Canada (on the not so cheap!)

[PAXboy]

Hi folks,
Trying to use BA Miles for an Open Jaws LHR-YVR/other/YYZ-LHR and that will work (other than the high level of taxes that they will not explain [and I'm not talking the fuel surcharge I'm talking about the £99.50 that is left unexplained after I remove the two items that are explained] and that's £211 each for just the outbound sector and so you know they REALLY don't want you to use your Miles] {But that doesn't matter right now ...} :hmm:

Getting YVR~YYZ: Trying Jazz takes you to the parent Air Canada booking engine and there is no distinguishing marks as to which carrier you might be booking with and the prices are horrible anyway. £406 for the two all-in. :eek:

Sunwing's website will not function in Mozilla and repeatedly locks up my I.E. v7 so all I see is that the base fare is CAD299 each but I cannot find out what the taxes are as the browser locks up. :ugh:

Westjet is saying £371 for the two all-in. :(

OK, now that I have all that off my keyboard - any suggestions for two people to get Vancouver to Toronto in Mid-September?? :)

[Hartington]

Via Rail?

Or

Drive to Seattle, fly to Buffalo, drive to Toronto.

[lexxity]

Seriously look at VIA Rail. A lovely way to cross the country and far more leisurely than flying. Probably about the same cost too. :ok:

[manintheback]

Rail takes about 5 days. Flights arent going to be cheap, takes maybe 1.5 hours longer to fly Toronto/London than Vancouver/Tornto - its a looooong way.
Expedia should get you on AirCanada for £350 all in.

[20driver]

Prices you have seem about right. Canada is generally an expensive market.
One way tickets are always expensive.
Try kayak.com and look at Seattle to Buffalo but I doubt you will save very much.
20driver

[PaperTiger]

Sunwing is the only (relatively) cheap option YVR-YYZ, but I would investigate their reliability before booking with them, even if you could book that is.

Jazz doesn't fly YVR-YYZ, only mainline AC.

Travel in Canada is no longer cheap. The Westjet and AC fare wars are gone, sometimes they have sales which usually last for just 1-2 days and each matches the other anyway. The train ain't cheap unless you want to sit up for 5 days :eek: (2 of which are mind-numbingly boring).

I would not recommend the SEA-BUF option either, by the time you add in getting to/from either it won't save much if anything. Plus you have to deal with the US 'authorities' (ICE and TSA), not conducive to a good holiday experience.

Check out airfarewatchdog.com (I don't think that's a commercial no-no) and sign up for notifications ex-YVR. They seem to pick up the transitory deals quickly enough.

[PAXboy]

Weeeelll, thanks for the feedback folks - I was logging on to say that ... I have now found that Canadian travel is expensive and the work-around routes are also expensive!!!

The train with Via is four days and three nights in (effectively) a 5 Star hotel and that would be nice to do one day! The USA transit gives other problems as my travelling companion needs a specific tourist Visa for the USA and that is another USD131 to add into the counterbalance. Not to mention booking an appointment with them at £1.50 a minute phone call to listen to automated information that you do not need to know. They even have the cheek to call their menu driven information delivery as 'Operator Assisted' :*

On current looks and quotations, this trip is being pencilled in for June 2009, to give more time for research and saving of cash. Of course, by that time, the cost of fuel will have jacked prices higher and there will be fewer rotations as they cut back on capacity. :ouch: