Airfare in and out of Vancouver from Pittsburgh in June

[Kfrech]

Yikes!! Close to $1300 round trip on Air Canada. Should I wait (I know this is the $64,000 question).

 

We considered sticking around until 10:30 pm. after our cruise disembarks because it's significantly cheaper. When we factor in what it would cost to to do a tour so that we are occupied for 12 hours, we're not saving much money.

 

Our original plan was to fly in and out of Seattle because we have some Southwest points we could use (but we'd still cruise in and out of Vancouver). We'd see very little of Vancouver if we did it that way, since we are flying in 3 days before our cruise departs. Our next thought was fly into Seattle, spend 1 1/2 days there, Amtrak up to Vancouver, cruise than would depart the next day. Again, very little time in Vancouver. Our last thought was to forget Seattle, save the SW points for another trip and just fly in and out of Vancouver, giving us 3 days in Vancouver prior to the cruise.

 

Needless to say, we are all over the place!

[martincath]

That does seem rather high, especially if its USD, so I'd be inclined to wait unless you are right at the end of June/getting into school vacation, possible holiday travel territory.

 

Friends who travel to Pittsburgh 2+ times a year from YVR (one of the couple's family is there) are never willing to pay more than $1,000 RT - mostly it's <$800 (oh, and that's all CAD, not USD) and actually cheaper than flying to Toronto (even if they fly via Toronto!) - but they are willing to fly 2 stops/red-eye/very early to save cash and can be flexible on which days they fly... since you have multiple days pre-cruise, have you looked at the prices if you  shifted your dates by a day so you could take an early flight the day after disembarkation? Or would that mean an extra day off work as well?

[d9704011]

Huh.... I don’t know what days you’re planning on traveling in June but Air Canada is showing fares of USD 523 for Pittsburgh to Vancouver return.

Safari - Nov 11, 2019 at 12:32 PM.pdf

Edited November 11, 2019 by d9704011
Add flight info.

[Kfrech]

I should have been clearer. The $1300 was for 2 travelers. We are traveling June 10th to June 20th. You also have to factor in that you have to pay to purchase seats in advance.

 

There isn't much difference in moving days in either direction (before the 10th or after the 20th). Early morning out on the 21st just means another night's hotel expense.

 

We're probably most interested in flying back to Pittsburgh in the early afternoon of the 20th.

[princeton123211]

22 minutes ago, Kfrech said:

I should have been clearer. The $1300 was for 2 travelers.

Thats fairly competitive on that route for 2 people. You can find some slightly cheaper fares with some second string players like WestJet but I would feel pretty good booking at $650 a head round trip. 

[d9704011]

59 minutes ago, Kfrech said:

I should have been clearer. The $1300 was for 2 travelers. We are traveling June 10th to June 20th. You also have to factor in that you have to pay to purchase seats in advance.

 

There isn't much difference in moving days in either direction (before the 10th or after the 20th). Early morning out on the 21st just means another night's hotel expense.

 

We're probably most interested in flying back to Pittsburgh in the early afternoon of the 20th.

Looks like the full cost on Air Canada for two on those dates would be about USD 1400 - 1500 for fares, seat selections and baggage fees.

[Gardyloo]

ITA says round trip on your days on Air Canada via Toronto is US$524 round trip.  

 

You might also consider applying for an Alaska Airlines Visa card - https://www.alaskaair.com/content/credit-card/visa-signature - which will give you an annual companion certificate.  One person pays the going price, the other pays $99 plus taxes (usually $122 total) for the same trip.  You'd also get 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles, which are among the most useful in the business.  

 

The companion certificate is good on one-way, round trip and open-jaw itineraries on Alaska Airlines throughout their network - Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada... and since Alaska bought Virgin America, their domestic route system is VERY extensive.  Alaska has a nonstop from Pittsburgh to Seattle, with easy connections to Vancouver.  

[Kfrech]

I have actually looked into this, but the flight times just don't work for us.

 

I am definitely going to keep it in mind for other travel though!

[scottbee]

13 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Thats fairly competitive on that route for 2 people. You can find some slightly cheaper fares with some second string players like WestJet but I would feel pretty good booking at $650 a head round trip. 

 

With a fleet of 125 jet aircraft + another 40 Q400s in their feeder network, I'm pretty sure WestJet isn't "second string".

[northyvr]

I'm from Vancouver and prefer flying Westjet to Air Canada. They're certainly not second string.

[princeton123211]

10 hours ago, scottbee said:

With a fleet of 125 jet aircraft + another 40 Q400s in their feeder network, I'm pretty sure WestJet isn't "second string"

They're certainly no Delta, American, United or even Alaska though...

[Milhouse]

I'd probably hold off until at least until Black Friday.  I'm pretty sure WS had a Black Friday seat sale last year but forget if AC did.  

 

Personally, I enjoy flying on WS, AC (tho, Rouge is iffy), DL, and AS.  I kind of hate flying on UA. 

[scottbee]

2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

They're certainly no Delta, American, United or even Alaska though...

 

That entirely depends on where you live. 

 

I see you're in PHL, and given PHL is an AA hub, let's ignore them for the moment and compare UA and DL out of PHL with WS out of YVR. To keep it fair, we'll also take AC out of the YVR numbers to keep things consistent

 

# of destinations from PHL (mainline + feeder) - metro population 7 million

UA: 4 + 1 (all domestic)

DL: 4 + 3 (all domestic)

AA: n/a (as it's a primary hub)

 

# of destinations from YVR (mainline + feeder) - metro population 2½ million

WS: 27 + 7 (domestic + US, UK, MX)

AC: n/a (as it's a primary hub)

So Westjet have 3 times the reach out of YVR, than UA and DL combined have out of PHL. 

 

 

[princeton123211]

7 minutes ago, scottbee said:

So Westjet have 3 times the reach out of YVR, than UA and DL combined have out of PHL. 

How is any of this relevant when the OP was asking about PIT to YVR? WestJet requires a stop in Minneapolis or Atlanta-- not to mention WestJet doesn't even operate these flights that they sell-- they are operated by Delta under codeshare (with the exception of the MSP to YVR leg which is flown by WestJet). 

[Kfrech]

OP here:

 

I'm afraid out of Pittsburgh to Canada, there are very little options. A few years ago we flew WestJet to Calgary, but Air Canada on the return trip. Both experiences were fine. What is Rouge? I'm guessing it's a no-frills division of Air Canada.

[d9704011]

13 hours ago, Kfrech said:

OP here:

 

I'm afraid out of Pittsburgh to Canada, there are very little options. A few years ago we flew WestJet to Calgary, but Air Canada on the return trip. Both experiences were fine. What is Rouge? I'm guessing it's a no-frills division of Air Canada.

Yes, AC Rouge is the ‘no frills’ arm of AC.  Personally, I try to avoid them as the seats tend to be a bit more cramped but in many cases that just isn’t practical unless I’m able to switch to UAL or Delta (in which case I often end up on WestJet flights, which is fine).  For you, out of PIT, not much chance you’ll run across Rouge.