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Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - Printable Version

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RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - bgb_ca - 02-10-2021

I did a quick compare against WJ (out of Pearson) and Flair out of KW to Edmonton. While Flair would work out to about 50-60 dollars cheaper, i was reading a lot of nightmare stories about their nearly non-existant customer service.

While I would consider them for a last minute overnight trip without a bag (which is not possible on that route, it says 2x a week), I would pay the extra 60 dollars for a planned trip on WJ.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - tomh009 - 02-10-2021

(02-10-2021, 03:26 PM)bgb_ca Wrote: While I would consider them for a last minute overnight trip without a bag (which is not possible on that route, it says 2x a week), I would pay the extra 60 dollars for a planned trip on WJ.

Do they charge for carry-on bags? Or only checked bags?


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - Rainrider22 - 02-10-2021

checked bags....but they limit the size of carry on, I just priced out taking my family of four to Halifax for a long weekend in June. We will each have a carry on back pack, one checked duffle bag. It will be 356 return taxes in.... Why wouldn't we go..... Most of the hotels have huge savings on right now too, I booked for 5 nights for under 600 in the downtown... This is a game changer for my family. And we wont rent a vehicle, just walk, uber and rent bikes...


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - danbrotherston - 02-10-2021

(02-10-2021, 03:26 PM)bgb_ca Wrote: I did a quick compare against WJ (out of Pearson) and Flair out of KW to Edmonton. While Flair would work out to about 50-60 dollars cheaper, i was reading a lot of nightmare stories about their nearly non-existant customer service.

While I would consider them for a last minute overnight trip without a bag (which is not possible on that route, it says 2x a week), I would pay the extra 60 dollars for a planned trip on WJ.

I would pay 60 dollars to avoid Pearson. Hell I'd pay double that or triple that.

Avoiding Pearson saves hours, stress, and risk.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - plam - 02-10-2021

(02-10-2021, 02:59 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(02-10-2021, 01:20 PM)plam Wrote: Ugh ULCCs are not my favourite in terms of the not-fun game where they get you to pay more than you want to with ridiculous fees like print your boarding pass fees. There were a lot of ULCC flights in Europe and I wonder about their environmental cost also (though there is potential for hypocrisy on my part there given the amount of air travel I usually do.)

I will hate on dishonesty in pricing as much as the next, but why do you question their environmental cost? Lower cost fares could drive up air travel, but I would think that they actually run more efficient flights, with fuller planes and no first class.

Induced demand of flights. The flights are more efficient but the numbers of people flying were way up. In the European context, planes are way better. I do understand that trains to Calgary are going to be hard. Trains to Montreal are not.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - bgb_ca - 02-10-2021

(02-10-2021, 05:15 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: checked bags....but they limit the size of carry on,  I just priced out taking my family of four to Halifax for a long weekend in June.  We will each have a carry on back pack, one checked duffle bag.  It will be 356 return taxes in....  Why wouldn't we go.....  Most of the hotels have huge savings on right now too, I booked for 5 nights for under 600 in the downtown...  This is a game changer for my family. And we wont rent a vehicle, just walk, uber and rent bikes...

The website said "Personal item" like Laptop bag/purse.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - dtkvictim - 02-10-2021

(02-10-2021, 06:14 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(02-10-2021, 03:26 PM)bgb_ca Wrote: I did a quick compare against WJ (out of Pearson) and Flair out of KW to Edmonton. While Flair would work out to about 50-60 dollars cheaper, i was reading a lot of nightmare stories about their nearly non-existant customer service.

While I would consider them for a last minute overnight trip without a bag (which is not possible on that route, it says 2x a week), I would pay the extra 60 dollars for a planned trip on WJ.

I would pay 60 dollars to avoid Pearson. Hell I'd pay double that or triple that.

Avoiding Pearson saves hours, stress, and risk.

I never found Pearson a particularly bad place to be, although no doubt an empty airport like here would be more pleasant.

I did just realize though, funnily enough, you can take public transit to Pearson but not Waterloo airport. Probably cheaper to just Uber to Waterloo though.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - danbrotherston - 02-10-2021

(02-10-2021, 08:44 PM)dtkvictim Wrote:
(02-10-2021, 06:14 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I would pay 60 dollars to avoid Pearson. Hell I'd pay double that or triple that.

Avoiding Pearson saves hours, stress, and risk.

I never found Pearson a particularly bad place to be, although no doubt an empty airport like here would be more pleasant.

I did just realize though, funnily enough, you can take public transit to Pearson but not Waterloo airport. Probably cheaper to just Uber to Waterloo though.

