Flights into Vancouver

[wgeo]

Thanks everyone - lots of good advice. Hadn't heard of West Jet before so I'm looking them up. My brain's swimming with all the possible combinations of flights and travel to seattle/vancouver now lol.

I've only flown SW for so long, I forgot I'd have to factor in baggage fees on other lines too.

 

[Kesohio63]

Whoops, I was wrong about how much our flights were; it was closer to $480 per person, and we packed light, so only one checked bag each. I don’t think we would have saved much by going to Seattle first because we would have stayed there at least a couple of days to visit family.

 

[TDR32]

I use https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ as a tool for looking at flights. There are certain airlines (like Southwest) that are not listed.

 

[cmph]

I upgraded my AA credit card partially to avoid their baggage fees. Those irritate the heck out of me, and with strategic planning we flew carry-ons only to Hawaii for a week and a half (2A2K, but no babies/toddlers). However, I have noticed that for the routes I take the most, AA is beating SW even when considering the baggage fees. SW isn't as cost-effective as it used to be, at least on my routes.

We're planning to fly into Seattle (probably SW), do the train up to Vancouver, and fly direct on a different airline from Vancouver back home on the return. The train prices aren't cheap, per se, but adding that plus one-way to Seattle was still cheaper than flying one way into Vancouver for us. The bigger savings are going to be for families with kids b/c the train has child fares, whereas everyone is paying the same thing for the flight, obv. I think when I priced it all out for my 4 - the cost of the one-way flight to Vancouver equaled the cost of one-way flight to Seattle + train + one night's stay in Seattle. So all it's costing us to do that is a loss of time, if you have limited vacation time anyway, as well as the cost of whatever activities we do with our time in Seattle.

 

[Geomom]

$400 roundtrip is a great price. When we did our 8/16 Alaskan cruise, it was $650/person to Vancouver from Boston with a change of planes in Toronto. That includes the baggage fees. We flew Air Canada.

I completely understand how you feel--that was our first non-Southwest flight in 15 years! It wasn't going to be any cheaper for us to fly to Seattle first, and then you add in the costs of getting to Vancouver from there. We also didn't want to waste the extra time traveling from Seattle to Vancouver, after already flying across the country.

 

[brewcrew]

We live in Orlando and flew into Vancouver for our cruise two year ago. We did not want to stress out about flying into Seattle, taking a bus or train over the border. We just wanted to be there (we are a party of 6). We bought our tickets in January for our first week of June cruise. We flew Delta and connected in San Francisco. If I remember correctly, they were about $600 per ticket. Crazy but worth every penny!

 

[xlxo]

Thoughts...

• buses are $30 to $60 from Seattle to Vancouver per person.
  • Need to budget the 3 to 6 hour to travel between the cities.
  • Quick Shuttle offers pickup from SeaTac, while the others requires transfers into downtown Seattle.
  • some like the train.... but you need to look at the schedule that requires a Seattle hotel for the morning or evening trip. Buses are much more flexibility in their scheduling.
  • do budget time, as well as cost, for any potential airline savings
• I recommend flying into Vancouver Saturday/Sunday and then possibly going Seattle post-cruise for the return flight. The Disney Wonder sails on Mondays in Vancouver. Crossing the border pre-cruise can be very heavy on the weekends (especially with a rental car). Weekday border crossings are lighter.
• Don't rush off to Seattle immediately post-cruise. Vancouver is worth staying a few days post-cruise for all the activities. Vancouver's attractions have smaller crowds weekdays.

 

[wendydarling33]

Last time we did Alaska we flew to Seattle and took the train trying to save some money. We totally regretted it. The train was scenic but took a LONG time (we ended up being a few hours late due to immigration). Plus it wasted an extra two vacation days and when we factored in the cost of the train and the extra hotel night in Seattle, we really didn't save that much. We didn't sightsee in Seattle as we had been there pretty recently. Personally it would only be worth it to me to fly into Seattle if time wasn't short and I was planning to spend a few days in Seattle to sightsee. Next summer we'll be flying to Vancouver directly for our second Alaska cruise.

 

[cruiser21]

If you have the time Seattle is beautiful city. I have to say the drive from Seattle to Vancouver was as scenic as the cruise. If I had to do it over again I'd spend a couple nights in Seattle. Take my time driving to Vancouver and enjoy a couple of nights in Vancouver. Both are very unique cities especially if your coming from a state in the South.

