The deal with U.S. flights
Crossing the border can save a family $1,200
Pascal Cohen, manager of aviation business development for Buffalo Niagara International Airport, has a fourletter word he doesn’t like to utter when it comes to Canadian flyers.
Snow. The myth of snow is about the only thing that is stopping more of us from crossing the border for a flight that is not only cheaper but usually faster and more convenient — even once you factor in driving time.
“The biggest thing is there is a false perception that we have a ton of snow and it’s difficult to get to,” said Mr. Cohen, who estimates a family of four flying out of Buffalo — as opposed to Toronto — to Orlando can save $500 on average and sometimes as much 60%. “The Buffalo airport never closes for weather.”
Canadians took about five million flights outbound from a U.S. city last year, according to the Conference Board of Canada. About 40% of those flights originate from the Buffalo area, but cross-border flying is common in other jurisdictions. Vancouver residents use Bellingham, Wash., and Plattsburgh International Airport now bills itself as Montreal’s U.S. airport and fully bilingual.
Full disclosure here. I’ve flown out of Buffalo’s airport before and I will be doing it again in the near future for a trip to Fort Lauderdale. The main reason? A $1,200 savings
Inconvenience is often touted as the reason not to go, but Mr. Cohen pointed out to journalists during a presentation that you have to get to a Canadian airport about three hours early for an international flight. Flying out of Buffalo or another U.S. city is a domestic flight, so you can arrive one hour before flight time because you’ve already cleared U.S. customs.
Customs is the other fear often promoted, but the Buffalo airport pitch — the groups plans to hit Toronto with billboard ads — is that it’s really only adding another 20 to 30 minutes in most cases. The airport’s website is now posting border time waits.
Using his math, you add 90 minutes of driving to 30 minutes at customs and you’re about even with that threehour wait at your Canadian airport.
He didn’t include gas or wear and tear on your car in his calculations but my own strategy is to arrive the night before to avoid the so-called snow risk, which is real, and stay at a hotel.
Parking is generally included in hotel stays, for up to two weeks. and once you factor that in with a free shuttle to the airport you’re almost even with the two cab rides you need to get to and from Toronto’s airport. For me, it’s $130 in cab fares round trip. The really thrifty can take a Greyhound bus, which stops at the Buffalo airport, for $19 each way.
Mr. Cohen says Canadian airlines can’t hope to compete, especially in Toronto where the airport improvement fee alone tacks on $25 to every flight and $4 just for connecting. He estimates other airport fees, em- bedded in the ticket price, are about US$35 for Pearson International compared to US$8.25 in Buffalo. On top of that is higher Canadian sales tax.
The downside is clearly the U.S. cannot realistically service someone trying to travel across Canada. Someone from Toronto is not driving to Buffalo and flying to Seattle to get to Vancouver. “Those would be real cherry-pickers,” says Mr. Cohen.
There are also a limited number of direct flights out of U.S. border airports. In Buffalo, about a quarter of all flights go to New York City with direct travel also available to a few other select destinations. After New York, Orlando, Chicago, Boston and Washington are the top destinations.
The big fish these airports would like to grab is business travellers, but Mr. Cohen says he does not have the ability to tell how much of U.S. airport travel by Canadians is nonleisure.
To n i Skokovic, vicepresident of sales for iInterfaceware, attended the press event, obviously to help promote the idea this can be a useful travel method for business. “We have a sales team of about six, which puts us at about 200 to 300 trips [annually],” he says. “We realized Buffalo/Niagara is viable, not just for cost but the efficiency of getting there.”
At the end of the day, Canadians are going to vote with their wallets, when it comes to cheaper air alternatives. “We just want people to know they have options,” says Mr. Cohen.
Judging by the amount of Canadian air travel originating from U.S. airports, we’ve figured it out.