Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

...being really taken for a ride by their airlines. I just don't understand the ridiculous cost of flights in this country. This in a country that is rich in oil, this in a country with vast distances, making flying a necessity.

Rant over
Thank you
D

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

This is a country of less than 40M people. Vast Distances, Limited market. Planes expensive to buy and maintain = expensive to fly.

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

We also have had a rash of airport expansions, and this is partly financed by landing fees .... Toronto International has the highest landing fees in the world, and the airlines pass these costs onto their customers - like you.

Higher fuel, and security costs are also factors.

http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawac...3-64bcb9915ccb

http://in.news.yahoo.com/060607/137/64usl.html

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

I'm not neccisarily talking long trans-canada flights of 4 or more hours, merely local flights, example Vancouver-Victoria one way the cheapest you'll get is about $90-100 oneway ! Thats a 35min flight! Ireland has less than 40million people too but I can fly from Dublin to Cork return on the cheapest fare of €85 or $125 (return) and thats a flight of 160 miles as opposed to the 60 miles between Vancouver and Victoria. And as for those longer flights, you might as well forget about Westjet because to be honest you'll be lucky to find a two buck difference between its own and Air Canada's fares. It's my one and only gripe with Canada, problem is that Canadians are too nice to do anything about it.

I remember last year when a group of friends from Ottawa came over to Glasgow and Dublin for another friends wedding. The poor souls spent £600 renting a car driving from Glasgow to Dublin via ferry, they eventually found out that they could have flown, for half the price, all four of them and not on ryanair or aerlingus too but on BA with free food and booze to boot. So the ideas that the Canadian market is small are nonsense, there are a lot more people here in BC than I have ever seen in my lifetime in Ireland or Scotland. The amount of mergers, closures and underhand tactics that have taken place in the Canadian airline industry really make you start to think...........that it all stinks a little.


Anyway, back to the boozing after the fireworks :beer:

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

You're ignoring culture. Most Canadians LIKE driving, LIKE doing long road trips, LIKE the concept of a journey... it's part of the culture of North America. Given a cheap flight from Victoria to Calgary versus a three day cruise in a ragtop with a good sound system, I think most Canadians would choose the later. I sure as hell would.

A lot of people on Vancouver Island would probably like to have the airfares between the mainland and the island increased... if only to keep more mainlanders off the island. ;)

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

But then have to listen to them moan about the price of gas for journey for a whole week afterwards, even though its still miles cheaper than back home.

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

But it's not really "miles cheaper" when you take it in the context of Canadian salaries is it.

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

It's my one and only gripe with Canada, problem is that Canadians are too nice to do anything about it.



So what do you suggest we do about ?

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

I guess next time we need to go to Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, etc, we could:

a) Drive
b) Take the Bus
c) Take the train (oh...right no trains)
d) Hitchhike
e) Walk

Hmmmm not very viable options, I guess we better suck it up and pay the airfare. :D:D

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

No trains? I took VIA Rail from Edmonton to Toronto and back.... we have trains.

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

Not if you live in Calgary or Regina you don't. :rolleyes:

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

Sure I do, though it's not the best mode of transportation in many cases.... on the other hand out west we do have the scenic route:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../cathedral.jpg

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

You'll note I removed that comment as I thought it too sarcastic. :)

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

Calgary has a train in the form of intra-city transportation (aka LRT). Calgary's LRT is the most heavily used in North America for a city of its size. Here is a photo of Edmonton's LRT, Calgary's is even better.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...new_colors.jpg

Re: Is it me or are Canadians.....
 

Yep sure going to get to Toronto or Vancouver riding that.:rolleyes:

Now you're picking the flysh*t out of the pepper.