So we're flying out for a short vacation to visit my family in Manitoba starting next week. The airfare for the four of us is almost $14,000, and that doesn't include a leg for two of us on Aeroplan points between Iqaluit and Winnipeg. The airfare for the four of us between here and Iqaluit (return) on First Air alone amounts to over $10,000.
So you can imagine my excitement today when I learned through a friend's Facebook status that First Air has begun offering beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (3/4s of my family) a 55% discount on all flights. That would save $3500 or so, a pretty significant amount.
But my momentary joy that airfare was going to be a little more reasonable for a significant portion of Nunavut's population was short lived. Shortly after I called to change the reservations to take advantage of the discount I receive a call back from the Airline of the North. Seems as though the discount only applies to fully refundable full fares, so the actual cost with the discount was $3,300 per ticket not $2,600 we were already paying. Thank you First Air.
Oh, for those doing the math that would mean a full fare return ticket between here and Iqaluit (1,200kms) would work out to around $6,000.
Comments
10 responses
Yikes! not fun at all… hope you have fun in Manitoba…the weather here has been really really really nice!! 🙂 cheers, Sarah 🙂
I hope you have a great visit to Manitoba. It’s great that all four of you are going (despite the price. Yikes!).
Will they provide you all a seat or do you have to bring your own?
Rather like those old VISA commercials…………..priceless.
Wow! It’s like they don’t want people to leave Nuanvut… Well, glad you can still go on your trip with your entire family. And they should stop being so stingy with the airfare. Dang, it costs next to nothing to go from Ontario to somewhere in the Caribbean. Or even to Australia practically!
Have fun, and post some good stories of your adventures, lol!
That’s such a gouge! It sounds like the airline hasn’t any competition and is just thowing the highest prices out there to see which ones will stick. I’ll never complain about airfares in Europe again.
Oh, come on Clare, you have just accidentally added a “0” to the price, right?
Still, $1,400 is a pretty grim price for such a short flight.
Have you tried Canadian North? I worked there in Dorset and I didn’t book them, so I don’t know the details but they offer something called a PIVUT fare. Maybe it’s the same deal, I don’t know but may be worth checking out if you haven’t already.
Why doesn’t that surprise me … they gave teachers that same discount … didn’t seem like much of a discount considering that if I am going to be paying that much $$ I expect much more leg room … and a warm, non frozen meal.
a meal? you expect a meal?! HA!
Argh to the prices!! I mean, I was a fan of the little Babybel cheese that came with the meal but do not feel it should jack the price up that much.
Are you still able to claim some of the airfare on your taxes as you live in a remote area?
Enjoy your holiday!