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

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Stacmon

While I am excited for new routes announcements from anyone and everyone, including Porter, I think the finding that Flair is indeed "Canadian enough" to keep operating is huge by itself. I recently checked what it would cost for two adults and a child to fly non-stop round trip from Ottawa to Calgary during the Christmas Season and found the following:

- Air Canada / Westjet - $2500
- Flair - $550!

Admittedly it isn't exactly apples to apples since Flair's lowest fare doesn't include carry-on, but even so, you can see the kind of difference in cost we are starting to see between the established carriers and the lower cost alternatives.

There was a time not long ago that my family and I avoided Flair because the competition brought down prices on the big carriers enough and the difference wasn't huge, plus because of some bad reviews/posted experiences with Flair. Now though, we gave it a try and it may be "dependable" enough for our purposes travelling from the city where we live non stop to a city where we stay with family and can easily adjust to delays/cancellations compared to people with connections or travelling for work/paying for hotels.

In a lot of ways, this is an exciting time for YOW and many airports across the country which stand to be better connected thanks to these lower cost options and the expansion expected by Porter!

Yes have flown twice with Flair with kids where the per person savings really adds up. Especially as you can probably get by with 1 checked bag and no carry on for a family of 3. A minor has to be seated with parents so no need for seat selection either. Delays are widespread but you get compensated for long ones and might end up with a free trip for your trouble.

Interesting from Ottawa Swoop and Porter don'ts seem to come even close to matching their fares but in Montreal the three are a lot closer.

That said $69 fares aren't really sustainable even with add-ons from Ottawa when taxes are $50 of that fare.

[Truenorth00]

At those fares and current oil prices, I question how long Flair will be around.

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by Stacmon

While I am excited for new routes announcements from anyone and everyone, including Porter, I think the finding that Flair is indeed "Canadian enough" to keep operating is huge by itself. I recently checked what it would cost for two adults and a child to fly non-stop round trip from Ottawa to Calgary during the Christmas Season and found the following:

- Air Canada / Westjet - $2500
- Flair - $550!

Admittedly it isn't exactly apples to apples since Flair's lowest fare doesn't include carry-on, but even so, you can see the kind of difference in cost we are starting to see between the established carriers and the lower cost alternatives.

There was a time not long ago that my family and I avoided Flair because the competition brought down prices on the big carriers enough and the difference wasn't huge, plus because of some bad reviews/posted experiences with Flair. Now though, we gave it a try and it may be "dependable" enough for our purposes travelling from the city where we live non stop to a city where we stay with family and can easily adjust to delays/cancellations compared to people with connections or travelling for work/paying for hotels.

In a lot of ways, this is an exciting time for YOW and many airports across the country which stand to be better connected thanks to these lower cost options and the expansion expected by Porter!

That really is a big difference. YOW authorities also seem to think the Ottawa area is an important market for the low cost carries. Too bad the reviews aren't too great. I used Flair twice now and it was perfect for what it is. Just a seat to get you from point A to point B. I did however have my flight to FLL cancelled when Omicron was at its peak which is understandable. The good thing about ULCC is that they create demand on routes that normally don't have very much. Hopefully, they'll experiment with YOW in the future.

[YOWflier]

I’ll be flying Flair to Florida a couple of times in the next 6 months. Great price, TICO protected purchases.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by FlyYOW

I’ll be flying Flair to Florida a couple of times in the next 6 months. Great price, TICO protected purchases.

Bankruptcy seems like one of the least likely annoyances with a Flair ticket over next 6 months. I'd be more worried about last minute cancellations delays etc.

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Bankruptcy seems like one of the least likely annoyances with a Flair ticket over next 6 months. I'd be more worried about last minute cancellations delays etc.

I suppose. But it’s a nonstop from where I reside to where I’m fortunate to have private, unending accommodations. I can weather such IRROPS much better than most. AC is there as plan B.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by FlyYOW

I suppose. But it’s a nonstop from where I reside to where I’m fortunate to have private, unending accommodations. I can weather such IRROPS much better than most. AC is there as plan B.

As I have said before, Flair is fine for those who have a flexible travel schedule and can work around cancelled outbound or return flights. Just make sure to check when Flair's next flight (or two) would be and decide if those flights would be acceptable alternatives. If so, great! If not, you might want to think twice.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 71 - hasn't been that high in a while; mind you...

Today’s cancellation count (so far): 0

EDIT: now 67 & 4 - not bad considering all the rain today

[Stacmon]

Originally Posted by roger1818

As I have said before, Flair is fine for those who have a flexible travel schedule and can work around cancelled outbound or return flights. Just make sure to check when Flair's next flight (or two) would be and decide if those flights would be acceptable alternatives. If so, great! If not, you might want to think twice.

Yes, this is a key consideration for a lot of people especially around the holidays. For example if you are trying to make it to a wedding, Christmas or some other big event, you either need several days buffer to absorb a delay or to seriously consider an airline with a much larger network that could route you through some unorthodox set of flights to get you there in time. It definitely doesn't make sense to take a real risk of missing an important date but for the many people with flexibility in their schedules, and non-stop single flights, airlines like Flair can be a really good option to keep travel costs down!

[RomanR27]

Interesting to see an inbound flight from STL today on UA. Was listed on YOW's FIDs so doesn't appear to have been a ferry.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Interesting to see an inbound flight from STL today on UA. Was listed on YOW's FIDs so doesn't appear to have been a ferry.

I've seen this happen before this summer, albeit the flight has been from DCA.

The evening EWR-YOW gets cancelled so they ferry a flight to YOW so they don't have to cancel the morning departure YOW-EWR.