Yes. It is a little ironic, generally I've just taken a taxi to Waterloo airport. For Pearson I usually take GO. But it's not the airport itself although ours is faster to get through. It's going up the 401. I've missed trains but not planes as a result of crashes on the 401 despite leaving hours of lead time. I usually leave at least 3-4 hours before a flight from Pearson. For Kitchener. No more than 45 minutes.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - plam - 02-10-2021

(02-10-2021, 09:03 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(02-10-2021, 08:44 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: I never found Pearson a particularly bad place to be, although no doubt an empty airport like here would be more pleasant.

I did just realize though, funnily enough, you can take public transit to Pearson but not Waterloo airport. Probably cheaper to just Uber to Waterloo though.

Yes. It is a little ironic, generally I've just taken a taxi to Waterloo airport. For Pearson I usually take GO. But it's not the airport itself although ours is faster to get through. It's going up the 401. I've missed trains but not planes as a result of crashes on the 401 despite leaving hours of lead time. I usually leave at least 3-4 hours before a flight from Pearson. For Kitchener. No more than 45 minutes.

I wrote a blog entry about YYZ and Union Station. Not so much YKF. I've thought about biking there.

https://patricklam.ca/post/20191226-travel-from-waterloo/

Sometimes I've flown out of YTZ as well.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - SammyOES - 02-10-2021

(02-10-2021, 07:18 PM)bgb_ca Wrote:
(02-10-2021, 05:15 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: checked bags....but they limit the size of carry on,  I just priced out taking my family of four to Halifax for a long weekend in June.  We will each have a carry on back pack, one checked duffle bag.  It will be 356 return taxes in....  Why wouldn't we go.....  Most of the hotels have huge savings on right now too, I booked for 5 nights for under 600 in the downtown...  This is a game changer for my family. And we wont rent a vehicle, just walk, uber and rent bikes...

The website said "Personal item" like Laptop bag/purse.

Yeah, when I looked the only thing free was something small you could stow at your feet. If you wanted to use the overhead bins you had to pay the same price as a checked bag.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - Rainrider22 - 02-10-2021

A carry on guarantees you space in the overhead bin and starts at $39+tax. A carry on is cheap when you purchase with your booking and is more expensinve if purchased at the airport. Buy your bags during the booking process to get the best value for your bag.

Carry on sizes are limited to 23 cm x 40 cm x 55 cm (9 in x 15.5 in x 21.5 in) and 10 kg (22 lb).


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - Coke6pk - 02-11-2021

As stated above, you get a personal item free. Personal item is described as a child's backpack, a purse or laptop bag. Anything else and you are paying.

If the pricing is similar to Swoop, carry-on is MORE expensive than checked bags. All purchased bags are cheapest online at booking, go up slightly immediately afterwards until 24 hrs before the flight, then hit the highest cost.

The ULCC are also VERY strict on the carry-on/checked sizing and weight. Carry-on too big to fit in the demonstration bins at check-in, either make it shrink or check it. [The person I watched was told he couldn't get a refund of the paid carry-on fee, and would now pay the top rate for checked luggage. I watched him struggle to get it compliant, and in the end dumped a bunch of stuff in the garbage to get it to fit]. An experience like that would make me a last time customer, and I'd happily pay $60 for WJ, where I get a free carry on, and due to my military service, 3 free checked bags (Which I don't think I've ever used)

Coke


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - plam - 02-11-2021

If we're actually talking rational here, it does make more sense to charge more for carry on (which is more convenient and faster for you individually, if you can get it past security and fit it) than checked luggage. But I don't think anything about ULCCs are about improving the passenger experience. More about sneakily extracting money from people.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - danbrotherston - 02-11-2021

(02-11-2021, 03:34 PM)plam Wrote: If we're actually talking rational here, it does make more sense to charge more for carry on (which is more convenient and faster for you individually, if you can get it past security and fit it) than checked luggage. But I don't think anything about ULCCs are about improving the passenger experience. More about sneakily extracting money from people.

I hate the major airlines policy of charging for checked bags but allowing carryons for free.

Carryons are a tragedy of the commons type situation, yes, they're in some ways more convenient for an individual (I personally, do not like having to carry my bags around with me, but obviously you are faster to get out of the airport if you do), but onboard the plane, they extend boarding and deplaneing, there usually isn't enough room in the cabin for all of them, leading some people to have to keep them in their laps.

Ultimately, by charging for bags, they make flights worse for everyone (including the airline who now spends more time to turn over the plane).

I think some long haul flights make more money because they charge for cargo, but for most short haul flights I think it simply shifts cargo around the plane.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - plam - 02-13-2021

Pearson is probably one of the slowest airports for luggage delivery by the way. I talked to a guy who was involved in system design. He said it was terrible. Almost any airport anywhere else is faster. 30 minute waits at Pearson aren't unusual, 10 minute waits at Wellington are. Both Wellington and Zurich have predicted luggage arrival times.

Not sure if I've ever checked luggage at YKF. I try not to when possible (packing minimally, gear for activities is the exception.)