For those undeterred by huge queues and flight delays at Canadian airports, questions remain about how to save money on air travel amid rising fuel costs and inflation.
Airfares, often the biggest item on a vacation, rose 11.6 percent year over year in May, according to Statistics Canada. Tickets are now above pre-pandemic levels, up 15 percent from 2019 at $960 on average for international flights from Canada, says Montreal-based Hopper Inc., with no signs of falling in the coming months. months.
“Airlines are raising ticket prices to cover higher fuel and labor costs,” said Helane Becker, airline analyst at investment firm Cowen.
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Flexibility comes in handy when you’re looking to save money, as the times you choose to book and travel, and the airport you take off from, can play a key role in cost.
Weekends are often more expensive, and scheduled flights early in the morning and late at night are often cheaper, since fewer people want to fly at that time, said Duncan Dee, former chief operating officer of Air Canada.
“Don’t plan on leaving the first few days after the school year is over … and don’t plan on coming home the weekend before Labor Day, either, because it’s going to be a high-demand weekend,” he said.
Dee also recommends traveling in the off-season instead of the peak summer months, or considering less sought after locations. “Latin America, for example, our summer is their winter, and a winter in the southern hemisphere… is very nice,” she said.
“Paris in the summer or London in the summer _ that equates to high airfares, high hotel prices and full restaurants.”
Booking one to three months in advance for domestic flights and three to four months for international flights can also result in cheaper fares, he added. However, “dynamic pricing” means there are no hard and fast rules, as the algorithms respond to demand and booking curves on the fly.
“Many consumers will report being quoted one rate and a totally different rate, higher or even lower, if they search an hour later,” Dee said.
One way to avoid vigilant algorithms is alternate airports. Those in Hamilton, Ontario, Buffalo and Plattsburgh, New York, and Bellingham, Washington may have more acceptable prices and fewer delays.
But travel within Canada may be the safest and cheapest option. The average one-way domestic fare was $159 in May, up from $168 in May 2019, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company.
“International travel, outside of North America, is really a game of dice,” said John Gradek, an aviation professor at McGill University, pointing to a friend’s recent trip.
“To rent a car in Italy _ a small gas car, a Fiat _ and a tiny house for him and his wife and two daughters for a week was $1,200 (per day) _ plus $200 per day for car rental,” he said.
“If you are going to go to Europe, you have to really want to go.”
Gradek recommends classic Canadian getaways this summer. “Go to Banff, go to the Rockies, go visit Peggy’s Cove.”
In Ontario, several cities offer rewards to tourists for staying overnight. Ottawa, Kingston, London and Guelph are among the municipalities that promise to hand out gift cards of up to $100 or guarantee a night of home stays at participating hotels.
The incentives are in addition to the Provincial Stay Tax Credit, which provides up to $200 in credit per person for travel within Ontario.
Low-cost Canadian carriers like Flair Airlines, WestJet’s Swoop and recently-entered Lynx Air offer another route to save, though smaller fleets can mean fewer options in the event of a cancellation, with some passengers rebooking days later. on less frequent routes.
A handful of travel hacks offer smarter savings.
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So-called hidden city fares, in which passengers skip the second leg of a journey to disembark at the connecting point _ their actual intended destination _ allow travelers who found cheaper fares on a roundabout route rather than a direct flight will save money, although carriers frown on the practice.
“Hacker fees,” which refer to two one-way tickets, can also lead to savings. Search engines, including Kayak and Google Flights, offer round-trip queries for a couple of one-way flights. Kayak and Hopper also provide price alerts and recommendations on whether to buy right away or wait for lower fares.
For the more tech-savvy, bargain hunters can mask your computer’s address with a virtual private network (VPN) to spot rates targeting local residents in other countries, though the deals aren’t necessarily better. For the less digitally inclined, finding a travel agent abroad may be an easier option.
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