ComeFlyWithMe123

Hey All,

Looking to go to the Canadian Grand Prix 6th June - 10th June 2013. Usual story - difficult to get a direct reward flight from UK / Ireland (based in Belfast).

Has anyone been to Montreal before via a non direct route.....any suggestions to help me along the way? I've tried award Nexus but the site appears to be down at the minute.

Was looking to go Biz class. I tried the Dublin-boston loophole which is ideal for me but getting to Montreal is proving difficult and I cant confirm if there are any reward seats on the dub-bos route.

Any help much appreciated

Thanks

CFWM123

Genius1

You could go to YYZ and then book a cheap AC or Porter connection to YUL. Porter from YTZ is quite cool.

Jenzo

i just booked to go to Montreal f1 as well, on reward seats to bos in f and back form jfk in j, It is very hard to find seats in and nearby, it is easer to come back from JFK in biz as there is more reward seats due to more flights, secondly it is VERY expensive to get to and from major gateways.

Just booked (1hr ago) a Montreal to JFk on the 10th, and it wanted 400£ pp for one way (due to timing), my advice is be flexable to transfer/ airline.
Look to go to toronto, any nyc, bos, iad,phl,chicago. You should be able to find one, and book over the phone two and from different destinations to make the reward travel easier.
And look at transfer prices!!!

p.s-its much easier in F to find flights at good timings/destinations if you can stretch that far tho...

Good luck and see you there
J

FlyingOnceMore

A less well known route to Montreal for F1 weekend is to fly into Burlington VT, rent a car and drive the two hours / 100 miles over the border.

ComeFlyWithMe123

Thanks Jenzo - What plans have you got getting from Boston to Montreal?

ComeFlyWithMe123

Thanks Genius & Fly Once More

Much appreciated

Jenzo

Not sure yet probably a cheap flight or take a nice scenic drive..

Macspreader

I went a few years ago and took the train up from Toronto. Quite a nice trip actually, getting to see a bit of the scenery.

FrancisA

Train gets pretty booked up at the best of times. It's an OK journey. Toronto to Montreal isn't too bad a drive.

I hope this year's Montreal F1 is better than last year's. Quebec students were protesting over tuition fees and various build up events were cancelled, including free admissions to trials on the Friday. There was a fairly tense atmosphere around the stands in the city centre too.

JeffBHD

Plenty of spots downtown with great atmosphere too

Brooklyn-LGA-Flyer

The nearest airports and drive times are:

Plattsburgh, NY - 60 mins
Burlington, VT - 90 mins
Ottawa, ON - 2 hrs
Boston, MA - 5-6 hrs
Toronto/New York - 6-7 hrs

Depending on your tolerance to driving any of these are doable

ComeFlyWithMe123

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who replied to my post and all of you that post on Flyertalk.

Finally got round to booking my trip

I looked at Quantas for Aer lingus flights (thanks Raffles). No Biz Class showing so I phoned BAEC and they could only see Economy but the nice lady (Louise) delved a little deeper and found some Biz seats after confirming that the seat class did sit in the Biz Cabin. That gets me to Boston for 50,000 in J and £77.50 in taxes.

I now have 2 options

a) Fly Boston to Montreal with Air Canada for £273.50

or

b) Fly Boston to Plattsburgh (Thanks Alexbellamy) for £91.28 and manage the 60 minute trip to Montreal.

Option A is easiest as it is very handy (my hotel is at the airport). Option B is preferable as I am not cash rich so every little saving helps. The bus to Montreal from Plattsburgh does not fit in with my schedule and I do not fancy the car rental as I want to enjoy my flight with a few beverages .

Anyone happen to know what private taxi's are like £££'s wise for this trip?

Jenzo

just to update you, we picked the air canada flight to Montreal.

J

ComeFlyWithMe123

Thanks for the update Jenzo, I might just do the same...saves all the bother!

GeeMac

A bit late now that you're sorted, but Mrs GeeMac and I flew in and out of Boston for last years race weekend. However, we spent 10 days in total, 3 for the race and 7 days touring Quebec and Maine. The itinerary suited Boston. It's about a 6hr drive from Boston to downtown Montreal, easy enough to do after the early flight arrival.

We stayed in a fantastic guest house (in/near the gay quarter) where we were kept away from the bother with the students which afflicted the centre-vile area. We did go in for one night, but it was heavily policed and utterly mobbed. Our guest house was 3 stations away from the station for the racetrack, so travel to/from was really easy.

Can give more advice/details if required.