Flights from Canada to the US, a weird pricing thing...

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

So I'm always pricing flights to go see my wife. If there's an absurdly good deal, I'm gonna take advantage, plus we're pricing out how much the move will cost, approximately. In so doing, I have discovered something very odd.

So I'm pricing flights from Toronto to Austin. I can find one way tickets for 230 dollars. There is a layover in Houston. Well, my wife can drive to Houston and pick me up. The layover is longer than the drive back to Austin would be. So her picking me up would mean that Peter Parker, my cat, is in his carrier for about an hour and a half less time. Okay, I think to myself. Let's search flights to Houston. And that's when I find it. The exact same flight to Houston, same flight number and everything, is now 412 dollars. I didn't accidentally click round trip. It's the same flight, no return.

Can anyone reveal to me the secret of why that direct flight, same flight number, leaps up almost 215 dollars when I am going to Houston, meaning that I am taking ONE plane, not two?

[LiliBurd 85]

Not a tailor,

The same thing happened to me and it boggles my mind! I always shop around for the best deal as we travel a lot and want to spend as little as possible. I was booking flights to come back to Montreal from Florida after Christmas on onetravel.com and found a good deal, direct flight to Montreal. I then searched just out of curiosity Florida to Toronto, the flight was $60 cheaper yet had a layover in Montreal the same exact flight I wanted. My concern was my luggage, I called Air Canada and the girl thought that was very strange but explained that travel agencies can charge whatever they want for flights she was helpful and put me on hold to find out what I could do. She said no matter what when we land in Montreal everyone must claim their luggage to go through customs so I would not have any issues. I booked the cheaper flight.

You'll probably be going through preclearance in Toronto and your luggage would be sent to Houston but if you travel light and only have a carry on you could book the cheaper flight. One thing I've learned about airlines and airfare is that it just doesn't make sense, I just stopped asking questions lol!

Good luck and safe travels!

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

I can't travel light, I'll be bringing everything I'm moving with. My guitar and my cat will be my carry-on luggage, so unless I ship everything else to the US separately, I can't just get off. It's so stupid. Ah well, haven't interviewed yet, just trying to price out approximates so we'll see what happens when the time comes.

[LiliBurd 85]

didn't realize it was your flight for your big move... yeah travelling light is out of the question! And yes it is so stupid makes no sense.

Edited October 13, 2014 by LiliBurd

[NikLR 13,220]

It is dumb. You can fly to Vegas from Canada, doing a stop over in Denver and it costs half or a quarter as much as flying into Denver does. Heck I've seen flights from Calgary to Hawaii that stop in Denver that are cheaper than flying directly to Denver can be. It's about as expensive to drive from Alberta to Denver BUT it takes 18 hours to do so vs a 2.5 hour flight, be there 1 hour early + 1 hour drive = 4.5 hours total. My time and sanity is worth the cost for sure! LOL

When we flew from OKC to Alabama it was cheaper for us to fly into Atlanta and rent a car than it was to fly into Birmingham. Either way it would have been an hour drive for my FIL. We messed up the time change though and almost missed our flight back.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

It just doesn't make any sense. Does the second plane burn negative fuel or something? *sigh* Everything I'm finding online says that there's no way to claim your baggage at the stopover unless it's an overnight stopover and the price change doesn't get me a cheaper way to travel with two suitcases because sending them fedex or UPS would end up being about a hundred dollars a pop, rather than 25 and 35. I wish I could find a really cheap way to send my stuff.

[Sylea 30]

I liken plane travel costs to gas prices here in Canada - absolutely no rhyme or reason.

I'm looking to make my POE Christmas day - discovered it's basically the cheapest and quietest day to fly. I too will have my cat, so have decided to spend time with family in Vancouver before flying to MI - it breaks the trip up for Mr Zippy, and hopefully my processing in customs will be short and sweet at around 4AM December 25th!! (or should I worry about crabby CBP officers?? LOL)

By the way Not a Tailor - LOVE the name Peter Parker!!

Cheers.

Peace all.