The IAD and ORD flights are operated by SkyWest whereas EWR has been a mix of GoJet and Republic this summer.

Here is an example

[Dominion301]

WS have loaded their winter schedule. All sun routes return to their winter 2019-20 schedule, including:
MBJ 2x weekly
RSW 2x weekly
MCO 3x weekly

YYC drops from 13x to 11x weekly (at least for the week in December I checked)
YWG drops from 6x to 3x weekly…no doubt thanks to WO now being there too.
YYZ drops from up to 12x daily to between 4x & 6x/day. Every day has a 737 or two with the rest DH4s.

YOW certainly fares better than YUL that are down to only 4x DH4 daily to YYZ and 5x weekly to YYC. So less than 1 mainline WS flight per day at YUL!

I imagine that this will roughly be the eastern triangle going forward but come summer 2023, 737s will replace the remaining DH4s.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

WS have loaded their winter schedule. All sun routes return to their winter 2019-20 schedule, including:
MBJ 2x weekly
RSW 2x weekly
MCO 3x weekly

That is good news. I was expecting them to change them to Swoop or Sunwing.

Originally Posted by Dominion301

YYC drops from 13x to 11x weekly (at least for the week in December I checked)
YWG drops from 6x to 3x weekly…no doubt thanks to WO now being there too.
YYZ drops from up to 12x daily to between 4x & 6x/day. Every day has a 737 or two with the rest DH4s.

YOW certainly fares better than YUL that are down to only 4x DH4 daily to YYZ and 5x weekly to YYC. So less than 1 mainline WS flight per day at YUL!

I imagine that this will roughly be the eastern triangle going forward but come summer 2023, 737s will replace the remaining DH4s.

Unfortunate but not unexpected. I am surprised they are keeping as many flights as they are. I suspect their focus is on westerners flying east rather than easterners flying west (which could explain YUL).

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by roger1818

That is good news. I was expecting them to change them to Swoop or Sunwing.



Unfortunate but not unexpected. I am surprised they are keeping as many flights as they are. I suspect their focus is on westerners flying east rather than easterners flying west (which could explain YUL).

Having some Swoop sun flights would be an added bonus. WS are forbidden from doing anything with Sunwing until the Transport Minister approves it.

Today’s departure count: 65
Today’s cancellation count:0

Wednesday’s departure count: 63
Wednesday’s cancellation count (so far): 0

I forgot to mention above YOW-YHZ on WS survives 3x weekly DH4 this winter.

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

WS have loaded their winter schedule. All sun routes return to their winter 2019-20 schedule, including:
MBJ 2x weekly
RSW 2x weekly
MCO 3x weekly

YYC drops from 13x to 11x weekly (at least for the week in December I checked)
YWG drops from 6x to 3x weekly…no doubt thanks to WO now being there too.
YYZ drops from up to 12x daily to between 4x & 6x/day. Every day has a 737 or two with the rest DH4s.

YOW certainly fares better than YUL that are down to only 4x DH4 daily to YYZ and 5x weekly to YYC. So less than 1 mainline WS flight per day at YUL!

I imagine that this will roughly be the eastern triangle going forward but come summer 2023, 737s will replace the remaining DH4s.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that WS can't crack YUL due to the heavy competition. If that's true though, I wonder how Porter expects to....

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by fanofYOW

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that WS can't crack YUL due to the heavy competition. If that's true though, I wonder how Porter expects to....

Meanwhile Ottawa sitting over here saying. "We are 6-12 months behind the revenge travel thread sitting on that much more cash and afraid to fly to Toronto or Montreal. Give us any direct flight at any price." OK last part a stretch we will totally drive to Syracuse to save $12 on a flight to Boston.

[OTSkyline]

Trying to book a one-way flight for my snowbird parents right now for Oct 28th.

Absolutely no direct flights from Ottawa to Florida? Are you kidding me? Neither Fort-Lauderdale, Miami or West Palm Beach... C'mon now.

To make matters worse, when looking at flight options in Google Flights, there's actually an alert or pop-up now that comes up suggesting to fly out of YUL (when looking at YOW options) Unbelievable.

[YOWflier]

Nonstops to FLL start a couple of days later on the 30th. Is there something special about the 28th other than it being a Friday?

That Google alert has been there for ages. We get the air service we demand and their AI knows it.

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Trying to book a one-way flight for my snowbird parents right now for Oct 28th.

Absolutely no direct flights from Ottawa to Florida? Are you kidding me? Neither Fort-Lauderdale, Miami or West Palm Beach... C'mon now.

To make matters worse, when looking at flight options in Google Flights, there's actually an alert or pop-up now that comes up suggesting to fly out of YUL (when looking at YOW options) Unbelievable.

I can't speak for everyone but I would never in my life do that. If airlines like AC don't have the option from YOW, then they are going to have to fly me to YUL. Make no mistake, they are loving the fact people from Ottawa drive to YUL. It means they can focus operations in one airport instead of 2 while still getting the customers from YOW to fill their flights in Montreal without much effort.

Do they have to fly out on that day specifically? Direct flights resume just days after that.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by fanofYOW

I can't speak for everyone but I would never in my life do that. If airlines like AC don't have the option from YOW, then they are going to have to fly me to YUL. Make no mistake, they are loving the fact people from Ottawa drive to YUL. It means they can focus operations in one airport instead of 2 while still getting the customers from YOW to fill their flights in Montreal without much effort.

Do they have to fly out on that day specifically? Direct flights resume just days after that.

I've connected to international and trans-border, taken the train, taken the AirFrance bus, and driven and honestly driving is my preferred option. As others have pointed out the cost of driving and parking is a bit hidden so it depends on the itinerary.