bazzz

Trying to book some flights to Toronto for a conference this Summer. At the moment, on the day I want to fly out, the outbound leg is $412 with Air Canada (Westjet is identical). However, I can fly from Seattle to Toronto for $253. But the best bit - the Seattle trip just involves flying up to Vancouver and then changing on to the $412 flight. So how come it's $160 cheaper even though it involves an extra flight? There's 5 of us going and there's the return trip to book too, so this could add up a bit. Am I missing something obvious?

Tangram

Yes, we get screwed in Canada.

mjwalker007

I think it is the airport taxes that are more expensive if you fly from canada as opposed to flying from the U.S.A

It was cheaper for my wife to fly to the U.K from Seattle than it was from Vancouver !!

bazzz

And I guess the followup question, is that if we bought the tickets for the Seattle-Vancouver-Toronto trip, could we just board in Vancouver. I imagine it's a big fat "no", but it does seem a bit daft that we'd have to drive waste an extra 4-5 hours driving somewhere only to fly back to where we'd just come from. And on the external leg - they can't physically stop us from getting off in Vancouver, could they? Assuming one didn't have any checked in luggage.

bazzz

These are pre-tax prices.

JonboyE

Air travel is a consumer product. The price they charge the customer is nothing to do with the cost of providing the product/service, but the most they can get the customer to pay.

I have a meeting in Kelowna on Thursday morning. To fly up Wednesday morning and back Thursday evening would cost $168 + taxes. To fly up Wednesday evening and back Thursday afternoon is nearly $600.

I think I'll drive.

MarkG

I was looking at flights yesterday. $1200 for a return flight, OK. Then click through towards booking it... and magically there's a $400 'fuel surcharge' on top.

Now, call me old-fashioned, but I'd have thought that the cost of fuel should maybe be included in the cost of the ticket and not added on top; a plane isn't much use without fuel. I can see that the price of oil fluctuates, but so do airline tickets, so it's no as though they can't change prices to accomodate it.

Wannabe

Try this - you might find a better option here.

Surrey Expat

Seats are sold on different levels, in the same cabin, once one level (lowest fare class A) is sold out then the price moves up to the next seat class(class B) until the flight is full (or a bit over full). Last minute bookings or on high demand routes the lower priced fares sell out faster. Low capacity routes usually cost more per seat mile (that is until they are nixed due to low demand).

Price is also determined by competition (or lack of) and the airports concerned. Landing fees at major airports are significantly higher than local ones and are included in the fare, plus there are Nav Canada charges. At present take offs are free, but maybe not for much longer. It is generally accepted practice that most aircraft do the same number of take offs as landings!

destinationnovascotia

This kind of thing happens in the UK too.

I have to go to Manchester soon and I want to travel by train. I can get a ticket from my nearest mainline station for around £13. However, if I travel from my local station to the mainline station (about 5 miles) then change onto the same train I would have caught directly from there it is a little over £10 in total.

Smaller amounts but still the same crazy principle.

transatlantic

Unfortunately they will just cancel the YVR-YYZ leg when you didn't show up for the SEA-YVR.

Have you tried connecting through an American hub e.g. YVR-Detroit-YYZ with Northwest?

snorkmaiden

I have to fly to the UK tonight for my grandmothers funeral.

My ticket was $1490.05 and this is how the charges broke down:
Air Transportation - $979.00
Tax GST - $0.75
Airport Improvement Fee - $15.00
Tax Other - $495.30 (I think on Air Canada it said around $400 of that was fuel surcharge)

helcol

I'm also flying to UK tonight from Fredericton to Gatiwck. Total return cost including all taxes at $475 (yes, very pleased). Air Canada wanted well over $1000. The only advantage with AC is I can fly out and return any day, whereas my flight with Air Transat only flies on a Tuesday.

snorkmaiden

Oh man, that's a great price. My nan only died on Thursday so I didn't book my ticket until Friday, and this was one of the cheapest seats I could get without a whole world of hassle. The bereavement fare looked like it was actually going to cost more than the fare I ended up getting.

Biiiiink

I asked for one of those and iirc it cost about 800 CAD more per person. I've since had it explained to me that it wouldn't have cost more than a full fare economy, which can be rebooked without penalty... but since I knew when my mother's funeral was, I didn't need the option to change at short notice and went for the cheapest non-changeable fare.

I also agree with transatlantic that they'll cancel the 2nd sector if you don't show up for the first bazzz, but if you get off "early" on the return sector what can they do? Assuming you've no checked luggage of course...