Advice please, LHR, Toronto, Vancouver plus BA1!
Dec 1, 2018, 4:07 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 55
Advice please, LHR, Toronto, Vancouver plus BA1!
Good evening FT, I am planning a holiday next June which is basically LHR to Toronto, Toronto to Vancouver, Vancouver to LHR. WTP trans Atlantic. The BA website says no to the trans continental trip, presumably as there are no One World partners serving domestic Canada flights. Any airlines recommended for the trans con on a separate booking, economy or Canadian Prem economy if it exists? I am not interested in points but Avios are useful. Second question is about BA1, I fancy adding this as a substitute for the LHR to Toronto leg with three days in New York at the start of the holiday (I did this several years ago, train to Niagara, return WTP from Toronto) at a very reasonable cost. BA1 this time one way is the 'norm' £6k+ price. If I was to do an ex EU to LCY, either an early arrival or more probably a day before with an overnight stay in London within the fare rules (could also be to LHR) any recommendations as to which EU airport might provide the cheapest BA1 fare?? I have only looked at the BA site and do not have access to the flight planning sites often mentioned here. Many thanks in advance for your collective wisdom. JT
Dec 1, 2018, 5:08 pm
#2
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Dec 1, 2018, 6:00 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2009
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There are AA-coded flights between New York and Toronto, though they are not AA mainline. Non-stop from Toronto to Vancouver is not possible on One World airlines, but AA offer Toronto to Chicago and Chicago to Vancouver. Eastbound, AA has flights to Chicago, New York and a variety of other places with AA or BA flights to London.
Dec 1, 2018, 8:03 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2009
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There are AA-coded flights between New York and Toronto, though they are not AA mainline. Non-stop from Toronto to Vancouver is not possible on One World airlines, but AA offer Toronto to Chicago and Chicago to Vancouver. Eastbound, AA has flights to Chicago, New York and a variety of other places with AA or BA flights to London.
Dec 1, 2018, 9:17 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2016
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I did something similar in September wanting to visit both Toronto and Vancouver as part of a holiday itinerary. Ended up doing LHR -> JFK -> LGA -> YYZ -> LGA -> JFK -> SEA (via LAX to get the AA transcon), hire car pickup to drive across to border to Vancouver and then onto Whistler and then the Canadian Rockies before returning the hire car and then flying SEA -> LHR. It did involve stays in JFK at both points though (which worked for us) as the inbound flight times didn't work to connect to any of the YYZ services we wanted on AA.
If you wanted to skip the SEA flight there is a Cathay Pacific flight that does JFK -> YVR -> HKG, so you can hop on for the JFK -> YVR leg on a CX 777-300 rather than AA. I couldn't make it work at a sensible price for my itinerary (and the fact the people I was traveling with also wanted to do Seattle!).
Edit:
Just to add we actually started in AMS, but I echo the comments about using ITA Matrix to find the best price. It's not quite as easy anymore to search ex-EU but I did manage to get the total cost of our flights down to about £1.8k pp in business.
If you wanted to skip the SEA flight there is a Cathay Pacific flight that does JFK -> YVR -> HKG, so you can hop on for the JFK -> YVR leg on a CX 777-300 rather than AA. I couldn't make it work at a sensible price for my itinerary (and the fact the people I was traveling with also wanted to do Seattle!).
Edit:
Just to add we actually started in AMS, but I echo the comments about using ITA Matrix to find the best price. It's not quite as easy anymore to search ex-EU but I did manage to get the total cost of our flights down to about £1.8k pp in business.
Last edited by Soulfish; Dec 1, 2018 at 9:21 pm Reason: Edit to add ex-EU info
Dec 2, 2018, 1:14 am
#6
Join Date: Oct 2017
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I’m doing this the other way round in August. £1400 for INV-LHR-JFK-SEA, bit of time there then travel up to YVR, then YVR-YYZ on Westjet in economy, hoping for an upgrade to be available at check-in to Plus, then YYZ-JFK-LHR. The transcon is on an AA 737 as going via LAX was £££ extra. Hoping for a schedule change so I can tweak to go via LAX. TATL is on BA747 UD on the way out and AA773 on the way home for a nice back to back comparison.
