Help me get to Canada...

[travelislife]

Thought I would throw it out to the brains trust...

We are trying to do a family holiday in Canada at the end of this year and a white Christmas. But struggling to get the 'perfect' flights over for our family of 4 (2 Adults and 2 Kids). Only looking at economy options.

Ideal is departing Sydney (preferred) or Melbourne/Brisbane on any of 20/12, 21/12, 22/12, 23/12 flying in to Vancouver. Our ultimate destination is to get to Big White (Kelowna closest town) by 24/12 at the latest. Can currently book SYD-SFO-YVR on 17/12, but my wife is a school teacher who's last day of work is 18/12. At a pinch we could depart 19/12.

We can get in to San Francisco on UA on any of those days above direct SYD-SFO and I am looking to book that in the next couple of days to lock something in, but still isn't the easiest/cheapest getting from SFO to Big White. And if I can score the connecting flight with UA in to Vancouver or Calgary it is zero extra cost in points.

Getting seats on the direct Air Canada flights appears to be pretty much zero chance at this peak time.

I do have 70,000 Qantas points could potentially use for local North American flights, but doesn't seem to many options doing that either.

We have already got the return flights booked YYC-SFO-SYD on UA departing 21/01/26 arriving 23/01/26. 192,000 points and $678.69 in total for the 4 of us. Great deal.

If anyone has any grand ideas, using Velocity points, to get 4 people there in economy I'd love to hear them!

 

[Mwenenzi]

We are trying to do a family holiday in Canada at the end of this year and a white Christmas. But struggling to get the 'perfect' flights over for our family of 4 (2 Adults and 2 Kids). Only looking at economy options.

Ideal is departing Sydney (preferred) or Melbourne/Brisbane on any of 20/12, 21/12, 22/12, 23/12 flying in to Vancouver. Our ultimate destination is to get to Big White (Kelowna closest town) by 24/12 at the latest. Can currently book SYD-SFO-YVR on 17/12, but my wife is a school teacher who's last day of work is 18/12. At a pinch we could depart 19/12.
<snip>

Cash or award AU Canada?
In days after schools close and to Christmas day will be 100's - 1000's trying to get flights out of (and into) Australia. Some what similar in Canada-USA, but Christmas is not as big for family meet ups as in AU. Airlines from AU will be expecting to sell all seats for very good money.

VA fly to NAN.
Fiji Airways fly CNS/BNE/SYD/CBR/MEL/ADL to NAN to YVR (and other USA destination). FJ is Oneworld ~ QF ff partner. But 70,000 QF points will not get 4 pax far.

Vancouver International Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Nadi International Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Can the family split travel? Some 17/12/25 and Mrs Travelislife later?
If possible worth avoiding USA. USA does not have the concept of transit.
Canada to USA can take advantage of USA pre-clearance at (most) Canadian airports, so arrive in USA like a domestic passenger.

 

[luxury-lizard]

I presume you're looking for 4 award seats in Y (one way) - if you're not seeing such seats at this stage you may be out of luck and with a holiday planned and 2 children you don't want to risk waiting until the last minute. Try searching for 2 seats (even on different flights/days) then can could travel 1 adult + 1 child on each. Clearly this is not ideal. You may need to consider paid - a quick Google search shows prices from about $1100 pp - try search to SEA (usually less expensive than YVR) and the bus to YVR is about $40 (I've done this but it must admit it's a hassle).

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I thought I should point out something that may not be apparent for Virgin Australia awards and may impact the results you are seeing. Virgin Australia's website only displays itineraries where flights are operated by one airline* in the same class of service. To my knowledge, United Airlines does not operate any flights to Kelowna, however Air Canada does. So it might make sense to first start by searching for Australia to hub Canadian hub (be it Calgary or Vancouver) then see if there is availability between that Canadian hub to Kelowna. If there is, and provided the departure times line up (i.e. the Kelowna flight departs at least an hour after you arrive at the Canadian hub) you can call up Virgin Australia and have them book that itinerary for you. Please be warned, however, that Virgin will price out the flights separately: Australia to Canadian hub (presumably on United) and Canadian hub to Kelowna (on Air Canada). If you do pursue this option you should not have to pay a cent in phone booking fees. After all, it is not your fault that you could not book this itinerary online via Virgin's website, it's an IT limitation they have.

A similar thing also happens when there is a change in cabin. For instance, flying Sydney to Toronto (via Houston) on United, all I was shown were economy award options even though there was Polaris business availability on the Sydney to Houston flight as the Houston to Toronto flight just had availability in coach. If I wanted to book that, I would again need to call up United to request they book that itinerary (and pay separately for the two flights).

* the full language is if you have an award booking where carriers come from different award tables (i.e. Air Canada and United) they must be booked separately.

-RooFlyer88

 

[serfty]

Thought I would throw it out to the brains trust...

We are trying to do a family holiday in Canada at the end of this year and a white Christmas. But struggling to get the 'perfect' flights over for our family of 4 (2 Adults and 2 Kids). Only looking at economy options.

