(01-06-2016, 04:17 PM)jgsz Wrote: [ -> ]It looks like NewLeaf didn't do their research properly. Nobody (that I know) drives to Buffalo to fly to Abbotsford, Kelowna, Regina or any of the other Canadian cities they plan to serve.
Probably because there are no flights to those cities from Buffalo. And if there were they'd have to go through customs twice, once by car and again at an airport—each way. I agree that makes no sense.
But that misses the point:
People will drive a significant distance to get cheaper fares compared to Pearson. That's why they drive to Buffalo when they want to fly to a US destination. That's why NewLeaf hopes they'll drive to Hamilton (which as a bonus is only half the distance to Buffalo) when they want to fly domestically.
Quote:Besides, Hamilton is the place airlines go to die.
Or in the case of WestJet, where they grow up before they make it into the bigs, i.e. Pearson.
(01-06-2016, 06:12 PM)ookpik Wrote: [ -> ]Or in the case of WestJet, where they grow up before they make it into the bigs, i.e. Pearson.
Yeah, that happens occasionally.
(01-05-2016, 11:35 PM)ookpik Wrote: [ -> ] (01-05-2016, 10:37 PM)tomh009 Wrote: [ -> ]The surcharges are much less common than a few years ago
Could you please provide some objective proof of this. Which airlines don't apply surcharges on freereward tickets? (Anecdotally I don't see it. The surcharges are as common today as they were in the past several years.)
Sorry, I think I wasn't clear on this. I was referring to revenue (paid) tickets, not reward ones. The proportion of tickets (on AC) that include a surcharge is down, and where there are surcharges, it's usually smaller than before.
Note that this doesn't mean that the tickets are any less expensive; what matters is the total cost of the ticket, including the base fare and the surcharges and any other fees (and which is what the airlines now need to advertise). The surcharges originates mostly from airlines gaming the advertised prices, showing base fares in ads (not including surcharges or taxes), this way they could advertise "lower prices" without actually lowering them. Fortunately this practice is now illegal, and airlines need to show the all-in prices.
(01-06-2016, 08:53 AM)ookpik Wrote: [ -> ] (01-06-2016, 01:58 AM)plam Wrote: [ -> ]Air Canada is much worse than the US airlines for carrier surcharges. Part of it is due to the way they (Air Canada and Aeroplan) chose to structure Aeroplan as an independent entity, so that you have to pay more taxes to redeem. But it's also just that Air Canada charges more surcharges.
Here's a fun exercise if you have points, though. Go try to redeem Aeroplan points for Air Canada international flights, and then try to redeem for United international flights. You'll see that it costs way, way less money to fly United on Air Canada points. Often it is sub-$100 for an international flight, and that is never the case with Air Canada.
It's even worse than that. Until a couple of years ago you could book the same flight to Europe using AP miles on either AC or a partner like LH or OS. Only AC had very high surcharges, something like $600 at AC but only $100 at LH or OS. Exactly the same flights. The only difference was the flight number (code-shared or not) and the carrier who issued the ticket. Then apparently AC caught on and "forced" their partners to impose the same surcharges, exactly the same down to the cent. Go figure.
Incidentally the article I linked to says that Swiss doesn't impose the gougecharge on AP reward flights. That doesn't make sense to me since they're owned by LH (who also owns OS.) But it's worth checking out on flights to ZRH. And if it's true then the savings of flying to ZRH make this an option even if your eventual destination is Munich, Innsbruck, etc.
Since AP and AC are separate corporate entities, I doubt AC could "force" the partners to do anything -- and they would gain little from that anyway. All of this needs to be done based on the rules of *A. But an airline can choose to charge the surcharges for reward tickets, and in that case they will need to be paid by the member, regardless of the FF plan. More likely LH (owner of LX and OS, too) figured out that they can earn some extra revenue from those reward ticket surcharges.
UA may not charge any surcharges. Yet when I book my next flight to Europe using AP, I'll still pay the fees in order to fly directly from Canada to Europe, avoid two US immigration line-ups, and avoid sitting on a UA plane for the better part of 20 hours. But those are just my priorities.
New airline service launching in Hamilton bypassed Breslau
Quote:Chris Wood, manager of the Region of Waterloo International Airport in Breslau, said NewLeaf didn't go the traditional route. Usually airports know an airline is shopping and they have the chance to pitch their merits.
