Security lineups. Weather delays. Crammed seating in the back of the plane (close to the front, too). Flying isn’t always fun these days. But it’s arguably never been cheaper. According to the latest ARC-Expedia study, economy class average ticket prices are dropping across the world and have reached their lowest level in three years. A report at Travel Pulse says flights have become especially more affordable to and from South America, which is gaining more and more popularity with adventurous travelers. (I was in Chile, mostly Puerto Varas and Easter Island) a year ago for an Adventure Travel Summit conference Read more
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HONOLULU – That was fun. Air Canada rouge celebrated the return of non-stop service between Toronto and Honolulu on Wednesday with celebrations in both cities. As a winter storm started to develop near southern Ontario (damn, I hate to miss those), the crew on the first Toronto to Honolulu Air Canada rouge flight was gathering at Pearson International Airport with plastic flower leis, papier mache pineapples and other Hawaiian-inspired goodies to get ready for the 3:55 p.m. departure. They cut a ribbon to celebrate the occasion and generally fussed and fawned, catching a few folks by surprise. “We didn’t know Read more
Maybe we’re just too guilty. A fun study by cheapflights.ca finds that Canadians get most stressed on their holidays by the folks at customs and immigration. Asked what causes us to fuss the most when we travel, 27 per cent of Canadians said it was those nice, inquiring folks at immigration and customs. Who, I must say, generally are pretty good. Not all, but most. Still, I tend to agree. Even when I haven’t bought anything other than a travel magazine or a t-shirt I always feel a bit apprehensive approaching that desk and those men and women in uniforms. Read more
On Tuesday we had WestJet unveiling its new Disney-branded plane with Mickey Mouse. Today, Air Canada did them one better (and probably more) by announcing its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners will fly the Toronto-Tel Aviv route starting next July with a cool, new interior. Among the improvements on the Dreamliner will be higher humidity, special lights to help ease jet lag, bigger windows and more overhead storage. Of course, a lot of the benefits will go to folks paying the bigger bills. Folks at the front of the plane will get bigger TV screens, fancier seats (some that lie flat), Read more
We all know that it’s generally cheaper to fly to our favourite destinations from nearby American airports. A new study shows us just how much cheaper. The folks at cheapflights.ca looked at flights in August of this year to some of our favourite places, such as Los Angeles, Montreal, Miami, London and Bangkok, and compared prices from Canadian airports versus ones near the Canada-U.S. border. It’s a big area to cover but it’s fascinating – and surprising – stuff. Topping the affordability index was Bellingham, Washington, with an average ticket price of $316. Next was Kelowna (surprised a Canadian airport Read more
