YVR-SYD or SEA-YVR-SYD for 19% less?!
Mar 12, 2010, 9:14 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: YVR
Programs: AC*E, Airmiles Onyx (reluctantly), Marriott Titanium, IHG PC Platinum
Posts: 502
YVR-SYD or SEA-YVR-SYD for 19% less?!
Yes this type of scenario has been mentioned before, and I know that there are so many variables to airline pricing including competition and the profile of the individuals in that specific market, but I need to vent...
I am used to flying out of SEA to go through US airspace rather than Canada for cheaper flights (I'm going to CAI/ATH in a few weeks and to MEX the month after) but this is just silly:
YVR-SYD-YVR = C$1435 a.i.
SEA-YVR-SYD-YVR-SEA or SEA-YYC-YVR-SYD-YVR-SEA = C$1170 a.i.
My CAI flight was about $600-700 cheaper out of SEA than YVR and Mexico about $350 less (on a $350 flight) so the $265 difference isn't earth shattering, just annoying the way this is routed back through YVR...
...can EK take me to SYD?
I am used to flying out of SEA to go through US airspace rather than Canada for cheaper flights (I'm going to CAI/ATH in a few weeks and to MEX the month after) but this is just silly:
YVR-SYD-YVR = C$1435 a.i.
SEA-YVR-SYD-YVR-SEA or SEA-YYC-YVR-SYD-YVR-SEA = C$1170 a.i.
My CAI flight was about $600-700 cheaper out of SEA than YVR and Mexico about $350 less (on a $350 flight) so the $265 difference isn't earth shattering, just annoying the way this is routed back through YVR...
...can EK take me to SYD?
Mar 12, 2010, 9:22 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2008
Programs: AC 75K, SPG P, CX SL
Posts: 548
I would be fine with them charging the same for SEA-YVR-X flights as for YVR-X, but I agree it's offensive for them to charge less for flights from the US, especially considering Canadian taxpayers paid for a lot of the infrastructure AC relies upon.
Ok fine, to be honest I find the entire idea of revenue management annoying. Just pick a damn price and charge me it already, bonus points of its related directly to your costs.
Ok fine, to be honest I find the entire idea of revenue management annoying. Just pick a damn price and charge me it already, bonus points of its related directly to your costs.
Mar 12, 2010, 10:57 pm
#3
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Mostly Canada and the World
Programs: Several
Posts: 484
Mar 13, 2010, 5:43 am
#5
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Toronto
Programs: AC SE MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,101
Come on guys, let's not rehash this sillyness. Every airline in the world does this!
I just booked my wife on a flight departing a different Asian city than she was in. We saved almost 50% ($2000) by doing this, and a positioning flight only cost $150.
Even Star Alliance Round-the-world fare pricing works like this.
Several Asian fares departing developing country cities (Manila, Bali, KL, etc.) have fares that are 60-80% lower than departing from the hub cities that the flights eventually fly onto.
It's up to you to decide if your time is worth some extra savings. I'm flying LHR to YYZ to NYC and then back to Toronto instead of a direct LHR to YYZ - spending about 5 hours extra flying to be able to buy a Latitude fare for about 60% less than to Toronto alone. Air Canada wants to compete and acquire extra traffic from US hubs to fill planes, and to do that they need to compete with the pricing from those cities. I don't think this is unfair, and it's not like they're raking in a massive profit...
I just booked my wife on a flight departing a different Asian city than she was in. We saved almost 50% ($2000) by doing this, and a positioning flight only cost $150.
Even Star Alliance Round-the-world fare pricing works like this.
Several Asian fares departing developing country cities (Manila, Bali, KL, etc.) have fares that are 60-80% lower than departing from the hub cities that the flights eventually fly onto.
It's up to you to decide if your time is worth some extra savings. I'm flying LHR to YYZ to NYC and then back to Toronto instead of a direct LHR to YYZ - spending about 5 hours extra flying to be able to buy a Latitude fare for about 60% less than to Toronto alone. Air Canada wants to compete and acquire extra traffic from US hubs to fill planes, and to do that they need to compete with the pricing from those cities. I don't think this is unfair, and it's not like they're raking in a massive profit...
Mar 13, 2010, 10:40 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Programs: OWEmerald; STARGold; BonvoyPlat; IHGPlat/Amb; HiltonGold; A|ClubPat; AirMilesPlat
Posts: 38,186
Come on guys, let's not rehash this sillyness. Every airline in the world does this!
I just booked my wife on a flight departing a different Asian city than she was in. We saved almost 50% ($2000) by doing this, and a positioning flight only cost $150.
Even Star Alliance Round-the-world fare pricing works like this.
Several Asian fares departing developing country cities (Manila, Bali, KL, etc.) have fares that are 60-80% lower than departing from the hub cities that the flights eventually fly onto.