He contacted the airline after the announcement. "I wanted to make sure they knew we were here and interested, and they did," he said.
So it seems YKF wasn't seriously considered because Hamilton was chosen for strategic reasons.
And...
Quote:Replacing Ottawa is still the priority, Wood said, but that doesn't mean other opportunities would be ignored. "We've had that service. The demand is absolutely there. It's been proven, so that is the one we're pushing."
I flew in and out of EVV this week - such a nice little Regional airport. It's what I wish YKF could be in a few years.
(01-09-2016, 12:04 PM)Canard Wrote: [ -> ]EVV - such a nice little Regional airport. It's what I wish YKF could be in a few years.
While the population of Evansville is only a quarter of Waterloo Region, it's within driving distance of much larger cities like Louisville, Nashville, St Louis, Indianapolis and even Cincinnati, all with larger airports and most also hubs. So check out the airport's home page to see how they've made marketing lemonade out of a competitve lemon:
Calculate the Value of Flying EVV. Of course you need to attract a major airline with multiple destinations first.
I'm not sure what you're getting at - there are lots of people living close to Kitchener-Waterloo, too... and Wikipedia says there are 40 flights in and out of EVV per day! I didn't think it was that high while I was there, but I guess facts are facts.
...It just felt like the perfect "KW" size airport while I was there. They just got 4 jet bridges in the last couple of years. It's a brutalist concrete dream, too - everything's exposed concrete, brown signs with Helvetica and carpet. I was in heaven.
I really think YKF just needs to snag one more carrier and make the prices a bit more reasonable, and it'll all fall into place.
What I'm getting at is if you can "attract a major airline with multiple destinations first" and mount a clever marketing campaign to emphasize your proximity to Toronto, Hamilton, London, the cost savings, etc. you'd stand a chance of becoming the hub of choice for short(er) hop flights in North America. Admittedly that's a bit of a chicken and egg situation, especially the first part.
(01-09-2016, 04:21 PM)ookpik Wrote: [ -> ]What I'm getting at is if you can "attract a major airline with multiple destinations first" and mount a clever marketing campaign to emphasize your proximity to Toronto, Hamilton, London, the cost savings, etc. you'd stand a chance of becoming the hub of choice for short(er) hop flights in North America. Admittedly that's a bit of a chicken and egg situation, especially the first part.
Luton and Stansted made it work in Greater London, in spite of the massive scale and connectivity of Heathrow and Gatwick, and the proximity of London City. Now Luton handles some 10M passengers a year, and Stansted 17M.
N.B. charter, not scheduled, flights. The search for a carrier to provide scheduled service to Ottawa and Montreal continues.
Also one should note that they're flying to YND (Gatineau) not YOW. Not too much worse if you were planning on taking a taxi downtown anyway, but it's much less convenient for the west end and Kanata, and you are not going to get any transit.
Their website:
https://www.nextjet.ca/en/
You can try searching for flights even!
For an example of a round trip flight to Ottawa in March:
Code:
Kitchener/Waterloo, ON (YKF) - Gatineau, Ottawa Executive Airport YND
Departure Time: 03-01-2016 09:00
Arrival Time: 03-01-2016 10:00
Gatineau, Ottawa Executive Airport YND - Kitchener/Waterloo, ON (YKF)
Departure Time: 03-04-2016 16:00
Arrival Time: 03-04-2016 17:00
Code:
Kitchener/Waterloo, ON (YKF) - Gatineau, Ottawa Executive Airport YND
Base Price (1 x 199) $199
NAV CANADA FEE $7.12
HST(13%) $26.8
Total Charges $232.92
Gatineau, Ottawa Executive Airport YND - Kitchener/Waterloo, ON (YKF)
Base Price (1 x 199) $199
NAV CANADA FEE $7.12
QST(9.975%) $20.56
GST(5%) $10.31
Total Charges $236.99
Total Fare $469.9
(01-15-2016, 10:43 AM)ookpik Wrote: [ -> ]N.B. charter, not scheduled, flights. The search for a carrier to provide scheduled service to Ottawa and Montreal continues.
That's true but I tested a couple of dates from YKF and a flight was available. So what's the difference then?
By the way, I would love to see the airport lengthen the runway to accommodate larger airplanes offering seasonal flights to Europe (London, Frankfurt, Istanbul?) and maybe Asia.