Flying to Canada - Need advice on best route/flights?

[wywk]

Hi all,

I am planning to go to Canada in June this year, more specifically to Ottawa to meet a friend there and from there on, we're going to travel the country together. After searching for the available flights from Sydney to Ottawa, I am coming up with so many different choices and prices.

There's about $1000 in price differences if I choose to fly direct rather than through the US. Also I have had a lot of bad luck in regards to lost luggage in my last few travels due to having lots of connecting flights, and would love to avoid this as much as possible. Also it looks like there is no way of avoiding flying to the US unless I fly with Air Canada.


Anyway, here are the options I have found (and these are for the same dates):


Delta Airlines - SYD - LAX - DTW- YOW / YOW - DTW - LAX - SYD $1439

Delta Airlines - SYD - LAX - ATL -YOW / YOW - DTW - LAX - SYD $2388

United Airlines - SYD - LAX - ORD - YOW / YOW - ORD - LAX - SYD $1770

United Airlines - SYD - SFO - ORD - YOW / YOW - ORD - LAX - SYD $1773

Air Canada - SYD - YVR - YOW / YOW - YVR - SYD $2648

Qantas - SYD - LAX - ORD - YOW / YOW - ORD - LAX - SYD $2842

--

Has anyone flown with Delta Airlines or Air Canada before? Has anyone flown direct using Air Canada, was it worth it?

I was wondering if anyone here as done the same route before and what you would recommend.

Any advice/input would be much appreciated!

Thanks
Wendy

 

[Warks]

The direct SYD-YVR flight makes it expensive with AC as there's no competition on that route. We went to Canada last year (BC, AB) and couldn't get a decent deal there so grabbed the very cheap QF SYD-LAX flights ($900ish return) and flew Virgin America to SEA, taking a hire car from there to YVR and beyond. All worked out well but we weren't going to eastern Canada.
My elderly mother flies AC to YVR each year to visit my sister. She wants to avoid the change of planes and US immigration so pays the premium for what she says is a sub-premium service. As I understand it AC is below QF but probably on a par with Delta etc. Not sure as I haven't flown Delta.
It does depend on the time you have and whether you want to see anything on the way. LA was a must for us so we could go to Disneyland (kids).
Consider that in your route.
The first price you quote sounds pretty good to me though. But who goes to Ottawa?

PS - Virgin America were the best US airline I have flown by a factor of 2 or 3.

 

[trooper]

NZ also fly SYD-AKL-YVR....

You're looking at at least $2500 for that...

For those sort of savings I'd have to say I'd put up with the LAX transfer...

 

[dajop]

Many ways of skinning at cat here.

NZ are also an option for getting to Canada without going via US, but I suspect they are expensive and go via AKL, so extra stop.

Then there are Asian options, such as Cathay Pacific who can get you as close as Toronto.

Also, worth looking at pricing fare to say Montreal (a short train ride away), or Toronto (and then buying a domestic fare from there).

Lastly, if QF is your thing, get a QF all the way to New York and buy a separate fare from there to Ottawa.

The Delta fare does seem pretty hard to beat, despite having to transit US.

 

[markis10]

Air Canada fly from HNL for $900 return, that may be an option.

 

[Maca44]

I just did a search for 01JUN10 and return 01JUL10 from SYD/LAX/JFK with V Australia and came out under $2K, so might deserve a look. A friend went to LAX recently and said the flight/service etc was good and there have been many other good reports about VA.
V Australia is a full service airline of the Virgin Blue Airlines group. Find cheap flights and best airfare deals in the USA and Australia.

 

[wywk]

wow so many more options, I'll definitely look into all the other suggested flights. I don't think I would mind putting up with the connection at LAX if it costs much less, guess I'll have more money to spend elsewhere. I just had a bad experience at LAX once and have tried to avoid it since. Could've just been out of luck then. I am not so much rush for time, I have set aside about 3 weeks for the trip.

I was thinking of flying into Ottawa cos that's where my friend lives and it would be a good opportunity to visit, but seeing what you guys have suggested, it might be cheaper for me to fly elsewhere and then maybe catch a train there or he can meet somewhere else.

