# Airfares - incredible finding



## X-ring (Aug 28, 2006)

Well, incredible for me anyway.

Time is approaching to return to Florida in November.  We start on the east coast on Nov 25 near Ft. Lauderdale and end up on the west coast returning from Sanibel near Ft. Myers on Dec 15. 

So I start by checking both Westjet and Air Canada web sites to cost each of   

1) open jaw Ottawa - Ft.L,  then Ft.M - Ottawa (ideal for us) 
2) Ott- Ft L return (an OK choice  we've been doing this for the last few years)
3) Ott - Ft M return (OK choice) 
4) open jaw Ottawa - Ft M,  then FT L - Ottawa (complete opposite of our ideal)
5) one-way fares for each of the first and last days (just for fun, and prepared to laugh)

To my incredible surprise, the cheapest option is to fly on a one-way ticket to Fort Myers on Westjet, and to return on a one-way ticket from Fort Lauderdale on Air Canada! 

Who wouldda' thunk?!


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## eal (Aug 28, 2006)

*Harmony Airways*

We are off to Hawaii in January, and I snagged tickets at a good price 330 days before our departure date by buying a one-way ticket Calgary - Maui, and then a one-way ticket Maui - Calgary.  The round trip ticket was over $150 more.  

Who knows how these things work...


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## BarCol (Aug 28, 2006)

Strange as it seems I have my Travel agent looking for YYZ to AKL (Auckland NZ) for February and its cheaper to buy Toronto to LAX then LAX to NZ than Toronto to Auckland return...go figure....that's why I use and agent for the complicated routings


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## topcop400 (Aug 28, 2006)

eal said:
			
		

> We are off to Hawaii in January, and I snagged tickets at a good price 330 days before our departure date by buying a one-way ticket Calgary - Maui, and then a one-way ticket Maui - Calgary.  The round trip ticket was over $150 more.
> 
> Who knows how these things work...



That's just craziness!  I never would have thought to look at this.  I will now though.


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## EvelynK72 (Aug 28, 2006)

I don't know what happens in Canada, but if you have a one way ticket in the US, you can expect more scrutiny at airport security.  On one trip, I had the round-trip ticket and my husband had a one-way ticket (he was heading to a business meeting after our vacation) and he got selected for the extra security measures, but I didn't.   

Evelyn


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## OnMedic (Aug 29, 2006)

EvelynK72 said:
			
		

> I don't know what happens in Canada, but if you have a one way ticket in the US, you can expect more scrutiny at airport security.  On one trip, I had the round-trip ticket and my husband had a one-way ticket (he was heading to a business meeting after our vacation) and he got selected for the extra security measures, but I didn't.
> 
> Evelyn



I can't see that. A case in point.... Expedia, Travelocity and many travel agents may book you on two seperate airlines. One out and a different one back. This consitutes two one way tickets....


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## riverdees05 (Aug 29, 2006)

May want to check the drop charge on your rental car.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Aug 29, 2006)

With many airlines there is no longer any difference between one-way fares and round trip fares.

E.g, when I book travel on Alaska, as I build the flight from offered flights, each leg, with it's specific flights, has it's own price.  The ticket simply is the sum of the legs. The pricing options for each leg don't vary a bit whether I'm building an itinerary round trip, one way, or open jaw.


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## Pardytime (Aug 29, 2006)

We needed to book from Ottawa to New York for Late October 2006, and I knew the flight could be as little as 1 1/2 hrs, but most flights from Ottawa go through Montreal or Toronto (or both!) which at the very least doubles the travel time, and most often triples it.  It took some looking and tweaking, but through Expedia.ca we were able to identify two direct one-way flights on two different airlines (but which are considered one round-trip for booking purposes), departing & arriving from different airports servicing New York, with great departure timings, and at a cost of about half of almost all the other flights from one single airline.  Air Canada was the next closest with a $99 flight each way (plus taxes of course), but with early morning departures, and of course the extra travel time. 
I am very glad we spent the extra research time.  It will certainly improve the enjoyment of our next vacation not to have to get up at 3 a.m. 

Cheers.


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## Elli (Aug 29, 2006)

BarCol said:
			
		

> Strange as it seems I have my Travel agent looking for YYZ to AKL (Auckland NZ) for February and its cheaper to buy Toronto to LAX then LAX to NZ than Toronto to Auckland return...go figure....that's why I use an agent for the complicated routings


Barb, I do most of our bookings on line, checking the air fare with the airline directly, but sometimes it is cheaper to go through itravel2000.

This time I needed a ticket for Kelowna - Cancun.  I got a better fare flying via Toronto, but when I tried to stay a couple of days in Toronto, the air fare went up quite a bit.  I then decided to use RCI Travel, who now go through  Carlson Wagonlit Travel.  The total fare, including their booking fee, was lower than I could find with booking Air Canada directly.  If you book a vacation package like Signature, etc., with RCI Travel there is no booking fee.


