gas and hotel rooms, it make sense to fly from home. (Unfortunately, the segment of the flight from home to TO is normally as much as $400pp each way if you are not making an AC connection - we can't even take advantage of shuttles that get you from TO to BUF to make use of those much more reasonable flights.)

OK - I am guessing Timmons...anyone else want to take a shot at 'guess disneymath's hometown'?

 

[disneymath]

... not our hometown but where we need to fly from! (Good guessing DutchsMom!)

 

[mom2nca]

how about Kapuskasing?, its about 8 hours from Toronto we make the trip up there every summer:}!

 

[FirstTimeDisneyDad]

Kirkland Lake...

 

[disneymath]

How 'bout we just leave it as "close to Timmins"?

 

[mom_rules]

Have you tried Bearskin Airlines?

 

[disneymath]

Have you tried Bearskin Airlines?

Rightly or wrongly, we refer to this airline as "Scareskin" ... as in scared out of your skin! These are tiny planes! The prices are usually the same or more than AC (and often are not direct flights to TO). Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[warrenite]

How 'bout we just leave it as "close to Timmins"?

I'm thinking Moonbeam!

 

[disneymath]

I'm thinking Moonbeam!

Wow ... points for even coming up with that one! But no, not there ... though I hear they have a pretty cool water slide in the summer! (Nothing like BB or TL at WDW, but not bad for Up North!)

 

[dancin Disney style]

Hornepayne?????

 

[DutchsMommy]

OK - I am guessing Timmons...anyone else want to take a shot at 'guess disneymath's hometown'?

I knew the spelling looked wrong when I wrote that - must have been jonesing for a Tim Horton's and morphed it into Timmons

 

[disneymath]

I knew the spelling looked wrong when I wrote that - must have been jonesing for a Tim Horton's and morphed it into Timmons

Well ... there are a LOT of Tim Horton's in Timmins!