Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW) 1.0

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

I just wish the Ottawa-Frankfurt connection had been maintained. That would've been useful for me in the near future.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

I just wish the Ottawa-Frankfurt connection had been maintained. That would've been useful for me in the near future.

It's not going away...I haven't heard anything about this, did you read this somewhere?

[J.OT13]

I'm surprised we don't already have an Ottawa-Asia flight considering all the Asian tourists.

[MalcolmTucker]

Montreal will likely be getting a Beijing flight: http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/media/presentations/documents/investor_day_2013.pdf

Page 57. No Ottawa mention.

[Harley613]

We certainly have a large enough asian community to support an Asian flight, but not on AC's current fleet. 777 is too large, 767 is too short range. The 787 will change all of that.

[NOWINYOW]

I'm curious to read the results of the study re: YOW-Asia flights.

At best, I could see some seasonal flights, but not daily.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Harley613

It's not going away...I haven't heard anything about this, did you read this somewhere?

No, it was just from experience. I was hoping to book a flight from Ottawa to Frankfurt, and spend some time in Germany with friends before heading to Amsterdam. When I tried to find a flight, there were none available from Ottawa. A week or so later and I found a flight with Arkefly, but it was Toronto-Amsterdam, so I just cancelled Germany plans and did a Amsterdam/Belgium trip instead. It was also a lot cheaper than a flight to Germany.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

No, it was just from experience. I was hoping to book a flight from Ottawa to Frankfurt, and spend some time in Germany with friends before heading to Amsterdam. When I tried to find a flight, there were none available from Ottawa. A week or so later and I found a flight with Arkefly, but it was Toronto-Amsterdam, so I just cancelled Germany plans and did a Amsterdam/Belgium trip instead. It was also a lot cheaper than a flight to Germany.

Depends when you tried to book this flight. If it was in the winter AC only flies the route 5x weekly from Nov to about March/April-ish. Also, if you think Canada's landing fees, airport security fees, etc and taxes are high... Germany is a lot worse. This is why flights to FRA are usually more expensive than flights to LHR or on discount carriers to Europe. If FRA wasn't a massive global hub for Star Alliance the German airport tax system would certainly hurt it...but since it is, this is why everyone is still flying there. If you are willing to spend some extra money to save time and be more convenient you can fly YOW-FRA-World to almost any European, Asian, & African destination.

[wingman]

Is there really no YOW-MCO direct on AC? This amazes me.

Ah, I see AC1262 starts Dec 14... 🞵🞵🞵🞵 arrival time though.

...and it is a 16 frequency? Yikes! Is there no demand for a daily? I guess a lot of folks travel on the discount airlines to Florida or only travel on weekends.

[MountainView]

For the past two years AC has flown YOW-FLL direct daily in the winter months. Before that it was only 3 or 4 weekly. This year I believe it'll be on the A320. Previous years was E90 and A319. I'm sure they can make more money flying into the Miami area daily then they can competing with Westjet & Sunwing who each have a couple of weekly flights into MCO to serve the Disney / Port Canaveral cruise traffic.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by wingman

Is there really no YOW-MCO direct on AC? This amazes me.

Ah, I see AC1262 starts Dec 14... 🞵🞵🞵🞵 arrival time though.

...and it is a 16 frequency? Yikes! Is there no demand for a daily? I guess a lot of folks travel on the discount airlines to Florida or only travel on weekends.

I think most people travel via Toronto, or sometimes Montreal. I am sure most are price sensitive and would not pay extra for a direct flight.

The cheapest, and prior to this direct flight possibly the fastest, would be the Jetblue flight from Syracuse.

[lrt's friend]

My brother flew out of Syracuse to Florida to save money last winter. I don't think he will do it again. In winter weather can be unpredictable especially when driving down Interstate 81 to the east of Lake Ontario. This is a snow belt area and driving conditions can be poor. In his case, the weather was not good and any money saved on a cheap flight was lost in staying at a hotel waiting out the weather plus the gas, and then the possibility of white knuckling the drive back to Ottawa.

[YOWflier]

Sometimes I wonder where people search for information. We have two main airlines in this country, so all you need to do is consult their timetables to get the information you're after. Both Westjet and Air Canada fly to MCO on a seasonal basis...

BTW, the only web site you'll ever need to find flight-related information: http://www.oag.com/Travel-Tools

Originally Posted by wingman

Ah, I see AC1262 starts Dec 14... 🞵🞵🞵🞵 arrival time though.

🞵🞵🞵🞵? Anyone who travels a lot cherishes the afternoon departure/evening arrival over the dreaded 4AM wake-up to catch the early AM flights.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

Sometimes I wonder where people search for information. We have two main airlines in this country, so all you need to do is consult their timetables to get the information you're after. Both Westjet and Air Canada fly to MCO on a seasonal basis...

