Extortionate Flight Prices
 

So, i keep checking flight costs to Kamloops, BC so as to keep track of if they are coming up or down anytime soon, and i though i'd do a little search going via US, and to fly London to Seattle, then Van, then Kamloops it works out cheaper than London-Van-Kamloops. Why is this? And why if you want to book one-way tickets is it more expensive than a return? (Except if going with transat/canadian affair the only ones who seem to sell "single" tickets)

Sorry to be ranting, but it makes me so mad, when i went to BC in 2005 in cost a couple of hundred pounds, now its 4/5 times that.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

The short answer is thare are only 35M people in Canada vs 350M people in the US.

More air travel in the US makes air travel via the US cheaper.

There is an element of gouging in the canadian market, but basically it comes down to the fact that Canada is a small market, so there really isnt enough volume for competition to thrive and push overheads and prices lower. Tax and regulatory overheads probably come into it too.

Exchange rates, oil prices, regulatory fees have all changed since 2005.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Although this doesnt really help as we are arriving at Ottawa, i booked our tickets with Air Canada leaving 8/12 and arriving back in the UK on April 16th 2009 (i have no intentions of returning) .. this came to £1088 for me and the 2 boys .. had i booked to return a week later, well the cost was through the roof .. check airlines possibly for a return date months ahead .. you may just get a cheaper flight ..

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Thanks for that, i suppose a return later in the year is more likely to get used. I like the fact that i can get a single from canadian affair, but having flown on AC it just seemed nicer in general, mind you flown transat which isn't actually as bad as people make out, at least not for me, but it jsut seems to be thomas cook flights avail on the website at the mo. Maybe something happening at transat??

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

The budget airlines serving Canada have been a bit wonky lately. There was the case of Zoom, for instance.
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Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

We had the same thing with our flights.

Its was about £900pp one way but about £600pp return. We got the return flights and will be using them to see family in June.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Air Transat is likely concentrating on routes that make money in the winter i.e. heading to warmer climes.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

I hope they're concentrating. I've just given them shedloads of money.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

We were told that October/November time is funny. End of Summer and not quite Winter holiday period.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Hopefully this might make you feel a little better.

It's a cut and paste from a comment in an aviation forum back when ZOOM went t*ts up.

My emphasis on the bold bit. ;)

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

The reason for scheduled airlines (BA, Air Canada) having more expensive one way fares is that they are fully flexible fares, whereas your cheepy return tickets are normally non-changeable/non refundable. The more you pay the more "flexibility" you have. No such thing as a cheepy oneway on BA/AC have to go charter to get that.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Thanks for that explanation, Steve. I didn't know about that difference between AirTransat and Zoom. AirTransat's model certainly does look more sustainable than Zoom's was.
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Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

why dont you fly London heathrow to seattle then drive to Kamloops! you can get return flights for around £350 who needs single flights!

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

I am certainly now considering flying to Seattle, but even to fly to Kamloops it was only an extra £160. I will need to land next time we go, can i do this even driving across the border?

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

speaking of extortionate flight prices perhaps someone can answer this question for me...

I booked an Air Canada flight from Halifax to London in early September. At the time the oil price was through the roof and although the fare was only about $500 they added a $320 fuel surcharge on. The actual fare breakdown is as follows:

Base Fare 478.00
No Aeroplan miles -15.00
No Aeroplan miles -15.00
Fuel Surcharge 320.00
Canada Airport Improvement Fee 10.00
Air Travellers Security Charge (ATSC) 17.00
Canada Harmonized Sales Tax 1.30
U.K. Passenger Service Charge 37.07
U.K. Air Passenger Duty 75.27
Total airfare and taxes before options (per passenger) 908.64

But recently I hear on the news that Air Canada, along with other airlines, have dropped their fuel surcharges. And since the price of oil is now low again when I actually travel (next week) I shouldnt really have to pay a fuel surcharge should I?

Does anyone know if I can get this surcharge back and how to go about it?

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

What would be your best guess?

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

The removal of the fuel surcharge with Air Canada only applies for flights within Canada and to/from the USA....they still show the same fuel surcharge for other international flights, e.g your Hfx to Heathrow deal...

I have no idea why this can be, other than 'because they can'. There's little.no competition and it must help their bottom line with fuel prices being so much lower than in the summer :curse:

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Well my best guess is they will say "sorry, computer says Noooooo" or similar. But I wondered if anyone had ever had a fuel surcharge reduced or removed. Okay, you're right, I probably have more chance of winning Lotto 649.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Hi,

you can land at the border my OH did this we flew into Seattle drove to the border at Sumas US/Huntington Canada landed there it only took 10 mins! They were very nice about the whole matter, If you ve got items that are getting shipped write them all down on a seperate sheet of paper as you need to declare to them what you are bringing in now and what will follow!

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Bear in mind that AC and many other airlines hedge. They would have locked-in to buying fuel at a certain price for some months. This explains it far better than I can.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjourna...7-05ce458a3420

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

Thanks, it makes some sense but how come they can still take the surcharge of the 'within Canada, and to/from the USA flights'? Are they subsidising these flights with the extra charges for international routes with little or no alternatives for passengers to use?

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

I wouldn't pretend to understand how they think but I would imagine that they are using the international routes to claw back some of the money they have lost on hedging.

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

I seem to recall seeing on an airline-related forum talk that AC had hedged a fair chunk of their fuel (40-ish% maybe?) based on an oil price around $90/barrel. It might have been more, but I'd rather underestimate ;)

To answer the OP - it seems that US airlines do indeed offer more competitive fares, even sometimes for itineraries originating in Canada. Obviously you need to trade off convenience against cost, but it can be surprising. We saved >30% on a return to Europe by flying United ex-BUF instead of AC ex-YYZ (and BUF is very child-friendly, with the Fisher-Price section to keep tiny ones very happy! Transferring at IAD was surprisingly painless, too. UA were a bit pants compared to recent AC experiences, but upgrading to E+ for extra legroom on the long-haul back was nice)

Re: Extortionate Flight Prices
 

They weren't the only ones.

http://www.tetracom.ca/transtalk/?p=1962