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## BarCol (Aug 29, 2006)

Hi Elli - well the deed is done - we booked our New Zealand tickets today. My travel agent got us a fare of $2099 per person plus $235 taxes (all CAD) through a wholesaler in LA for the LAX to AKL leg - and that's not the economy class that's the Air New Zealand upgraded class - Pacific Premium Economy.. so we're very happy. I figure someone will have a sale for Toronto to LAX before our February 14 departure - probably Air Canada..


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## Laurie (Aug 29, 2006)

BarCol said:
			
		

> Hi Elli - well the deed is done - we booked our New Zealand tickets today. My travel agent got us a fare of $2099 per person plus $235 taxes (all CAD) through a wholesaler in LA for the LAX to AKL leg - and that's not the economy class that's the Air New Zealand upgraded class - Pacific Premium Economy.. so we're very happy. I figure someone will have a sale for Toronto to LAX before our February 14 departure - probably Air Canada..


Are you spending the night in LA? You might think about it, fly in a day early. I've done what you've done before, with 3 or 4 hours between flights, but never again - what if your first flight is delayed? Mine was, and the anxiety wondering whether I'd miss my transAtlantic flight wasn't worth it.

Actually I've done this 2x, and both were close calls. The second time, both flights were even on the same airline - but because they were booked at different times, they wouldn't make them 1 ticket.


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## BarCol (Aug 29, 2006)

Hi Laurie and we're not planning on spending any time in LA. Part of the reason for flying Air New Zealand and before that an Air Canada flight to LAX is the two airlines are codeshare partners (so we can check our baggage in Toronto and then pick it up in Auckland at the end) and both fly into and out of the same terminal at LAX (Terminal 4, I think). So when we come off the AC flight we don't need to go through US Customs and security and change terminals before boarding the ANZ. On the way back though I don't think we're quite that lucky however as I think you need to go through customs, but still we don't have to change terminals... but I do hear you on the late arrivals so I'll speak to our travel agent and make sure there's enough time between flights


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## X-ring (Aug 30, 2006)

FTCOC said:
			
		

> most flights from Ottawa go through Montreal or Toronto (or both!) which at the very least doubles the travel time, and most often triples it.



Continental flies Ottawa-Newark direct - then easy train into Manhattan.


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## Laurie (Aug 31, 2006)

BarCol said:
			
		

> Part of the reason for flying Air New Zealand and before that an Air Canada flight to LAX is the two airlines are codeshare partners (so we can check our baggage in Toronto and then pick it up in Auckland at the end) and both fly into and out of the same terminal at LAX (Terminal 4, I think). So when we come off the AC flight we don't need to go through US Customs and security and change terminals before boarding the ANZ. On the way back though I don't think we're quite that lucky however as I think you need to go through customs, but still we don't have to change terminals... but I do hear you on the late arrivals so I'll speak to our travel agent and make sure there's enough time between flights



If they're codeshare partners and you can check bags thru, maybe there's a possibility you can make it all 1 ticket... worth asking your travel agent anyway.

My bad experience: we had a 7 pm flight to London booked out of Phila. I saved hundreds of $$ by booking this promo transAtlantic flight and thought great, I can get a $39 flight into Phila on Southwest Airlines - many per day, perfect schedules! Originally I planned to arrive Phila around 3:30 - lots of time right? And SW flights are rarely late.  Then I got nervous anyway and booked earlier flights to Phila, arriving at 12:25 pm - 6.5 hours connection time!! - assuming worry-wort me was making this into an unneccessarily long boring exhausting day at airport, but better safe than sorry. We STILL almost missed that flight to London because there was fog in Phila, where they closed that airport to incoming flights so the SW flight didn't take off from NC for many HOURS after its schedule. 

I didn't have any fingernails by then. That's why in the future I'll probably book at least the outgoing part of my trips on 1 ticket - we often have too much already tightly planned for our arrival, and having to reschedule would be a hassle, disappointment and expense not worth it.


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## Pardytime (Aug 31, 2006)

X-ring said:
			
		

> Continental flies Ottawa-Newark direct - then easy train into Manhattan.



We often fly Continental, and that's how I knew we could get to Newark direct. When we tried to book Continental through their website, the cost was over $1,000 for two people. Yowza. Expedia's price looked to be about half of that for the same flights, but they requoted in the middle of the transaction at double the price.  For me, it really paid off to keep looking, and actually one of the flights is with Continental.  Go figure.  Expedia.ca is a great resource to identify the flight times and airlines from a particular airport.

If you know, or even have a feeling, that there are better rates out there, keep looking - time permitting of course.  We have learned through experience to find the flight before we book anything else.


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