I think encore has done this route before, if they didn't keep it around I cant see it going well for flair.

I bet we don't see any flights actually happen, did Flair ever end up flying YEG-YXS?

Speaking of Chinese airlines, I can confirm that CA hasn't forgotten about PEK-YUL-HAV. Doesn't mean a restart is imminent. Simply saying they are keeping their seat warm, so to speak. ;)

As for China-Canada in general, no airline seems too eager to dive back to pre-pandemic frequencies. But I agree it will be last minute additions, when the increases do happen.

My first international trip since Fall 2019 is this weekend. Very curious to see how smoothly (or not) it all goes.

My route is:

St. John's to Toronto Pearson (Air Canada): 4hr
Toronto Pearson to Dublin (Air Canada): 6hr30
Dublin to Malaga (Aer Lingus): 3hr

It's gonna be a long day, the to-Dublin leg is overnight.

Spanish airspace, at least of a couple weeks ago, still requires masks. My buddies who are waiting for me in Malaga said as soon as they entered Spanish airspace they had to put on their masks :haha:

^ Jesus ! That's brutal. How early did you book? And why not AC to YUL and then TS to AGP direct....They have a flight this weekend. Would have cut down on the flight time significantly.

I booked in December. At a house party :haha: A buddy of mine went through every possible way one could board a plane in St. John's and end up in Malaga, and this was the best balance between affordable and timely. I don't even have to overnight anywhere :haha: On the way back I'm Ryan Air to Dublin, overnight in Dublin, then Air Canada Dublin to Toronto to St. John's.

Montreal was 1.5x the TO price when I was booking. And in Europe, for us at least, it's always cheaper to just get off at the cheapest airport in Europe and then buy a European flight to your actual destination. My buddies, for example, flew to Frankfurt because it was the cheapest one when they were booking. Once you're in Europe, it's pocket change to get anywhere else in Europe.

:previous:

It's so incredibly galling that you have to backtrack over half the continent only to end up flying east again. :hell:

Atlantic Canada is so incredibly screwed!!! :hell: :hell: :hell:

Remember the good old days when you could fly direct to Dublin from St. John's???

Yes, I do. :haha: Canada is too devoted to its backwoods hub and spoke system. Porter is doing fine with its milk run flights. There's no legitimate business reason to not offer a milk run flight to Europe. You could even keep the cost the same to avoid people buying the full flight but getting off on a stopover.

I think the airlines are mostly waiting for approvals. They do plan to run at least a daily service for each pre-pandemic route, or full frequency for routes less than a daily. Some airline already file changes to the schedule (but not open for reservation), others just won't bother until they get the approvals.

Even AC is likely ready for some increased service to China as early as the start of S23. There's no reason they would let a 77W sits at YVR tarmac 3 days a week during the peak summer season. Likely it's waiting for approval for a 3x weekly YVR-PEK.

And CA will have to restart PEK-YUL sooner or later, whenever the use-it-or-lose-it policy is back in effect. AFAIK there a huge number of airlines/airports waiting for a slot pre-pandemic.

I mean, he inflicted it on himself, really. Several other faster options are there. Not to mention you could use YYT-YHZ-LHR and end up in Europe much quicker....

When you shop by price, you end up paying with your time, no matter where you fly from.

We looked at absolutely everything and there really wasn't much difference in the price/time balance.

If I remember correctly, flying through Halifax cost just under $100 more than flying through Toronto, and going through London would've required a hotel stay before Malaga - so, you know, $200ish more. $300 more was doable for me, of course, but it would've taken even longer, so...?

Checking now, the cheapest flight I could book is $1,870 (TAP Portugal/Air Canada/etc.).

That's almost twice what I paid.

EDIT: Went through my VISA statements, haha. So this is absolute full total everything I was charged including any fees, seat selection, whatever else:

Air Canada
St. John's - Toronto - Dublin
Dublin - Toronto - St. John's
TOTAL: $826.67

Aer Lingus
Dublin - Malaga
TOTAL: $40.46

Ryan Air
Malaga - Dublin
TOTAL: $62.98

I have to agree the airlines don't make it very easy on the pocketbook unless you live at YVR, YUL or YYZ. For instance when I fly YEG-Europe, AC routes me through YVR, YYZ or YUL. You have to pay a premium to connect at YYC! Maybe Acey is right that the YYC-FRA/LHR flights must have such good loads/yields that they don't even need any passengers from YEG. As for the time aspect, well I see many people flying overseas for 3-5 weeks so spending a couple of more hours connecting isn't going to hurt your vacation and saving $200-$300 per ticket for a family of five easily trumps the extra connection time. If you are flying for a 3 day business trip or a 1 week getaway then sure time may trump the ticket cost but I think that's the exception more than the rule. You can also expense a business trip so money is less of an issue in that regard.

I just about to head off to Faro, Portugal. Flying out of YYJ the options were terrible. It would have been a bit better out of Vancouver, but that involves a ferry etc. For next month I have a trip to Orlando. Same problems, connections are terrible, I am on an Air Canada redeye from Victoria to Toronto.

The following month it is Ottawa and again the same problems, everything from Air Canada involves a redeye. I am doing WestJet through Calgary and Winnipeg to avoid the redeye flights.

I don't know what it is but Air Canada connections are terrible now in comparison to pre-covid flying out of Victoria.

I have an aunt in Nova Scotia who wants to go to Europe this summer and has a Westjet companion pass of some sort. We've all seen the stories of Westjet's cutbacks in the east, so you can just imagine the routing she is taking to get to Europe from Halifax just so she can use her buddy pass lol. I told her to just pay Air Canada for 2 tickets and save the freebie for Florida in the winter or something.

WS has filed its summer 2023 update. Below are routes that are new in the schedule versus last week.

YYC-IAD - 3x weekly
YYC-BOS - 4x weekly
YYC-DTW - 5x weekly
YYC-AUS - 2x weekly
YYC-ORD - 4x weekly
YYC-YQM - 3x weekly
YYC-YQT - 3x weekly
YYC-YXT - 4x weekly

YEG-MSP - 5x weekly
YEG-SEA - 5x weekly
YEG-YXU - 2x weekly
YEG-YOW - 6x weekly
YEG-YYG - 1x weekly

YVR-ATL - 4x weekly
YVR-BNA - 2x weekly
YVR-YQR - Daily

YXE-MSP - 3x weekly
YXE-YLW - 2x weekly

YQR-YLW - 2x weekly

YWG-YLW - 3x weekly
YWG-YYJ - 2x weekly

How is ORD less frequent than DTW though?

One word. Delta.

Great to see MSP and more options for SEA! :cheers::tup:

That is great, especially with Saskatoon getting its MSP flight back. (Bad Delta in pulling it.). It use to be a regional jet with around 75 seats twice daily. During hunting season it would have frequently got an upgrade to a A320 or 757. Hopefully this is a stepping stone to it going daily.

Nice to see Moncton-Calgary 3x weekly.

I wonder if Swoop is returning this summer with Moncton-Edmonton 3x weekly too?

Two major reasons.
1- Competition. There are 3 daily flights in the summer from YYC-ORD. United2x daily, American 1x
2- DTW - no competing, and you have the delta feed from Detroit. Will also attract travellers from other major Western Canadian Cities.