Jets in Vancouver: Bargain!

This Westjet - New Leaf price war is opening up some fun opportunities, at a discount.

The Winnipeg Jets play in Vancouver on March 14th. If you'd like to go, Westjet will fly you there for $232. That's about half of the normal price.

To add a downtown hotel to this, I've turned to Expedia.ca (Prices shown are flight and hotel included, per person.)

I've stayed at the Westin Grand (not pictured)  About $475 in this package scenario. It's a great hotel which I can certainly recommend and about 2 blocks from the arena.
The Rosdale is within 2 blocks as well. There are any number of convenient hotels including the Sandman.

Lonesdale Quay is not as conveniently located to the arena, but is in a shopping market like The Forks in Winnipeg and is also near the Ferry.

The game is on the 14th. If you prefer to travel on the 13th, to be safe, add about another $100 to your package.

The Jets will be in a playoff race at this point. Could be a heck of a game!


These prices won't last. Price wars can last a few days, or mere hours. Limited seats available.

Brandon to Vancouver Cheap!

Westjet has done it again!  Grab your sweetie for a long weekend and head out to Vancouver. These dates are March 8th to 11th. Great hotels!  I'd have to check, but if the Sheraton Wall is the one shaped like a grand piano, I've stayed there. Great location! Great everything. We had a very nice corner suite with a tiny balcony. It had a second floor outdoor pool as well.

Winnipeg departures are very similarly priced. About $30 more.  www.westjetvacations.com

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And whether or not you plan on watching the Olympics, do keep your eyes open for travel bargains. Air Canada has announced their plan to offer travel bargains each time Canada earns a medal. When this promotion happened in 2010 it rocked! I went to the Bahamas for $99 plus taxes. (Air only)  However, when they did this in 2012 for summer games, it sucked. Nothing more than about 10% off.  So, I hesitate to get my hopes up, but I'll keep a watchful eye anyway.

Their first discount offering, just to kick it off, was 15% off Canadian flights. Within hours, Westjet offered the same.  Here's hoping the Jamaican bobsled team wins a medal and all Canadians get a discount to Jamaica to celebrate!!!

Stay tuned.

A Week in Vancouver

This bargain is from Westjetvacations.com , but I spied the deal at Redtag.ca

The Sheraton Wall Centre is a fabulous downtown hotel. 7 nights in this hotel would set you back over $1000 typically. However, in this package, it is included with roundtrip Westjet flights and all taxes for $815.

It's a good deal. Maybe wait out the snow melt and end of Winnipeg winter by escaping to Vancouver?

Air Canada: 1 Day Fail

Air Canada advertised and flaunted an exciting one day sale, to take place February 20th.

Then Feb 20th came and their grand surprise was: a $25 gift card to Hudson Bay Company. Pardon?

I thought they were kidding. I thought this was some sort of teaser? Nope. That was it. $25 to an aging, shrinking retailer.  GRRRRRRR. I wasted my time and yours "reporting" on an upcoming sale.

You'd get better swag from listening to a 20 minute time share presentation in Idaho.

Hudson Bay. Hudson Bay?  Once was a Canadian icon...once had stores in communities across the country. Now, its Zellers brand has disappeared. This "special" reeks of something popular in the 70s. It might have worked then. But now?? No.

Dear Air Canada: There's this thing called the Internet. Travel is a multi, multi BILLION dollar industry. Do not cry wolf again. The 2012 Olympic specials you ran were disappointing at best. This is worse. For a minute I had to check my calendar....nope, it's not April 1st.

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Ok, that all sounds uncharacteristically bitter of me. But when other suppliers regularly offer hundreds of dollars in savings.... For example, a quick check of today's Expedia.ca packages nets a 4 day stay in a 4 star hotel in downtown Vancouver for Under $700 with return Westjet airfare included.  (Infact, flight and hotel included for 4 nights was as low as $493 for a budget hotel.) The dates shown here are March 19-23rd. It's even a direct flight from Winnipeg, to Vancouver on departure. (The return flight has a connection.)

I even found the hotel at the Lonsdale Quay Market for $576. In my opinion, that's like paying regular price for the flight and getting the hotel for free.

This is the amazing market that I visited in November. I can only imagine how great the market would be in the spring sunshine. It's very much like the Forks. It's near a harbour, great downtown shopping and nightlife.  I think this would be a superb getaway.

Anyways, packages like this can be found regularly at expedia.ca . Just scroll down to the bottom right corner and look for package deals.

Thank you expedia and westjet, for saving the day.