American airfare too cheap for Canadians to pass up: report
I have a set of parents that, in their ripe, old age, like to vacation maybe a little more than they did, say, a decade ago.
And when they do, despite living in London, Ont., smack dab in the middle of Toronto and Detroit, they always choose to fly from the latter.
But mom, dad, I would always say, the border waits! The parking! The hassle! Why do you always choose to fly out of the U.S.?
Shows what I didn’t know, and what the Conference Board of Canada confirms: now, and for the foreseeable future, you’d have to be silly to fly from a Canadian airport.
According to the latest report from the Conference Board, five million Canadians now cross the U.S. border by land each year to fly from the country’s airports.
*Bing: When’s the best time to buy airfare?
Why do they go? Because it’s about 30 per cent cheaper to do so, that’s why.
Thank once more Canada’s sky-high fees and taxes for pricey airfare; about 40 per cent of a Canadian plane ticket is made up of fees and taxes, by the Conference Board’s calculation.
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has said Ottawa is “concerned” about the trend, but perhaps it’s only going to get worse.
Because much of Canada’s population lives so close to the U.S. border, enterprise has stepped up, and soon flying from the U.S. is going to be just as simple as doing so from Canada.
The key hurdles for a Canadian to fly from America, of course, are transportation and parking, costs that even on their own – even when a family, for example, would drive themselves a few hours across the border and pay to park for a week – still make flying from the U.S. cheaper.
But now, cross-border bus services are getting less expensive, and further easier for passengers to use.
And the U.S. airports? They see us coming. The one in Bellingham, Wash., is betting so big on the trend of Canadian travellers coming in that it’s more than tripling the size of its terminal.
“A recent study found that 62 per cent of the passengers coming out of Bellingham are Canadian,” Dean Zenk, director of aviation for the Port of Bellingham, said. “The fees are lower.”
Do you choose to fly out of the United States? If so, do the savings outweigh the hassle?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: True Canadian | Oct 4, 2021 5:06:45 PM
I do fly out of the US on occasion thru Buffalo (Im in GTA) or rarely Detroit, but both have their downside. Detroit is too far and Buff doesnt have enough direct flights to my preferred destinations to make it often worth my while. If travelling solo or as a couple, advantage can be small but when it is a 4-some or more, its usually worth the hassle. And I dont fly out of Buff in the winter for obvious reasons. But yah, there is a couple of excellent shuttle services in Windsor to Detroit airport. We often fly to Vegas from there if in a large 4-6 person group. Average savings is almost $200/per person if we get the cheapest Detroit flights. The Irony of it all- We use the free parking in Casino Windsor for the shuttle(used to use the free parking at Windsor Raceway but its now closed).
Posted by: John | Oct 4, 2021 9:14:43 PM
I always fly out of Detroit. It is a 1.5 hr drive. The cost to fly in Canada from London-TO-Vancouver is about $4,500 Exec 1st class. To fly Detroit-Seattle, is is $1,600 for 1st class. I fly this trip weekly as I live in Wyoming, Ontario and work in Bellingham, WA. My customer pays my travel expenses.
Posted by: Marian | Oct 8, 2021 4:03:52 AM
Here in Coquitlam, 20 km east of the Vancouver International Airport it takes about as long to drive to Bellingham (plan flights at off peak border crossing times) and saves at least 30%. I recently priced a flight on Alaska Airlines to Cancun, from Seattle, under 500.00, from Bellingham, around 680.00 and from Vancouver which was over $1400.00 and went from Vancouver to Seattle to pick up the plane that I could take from Seattle for 60% less (it is a 3 hour drive and there is a shuttle bus from Vancouver).
Flying within Canada is stupidly expensive, I have seen much of the world but very little of my own country due to sky high airfares and train fares.
Vancouver airport wasted way too much money on artwork and aesthetics, give me a warehouse, just keep flight prices low.
Posted by: Andre | Oct 8, 2021 7:25:32 AM
Yes the savings outweigh the hassle...and in my case, what hassle? Flew from Portland Maine to San Francisco and back for 525$. Also got free parking at the hotel for the 20 days I was away. Total flight trip (Portland to SF) was 6 hours with one 45 minute stop at JFK. It was the same for my trip back. Now, if I would have done this from Canada, I was looking at 850$ return trip, and the total flight trip was more than 12 hours one way with a minimum of 2 stop overs. The decision was a no brainer.
Posted by: bob | Oct 8, 2021 10:39:23 AM
I not only fly out of the US when I go oversees, I also spend practically all my money in the US except for food items.
Posted by: JJ | Oct 8, 2021 10:44:32 AM
We live in the GTA and it only makes sense to fly out of Buffalo. Yes it may be a bit of a drive but the savings are worth it. To fly from Buffalo for a family of three to Sanford Florida (Just north of Orlando, FL) at Christmas time for 13 days and company also iincludes a car rental for $1500.00 all in. To fly from Toronto flights are $2025.00 Plus a rental car is $1500 for the same amount of time. $3525.00. You do the math.. If you stay one night at the hotels across the street from the Buffalo airport, they will let you leave your car for no charge.. This trend is going to continue to grow, unless somehow the flights from Canada become more affordable.. More and more people I know are choosing to head over the border to fly. Its just worth it period.
