Canadians save big flying out of U.S. border airports

We dont need Canadian airlines anyway. I they cant afford to compete they should just bow out.

For those, like myself--a senior, who don't want to drive to Buffalo from Toronto, Coach Canada has numerous trips directly to the Buffalo Airport from Toronto at only approx. $55 return. Even with that extra expense, which probably ends up being less than gas and parking if driving to Buffalo, a trip to Florida is half the price of a Pearson departure.

My boys and I went to the Olympics through the US...It was crazy...Montreal Vancouver return was 3000$...Burlington Seattle return was 1000$....return....for three people! crazy...

Yes we had to drive and park, and drive from Seattle to Vancouver, but stilll...

Well not only flying out of the border cities is cheaper , flying with a US carrier from Canada to the US is also. Why , I have no idea. We are going from Vancouver to Boston and flying back from Washingtom DC in the fall. Air Canada $1850.00 CAN and United will be $1395.00 . Maybe because Air Canada uses the most expensive airport in the world , Toronto Pearson. No matter what , why would I fly Air canada.

I drive across the border when ever I fly now. Prices are about half for me to fly to Las Vegas from Washington State.

Same story for us. We were flying to Orlando, Florida and was able to get a flight from International Falls, MN at a savings of $330 per person, even with the exchange and cost of driving 5 1/2 hours to get to International Falls. I have done some extensive flying lately and it is considerable cheaper and faster flying out of the US. I find the car rental rates very much cheaper than Canadian also. I like to support the Canadian businesses, but when the prices are 3 and 4 times other rates I believe we need to be responsible for our money. There has got to be something they can do about their flight costs.

Hey all,

As an owner of a travel business. I agree with a lot of your posts. Problem isn't so much that the fares are cheaper in Canada it's the darn taxes. Flying to the US 90% of the time it's cheaper to drive down to the US and fly out of there but overseas the pricing is similar. We have a small population hence we pay more taxes that our counter-parts in the South. You name it and it's probably cheaper in the US especially now that the dollar is reaching parity.

yes,,have done so for years,,both from detroit&buffalo...better selection as well as great prices.You can easily save a couple of hundred each way.also the taxes are very low.the long term parking is safe & isn't a mortgage payment.

....and p.s. to my earlier post, we are flying on Southwest from Detroit to Chicago and that airline allows 2 FREE checked bags with your price flight. There are no additional fees for taking your luggage to add another $60 round trip!! The only airline here that I found to do that was Westjet....which I do enjoy flying on when the price is right.

Check this out. I live in Atlantic Canada and travel to Australia on a fairly regular basis. I can either fly non-stop from western US (Los Angeles or San Franscico)to Sydney, or, alternatively, non-stop Vancouver to Sydney. Distance and time wise it makes no difference to me whether I depart from the US or Vancouver.

I am checking on flights in June. On Expedia, the return fare from Los Angeles to Sydney is $905 Canadian dollars, including taxes and other charges. The all inclusive return fare from Vancouver on the same day on Air Canada (AC 33) is $1,631, a difference of $726, or 80% higher by going through Canada. While I would like to support a Canadian company and would do so if the extra cost of doing so was reasonable, I am not willing to pay an 80% premium for the privelege. This is not an isolated incident, the same high difference occurs on a regular basis throughout the year.

Now for the ironic part. I can book a flight from Los Angeles to Sydney via Vancouver (on the same aforementionned AC 33 that costs $1,631 from Vancouver alone) for a total all in cost of Canadian $1,037. That is, you can fly Air Canada from Los Angeles to Vancouer then onwards to Sydney for $1,037 (the Vancouver - Sydney leg on AC33), which is $594 cheaper than if you flew only AC33 from Vancouver to Sydney!

The bottom line is that Canadian airlines are effectively diverting many of their Canadian customer base to the US. While the US market is obiviously larger and has more competion, I do not believe that that this justifies the large price difference on similiar routes from similiar cities.

Last minute deals are frequently available in the travel industry, but rarely on flights. The only exception to this is charter flights, but even then it is risky to wait until the last few days.

To many people, it seems like common sense that an airline should discount its remaining empty seats in the final hours leading up to a flight. In reality, it is just the opposite. Airlines often double or triple the airfare in the days leading up to any flight.

For instance, many would agree that a flight between Vancouver (YVR) and Toronto (YYZ) that Air Canada can operate at a break-even cost of $100 per person should be sold off at $101 (reflecting a discount of $99 from its regular price of $200, for example) if a traveler shows up at the airline's ticket counter at the airport seeking a seat a few hours prior to take-off. According to proponents, Air Canada would be better off making a $1 profit than letting the seat go empty. Well, consider the following two points.

1. If there are ten empty seats three hours before a flight from YVR to YYZ, the airline has two options: It could discount the ten seats to an amount just above its break-even point so that the flight doesn't leave with empty seats; or the airline could double the price of the seat to $400 hoping that just one person would need to be on that flight so desperately that he or she would pay just about anything to be on. Why should the airline pass up such an opportunity even if the probability of that happening is quite low? In other words, the airline would rather forego $10 in profit by letting ten seats go empty in the hope that one person would pay $400 to be on that same flight (i.e. $300 profit). The odds are certainly in the airline's favour. It would take only one person per 30 flights to Toronto for this tactic to be profitable. Isn't it plausible that at least one person out of every five flights from YVR to YYZ would be in such a situation? That would yield the airline a $300 profit, whereas offering up ten empty seats for each of the five flights for $1 profit each would only yield a $50 profit!

