Air Canada Seat Sale

I agree that airfare is insanely expensive here in Canada. I’m used to flying in the US. It’s ridiculous here, especially trying to fly out of Charlottetown.

Air Canada- proving everyday the contention that by limiting competition, it is the customer who gets hosed. Over the decades the Air Canada corporate ethos has transformed from customer service to contempt for the customer. My first beef- artificially high prices. The only deal you get from Air Canada is when they have to give you one. International fares are comparable because foreign carriers keep Air Canada honest. Because they have little competition domestically, fares inside Canada are criminal. Second- lose the imperial stormtrooper mentality. Particularly the attitiude of Air Canada personnel in Montreal- omnipotence disorder I call it. I exist but to make them feel superior. Third- get your costs in line with the rest of us. Ancillary personnel can, with all their long list of benefits, can make $85, 000. And what to think is their favorite perk- just about free travel with Air canada and Air canada Vacations. Even the autoworkers didn’t have it that good. Fourth- the service. Have you not a thought at all. July, 2009- delay an entire flight originating out of Pearson. Because the flight originated in Toronto- everyone is late. Ten rooms of travellers miss their connection. Air Canada thinking- the plane leaves over two hours late- let’s charge them three dollars for headsets. Dumb as dirt. In an effort to deny foreign carriers a chance to dominate Canadian skies, we have created a condition where Air Canada is a predator. We live in a large country and need a more consumer friendly air situation. What can foster change. We have to open up Canadian airports to foreign carriers taking off and landing between Canadian cities. Bring in the real competion. Email Transport Canada and complain about predatory pricing practices and horrendous serice. Don’t just talk but by putting you concerns in writing, AIr canada must respond. Makes your complaints actionable.

I just checked out the airfares to Calgary from Vancouver, they are within the 300-500 range which is kinda outrageous considering it’s just a 2-hour flight. I guess domestic airfares are this high because there’s less travellers within Canada and less competition (Air Canada and Westjet only) unlike in the U.S. Canada can do well to stimulate the tourism industry in this country by launching a Canada-wide campaign to be dubbed as “Visit Canada 2010” or something, to promote Canadian tourist spots to Canadian residents by offering great deals on airfares and accommodations. It’s a win-win situation for all of us. Lower prices=Bigger volume of travellers. Look at me, I’ve lived here in Vancouver for almost 7 years and yet I have not had travelled to the other provinces at all, simply because it’s just so expensive to fly out there. I’ve travelled to the US more actually. What is Canada’s loss is America’s gain. Wake up Canada! Enough of the oligopoly! Think economics. Be competitive!

when u go somewhere part of canada why air ticket is so insanely expensive?

flight from Ottawa to Toronto from Air Canada total with tax, 346.00, total air time a little over 47 minutes. flight from Ottawa to Miami from many other airlines including air canada, total with tax anywhere from $358 to $406, total air time 5+ hours same dates, same times, more options though from times to Ottawa to Toronto. $12 more for me to fly to Miami 5 hours more. What is wrong with this picture. AIR CANADA YOU SUCK

I totally agree with Linda I just took a look at going back home to N.S. for a visit. Yet ALL the time I’m seeing these promos for overseas countries but then we NEVER see anything like that within our own country. Its outrageous!!!

You think that’s bad try flying to a place where only they service like Goose Bay NL. You want to see crazy prices

@Laura You make a good point: the cheapest routing between any two points is not always the direct and obvious one.

Trying to fly across Canada is a Joke! Way to go for promoting Canadians to spend their money in Canada. Isn’t that what we should be doing in this recession? Why encourage people to leave Canada to spend their money?? This makes no sense whatsoever. I can fly to London, or mexico for less than $1000, but to fly back home to Newfoundland, its $1434?!? The so called seat sales last for a day, and then it doubles.. I don’t understand. Why not set a special rate for canadian travel, promote canadians to see Canada. Many people don’t know what other provinces look like, and we have a BEAUTIFUL Country. I would know, I drove from NF to BC. Be proud to be Canadian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regretably as a Canadian I used to prefer to use Canadian airlines, however from the time where Canadians were force out of bussines, Air Canada monopoly offers usoutrages prices in domestic flights and outragous service on board. How Lufthansa or smaller airlines like Air Berlin can offer drink, snack newspapers etc in 1 hr flight when Air Canada in domestic relatively long flights offers chinese fast food soup for 5$!!!!Not to mension paper etc. It used to be my choice to fly with Canadian carrier now like many others I suppose if I can I try to avoid Air Canada. If Air Canada has no knowledgable people how to do bussines and satisfy clients lets ask for help those who knows how to do it!!

The solution to expensive domestic and cheap international flights is simply competition. Only Canadian airlines are permitted to fly from point to point within Canada. Open Canadian skies to competition and prices will drop, at least on the busiest routes. But competition from foreign airlines within Canada raises the problem of spreading costs. If Air Canada decided to drop all flights to small and remote airports, the Canadian people (and the government regulators) would have a fit! Those flights are net losers for an airline, even at their current high costs, so AC has to compensate by overcharging on busier and more profitable routes (Halifax/Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto/Calgary/Vancouver). It’s the same principal as postage — it doesn’t cost the full price of a first class stamp to mail a letter from Montreal to Ottawa, but it costs much, much more than the cost of a stamp to mail a letter to the Yukon. But instead of making rural and remote Canadians pay the full cost of their choice to live where they do, Canada Post blends the rates nationally, so that urbanites subsidize the rest. This is a defensible practice from social-solidarity perspective, but if you accept it, then you have to accept the attendant costs. It would be the same with domestic competition. If foreign airlines were permitted to compete against AC, prices would fall on busy routes but, assuming AC was still obligated (legally or politicall) to service rural Canada, those flights would become even more expensive, as their cost would not be offset by higher revenues from busy, inter-urban routes. Either high-cost routes would have to be dropped altogether, at enormous cost to the communities that would lose airline service, or else the same service conditions would have to be imposed on competitors, which wouldn’t result in significantly lowered price (though the mere fact of competition might lower prices a little). In the international flight market, AC has to compete with airlines that don’t have a mandate/burden of subsidizing dozens of short, costly routes. If AC charged more for international flights than Virgin Atlantic/American Airlines/United/Air France/BA/SAL/Cathay Pacific no-one would use them and they’d make even less money. But those airlines don’t have the burden that AC does of serving remote Canadian routes, so those extra charges have to be made up somewhere. And that somewhere is in the domestic routes where Air Canada has no real competition and can, therefore, get away with charging higher rates. This is why it costs more to fly from Halifax to Bermuda than to Calgary. Because AC can’t raise rates on international flights, those who want lower domestic rates are essentially calling for AC to lose more money, which (assuming the government won’t let it go bankrupt) in turn means that taxpayers would have to pay more to subsidize the cost of domestic air travel. That’s fine, but it just means that you would be paying the increased costs at tax time rather than when you book your flights. And, frankly, subsidies are not as equitable a system, as all taxpayers — even those who don’t fly for personal or environmental reasons — would have to pay more so that those who do fly can have cheaper flights. Whereas, under the current system, those who choose to fly bear the burden of their own decision. Again, their are several possible solutions to the problem of high domestic/low international airfares, including opening the Canadian market to foreign competition and/or explicit government subsidies for domestic travel. But they come with their own costs and problems, some of which are worse than the current problem.