It's up to you to decide if your time is worth some extra savings. I'm flying LHR to YYZ to NYC and then back to Toronto instead of a direct LHR to YYZ - spending about 5 hours extra flying to be able to buy a Latitude fare for about 60% less than to Toronto alone. Air Canada wants to compete and acquire extra traffic from US hubs to fill planes, and to do that they need to compete with the pricing from those cities. I don't think this is unfair, and it's not like they're raking in a massive profit...
I just booked my wife on a flight departing a different Asian city than she was in. We saved almost 50% ($2000) by doing this, and a positioning flight only cost $150.
Even Star Alliance Round-the-world fare pricing works like this.
Several Asian fares departing developing country cities (Manila, Bali, KL, etc.) have fares that are 60-80% lower than departing from the hub cities that the flights eventually fly onto.
It's up to you to decide if your time is worth some extra savings. I'm flying LHR to YYZ to NYC and then back to Toronto instead of a direct LHR to YYZ - spending about 5 hours extra flying to be able to buy a Latitude fare for about 60% less than to Toronto alone. Air Canada wants to compete and acquire extra traffic from US hubs to fill planes, and to do that they need to compete with the pricing from those cities. I don't think this is unfair, and it's not like they're raking in a massive profit...
As for EK, I checked out its economy fare from DXB to YYZ and it was the most expensive after several other carriers who connected in Europe. (Not to mention the fare between YYZ-DXB was considerably higher than the fare to just about every destination beyond DXB in Asia!) So even EK charges its own residents more to fly to various parts of the world than it does those connecting through its hub.
Mar 13, 2010, 10:57 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,946
Come on guys, let's not rehash this sillyness. Every airline in the world does this!
I just booked my wife on a flight departing a different Asian city than she was in. We saved almost 50% ($2000) by doing this, and a positioning flight only cost $150.
Even Star Alliance Round-the-world fare pricing works like this.
Several Asian fares departing developing country cities (Manila, Bali, KL, etc.) have fares that are 60-80% lower than departing from the hub cities that the flights eventually fly onto.
It's up to you to decide if your time is worth some extra savings. I'm flying LHR to YYZ to NYC and then back to Toronto instead of a direct LHR to YYZ - spending about 5 hours extra flying to be able to buy a Latitude fare for about 60% less than to Toronto alone. Air Canada wants to compete and acquire extra traffic from US hubs to fill planes, and to do that they need to compete with the pricing from those cities. I don't think this is unfair, and it's not like they're raking in a massive profit...
I just booked my wife on a flight departing a different Asian city than she was in. We saved almost 50% ($2000) by doing this, and a positioning flight only cost $150.
Even Star Alliance Round-the-world fare pricing works like this.
Several Asian fares departing developing country cities (Manila, Bali, KL, etc.) have fares that are 60-80% lower than departing from the hub cities that the flights eventually fly onto.
It's up to you to decide if your time is worth some extra savings. I'm flying LHR to YYZ to NYC and then back to Toronto instead of a direct LHR to YYZ - spending about 5 hours extra flying to be able to buy a Latitude fare for about 60% less than to Toronto alone. Air Canada wants to compete and acquire extra traffic from US hubs to fill planes, and to do that they need to compete with the pricing from those cities. I don't think this is unfair, and it's not like they're raking in a massive profit...
Mar 13, 2010, 1:36 pm
#8
Join Date: Jan 2008
Programs: UA 1P
Posts: 314
These fare differences are a fact of life for Canadians. I have seen much worse than 19% to be honest. For $265, are you going to spend 5+ extra hours for a YVR-SEA car roundtrip, plus the extra flying time, plus the extra layover time in YVR, plus 500km of gas, plus SEA parking fees? Depends how much you value your time. Many will do it.
Mar 13, 2010, 1:49 pm
#9
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: YVR
Programs: Aeroplan E25, Amtrak Guest Rewards, Bonvoy Lifetime Gold, Delta Skymiles Silver, HHonors Gold, Nexus
Posts: 502
These fare differences are a fact of life for Canadians. I have seen much worse than 19% to be honest. For $265, are you going to spend 5+ extra hours for a YVR-SEA car roundtrip, plus the extra flying time, plus the extra layover time in YVR, plus 500km of gas, plus SEA parking fees? Depends how much you value your time. Many will do it.
So in other words...
BOS-NWK (train) NWK-EWR (city bus) EWR-YYZ-YHZ (plane) YHZ-YUL (plane) YUL-BOS (bus) = $571.79 a/i
BOS-YHZ-BOS (plane) = $850+ a/i
Crazy? Why thank you!