[Sarah&Marc 22]

Cant you just let your luggage fly the rest of the way to Austin and then pick it up at the airport when you get in from Houston?

I mean in San Antonio I pick up my husband at the luggage carousel...not sure how ATX is...

Edited October 14, 2014 by Sarah&Marc

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Apparently that's considered a security risk and can get you into OODLES of trouble, if you do that, Sarah&Marc. Yay post 9/11 panickiness.

[Texas22 50]

That's just crazy. Let me know if you find out any secrets Not A Tailor. I live near Austin now and always want to pay the least when flying back to Ontario. Usually from Toronto to Austin, the layover is in Dallas. I have never found it cheaper to fly Toronto to Austin with a layover in Dallas vs. Toronto - Dallas direct. A few times we've done the direct flight to Dallas only and then drove home the 3 hours to save money on flights. And if there are more than two of us traveling - we drive. (26 hrs).

Our best bet would be Toronto to Killeen Airport, because Killeen is about 30 mins from us vs. an hour and 15 mins from Austin. But those flights are almost always about $200.00 more (one-way).

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

My Toronto-Austin flights are always with layover in either Chicago or Houston. I don't think I've ever had a layover in Dallas. Weird! The way tickets end up working out always astonishes me. I'm debating, when the time comes, if I see this still happening, calling the airline directly and saying 'so I saw this, can you help? It doesn't make much sense...' Maybe someone directly at the airline can do a special rate or something.

[Lemonslice 4,553]

Offer and demand. Not just between Canada and the USA, it's the same all over the (aviation) world. That's how I went for cheap to Australia with a layover in New Zealand, but boarding off in Auckland there would have been a grand more.

kayak.com is your friend - You can enter multiple cities at once and pick the cheapest flight/combo- [enter multiple airports separated by a comma, ex.: BOS, PVD, BTV to CDG, BOD]. Google flights too. airfarewatchdog.com if you are a bit flexible.

Depending where you are flying from in Canada, Porter as a new agreement with Jet Blue too.

[Texas22 50]

I have seen layovers in Chicago and Houston as well. But never want to end up in Chicago in the winter. The weather there is so unpredictable.
I have found the best bet to be American Airlines so far. Air Canada is usually more expensive or they trade off airlines at Dallas, and less direct flights to Dallas as well.

The thing I hate about AA, is we joined their little AA points program to try and earn points towards free flights? Well we don't fly enough for them to add up quickly, and they are almost at expiry now. So I have been seriously considering a travel credit card that you can earn points no matter what you spend your money on, and it doesn't matter which airline. I saw a commercial on tv for one not too long ago. Anybody else have one of these? Any opinions on which is best?

[Flames9_RN 358]

I have seen layovers in Chicago and Houston as well. But never want to end up in Chicago in the winter. The weather there is so unpredictable.

I have found the best bet to be American Airlines so far. Air Canada is usually more expensive or they trade off airlines at Dallas, and less direct flights to Dallas as well.

The thing I hate about AA, is we joined their little AA points program to try and earn points towards free flights? Well we don't fly enough for them to add up quickly, and they are almost at expiry now. So I have been seriously considering a travel credit card that you can earn points no matter what you spend your money on, and it doesn't matter which airline. I saw a commercial on tv for one not too long ago. Anybody else have one of these? Any opinions on which is best?

There are websites that state which credit cards offer the best value.......Quito often they have specials...get 50,000 free points nby signing up or you have to spend so much $$$$ in a time period to get those free points. We have a Capital one (can't recall which 1 it is) but it does very well point wise and no international transaction fees. http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?sduid=0&f=9 if u do a search on that website..people often post good deals on CC

[Texas22 50]

There are websites that state which credit cards offer the best value.......Quito often they have specials...get 50,000 free points nby signing up or you have to spend so much $$$$ in a time period to get those free points. We have a Capital one (can't recall which 1 it is) but it does very well point wise and no international transaction fees. http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?sduid=0&f=9 if u do a search on that website..people often post good deals on CC

Thanks Flames, I will check it out!