Ideal is departing Sydney (preferred) or Melbourne/Brisbane on any of 20/12, 21/12, 22/12, 23/12 flying in to Vancouver. Our ultimate destination is to get to Big White (Kelowna closest town) by 24/12 at the latest. Can currently book SYD-SFO-YVR on 17/12, but my wife is a school teacher who's last day of work is 18/12. At a pinch we could depart 19/12.

It's a terrible time of year to be looking for awards anywhere to/from Oz.

I am surprised you can get availability as late as the 17th.

Maybe try seats.aero - you'll need to pay to look that far in advance.

More here:

Thread 'Article: The Most Useful Frequent Flyer Tools & Apps'

Feb 20, 2025

The Tools & Apps in My Frequent Flyer Toolkit for 2025 is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

The Tools & Apps in My Frequent Flyer Toolkit for 2025

Our overview shows the most useful websites, tools and apps for frequent flyers in 2025, including Flighty, Seats.aero, AeroLOPA and more.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

• AFF Editor
• Replies: 31
• Forum: Frequent Flyer Tools & Resources

 

[travelislife]

Cash or award AU Canada?
In days after schools close and to Christmas day will be 100's - 1000's trying to get flights out of (and into) Australia. Some what similar in Canada-USA, but Christmas is not as big for family meet ups as in AU. Airlines from AU will be expecting to sell all seats for very good money.

VA fly to NAN.
Fiji Airways fly CNS/BNE/SYD/CBR/MEL/ADL to NAN to YVR (and other USA destination). FJ is Oneworld ~ QF ff partner. But 70,000 QF points will not get 4 pax far.

Vancouver International Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Nadi International Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Can the family split travel? Some 17/12/25 and Mrs Travelislife later?
If possible worth avoiding USA. USA does not have the concept of transit.
Canada to USA can take advantage of USA pre-clearance at (most) Canadian airports, so arrive in USA like a domestic passenger.

Award.

SYD-SFO on UA is wide open, I should probably lock that in.

I understand it is a bit of a hassle as have done it before, but have no issues flying through US to connect if that is the flights we can get.

Post automatically merged: 17 minutes ago

I presume you're looking for 4 award seats in Y (one way) - if you're not seeing such seats at this stage you may be out of luck and with a holiday planned and 2 children you don't want to risk waiting until the last minute. Try searching for 2 seats (even on different flights/days) then can could travel 1 adult + 1 child on each. Clearly this is not ideal. You may need to consider paid - a quick Google search shows prices from about $1100 pp - try search to SEA (usually less expensive than YVR) and the bus to YVR is about $40 (I've done this but it must admit it's a hassle).

Yes understand that, SYD-SFO is wide open, so I should prob lock that in!

I have been looking at flights in to YVR, SEA, YYC. No issues at all flying in to Seattle. Is a cheap direct flight from there to Kelowna too and would just bypass Vancouver all together.

 

[travelislife]

I thought I should point out something that may not be apparent for Virgin Australia awards and may impact the results you are seeing. Virgin Australia's website only displays itineraries where flights are operated by one airline* in the same class of service. To my knowledge, United Airlines does not operate any flights to Kelowna, however Air Canada does. So it might make sense to first start by searching for Australia to hub Canadian hub (be it Calgary or Vancouver) then see if there is availability between that Canadian hub to Kelowna. If there is, and provided the departure times line up (i.e. the Kelowna flight departs at least an hour after you arrive at the Canadian hub) you can call up Virgin Australia and have them book that itinerary for you. Please be warned, however, that Virgin will price out the flights separately: Australia to Canadian hub (presumably on United) and Canadian hub to Kelowna (on Air Canada). If you do pursue this option you should not have to pay a cent in phone booking fees. After all, it is not your fault that you could not book this itinerary online via Virgin's website, it's an IT limitation they have.

A similar thing also happens when there is a change in cabin. For instance, flying Sydney to Toronto (via Houston) on United, all I was shown were economy award options even though there was Polaris business availability on the Sydney to Houston flight as the Houston to Toronto flight just had availability in coach. If I wanted to book that, I would again need to call up United to request they book that itinerary (and pay separately for the two flights).

* the full language is if you have an award booking where carriers come from different award tables (i.e. Air Canada and United) they must be booked separately.

-RooFlyer88

Thanks. Yep understand that.

I have actually been using the UA award search engine to search because of this exact reason. It will show up all mixed options of UA/AC. If SaverX availability is shown then this usually reflects to Velocity. It's how I found the return flights and booked those.

Post automatically merged: 14 minutes ago

It's a terrible time of year to be looking for awards anywhere to/from Oz.

I am surprised you can get availability as late as the 17th.

Maybe try seats.aero - you'll need to pay to look that far in advance.

More here:

Thread 'Article: The Most Useful Frequent Flyer Tools & Apps'

Feb 20, 2025

The Tools & Apps in My Frequent Flyer Toolkit for 2025 is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

The Tools & Apps in My Frequent Flyer Toolkit for 2025

Our overview shows the most useful websites, tools and apps for frequent flyers in 2025, including Flighty, Seats.aero, AeroLOPA and more.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

• AFF Editor
• Replies: 31
• Forum: Frequent Flyer Tools & Resources

It's interesting that SYD-SFO is wide open for that whole week, as agree that time of year is peak, peak, peak!