BTW, the only web site you'll ever need to find flight-related information: http://www.oag.com/Travel-Tools

🞵🞵🞵🞵? Anyone who travels a lot cherishes the afternoon departure/evening arrival over the dreaded 4AM wake-up to catch the early AM flights.

Thanks for that link, it's a useful tool. For fun, I thought I would compare Ottawa's direct flights to some similar sized metro areas in the USA & Canada, using September 10th, 2013 direct flights to compare.

Metro / Population / Direct Flights / Of Which Are Intl / Of Which Are Outside USA/Canada

Oklahoma City / 1,296,565 / 27 / 0 / 0
Louisville / 1,251,351 / 41 / 0 / 0
Ottawa / 1,236,234 / 35 / 10 / 2
Richmond, VA / 1,231,980 / 37 / 2 / 0
New Orleans / 1,227,096 / 58 / 2 / 1
Calgary, AB / 1,214,839 / 56 / 23 / 6
Hartford, CT / 1,214,400 / 37 / 2 / 0

It's an interesting comparison, with Calgary as a real outlier in terms of international as well as trans-border destinations.

[wingman]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

Sometimes I wonder where people search for information. We have two main airlines in this country, so all you need to do is consult their timetables to get the information you're after. Both Westjet and Air Canada fly to MCO on a seasonal basis...

BTW, the only web site you'll ever need to find flight-related information: http://www.oag.com/Travel-Tools

🞵🞵🞵🞵? Anyone who travels a lot cherishes the afternoon departure/evening arrival over the dreaded 4AM wake-up to catch the early AM flights.

Disagree wholeheartedly there regarding flight times. Always a personal preference, ALWAYS! My comment was for me, I see you speak for everyone else, nice :-P I check, and have been checking the airlines sites, among other spots. Did I mention WJ does not go direct? Nope. I was looking at mid-week departures so the Sat/Mon AC flights never showed for me. Believe me I know where to get information, thanks for your awesomeness tho.

My point, I cannot believe there is not a daily direct AC flight from YOW to MCO during the winter. That was it, that was all.

[YOWflier]

Well aren't you a sensitive fellow? At least you acknowledged my awesomeness.

Run along now.

[NOWINYOW]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

🞵🞵🞵🞵? Anyone who travels a lot cherishes the afternoon departure/evening arrival over the dreaded 4AM wake-up to catch the early AM flights.

I travel quite a bit (AE SE) and I avoid afternoon/evening flights like the plague!

The afternoon/evening flights are often the last flights...and WHEN (not if) they cancel, you're SOL.

I prefer the first in the morning flights. I've got all day to get to my destination should irops occur.

I guess it's just a matter of what people value....to each our own.

[YOWflier]

To each their own is right. In reality, most of the time the point is moot when dealing with O&D airports like Ottawa. Flight frequencies are lower and designed specifically to feed passengers onto connections. All this to say that you generally don't have a lot of opportunity to select the "ideal" flight time, whatever that might be for you.

I must say, however, that in my entire air travel history I've had exactly 2 cancelled flights, both for mechanical reasons...hardly the plague. So when I have the choice I'll keep my alarm clock set to a reasonable hour.

[wingman]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

To each their own is right. In reality, most of the time the point is moot when dealing with O&D airports like Ottawa. Flight frequencies are lower and designed specifically to feed passengers onto connections. All this to say that you generally don't have a lot of opportunity to select the "ideal" flight time, whatever that might be for you.

I must say, however, that in my entire air travel history I've had exactly 2 cancelled flights, both for mechanical reasons...hardly the plague. So when I have the choice I'll keep my alarm clock set to a reasonable hour.

Yea, I think for some people the arrival time is what they are looking at first... then they check the departure. But like was just said, fly early have options in case something goes wrong... agree though there are not always options.

[umbria27]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

To each their own is right. In reality, most of the time the point is moot when dealing with O&D airports like Ottawa. Flight frequencies are lower and designed specifically to feed passengers onto connections. All this to say that you generally don't have a lot of opportunity to select the "ideal" flight time, whatever that might be for you.

I must say, however, that in my entire air travel history I've had exactly 2 cancelled flights, both for mechanical reasons...hardly the plague. So when I have the choice I'll keep my alarm clock set to a reasonable hour.

You must be the luckiest air traveler on the planet. My last three business trips have had flights cancelled, forcing two overnights in EWR and a lovely day in the PHL. That's in the last two months. I hate the early morning as much as the next man, but I can only spend so much time in Sunglass Hut.