Shortage of air carriers to YVR from DFW?

[Schlepporello]

I've booked a back-to-back from Vancouver, B.C. to Seward, AK and return. In searching for flights to and from YVR from DFW, it appears that my choices are limited to United and American. What happened to Alaskan Air? Also, when returning from Vancouver, it seems that United cannot fly out of Vancouver without using Jax Air. This confuses me because if United has jets flying in to YVR, they must fly back out loaded or they lose money. That is unless United is using those jets to fly somewhere else besides returning to DFW.

[CruiserBruce]

I see about 6 or 8 flights a day returning, on one set of random days in July . Yes some use Jazz. 

 

A plane might fly DFW-YVR, but then fly YVR-SFO, for example. They don't have to go back to the same airport they came from.

 

Given the Covid situation, what you see in the airline schedule today is a placeholder more than a couple months out. It will likely change significantly.

[Zach1213]

Not every airline flies to every airport every day. Some routes may only be a few times a week, or once a week, so that can explain why you can see (for example) a nonstop in one direction but not the other on the days you are needing. United works very, very closely with Air Canada, which (of course) has a significantly larger footprint in Vancouver...and assuming "Jax Air" means Jazz Air, which is Air Canada, that explains that. 

 

Alaska can still get you there, via a stop in Seattle (or possibly Portland). 

 

Also, just an interesting tidbit, there's not necessarily a need for people to be onboard for an airline to make money on a route. Some routes are run for cargo reasons, and people paying for the seats in the cabin are just a nice add-on. While that's not usually the case with Vancouver, there are other examples around the world (such as AA's Raleigh to London route which, for ages (and possibly still today) made money off of being loaded with pharmaceuticals below as cargo. Each person above was just a nice little addition to the pocketbook for AA). 

[FlyerTalker]

You left out one word in your original post -- nonstop.

 

You can fly a number of carriers between DFW and YVR, but the only ones operating non-stop service between the two are AA and AC.  The UA flights you see are probably only code-shares, with AC being the operating carrier.

[Fairgarth]

8 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

You left out one word in your original post -- nonstop.

 

You can fly a number of carriers between DFW and YVR, but the only ones operating non-stop service between the two are AA and AC.  The UA flights you see are probably only code-shares, with AC being the operating carrier.

 

Pre-COVID, AA ran two a day and AC one a day (non-stops).  We have used both in the past and there were no others.  In future, who knows?

[Schlepporello]

8 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

You left out one word in your original post -- nonstop.

 

You can fly a number of carriers between DFW and YVR, but the only ones operating non-stop service between the two are AA and AC.  The UA flights you see are probably only code-shares, with AC being the operating carrier.

The only thing I left out was my origin. Nonstop from Amarillo, Texas ain't gonna happen. The route I'd prefer to take would be from here to Denver, then fly on up to Vancouver, B.C. I'd prefer the same routing for the return trip. I'd also prefer to fly either United or Alaskan Air and book through Cruise Air. Currently, no airline is offering flights with the routing I prefer, which is why I brought up DFW. And thAt's the only reason I'd consider DFW other than I absolutely do not want to fly from Amarillo to Houston, which is my other airline suggested connection.

 

For the return flight, United seems to be married to Jazz (did I get that right?). And from what I've read about Jazz, I'm not too crazy about flying with them considering my height. And United does not provide any other realistic 1-stop flights from Vancouver to Amarillo or I would have booked my air travel with them already.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zdcatc12]

4 hours ago, Schlepporello said:

The only thing I left out was my origin. Nonstop from Amarillo, Texas ain't gonna happen. The route I'd prefer to take would be from here to Denver, then fly on up to Vancouver, B.C. I'd prefer the same routing for the return trip. I'd also prefer to fly either United or Alaskan Air and book through Cruise Air. Currently, no airline is offering flights with the routing I prefer, which is why I brought up DFW. And thAt's the only reason I'd consider DFW other than I absolutely do not want to fly from Amarillo to Houston, which is my other airline suggested connection.

 

For the return flight, United seems to be married to Jazz (did I get that right?). And from what I've read about Jazz, I'm not too crazy about flying with them considering my height. And United does not provide any other realistic 1-stop flights from Vancouver to Amarillo or I would have booked my air travel with them already.

By leaving out your origin, you completely changed the question from what you were asking. It was fair for everyone to assume that your origin was DFW since that is all that you were asking about.

 

 Also, United has never flown nonstop from DFW to YVR, so I'm not sure what you were talking about at the end of the original post.

 

And lastly, it also appears that all of the flights on either AAL or UAL into and out of AMA are not mainline flights, so you would be on a Jazz size aircraft anyway, no matter what airline you take other than SWA, as you could take SWA to SEA and then get to YVR from there if you wanted a mainline sized aircraft the whole route.