Last edited by Triley; Mar 13, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Mar 13, 2010, 3:35 pm
#10
Join Date: Jan 2008
Programs: UA 1P
Posts: 314
I would pay Amtrak the $35 to take the Cascades from Vancouver down to Seattle, and work my way to the airport. Then again, I've taken the 67 overnight Regional from BOS to NWK, spending $49 and six hours, then taking the city bus from Newark Penn Station at 4am, to the airport. The fare for EWR-YYZ-YHZ was about $200 a/i, while the BOS-YHZ fare on Jazz was more than double. Coming back home, I flew to YUL, and took Greyhound back to Boston. That saved me another $150.
So in other words...
BOS-NWK (train) NWK-EWR (city bus) EWR-YYZ-YHZ (plane) YHZ-YUL (plane) YUL-BOS (bus) = $571.79 a/i
BOS-YHZ-BOS (plane) = $850+ a/i
Crazy? Why thank you!
So in other words...
BOS-NWK (train) NWK-EWR (city bus) EWR-YYZ-YHZ (plane) YHZ-YUL (plane) YUL-BOS (bus) = $571.79 a/i
BOS-YHZ-BOS (plane) = $850+ a/i
Crazy? Why thank you!
Mar 13, 2010, 4:17 pm
#11
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: YVR
Programs: Aeroplan E25, Amtrak Guest Rewards, Bonvoy Lifetime Gold, Delta Skymiles Silver, HHonors Gold, Nexus
Posts: 502
Yikes!!! The Greyhound from YUL to BOS alone is about 10 hours, I can't imagine how much added time there is for all the other bus rides, layovers, etc. If it's just a matter of "working [your] way to the airport" on buses, and things like time and comfort don't matter to you, why not just take the Greyhound all the way from BOS to YHZ? You could shave hundreds more off your total.
Here's how my trip worked...
-Train-
BOS - 9:45pm
NWK - 3:20am
-City bus-
NWK - 4:00am
EWR - 4:30am (I believe?)
-Flight-
EWR - 6:25am
YYZ - 7:54am
YYZ - 10:10am
YHZ - 1:10pm
-Intercity Bus-
YHZ - 2:15pm
New Glasgow - 4:10pm
~Return~
(Got a ride from family to the airport)
-Flight-
YHZ - 8:25pm
YUL - 8:56pm
(Had to take some sort of airporter bus from the airport to the bus terminal, took maybe 45 minutes?)
-Intercity bus-
YUL - 11:05pm
BOS - 6:30am (was only scheduled 7 and a half hours, though we ran maybe 30 minutes late, due to making an unscheduled drop off about 15 minutes away from my town.
Had I known he was going to do that, I would have gotten family to pick me up, instead of me going all the way down to Boston, to have to take a 45 minutes train to the town where I work.)All in all, it actually wasn't that bad. It's been the ONLY pleasant experience I've ever had with Greyhound. And I love Amtrak anyway, so I'll make up excuses to take it, especially if it saves me that much money.
I prefer Amtrak > Greyhound or any intercity bus any day.
Mar 13, 2010, 4:58 pm
#13
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: YVR
Programs: Aeroplan E25, Amtrak Guest Rewards, Bonvoy Lifetime Gold, Delta Skymiles Silver, HHonors Gold, Nexus
Posts: 502
So in short, it's up to each person to decide how much their time is worth. Considering I only make $10 an hour (before taxes mind you), and then considering my savings to be worth about $16.67 per hour? Certainly worth it to me.
Mar 14, 2010, 10:34 am
#14
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Canada
Programs: AA LT Platinum, AX Cent so...Delta Plat, SPG Gold, etc..
Posts: 504
I hear about these low cost AC flights often when I fly from PHX-YVR. The person sitting next to me in the (sorry to be brutal) bare-bones US Air first class will tell me how they're flying to YVR to catch an AC flight to HKG or other Asian destination. They'll explain that it was a fare they couldn't pass up for a business class ticket and this will be their first trip on AC metal.
So, the discounting for US based customers does seem to attract new business for AC. However once the customer has to spend time getting hassled by Canada Customs (after standing in line for an hour), they are more likely to choose to avoid this routing the next time around IMO.
One time a seatmate of mine had fruit with him. Poor guy...
So, the discounting for US based customers does seem to attract new business for AC. However once the customer has to spend time getting hassled by Canada Customs (after standing in line for an hour), they are more likely to choose to avoid this routing the next time around IMO.
One time a seatmate of mine had fruit with him. Poor guy...
Mar 14, 2010, 10:45 am
#15
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: YVR
Programs: Aeroplan Former E
Posts: 1,022
So, the discounting for US based customers does seem to attract new business for AC. However once the customer has to spend time getting hassled by Canada Customs (after standing in line for an hour), they are more likely to choose to avoid this routing the next time around IMO.
Customs B at YYZ has been reasonable the few times I've had to use it.