www.CostaRicaTicas.com

In another glaring example of why this shitty airline can never make any money, they have reduced the number of flights to San Jose from Toronto from three times a week to two. Flight 998/999 only operates on Wednesdays and Saturdays now

I only found out out about this Wednesday when I was traveling home. I was using an interline pass (employee discount - space available only) and because the Monday flights were cut, there was a lot of people transferring over onto the Wednesday flight and I almost didn't get out. Luckily, I managed to snag the last seat on the plane (the flight attendants seat at the back where they usually have there meals and breaks, lol)

This move really baffles me because that flight is ALWAYS at least 80% full or better. Only Air Canada would cut a flight that is making money. Idiots.

Anyhow... just a heads up to my Canadian brothers who travel from YYZ.

I imagine they will go back to 3 flights in late November or early December in time for the high season.

Canada and Costa Rica signed an "Open Skies" agreement this week.

WestJet announced they welcome the agreement and seem to indicate they will begin service in the future.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Interesting. Not sure what the open skies agreement is, since we already had direct flights between the two countries, but it would be nice to see West Jet competing for flights to CR. Plus I get $50 flat rate interline fares with West Jet

I don't know about Air Canada, but full seats don't always equate to a profitable venture.
There are many other variables affecting profits.
Examples are:
Amount of freight carried
Ticket price - which is often artificially low because of competition.
Fuel price
Unexpected fees in a foreign country.
A online discounter filled the airplane with cheap seat buyers. The airline does that figuring that a few bucks are better than none.

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It is cheaper to pay now and get it over with.
It is also easier to get them to leave.

In its simplest terms it means a free market for aviation. No restrictions on international route rights; number of designated airlines; capacity; frequencies; and types of aircraft.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Ya, I realize that, but if that's the case with AC, then why have any flights at all? There's nothing different between the Monday and the Wed and Sat ops.

Frieght? nada ... AC uses the 319 because it's the only mid sized jet that can do this route non-stop and it's usually maxed out on bags and pax alone. Not enough pax to go up in the equipment, although I think a 757 would be perfect for this route, IMO.

Ticket price - AC is generally higher then the other companies. And I have never seen a travel agency sell a flight cheaper then you can book online with AC direct. Usually the flights are in the neighborhood of $285 when you buy a couple of months in advance and they slowly climb up to $650-900 during the last couple of weeks. That's before the hidden fees, so roughly $450-1200 after everything.

Fuel prices have been down lately, so i don't think that was the reason.

Unexpected airport fees... maybe. Who knows what sort of fees SJO charges for the gate, etc?

But like I said, Air Canada has a history of bad management decisions. And lately, their international rep is horrible because of piss poor service. I look forward to seeing West Jet go there. That airline is well run. You watch.... the AC sandwich mechanics (aka flight attendants) will go on strike soon. Their contract has been up for ages and this last flight I was on, all I heard for 5 hours behind me was "bitch, bitch, bitch..." Damn FA's spent most of the flight ignoring the customers and reading their collective agreement instead, lol.

PlaneCrazy ...thanks for the info. Westjet would be fine for me. We need competition!!

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GO Winnipeg JETS!

I got my AC ticket in May for Feb and it was about $400 more than other airlines . However I had a $400 discount for being bumped my last trip, cost $885. AC are direct flights , free movies and a good schedule but are always the most expensive . I think in the high season AC will fight Mondays again. In the high season another good direct fight from Toronto is Air Transat which has one flight a week on Thursday at $992.

I avoid flying Scare Canada and the Toronto Airport whenever possible. Very happy to see West Jet adding some Latin America routes.

Devo

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The most dangerous adversaries are the ones that come with a smile instead of a sword