Holy crap!!!!

The missus is somewhat upset. As if coming to terms with the poxy holiday entitlement from employers wasn't enough......

....searching the regular (and several irregular) online resources, made it apparent that your average fare from Vancouver to London (or better still, Italia) are STOOPID PRICEY!!!

Would any of you worldly-wise and well-travelled individuals have knowledge of a vendor of flight tickets that do not require at least a month's salary?

As ever, infinite gratitude will be forthcoming to anyone furnishing me with useful enlightenment.

Cheers!

Try ringing Air Transatt uk and booking from their end!

Leaving already? You've only just got here...

What dates and destination? Summer in/out Vancouver is not cheap. What fares are you seeing?

4Bells - does that really work? presumably due to the reversed travels dates, your strategy would require 2 x one way tix?

Alan - hells no! I have no intention of leaving this wonderful place for even a nano-second. But my poor italiana (as with most from her nation) has apron / familial heart strings attached, and currently they are being twanged.

Martin - the dates are open dependent upon favourable / affordable price. To express a preference though, i think Spetember to December. The ultimate destination is Genova in Italy; which is via either London, Munich, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Toronto, Calgar, Milan, Rome, Paris....... Even looking at departing here from Seattle and / or flying budget to NYC still leaves the round trip price tag being $1200 - 1900 per person.

Cheapest days to travel - December 25 & January 1. Air Fares are generally representative of costs. If an airline sells cheap seats for too long they go the way many have gone into spiral dive. The ones that are left charging a more realistic price. An airline ticket YVR - GLL is better value than a Starbucks coffee.

Hmmm, thats a bit vague. Anyway, TS will be the cheapest. Following this I would look at SEA to LHR on AC connecting in YVR. You can simply 'throwaway' (quietly!) the final YVR-SEA leg. This should come in at about $930 with taxes etc. $1200 is prob about right though for YVR-LHR on a scheduled airline. Iceland Air and Air Berlin have some cheaper fares listed. I suspect AC might have a seatsale at some point though so you might want to wait and see.

Sounds about right. Edmonton - LHR on Air Canada is about $1800 at the moment. When I had to travel to UK at short notice in Jan, mid-week economy class tickets were $4500+.

I don't see this getting better, ever. Oil is already $80+ before any meaningful economic growth has even started.

UK-based emigrants need to make sure they are not clinging to either of two expired myths: 1. that the pound sterling is worth a lot; and 2. that frequent trips back to UK will be affordable.

If 1 is a myth then surely 2 is not. A low pound makes the UK an economical place to visit if you have dollars. Not that I think this much matters, if you live in Canada you have to budget for trips home regardless of the cost, if the cost makes the trips infeasible then the best option is to move somewhere else.

Fair point, but I was only talking about the travel costs. I just got back from 10 days in blighty and the food and drink were indeed refreshingly cheap.

If you are seeing that fare then the flight you are looking at is pretty full as that is expensive. Cheapest AC Base fare til the end of April is $718. Add in taxes you will be around $1200 which is about what would be expected.
Also booking last minute these days (generally) doesn't make a difference unless again, the flight is full, or its a seatsale fare. Less fares now have advance purchase restrictions (though Sat night stay is still around)

$1800 was the price I paid a few months in advance of the trip I just returned from. There were plenty of empty seats on the UK-bound leg, very few on the way home. I guess prices vary through the year.

They do. With AC they increase 1st May on that route. The main thing always though is that if you can be flexible over routings and timings you may do better. YEG of course only has one direct AC flight and many of the smaller connecting flights to YYC/YYZ/YUL etc do fill up.

BE member Cindyabs is a travel agent. She has arranged bookings for a number of fellow BE members in the US forums. Send her a PM, maybe she can help.

If you are checked through onto a US bound flight and do not board, don't be surprised to get a visit from men in dark suits. If the flight is delayed, a bill for the delay is not out of the question. Also depends who your connector is with. If your bags are checked through, you may never see them again, not on one piece anyway!