 

[Shellyred8]

We recently got back from an Alaska cruise on the Wonder. We went later in the season because of pricing (for pretty much everything!). We left MN on Saturday morning and flew to Vancouver, with a quick layover in Seattle. I wasn't sure about the layover either, but it was not a big deal. We grabbed a bite to eat at the airport and by the time we were finished, it was just about time for our flight to leave. The cruise left on Monday, so we had a couple of days to explore Vancouver. It was a great experience and I'm really glad we went early. Vancouver is a beautiful area and very pedestrian friendly. I recommend renting a bike and riding around Stanley park.

Our cruise returned on Monday morning and we had a direct flight back that left at 1:50pm. We hung out around the port area for a little while before heading to the airport. Once at the airport, we ran into 2 of our 3 table mates so we had one last lunch with them.

We flew Delta for this trip. We had a delay on the way out (never did find out why), but they were able to re-book our connecting flight out of Seattle, so we only lost about 2 hours. We don't usually fly them, but they had the best prices and flight times. Aside from the flight delay, we didn't have any issues with them.

Happy planning!!

 

[Shellyred8]

We thought about doing the Seattle to Vancouver trip for our Alaska cruise this year (we were on the 9/4-9/11, last cruise of the season), but it seemed too complicated and would have required DH to take too many days off work, so we flew into and out of Vancouver. It cost $600+ round trip on United, from Columbus, OH, no direct flights of course. Hotels in Vancouver were expensive, too, but we arrived 2 days early and left the day after disembarking, so we had essentially 2 1/2 days to sightsee. The weather was beautiful, and Vancouver is a lovely city and very walkable. I also recommend the hop on hop off bus tour that we did after getting off the ship; the ticket booth is right outside the port. The luggage company at the port transferred our luggage to our hotel for $40 CAD; that was well worth the cost for convenience!

We were on this cruise too! I was so happy we had such glorious weather in Vancouver, as we were there a couple of days early too.

 

[Shellyred8]

Last time we did Alaska we flew to Seattle and took the train trying to save some money. We totally regretted it. The train was scenic but took a LONG time (we ended up being a few hours late due to immigration). Plus it wasted an extra two vacation days and when we factored in the cost of the train and the extra hotel night in Seattle, we really didn't save that much. We didn't sightsee in Seattle as we had been there pretty recently. Personally it would only be worth it to me to fly into Seattle if time wasn't short and I was planning to spend a few days in Seattle to sightsee. Next summer we'll be flying to Vancouver directly for our second Alaska cruise.

My boss lives in Seattle and when I asked him about taking the train from Seattle to Vancouver, he said it was a very scenic trip, but immigration was really hit or miss. It might be quick, or it might take a long time. So, we decided to go with flying too.

 

[Dug720]

My boss lives in Seattle and when I asked him about taking the train from Seattle to Vancouver, he said it was a very scenic trip, but immigration was really hit or miss. It might be quick, or it might take a long time. So, we decided to go with flying too.

It is also apparently (from what I gathered from one of the train attendants when it happened to my train heading TO Seattle) for there to be individuals who wander onto the tracks in one particular area. The one the time I was on the train was not lucky if you get my drift. We had a couple of hours delay for the investigation. I'd definitely not do it day-of-cruise-embarkation just in case.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don’t think we would have saved much by going to Seattle first because we would have stayed there at least a couple of days to visit family.

And that's the problem.

I love the train up there. But flying into Seattle doesn't get you to town early enough to take the morning train. Taking the later train doesn't get you there in time to make the ship. So you're either getting to Seattle one day and taking the early train the next and going to the ship, or getting to Seattle and taking the later train and staying in Vancouver. And those are bare minimums.

So it stops making financial sense st a certain point.

 

[DVC Doc]

If traveling from the east coast, flying American through Dallas is a good option. They have several flights to Vancouver daily. We did business class for about $700 per person.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

If traveling from the east coast, flying American through Dallas is a good option. They have several flights to Vancouver daily. We did business class for about $700 per person.

Thank you will check this out for way home. Southwest on points out can't be beat, so sticking with that.