United: Calgary-Philadelphia $290 all in.

Thanks goes to billybob123 over on FlyerTalk for this great deal on United. For roughly C$290 all in, you can fly round trip between Calgary and Philadelphia in Oct, Nov and Dec. The fare basis allows for Air Canada codeshares and some creative routings for maximizing your segments/miles.

See this thread on FlyerTalk for all the details.

Check out our Frequent Flyer Bonuses for a chance to win 2 Free nights from Hyatt

I have once again teamed up with Hyatt to give away some free night stays at any Hyatt worldwide! All you have to do is leave a comment on our Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog. The giveaway ends on Apr 30, so check it out soon!

Also don't forget about FrequentFlyerBonuses.com 5th Anniversary contest: www.5years5waystowin.com

YYC AGM 2010: $2.4bn Expansion over next 5 years

The Calgary Airport Authority confirmed once again that they are going ahead with the much needed expansion of YYC. The expansion will take place over the next 5 years and cost 2.4 billion dollars. As has been noted in the past the expansion will include the parallel North-South Runway, the 22 Gate 1.3 million square foot eco-conscious International Concourse and a new control tower.

You can find out more on the expansion on YYC's website

Stay at the Delta Calgary Airport and earn Triple Asia Miles

A repeat of last year's promo, if you are planning on staying at the Delta Calgary Airport before your flight or overnight connection you can earn Triple Miles in Cathay Pacific's Asia Mile program. The offer runs until June 30, 2010 and is also available at all other Delta Hotels in Canada. Full details

January Passenger Stats for YYC

YYC continues to rebound from the slow down of a year ago with January 2010 seeing a 1.7% increase in passenger numbers. The total number of passengers coming through the Calgary Airport in January was 954,122 versus 938,304 in 2009. The number is still shy of the 979,336 seen in the record year of 2008.

Domestically, the numbers dropped by 2.5% but strong gains in the Transborder (+12.9%) and International (7.8%) markets helped YYC achieve that small gain over 2009.

Source: YYC

Calgary-Mexico from C$311 Round Trip on Mexicana

Thanks again to Jody at the Calgary Airport Authority for forwarding this deal to me:

You can fly on Mexicana from Calgary to Mexico City, Mexican Beach Cities and other cities on Mexico for as little as C$311+taxes* round-trip. Book by Apr 9 for travel until Dec 10. Blackout dates are May 27, 28, 31 and July 8 - Aug 22, 10.

Book online at Mexicana

* Taxes up to $110 per round-trip depending on destination

FrequentFlyerBonuses.com: 5 Years 5 Ways to Win Contest

I am pleased to announce that my global site, FrequentFlyerBonuses.com is 5 years old and to celebrate I have launched the 5 Years - 5 Ways to Win contest where you can win a US$250 Marriott Gift Card for participating in any or all of the 5 different ways such as subscribing to our newsletter, following our blog, participating on Twitter and Facebook and for completing a survey.

If you live in the U.S. you also have a chance at winning 10,000 FREE SPIRIT miles.

See it all at:
http://www.5years5waystowin.com

Air Canada officially launches Calgary-Tokyo Flight

This morning YYC held festivities to celebrate the first Calgary to Tokyo non-stop flight operated by Air Canada. In attendance were dignitaries and officials from YYC, Air Canada, the City of Calgary, Japanese Consulate for Calgary and more.

The event started with a Japanese drumming group from Edmonton followed by speeches from Katherine Kelly of YYC, Stephan Poirier of YYC, City of Calgary deputy mayor Jim Stevenson Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation Cindy Ady, Douglas Mitchell of YYC and Calin Rovinescu, President and CEO of Air Canada. Some key notes that were mentioned were that Calgary is only the third city in Canada to have non-stop service to both Europe and Asia, and that Calgary also has the most non-stop service per capita out of any city in Canada. Everyone in attendance seemed quite excited for the new service and Calin Rovinescu was looking forward to be on this first flight. I posed a question to him about the lack of an Aeroplan bonus offer incentive for the flight (since bonus offers encompass my life in this business, I had to ask!) and he pretty much confirmed what I posted awhile back that bookings are strong enough and the fact that the flight is only 3 times per week were the reason why. The ceremonies concluded with Air Canada giving YYC a nice model of an Air Canada 777 and YYC presenting Calin and Air Canada a Japanese Daruma doll of good luck where Stephan Poirier and Calin Rovinescu each painted an eye on the doll.

It is nice to see this service finally come to fruition and hopefully with good support from both the Calgary business community and tourism from Japan this flight will prosper and see more frequencies once the Canada-Japan bilateral agreement allows for it.

For even more details, you can read this press release from YYC

Nov-Dec Passenger Stats

YYC has updated their website with the passenger stats of the last two months of 2009. In November, 894,609 passengers passed through YYC, a drop of 3.2% from 2008 numbers while December saw a slight increase of 0.7% to 1,030,921. In both months, domestic travel was down, transborder saw a split while International saw significant increases of 5.6% and 11.6% respectively.

Overall for 2009, YYC saw 12,175,011 people pass through the airport, a 2.7% drop from 2008. The first half of 2009 saw significant decreases in passenger numbers due to the economic slowdown. The airport started to seem some recovery in the last four months of the year and continues to trend that way into the first month of 2010

Source: YYC

Continental expands codeshares on Air Canada routes out of Calgary

Continental and Air Canada have once again expanded codesharing on each others flights in Canada and the U.S.. The following Air Canada routes out of Calgary will now carry Continental codes:

Calgary – Cranbrook
Calgary – Grande Prairie
Calgary – Kelowna
Calgary – Regina
Calgary – Saskatoon
Calgary – Victoria
Calgary – Yellowknife

Source Airline Route Updates

WestJet 1 day Sale - 50-70% off

* Book by March 17, 2010 (11:59 p.m. MT).
* For Canadian destinations travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until June 30, 2010.
* For U.S. destinations travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
* For U.S. and international destinations travel between May 1 and June 30, 2010.

Departing city: Calgary
One-way flights starting from:

Abbotsford $67
Regina $77
Comox $97
Saskatoon $67
Fort McMurray $107
St. John's $197
Halifax $167
Vancouver $77
Hamilton $127
Victoria $97
Kamloops $57
Yellowknife $127
Kelowna $57
Los Angeles $97
Kitchener/Waterloo $127
New York (Newark) $177
London, ON $127
San Diego $97
Ottawa $137
San Francisco $87

Book online at WestJet

Air Canada Calgary- Las Vegas schedule change

As of May 1 Air Canada is changing their YYC-LAS flights to operate later in the day.
The new flight timings are as follows:

Calgary-Las Vegas Dep 1535 Arr 1715 (up to Apr 30 Dep 0845 Arr 1025)
Las Vegas-Calgary Dep 1755 Arr 2147 (up to Apr 30 Dep 1520 Arr 1911)

Source: Airline Route Updates