I wouldn't mind flying with QF if the price ain't too steep... I have about 180K QFF racked up at the moment, might be worth it just to add some more and boost my status. Unfortunately no award flights available around this time of year otherwise I could get a return flight SYD-LAX or SYD-JFK for free.

Thanks for all your suggestions, much appreciated.

 

[uzza]

I've done HBA-MEL-LAX(via AKL) on QF -ORD-YOW on UA, I had a student discount via STA and it was around $1800 all up (~$1550 QF and ~$250 UA - back in '08). I can suggest you don't fly UA IMO it's very average service (ok the EMB from ORD-YOW was OK, I've heard horror stories transpac with them, and don't get me started on the 757 LAX-ORD:evil:...)

I know nothing of Delta, but there 777's are new so that's a plus, and the regional service through to YOW shouldn't be too bad (if it's anything like UA on Shuttle America, alot of the regional jets are operated by the same smaller airlines just trading as UA, DL etc.). If I was you I'd go Delta. Air Canada is so so IMO, I've had good service and appaling service with them - not too consistient.

And as for Ottawa, FANTASTIC city!!! I spent ~6 months there in 08/09 and it was incredible. Just the right size for you to get around really easily and big enough for you not to get bored. Not too far from Toronto and only an hr or so to Montreal. You said you've got a mate there so you should be set, I can give you plenty of tips on good bars (and some restaurants/diners) there! You'll have a blast!

 

[wywk]

Hey Uzza,

thanks for the heads-up on Ottawa. Well my friend lives there so he has volunteered to show me around but we're also gonna go visit other places and most probably NYC. Glad to hear it's a nice city to visit though cos I was a bit afraid it would turn out to be like Canberra :shock:

 

[Fifa]

Re: a previous post suggesting flying via Asia.

JAL have flights via Narita to LAX or YVR in Y for around $1950 or to LAX in PE for $2750. A bonus is that you get QF points and SCs.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I found out about Canadian Airline Westjet when I was planning my trip last year & at one stage was thinking of flying to Vegas to Calgary on WS.

Where exactly in Canada do you plan to go once there?

Below is a link for Westjet's advance purchase airfares between the Eastern Triangle of Toronto, Ottawa & Montreal which cost CAD29.00 / CAD59.00 / CAD89.00 plus tax respectively for advance purchase of 21, 14 or 7 days valid on Tue Wed & Sat only.

Book now. Pay Less.

One idea would be to fly SYD/LAX on a cheap fare (do they have cheap flight/accomm packages too?) then fly VX LAX/JFK (approx USD139.00) & maybe meet up with your friend there for a few days.

Warks

PS - Virgin America were the best US airline I have flown by a factor of 2 or 3.

Couldn't agree with you more. In fact once you've flown VX it sets the bar pretty high so all other carriers you fly with after that seem a tad inferior. The planes, onboard facilities, wifi, ordering inflight catering from the touchscreen in front of you, the pilots are fantastic. F/A's were just average though - I still rate the DL & CO flights attendants better than VX because they don't giggle during the onboard PA's.

Both of you could then get the train NYC to Niagara Falls, stopover for a night or two then the train up to YYZ for another couple of nights before flying YYZ/YOW (CAD29.00) & bingo - you're off to a great start.

Forget paying ridiculous fares for the most direct route - you get far better value by being a bit creative and the dollars you save can go along way towards the cost of your internal fares plus accommodation.

Sounds like a lot of fun is to be had.

Cheers

Oz

 

[browski]

Phillippine Airlines have a great flight from Sydney to Vancouver with a great connection time in Manila. I think the return journey is not so great a connection in Manila; but maybe a stopover is worthwhile so as to thaw out from your time in Ottawa. Price should be competetive.

JAL would be my second choice if the the Manila option is not to your liking.
If departing from Brisbane I'd look for a cheap Eva Air Flight via Taipei. Connections in Taipei always seem to be inconvenient though.