Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF

[ookpik]

ultra low-cost carrier, NewLeaf Travel

From TFA, "NewLeaf's bare-bones website promises its service will feature 'No more extra costs for things you don't want' and 'You pay for your seat and the rest is up to you.'"

Clever euphemistic marketing-speak for "we charge you for everything from printing your boarding pass to letting you carry more than a purse on board to selecting your seat so you can sit with your family members." Then they could name their new carrier Nickel&DimeAir where, again euphemistically, "nickel" and "dime" can represent $50 and $100 add-on charges.

Meanwhile, speaking of airlines and euphemisms, Aeroplan "free" rewards point ticket includes hefty "fuel" surcharge even as "fuel" now sells at record low prices.

A Nova Scotia man is questioning why Air Canada charged him almost $800 in extra fees, including a fuel surcharge of $697, for a ["free"] flight he booked with Aeroplan miles... 

In the booking for the ticket he eventually used, Ardern had to pay a total of $781.30, of which $697 showed up as a fuel surcharge, he said...

Airline passenger advocate Gabor Lukacs said the term fuel surcharge is simply a euphemism for charging passengers more money...

[Canard]

Ultra-low cost! Sign me up!

We flew out of Flint to Las Vegas (direct) for <$300 each on Southwest over the holidays. A 3 hour drive, but super easy and super cheap.

I wanted to fly YKF this week for work but can't make the cost work. $2k for the flight out of YKF and $1k out of YYZ.

[JoeKW]

I'm flying to Cuba out of YKF in a few weeks. The only downside is that it's with Sunwing.

[panamaniac]

I'm flying to Cuba out of YKF in a few weeks. The only downside is that it's with Sunwing.

I guess it's good that they select a different charter destination each winter, but I really think that the Region could support a couple more weekly charter flights during the season.

[tomh009]

Meanwhile, speaking of airlines and euphemisms, Aeroplan "free" rewards point ticket includes hefty "fuel" surcharge even as "fuel" now sells at record low prices.

A Nova Scotia man is questioning why Air Canada charged him almost $800 in extra fees, including a fuel surcharge of $697, for a ["free"] flight he booked with Aeroplan miles... 

In the booking for the ticket he eventually used, Ardern had to pay a total of $781.30, of which $697 showed up as a fuel surcharge, he said...

Airline passenger advocate Gabor Lukacs said the term fuel surcharge is simply a euphemism for charging passengers more money...

The surcharges are much less common than a few years ago, but in any case it appears that they have been renamed "carrier surcharges" for AC, at least.

Aeroplan flights aren't "free" (nor are they advertised as such), same applies to other FF programs.  Sadly the availability is much less and the fees are much higher than, say, 10 years ago.

[tomh009]

I used my American Airlines points in December to go to Los Angeles and return and it only cost me the charges for airport landing fees. Total cost was $73.11.  I thought that was a pretty good deal.

Yes.  But not 100% free, which was my point.  For Air Canada, too, the fees are much less for domestic and transborder flights; international flights attract both larger government charges and often also carrier surcharges.

[ookpik]

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.)

but in any case it appears that they have been renamed "carrier surcharges" for AC, at least.

Which is exactly the point of the article and my comments. This despite fuel prices being at record lows. At one time these surcharges reflected rising oil prices. Now that this is no longer a valid justification they're being used to gouge customers.

Aeroplan flights aren't "free" (nor are they advertised as such), same applies to other FF programs.

As a member of Aeroplan  and AAdvantage almost since their inception I can tell you that they were once widely advertised as free flights. Of course the airlines no longer use the word "free" in their promotions. But the implication is still there even if the adjective is now "reward" or some similar euphemism.

Sadly the availability is much less and the fees are much higher than, say, 10 years ago.

That too.

[plam]

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.

[Canard]

Southwest doesn't charge any fees for rewards. Actually, that's not true, I think I paid $5 the last time.

My Air Canada flight booked with Aeroplan points to Japan this spring cost me $300 in fees.

[ookpik]

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.

[Canard]

You can redeem aeroplan points with other airlines??

[plam]

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.

Yes, I did a test booking. Swiss (LX) flights attract no scamcharges (as they're called on flyertalk). The trick is that LX only makes business class available at the last minute; redeeming for business is usually a better deal than redeeming for economy, at least in terms of dollars per points.

[ookpik]

Back to turning over a New Leaf: Discount airline offers $99 flights from Hamilton 

Hamilton will have scheduled air service to Halifax, Regina, Abbotsford, Saskatoon and Winnipeg starting next month. NewLeaf Travel announced in a press conference this morning that fares for flights will be as low as $99 to $119 starting Feb. 12. NewLeaf bills itself as Canada's first ultra low-cost airline. Fights can be booked starting today at flynewleaf.ca...

Dean Dacko, chief commercial officer of Canada's newest travel company, is promising air fares up to 60 per cent below those of WestJet or Air Canada now that the company has launched its service from Hamilton airport... He said the airline’s business model “unbundles” the cost of air travel. The basic fare covers a seat on the aircraft and a seatbelt. Everything else, from luggage to meals to entertainment, is extra.

In this instance Hamilton seems to have an advantage over Waterloo due to its location between Toronto and Buffalo:

Dacko said NewLeaf chose Hamilton because it sees a huge pool of potential passenger who either don't fly or drive to Buffalo to get lower fares. “Hamilton is a unique market,” he said. “We think there is a significant demand for this kind of service there.”

Dacko said NewLeaf's research concluded there are as many as 5.2 million such passengers available, 4 million of which “drive right past Hamilton” on their way to lower fares through Buffalo airport.

Then again if only we had 1-hour hourly GO Train service between Union and our new transit hub with stops at YYZ and YKF...

[MidTowner]

I'm really curious how this will go. I took flyglobespan the year it operated from Hamilton (they called it "Toronto"), and the experience was excellent compared to flying out of Pearson; I think that the right airline should be able to make it work there. Abbotsford seems like a good choice, too.

[jgsz]

In this instance Hamilton seems to have an advantage over Waterloo due to its location between Toronto and Buffalo:

Dacko said NewLeaf chose Hamilton because it sees a huge pool of potential passenger who either don't fly or drive to Buffalo to get lower fares. “Hamilton is a unique market,” he said. “We think there is a significant demand for this kind of service there.”

Dacko said NewLeaf's research concluded there are as many as 5.2 million such passengers available, 4 million of which “drive right past Hamilton” on their way to lower fares through Buffalo airport.

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.  Besides, Hamilton is the place airlines go to die.