I’m often invited in the media as a travel expert, and this time it was by TVA Nouvelles, to discuss the good availability of low-priced transatlantic flights. I’m sharing with you the content of the interview including some interesting information on flight prices!
Unlike my interview on LCN news channel in July about the new French ultra low-cost carrier coming to Montréal, the video of the interview hasn’t been posted online, so you only have the text version.
Here’s my TV interview with Philippe-Vincent Foisy.
Flytrippers TV interview
Philippe-Vincent: You may even have been planning to leave? Well, know that it’s still a good time to buy plane tickets. They’re really, really, really cheaper! The airlines are in discounting mode.
Some say they’ve seen tickets that went from Montréal to Paris for $500. I haven’t seen that in a few years. At the beginning of the summer, travel was pretty expensive for those who flew. But now, we realize that in the month of August, in the month of September, there aren’t many people planning to travel.
We’re going to talk about it with Andrew D’Amours, co-founder of Flytrippers. First of all: Hello!
Andrew: Hello!
P-V: So what’s going on with our airlines?
A: Well, first of all, I’m going to correct something a little bit… There are a lot of $500 flights to Europe. Honestly, very often!
P-V: Oh really!
A: What’s special currently, is that it’s in September. It’s true that usually, it’s more just in October because the weather is a bit less nice. When there’s a bit less demand, it’s going to be a bit more in May. But September is a great month to go to Europe during the summer: personally, I find it is much better than July and August.
P-V: But school starts in September. We can’t go on vacation during the school year!
A: Yes, when we have kids, we have no choice, it’s summer. When we have vacations that are fixed because of your work (like construction workers in Québec), obviously, we don’t have any other choice than summer. But if we do have a choice, September is much better.
If only for the prices, the crowds, and the way people welcome you, who are far less overrun by tourists in many European destinations. So it’s really good.
I’ve pulled up the data from our website — we spot cheap tickets — and in the last 365 days, there are almost two-thirds of the days when we had flights from Montréal to Paris, under or in the $600s and around. So for me, it’s common.
But what’s really rare at this moment, as I said, is that it’s September.
And it’s also that there are a lot of flights on Air Canada, which are usually among the most expensive. They have a slightly more premium offer, so they’re able to charge a slightly higher price than the others. So that’s what is a little more rare.
But really, the key for airplane tickets is to look often. The price variation is continuous, it fluctuates widely. It’s like pretty much the thing in the world that varies the most in terms of price. You know, you go to the grocery store, there’s going to be discounts sometimes on items. It’s a bit like that but on steroids! So it’s really, really more variable. So the key, it’s to look often.
On the examples you see appearing, there, it’s examples of Air Canada. So, it’s not often the cheapest — let it be said — but at the moment, they’ve said — like many airlines around the world — they’ve overestimated demand.
It’s not that it is necessarily down, the demand, it’s that they really do have a lot of capacity on transatlantic flights, specifically because last year was exceptional until late in the fall: it was always full! Everyone wanted to take advantage of it. It was really exceptional.
So they’ve added, I think, 40% more seats this year between Canada and Europe. Just Canada, not counting all the others! That means there are a lot more seats to fill. So even if there aren’t necessarily fewer people going to Europe, there were a lot more to sell. So that makes prices are going down and it’s great for consumers!
It’s really the key in this world. Us, it’s been 7 years that we are checking plane ticket prices, day after day, every day. There is one thing to understand about plane tickets: it’s that the more competition there is, the more offers there are. And this makes prices go down automatically.
So we have flights today, even to Vancouver, at $200 roundtrip, for example. With hindsight, that didn’t exist before. But now there’s competition. There are a lot more ultra low-cost airlines, which means that Air Canada has no choice but to offer $200 fares to go to Vancouver.
P-V: Yes, that’s right, because my other question is: is it just Europe? Now, you’ve said Western Canada. I’ve seen some for Winnipeg for a few hundred dollars, too. Will sun destinations, for example, also have this kind of discount? Do you think that at Christmas, for those who want to go to the South, it will look like that? Or is it really just for this period?
A: There’s going to be a lot of deals for the coming year. It will get back to more normal than they’ve been since the end of the pandemic, including for the South, Western Canada, and the United States… there’s really lots and lots of capacity. The airplanes, they want to fill them, so it’s going to be good!
The key is really to be a little flexible. For example, you said “the holidays”. Well, that might be a bit cheaper than last year, but it’s still the holidays. It’s like the week when everyone’s off work all at the same time. There aren’t more airplanes that week. So, in any case, they have no choice but to raise prices a little if they want to make this period a little more profitable. But it’s likely to be better than last year, indeed.
Then, the only exception, it’s Asia. Since the pandemic, Chinese airlines had a huge market share, and the market dynamics there are really different. They just haven’t brought back half (and even more) of the flights.
So Asia’s a bit more difficult, but for Europe, for the South, for the United-States, we’re still seeing lots of good deals.
That’s really the key: to look often because it varies. Then, get a head start if you want to leave, for example, at Christmas. It’s already time to start. Not time to buy, but at least, start looking. That way, we know what the prices are for what we specifically want, and we can watch the evolution and see: okay, finally, it’s gone down $100 already, or if not, well, we’ll still wait a little longer. It’s still a little early.
P-V: Good, start shopping and check out what’s happening online!Andrew, always a pleasure to talk to you.
A: Thank you very much!
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Summary
I was invited to TVA Nouvelles to discuss the good availability of low-cost transatlantic flights for September 2024, which is usually quite rare at this time of year. However, for the coming year, as airlines have a lot of capacity, we should see many deals for flights to the South, Western Canada, and the United States. Only flights to Asia should remain more expensive.
What would you like to know about transatlantic flight deals for this fall? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: TVA Interview (image credit: TVA)