Anything resembling a pleasant way to travel YVR-YYZ was nearing £1000 one-way; economy was £260 inc. bags.
Anything resembling a pleasant way to travel YVR-YYZ was nearing £1000 one-way; economy was £260 inc. bags.
Dec 2, 2018, 5:28 am
#10
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Purely speculative, but Crossrail will allow easy transportation from Canary Wharf to Heathrow. I wonder if the delays to Crossrail might have given BA1 another 9-ish months of service.
Dec 2, 2018, 9:27 pm
#11
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Either WestJet or Air Canada are good for a cross Canada flight, they are the major players in Canada. There is no OW domestic airline, and I really wouldn't recommend going back and forth to the USA simply to use AA. It adds a lot of time and expense, plus hassle at the border each way. You also will not be able to book a Canada-USA-Canada ticket as one ticket without a stopover. Even with a stopover I have heard of people being denied boarding on those itineraries due to cabatoge rules. No 261 compensation either, you're just plain SOL.
Depending upon your budget and what you want to see, I would recommend taking Via Rail's The Canadian. It really is an excellent way to see the country, plus gain an appreciation for how vast Canada really is. Be aware that the rail network in Canada is extraordinarily busy now, so don't plan a same day connection at your destination (Vancouver). The time keeping has improved with a new schedule, but previously 12+ hours delays were the norm.
Depending upon your budget and what you want to see, I would recommend taking Via Rail's The Canadian. It really is an excellent way to see the country, plus gain an appreciation for how vast Canada really is. Be aware that the rail network in Canada is extraordinarily busy now, so don't plan a same day connection at your destination (Vancouver). The time keeping has improved with a new schedule, but previously 12+ hours delays were the norm.
Dec 3, 2018, 10:00 am
#12
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I’m doing this the other way round in August. £1400 for INV-LHR-JFK-SEA, bit of time there then travel up to YVR, then YVR-YYZ on Westjet in economy, hoping for an upgrade to be available at check-in to Plus, then YYZ-JFK-LHR. The transcon is on an AA 737 as going via LAX was £££ extra. Hoping for a schedule change so I can tweak to go via LAX. TATL is on BA747 UD on the way out and AA773 on the way home for a nice back to back comparison.
Anything resembling a pleasant way to travel YVR-YYZ was nearing £1000 one-way; economy was £260 inc. bags.
Anything resembling a pleasant way to travel YVR-YYZ was nearing £1000 one-way; economy was £260 inc. bags.
Best of luck though it makes for a survivable way to get to YVR
Dec 3, 2018, 10:13 am
#13
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To get across Canada on BA/oneworld flights, you could either build in a 24+ hour stopover in the USA (some fare rules would permit this, others not, so you might need to purchase a separate one way ticket) on AA or purchase separate tickets if you want to spend less than 24 hours in some USA airport, again using AA flights. Cabotage rules say that USA carriers cannot carry passengers between two Canadian airports (or vice versa). This assumes that OP has travel documents to enter the USA.
Dec 3, 2018, 2:01 pm
#15
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Not wanting to gatecrash this thread but, I have a similar ticketing problem. I need to be in Calgary during the first week of March; I know I could fly AC but bear with me*. BA now offers flights via DFW, which is fine for the outbound. However, this is a company TA booking and I am permitted to take two days leave on the way back, which I want to take in New York. Now, AA don't seem fly direct from YYC to LGA or JFK but, even using a multi-city itinerary, BA fails to return any YYC-xxx-LGA options. Obviously, my TA isn't going to spend any longer on this than they need to. Can anybody shed any light on this?
*I have an outside chance of gold this year!
*I have an outside chance of gold this year!