August Airline Market Update Canada

Summertime air travel is often a wild ride, but this year seems crazier than most. WestJet’s will they/won’t they strike finally arrived (and then ended?), Canadians are slooowwwwly starting to trickle back towards US travel, and throughout it all, we've spotted a few incredibly cheap flights, including one very special error fare!

Let’s start there: we found flights to Dublin at $119 RT from Toronto—aka the first time we’ve ever seen flights from Canada to Europe in the $100s! But that’s not the only highlight from last month - there were some stellar fares across the globe and brand-new routes at top-notch prices:

• New routes from Montreal with Air Transat: Senegal in the $860s and Gran Canaria in the $760s.
• The chance to explore Angkor Wat from the $700s
• And prem eco routes from Toronto/Vancouver to Thailand in the $1800s!

If you were one of the thousands of Canadians who spent the long weekend watching the news with bated breath to see if your upcoming flight would be cancelled, our hearts are with you. After weeks of tense negotiations with its flight attendants' union, WestJet reached a tentative agreement to avoid further cancellations. But for nearly 250,000 Canadian travellers, it was too late. 

WestJet cancelled over 900 flights, grounding most of its fleet during the busiest travel week of the summer. Overall, we’re all pretty frustrated, especially since we just went through this with Air Canada. That being said, flight attendants deserve to be paid for their time, so we can really only direct our rage to the head honchos at WestJet and hope this deal leads to better conditions throughout the industry. 

So what happens next? Well, first of all, as of writing this, the proposed deal hasn’t even been accepted yet. And even when it is, travel won’t return to normal overnight. Getting grounded aircraft re-inspected, repositioning flight crews across the country, and clearing the backlog of stranded passengers will take several days (at least).

Our recommendation: If you have a booking with WestJet coming up soon, keep a close eye on flight cancellations and keep those fingers crossed. If your flight was cancelled, it looks like WestJet’s system is closed to new trips to focus on rebookings for the foreseeable. Don’t forget to check with your credit card’s trip interruption insurance to see which expenses you can claim!

Finally, let’s touch on something that’s probably been on your mind since last January: US travel trends. 

We’ve had a few members ask lately: are Canadians actually starting to travel south again, or are we still holding off? 

The answer is complicated. Yes, some travellers are starting to trickle south again. According to recent numbers from Statistics Canada, Canadian trips to the U.S. saw small back-to-back monthly increases for the first time since last spring. That being said, overall cross-border travel is still down by at least 25%, so we are far from back to normal. 

And to be honest, most of that recent uptick has actually been cross-border road trips rather than flights. Airlines must be noticing that hesitation and, in response, are dropping US fares to lure travellers back. So while many Canadians are still choosing overseas destinations or staying local (that Canada Strong pass is still in full effect!), those who are open to heading south might find some sweet deals.

What about you? We’d love to know how you feel about travelling to the US - let us know here :-)

And now, for the news you may have missed…

• Porter Airlines just announced they’re purchasing 19 more Embraer E195-E2 jets. They’re also modernizing their Dash 8 fleet interiors, meaning free WiFi and no more middle-seat stress (Hallelujah!) as they keep expanding across North America. Win for us!
• Aeroplan just launched a new partnership with Hyatt hotels. Link your accounts to earn Aeroplan points on Hyatt stays, or redeem Aeroplan points for free hotel night awards.

While it’s been an unpredictable stretch for air travel, we’re working extra hard behind the scenes to separate the noise from the actual steals. We’ve got you