 

 It appears that if you choose UAL, all of your returns would be through DEN, at least on a date in June that I randomly picked. Also, four of those five would be on Jazz, the other is mainline UAL, but with an overnight layover.

[Schlepporello]

Thanks for your reply. An overnight is not an option so I guess I'll have to fly AA.

[Zach1213]

13 hours ago, Schlepporello said:

The only thing I left out was my origin. Nonstop from Amarillo, Texas ain't gonna happen. The route I'd prefer to take would be from here to Denver, then fly on up to Vancouver, B.C. I'd prefer the same routing for the return trip. I'd also prefer to fly either United or Alaskan Air and book through Cruise Air. Currently, no airline is offering flights with the routing I prefer, which is why I brought up DFW. And thAt's the only reason I'd consider DFW other than I absolutely do not want to fly from Amarillo to Houston, which is my other airline suggested connection.

 

For the return flight, United seems to be married to Jazz (did I get that right?). And from what I've read about Jazz, I'm not too crazy about flying with them considering my height. And United does not provide any other realistic 1-stop flights from Vancouver to Amarillo or I would have booked my air travel with them already.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just to clarify, as the regional jet situation has already been addressed above, United is "married" to Jazz because United is "married" to Air Canada, and Jazz is essentially "Air Canada Express" like you have United Express or American Eagle. 

[Florida Jim]

I recently discovered FlightsFrom.  I was looking to break Atlanta to Sydney and Auckland to Atlanta into two legs, with stop-over in Honolulu and needed to find who served the Honolulu/Sydney/Auckland leg.

FlightsFrom shows who flys the route (non-stop) and what days they fly, they break it down into detailed weekly schedules.

Their report attached, randomly Week 12, Mar 22 - 28.

Hopefully others will find this a useful resource.
 

Edited January 7, 2021 by Florida Jim

[waterbug123]

On 11/29/2020 at 10:26 PM, Schlepporello said:

That is unless United is using those jets to fly somewhere else besides returning to DFW.

 

This.  Airlines often do not return to the same airport, but instead continue on somewhere else.

 

On 11/30/2020 at 9:29 AM, Zach1213 said:

Not every airline flies to every airport every day.

 

And this.  Plus since covid airlines have reduced their numbers of flights overall, eliminated certain destinations for the time being, etc.

 

On 11/30/2020 at 7:49 PM, Schlepporello said:

The only thing I left out was my origin. Nonstop from Amarillo, Texas ain't gonna happen.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, but from DFW are you still only trying to find nonstop options?  That's going to limit you.

[Schlepporello]

2 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

This.  Airlines often do not return to the same airport, but instead continue on somewhere else.

 

 

And this.  Plus since covid airlines have reduced their numbers of flights overall, eliminated certain destinations for the time being, etc.

 

 

Ok, but from DFW are you still only trying to find nonstop options?  That's going to limit you.

I booked my flights for my next cruise through Cruiseair. That way I won't have to pay until final payment for the cruise is due and if the cruise is canceled before final payment, it's on the cruise line.

What I dont like is that I only had 1 choice for airlines. The 2 that I would have rather flown had nothing available. The good side of this is that I was able to book business class for all four flights at a rate that I felt was a bargain.

[em-sk]

On 11/30/2020 at 4:49 PM, Schlepporello said:

The only thing I left out was my origin. Nonstop from Amarillo, Texas ain't gonna happen. The route I'd prefer to take would be from here to Denver, then fly on up to Vancouver, B.C. I'd prefer the same routing for the return trip. I'd also prefer to fly either United or Alaskan Air and book through Cruise Air. Currently, no airline is offering flights with the routing I prefer, which is why I brought up DFW. And thAt's the only reason I'd consider DFW other than I absolutely do not want to fly from Amarillo to Houston, which is my other airline suggested connection.

 

For the return flight, United seems to be married to Jazz (did I get that right?). And from what I've read about Jazz, I'm not too crazy about flying with them considering my height. And United does not provide any other realistic 1-stop flights from Vancouver to Amarillo or I would have booked my air travel with them already.

 

So as far marriages go......

 

United codeshare partner in Canada with Air Canada (and Jazz is Air Canada's regional operator).   Air Canada (through Jazz) is flying to Seattle and directly on a limited basis to Hawaii and California and Phoenix.  

 

Delta codeshare partner in Canada is WestJet (and Encore is their regional partner)  WestJet is operating a limited number of flights tp Vegas, Hawaii and California.

 

Alaska does not have a Canadian codeshare partner (they do interline with both Air Canada and WestJet) they are codeshare partners with American.  Alaska is flying a few times per day between Vancouver and Seattle.

 

Canada has fairly strict COVID regulations in place.  You need to have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of departure to Canada. Someone arriving from outside of Canada is required to quarantine for 14 days before they can tour around.  Not as strict as Australia but it is getting there.   That has dramatically reduced the number of international flights especially to the US.