Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Exclusive online sale: Summer of deals from Air Canada

Thank you to Air Canada employee Andrew Yiu who put this offer up on Flyertalk and encouraged the sharing of it, so here you go:

"We would like to celebrate the arrival of summer with you by offering special online only deals throughout July and August with very attractive discounts!

So check back each week for different deals!

For the first week:

20% off all Economy class fares
15% off all Executive class fares


Valid between Canada and Asia.
Valid on AC operated flights only.
All travel must be completed by Dec 15, 2009.
Enter W7MZ4BH1 under Promotion Code.

This particular deal will be valid until Jul 5."

Thursday, June 25, 2009

YYC passenger traffic continues to drop

The Calgary Airport Authority has posted the passenger numbers from April and May of this year and to no surprise the numbers continue to be lower then last year. In fact the numbers for these months are even lower then the same two months in 2007. Many analysts have said that we have hit the bottom of this economic downturn so perhaps we will see a rise in the numbers in the coming months. If this happens I would think the numbers will still be down from 2008 but not in 5-8% range like we are currently seeing, perhaps only 2-3%. However, that being said, I am also involved in the Oil and Gas Industry, and many of my colleagues agree that if the price of natural gas doesn't move up, we will continue on with "things being slow" and as much as Calgary likes to believe that it has diversified, Oil and Gas is still the biggest player and is the benchmark for how this city fairs economically.

Here are YYC's overall passenger numbers for April and May
April 985,626 (-5.2%)
May 956,339 (-7.9%)

Broken down by sector:
Domestic
April 677,459 (-6.5%)
May 698,565 (-8.7%)

Transborder
April 208,088 (3.5%)
May 177,580 (-5.3%)

International
April 100,079 (-11.7%)
May 80,194 (-7.0%)

Is their a light at the end of the tunnel? I sure hope so, Air Travel is usually quite a good indicator of how a country or economy is fairing, and right now the numbers are not promising but there seems to be some positive signs emerging. Thanks to a thread on Airliners.net about how KLM's YYC-AMS flight is doing, I have been watching passenger loads for the flight on Amadeus.net (KLM is one of only a few who post their PAX numbers on here) and a few weeks ago most of the flights had around 150 passengers, but each flight this week coming from Amsterdam has had over 240 on a plane that seats 251. I know one week is not enough to gauge an economic turnaround but I will continue to watch this flight to see if these numbers stay up in that range throughout the summer and beyond.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Fly Calgary-Germany for 35,000 Miles and More Miles

Lufthansa is offering last minute discounted reward tickets on flights from Calgary (or Toronto/Montreal) to Germany. The flights can be had for 35,000 Miles and More Miles (regular redemption amount is 60,000 miles). Flights must be booked by July 16 for travel up to July 20 on Lufthansa metal only. Full details

Friday, June 19, 2009

Save 10% on last minute Alaska/Horizon Airlines flights

If you have some last minute travel required on Alaska or Horizon, you can save 10% by using promo code EC032409 when you book online at Alaskaair.com

This code is valid for flights until June 30, 09

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Save 15% on Air Canada flights within Canada

Air Canada is running a promotion for Father's Day whereby you can save 15% on certain fare classes on most flights within Canada (not valid for travel between Vancouver - Calgary, Halifax - Toronto and Ottawa - Vancouver).

The classes that are eligible are Tango Plus, Latitude, Executive Lowest and Flexible Class fares.

You must enter promo code VDKGYP41 when booking online. The offer is good for bookings until Jun 18 for travel that is completed byl Aug 31.

Full details can be found on the Air Canada website.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

United ups baggage fees for those who check in at the Airport

United quietly introduced baggage fee increases on May 14 for flights on or after June 10. They have increased the first and second checked bag fees to $20 and $30 respectively for those who chose to check in at the airport.

If you check in online and pay for your bags online the fees remain at $15 and $25.

These fees are in effect for travel within the 50 states and to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and of course, Canada.

See all of United's bag fees here.

United: Discounted Mileage Plus Reward flights to the U.S.

United Mileage Plus is offering a 5,000 mile discount on Economy Saver flights between the U.S. and Canada, which means reward flights can be had for 20,000 miles if they are available. The flights have to be booked online.

Although it looks to be targetted to the U.S. market for travel to Canada, the terms and conditions do not state that Canada to U.S. travel is excluded. Here is a link to the offer.(I tried a dummy booking for YYC-DEN in August and it came up with 20K so it does work from Canada)

Details:
  • Economy Saver Awards are available for 20,000 Mileage Plus miles instead of 25,000
  • Each passenger is responsible for applicable taxes and fees
  • Offer valid for travel between the 48 contiguous United States and Canada
  • Ticketing period: Now through June 21, 2009
  • Travel period: Now through September 2, 2009
  • Blackout dates: July 2, 2009 - July 6, 2009
  • Valid for roundtrip travel in United Economy® on United® and United Express® operated flights
  • All other standard Mileage Plus rules and restrictions apply

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Air Canada and WestJet go head to head with daily deals for flights in June

WestJet started this yesterday with their midnight madness sale whereby you could book flights for super cheap between 12am and 6am to different destinations each day. Air Canada has matched however they are not restricting bookings to that 6hr booking period, their offers are up all day until 11:59EST. For example on Air Canada, today you can book flights to Victoria, San Diego or Las Vegas for only $59 each way.

These offers run until Jun 5 (remember each day is different) and are valid for flights until June 30

Book at
Air Canada
WestJet

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Earn Triple Asia Miles at the Delta Calgary Airport

As a follow up to this post we made, Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles program has extended the Triple Miles offer for stays at Delta Hotels across Canada until the end of the year. That means if you have to overnight at the Delta Calgary Airport, then you can earn triple Asia Miles for that stay*.

Full details can be found on the Asia Miles website

* Stay must be on a qualifying rate