glennaa11

What's going on with fares from Washington DC to Toronto? I used to be able to take this flight for under $200 several years ago. Lately it had been in the $300-400 range. Last night I was checking fares for the new year and they want an exorbitant $750 rt for this little direct flight that takes less than an hour. What in the world is going on? I can't imagine anyone flying this route at those prices. Are they getting ready to ditch it?

gleff

About 10 days ago I was seeing ~ US$170 each way all-in, no roundtrip required.

Then 6 days back I saw the price double. Not sure what's up, but imagine it'll come back down to at least ~ US$450 roundtrip.

Prices the same on UA for non-stop...

B1

You can use Southwest out of BWI to BUF and rent a car. I see rt fares of about $125. AC has special rights into DCA and they have to pay for RCMP on every flight - so it's expensive. I don't know if "WAS" includes IAD but I did get a reasonable deal on UAL for YYZ-IAD. And of course there are all those interesting routings via ORD or DTW.

freeflyer

You are correct, WAS includes DCA/IAD/BWI, and your Southwest suggestion is a good alternative, though I would still check to see if there are any reasonably priced BUF-DCA flights. I used to live in DC and have used all three airports, with DCA being my favorite as it is very close to downtown and connected to the Metro (DC's subway). Second choice though is BWI as there are several public transit options to get to downtown Washington. I would take the Metrobus shuttle to the Greenbelt Metro station and ride it back to my home. Others prefer the shuttle to the nearby Amtrak station and ride the train downtown to DC's Union station. IAD out near Fairfax is an expensive cab ride and still takes some time. Plus waiting for the "moon buggies" (people movers) wastes time getting you back to the main terminal.

glennaa11

yeah, I guess everyone who lives here has their favorites and less favorites. Personally for me living in NoVA getting to BWI is a major pain. From where I live it is easy to get to IAD by taking the Metro 2 stops and then getting on the Washington Flyer bus for a 20 minute ride to the airport. Depending on my travels days it can actually take less time to get to IAD than DCA if I time it right.

And now IAD is doing away with the "mobile lounges". You can get to some gates now by going through an underground walkway. Soon there will be underground trains to all terminals. And the buses don't really take that long to get you where you are going. For flights from YYZ and YUL at least you clear US immigration and customs in Canada so you don't have to deal with the really slow mobile lounges to the international arrivals building and the slowness there.

And yes, I was referring in my original post to AC's direct, non-stop flights. United's regional partners used to also have direct flights from IAD to YYZ. Maybe those are gone now so AC doesn't have to compete any more and jacked up the price.

B1

Since this discussion has gotten onto the subject of IAD, when I was there I found that Metro express buses go the airport from Rosslyn with a few stops and free transfers. The fare is about $3. The Washington Flyer takes you to a Metro station and charges about $10. There are no signs in the airport indicating where the Metro bus stops but if you ask someone who works there, you can find out - there's a small bus terminal near the far end of the main terminal curbside. And the best meal is at Five Guys. But I guess for the best price, BWI wins. And it's a lot nicer as an airport.

gleff

Umm, UX flies ~ 6x daily IAD-YYZ. Flights are loaded through end of schedule.

gleff

And for what it's worth, fares for UA codeshares on AC have dropped back to ~ US$460 roundtrip.

Annandaler

Not sure what you mean by "there's a small bus terminal near the far end of the main terminal curbside." The 5A Metrobus stops in the MIDDLE of the outter commercial vehicle roadway at the "2E" overhead sign location - forward of the car rental shuttles. Cash fare on the bus is $3.10 - no change is made. The bus stops at the Rosslyn Metrorail station, and ends its run at the L'Enfant Plaza Metrorail station downtown.

Shareholder

There's generally a 7-day advance booking requirement on most transborder carriers for the lowest fares, then they jump up to the levels you've found. It's called "open skies"...

gleff

No, what the OP was referring to was something different, so happens I've been tracking IAD/DCA-YYZ fares recently and last week there was a jump with the previous lowest fares on UA and AC being pulled... not an issue of qualifying for lowest fares based on a given itinerary but of the less expensive fares no longer being out there. Temporary I'm sure, as I've already noted UA has returned fares closer to normal already (which can be booked on the AC non-stops via codeshare in fact).

emcampbe

Not necessarily. Recently flew CVG-YYZ, with a connection in ORD. Booked for $390 in November, then looked the day before I was going to fly. Same dates of travel, same flights were now $330. I've never seen anything like that before, however, just shows you it can happen.