** Flying inside Canada is ridiculous as well. There was 4 of us that had to fly from Toronto to Calgary in February for 4 days for a family function its was $3000.00. And just a few months before that in Dec 2011 four of us flew to Bahamas from Toronto to Bahamas for $1800.00. **
Posted by: GA | Oct 8, 2021 1:05:15 PM
We fly overseas every couple of yrs. Tried flying only once from Detroit, never again. It cost us $346.42 more for each ticket than it did flying out of Windsor, Ontario. Savings of almost $700.00, was better in our pockets. No thanks, give me a Canadian airport any day. If Canadians don't stop with this "U.S." mentality, we'll have nothing left in this country, especially our health care. I lived in the U.S. for a few yrs., so I know what I'm talking about.
Posted by: Steve | Oct 8, 2021 7:49:15 PM
I live 20 min. from the Windsor, ON airport but haven't used it in years. The only reason I might use Windsor is for the sheer convenience if I'm flying to Toronto or Ottawa. Detroit is my airport of choice for virtually all my travelling. It's so much cheaper and for a huge international hub everything is so easy from parking to check in to arrivals and leaving. And the park-sleep-fly deals are so worth it.
Posted by: LC | Oct 8, 2021 9:56:57 PM
i frequently flew form toronto and as of about 2 years ago started flying from the US and strictly flew with deltas fleet the flights are not only cheaper the service is much better and the rewards (skymiles) are hands down ten times better than any canadian flight companies. I mainly fly out of detroit and buffalo never have i had a problem at the border, nor with parking, its much cheaper than toronto and especially the big blue deck at detroit wayne county, car is covered and safe unlike toronto where u have to spend 10 dollars a day for a fenced in yard. Taxes in canada are a joke as well how much more is the government going to take from us id rather waste it in vegas at a craps table!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone who flies from canada and says they can get better deals obviously doesnt do their research id like to give them a few hints on how to keep money in their pocket.
Posted by: Reg | Oct 8, 2021 10:28:14 PM
I fly out of no where but Detroit. Granted, I am only 1 1/2 hours away from Detroit Metro.
For less than $100, I can book a room the night before, get a weeks worth of parking and shuttle service to and back from the airport and by going the night before, you're not rushed and the border traffic is less
Posted by: jet rental | Oct 13, 2021 2:59:46 AM
Nice information, many thanks to the author. It is incomprehensible to me now, but in general, the usefulness and significance is overwhelming. Thanks again and good luck
Posted by: http://www.genesishealthinstitute.com/testosterone.php | Nov 2, 2021 6:05:25 AM
That is very helpful. It provided me a few ideas and I’ll be posting them on my web site eventually. I’m bookmarking your site and I’ll be back again. Thank you again!
Posted by: www.accidentinjuryhelplines.co.uk | Nov 7, 2021 5:23:24 AM
That is very helpful. It provided me a few ideas and I’ll be posting them on my web site eventually. I’m bookmarking your site and I’ll be back again. Thank you again!
Posted by: AIHL | Nov 8, 2021 1:58:37 AM
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing blog that understand the value. Im glad to have found this post as its such an interesting one! I am always on the lookout for quality posts and articles so i suppose im lucky to have found this! I hope you will be adding more in the future...
Posted by: AirArabia Airline | Nov 8, 2021 6:41:05 AM
It is so lucky to read your blog,it is full of useful message.I wish we both can do better in the future.It great honor if you can visit our website,and give us some suggestion.
Posted by: www.lexus.co.uk | Nov 28, 2021 4:23:23 AM
Thanks for taking this opportunity to discuss this, I appreciate with this and if you have some more information please share it with me.
Posted by: http://www.bizznus.com/ | Nov 29, 2021 11:30:56 PM
Fantastic blog post and very useful informationwill keep it in mind, thanks for sharing the information keep updating,
Posted by: http://www.hospiceadvantage.net | Nov 30, 2021 3:45:02 AM
It was also claimed he could project his thoughts from several meters away, or without using the cylinder.
Posted by: tipcosmetic | Nov 30, 2021 7:20:39 AM
the idea of photographic reading into a new realm.or without using the cylinder.
Posted by: see | Nov 30, 2021 10:16:55 AM
his is a very informative and Useful post and help me out to get all valuable information regarding this topic. Great work
Posted by: Home Remedies for Menopause | Dec 1, 2021 4:27:44 AM
I appreciated every bit of it and I did you bookmark to look
Posted by: hrt | Dec 1, 2021 5:51:24 AM
Thanks for taking this opportunity to discuss this, I appreciate with this and if you have some more information please share it with me.
Posted by: dupli | Dec 3, 2021 4:16:39 AM
This is great Blog here my friend! Very informative, I appreciate all the information that you just shared with me very much and I’ll be back to read more in the future thanks for sharing.
Posted by: men sherwani | Dec 6, 2021 3:53:05 AM
“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
Posted by: cchg | Dec 12, 2021 6:20:40 AM
I found this post to be very educational. Thank you for broadening my knowledge of this subject. No doubt its a great piece of writing as well. Thanks
Posted by: tkdumps | Dec 12, 2021 11:51:35 PM
I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can Get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect!
Posted by: www.sharphosts.com | Dec 13, 2021 5:31:28 AM
I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can Get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect!
Posted by: envisionwebhosting.com | Dec 13, 2021 11:57:07 PM
I was checking continuously this blog and I'm impressed! Extremely useful information.
Posted by: www.1-hit.com/ | Dec 14, 2021 1:11:40 AM
Waoooo this post is just awesome. In-fact i m going to tell all of my friends also. Very well post thanks for sharing…
Posted by: realestatepatron.com | Dec 14, 2021 2:17:17 AM
Fantastic blog post and very useful information. I must appreciate the brilliant work by brilliant writer. Keep blogging. Best of luck.