2. If airlines start getting into the habit of offering up last minute discounts, and travelers become aware of this, virtually nobody would be willing to purchase tickets ahead of time. Certainly, there would be far more than ten empty seats on a flight between YVR and YYZ. Imagine then having to sell each of those empty seats for a deep discount. The airlines would have losses piling up.

I know this is unrelated to the subject matter of this article, but it is a common question that passengers have and I hope to have answered it for those interested.

We flew to Cancun a year ago from Denver for a price of $279/person for 8 of us. The cost from Calgary for same dates was over $800/person. We easily saved the cost of the day drive and 2 nights hotel bill. we saved $450/person. We can fly from Great Falls montana to Phoenix are for less than $200 return- Calgary is more than double that. We live half way in between the two airports- wo we can go either way- Customs hassle is way less if we drive to US-then fly

We live in Montreal and recently flew out of Plattsburgh NY. Saved a buch of money. Prior to Plattsburgh opening we flew out of Burlington Vt. Huge savings. Until the Canadian government learns the lesson of diminishing returns, folks will continue to gravitate to where they can save money. Patriotism be damned!! They squander enough of our hard-earned money.

I am hugely loyal to West Jet in Canada. That said, In April I am flying to Las Vegas and staying with friends as a 'Pit Stop' on my way to Montreal. My ongoing flight from Vegas to Montreal was only $99.00 !!!

The price to seat sale fly to Las Vegas, hang out there for a few days, and then fly on to Montreal was far less than just flying direct from Calgary to Montreal.

Primarily it's the Canadian taxes that up the flight costs do dramatically. On a good seat sale the government makes much more $$$ on a flight than West Jet does!

I live in Toronto and I have flown out of Buffalo many times rather than pay the outrageous taxes we are charged to fly from here. But, there have been many instances when flying out of Toronto is much cheaper and more convenient. Many of the deals out of Buffalo to other U.S. destinations are stop-over flights which isn't super convenient. And Buffalo isn't an international airport, so overseas flights not only require a stop-over in New York, but they are often more expensive. So not surprisingly, I just found a direct return flight Toronto-Miami-Toronto for $257.00 tax in, leaving end of March and returning early April. I'll take the hassle of customs at the Toronto airport rather than drive a total of 3 hours plus have a stop-over as long as the price is reasonable.

Even flying to Canadian cities is cheaper. A friend wanted to go to Montreal from Vancouver for Christmas and had been watching for cheap fares. I suggested he check flights out of Seattle and sure enough he found one 40% cheaper than flying direct from Vancouver.
The problem is the Canadian government keeps shovelling cash out to Air Canada and increasing airport fees, landing charges, fuel taxes etc to help pay for it. Air Canada is internationally known for its high prices, complete lack of amenities and monumentally rude staff.
I bought tickets for my son and his family to fly to LA for $15.00 per person each way on a 1 day sale last April. Taxes on each ticket was only 10.70!!! Here in Vancouver if you see a $99.00 seat sale it ends up costing $400.00 in taxes and fees.
I have travelled to many places in the US, Europe, Central America and Mexico and plan to do a lot more, but my trips will originate from Bellingham or Seattle, not Vancouver International.

I do it as well for the ease and the price and I don't care if I sound racist but as a famous actor Quoted "Who is checking out who here?"It is very true at Pearson so thats why I drive the 1.5 hours to Detroit.I believe in security but I also believe in reverse racism which is becoming quite common in Canada these days,and I really don't care about being labelled because I have alot of friends of different ethnic backgrounds but enough is enough.Sad thing is nobody in government will see the lost revenues and lower taxes to get us back it will be business as usual and they will raise taxes for the ones who still fly out of Canada.Our government is to busy trying to give us an identity,we are an immigrant nation,started by England and France and now we drink beer and play hockey,get over it.

I could not disagree more with the post of HR @ 11.25. It has nothing to do with supply and demand. It has to do with the airlines realizing that Canadians will pay more due to the restrictive air policy we have. I am a frequent flyer around the world, and find without fail that you can travel on air canada from almost any U.S. point, going through your point that you wish to for a considerable reduction in cost. ie. Want to travel to Beijing from Toronto. I was able to save $700 pp on the ticket coming from Boston, or New York or even Albany through Toronto. Booked a car one way and then dumped the Toronto Boston portion on the way back as we all have to clear customs in Canada anyways. In the old days you could even pick up the flight in Toronto, but they have stopped that practice.
I used to believe in the protection of our airline industry, and defend it vigiously, but not anymore. There is nothing to protect anymore. The free sky policy would reduce costs, and make the weak fall by the wayside. I have taken 8 trips alone like this during 2009. Makes you think what is wrong with our system.

I recently took a cruise out of Ft.Lauderdale. I drove to Plattsburgh Airport (about 45 minutes from Montreal) and boarded a flight to Ft. Lauderdale, I paid $150.00 U.S. round trip . The flight from Montreal to Lauderdale was over $400. The savings were amazing and also the parking was free. Needless to say they will be seeing more of my business.

We live in Toronto and saved 1600$ flying out of Buffalo. We only fly out of Toronto if we are flying with in Canada. We also like the Buffalo airport much better.