[ndawgg]

Ummmm. If you're a cheap traveller, you don't even leave from Canada, you drive to Buffalo. Then again I was doing that when the dollar was closer to par, but I probably would still do it. Absolutely hate Pearson - especially the fares.

No, I just got back from a week in Portugal. But I took the $3 Airport Rocket to Pearson, took an Air Transat flight cuz it was$ 600 round trip, took the metro from the airport to my budget ibis hotel and didn't go out to fancy restaurants and spent most of the trip just walking around looking at cool buildings/towers/statues, etc. You can travel cheaply without just simply "driving to Buffalo". I spend less on a week long European trip than a lot of people I know spend on a long weekend in the U.S. It's all about what you buy, or more specifically, don't buy.

 

[LNahid2000]

Flying from Buffalo isn't necessarily cheaper these days, and non-US flights are almost always cheaper from Toronto. Plus if you don't have a car it is very difficult to get there. And even if you do have a car, the cost of gas + parking + time could outweigh any potential savings.

 

[TOareaFan]

Except Presto works in less than half the subway stations, 6 streetcars spread over 2 lines, and no buses. Oh, and if you take the TTC often enough to have a monthly pass, you can't use Presto either. So not to sound snarky, but a Presto card in Toronto is not that compelling to most. I've had one for months now and only managed to use it twice...it's stupid little tokens for me most of the time.

That's true but think about it....if a local person used the UPe just once they would pay $6 for their Presto card and $19 for their ride.....even before Presto becomes more widely usable on TTC I just don't understand why a local person would volunteer to pay $27.50 for something they could have for $25 and that after that $2 savings if they ever used that service again it would save them $8.50 each time.

I agree with UD2 no local person should ever pay the $27.50 fare.

 

[junior43]

Flying from Buffalo isn't necessarily cheaper these days, and non-US flights are almost always cheaper from Toronto. Plus if you don't have a car it is very difficult to get there. And even if you do have a car, the cost of gas + parking + time could outweigh any potential savings.

Ya, I was wondering about non North America flights. I usually do a sports trip with buddies to various U.S. NFL/nHL cities, so much cheaper for Buffalo. Also, lots of buffalo hotels will let you leave your car there if you just stay one night. I also can pick up beer in the U.S. Vs hard liquor only landing at Pearson.

 

[wopchop]

Buffalo can be cheaper, especially for some US destinations, but what kills any saving flying out of Buffalo is connections. Oftentimes Toronto flights will go to airports that Buffalo flights do not, and you need to connect to. Especially for overseas flights. This can add significantly to the cost. The exchange rate also makes a big difference, obviously.

 

[nfitz]

The only regular trip I do, that Buffalo seems to be consistently cheaper, is Southwest into Orlando. Though if there are any other direct Southwest flights (or direct flights even) out of Buffalo, perhaps they would work well also. But I'm not even seeing better prices where Southwest has a connecting flight - but I've only ever checked what I'm planning to travel.

 

[wopchop]

The only regular trip I do, that Buffalo seems to be consistently cheaper, is Southwest into Orlando. Though if there are any other direct Southwest flights (or direct flights even) out of Buffalo, perhaps they would work well also. But I'm not even seeing better prices where Southwest has a connecting flight - but I've only ever checked what I'm planning to travel.

You can get good deals on the big destinations at Buffalo ... like Orlando or NYC. Buffalo also has a lot of good direct flights to US destinations that are often cheaper than at YYZ.

I typically don't bother looking at Buffalo if I'm flying alone, but if you have a group, even a savings of $50 - 75pp starts to become attractive. And often the savings is more than that.

That said, I haven't flown out of there in ages, and the Loonie was a lot stronger when I did.

 

[nfitz]

You can get good deals on the big destinations at Buffalo ... like Orlando or NYC. Buffalo also has a lot of good direct flights to US destinations that are often cheaper than at YYZ.

I tend to look for LA, Seattle, UK. NYC? I tend to drive (often through Buffalo) ... though driving to Buffalo and taking Amtrak might be good cheap option ... or perhaps to Albany ... only about 3.5 hours on train from there. Big downside to driving all the way to NYC, is I don't need car once I get there ... and hard to find parking for under $20 a day in Manhattan (heck, might be closer to $30 ... one day I should figure out which suburban commuter station to dump the car at ...).

We seem to be digressing from discussing the Pearson AirTrain ...

 

[scott]

I took the free trip on Saturday between 5-6pm. On the way to Pearson it wasn't too busy but I was surprised how full it got at Pearson including a lot of travellers with luggage.

Anyway, the only other small observation I had backs up what another person said.

The UPX ticket people have a giant machine for the normal tickets and it's not great at reading QR codes on phones. Both times it had difficulties with my iPhone 6 (if that matters) although the 2nd time was much better.

They also carry two machines. Presto readers are separate and are much smaller. I think it was actually a mobile phone with a card reader on it. And because only 1 other person had used it earlier in the day it basically needed to boot up again and took a long time to even be in a ready state to scan.

 

[DKsan]

I'm posting this from a UPX train right now. Was at airport dropping someone off anyways, need to get downtown, thought "oh well when am I going to use this?"

No, not really busy at the moment. Don't expect it to be for at least another week.

 

[mdrejhon]

I took the free trip on Saturday between 5-6pm. On the way to Pearson it wasn't too busy but I was surprised how full it got at Pearson including a lot of travellers with luggage.

Anyway, the only other small observation I had backs up what another person said.

I knew the UPX was very surge-prone but it's far quieter during the quiet moments between flights than I expected. There were near-empty incoming trains from Pearson, but also packed UPX trains, too. This can be smoothed out by better advertising to people not yet familiar with "UP Express". (Should'be been "UP Express To Airport" / "UP Express to Downtown"). There is really frequent advertising in some billboards and some papers like Metro, but none of it has "AIRPORT TRAIN NOW OPEN!" in big print to catch jaded reader attention.

It's going to be extremely difficult to measure UPX success. Someone should stand there all day with a camera, to observe the wax and wane of UPX, on a monthly basis.

 

[mdrejhon]

Ummmm. If you're a cheap traveller, you don't even leave from Canada, you drive to Buffalo. Then again I was doing that when the dollar was closer to par, but I probably would still do it. Absolutely hate Pearson - especially the fares.

Not for the European fares to specific cities. Pearson is cheaper for many of those flights. Buffalo is ridiculously priced for a lot of European flights, and usually has more connections.

For Orlando and Disneyland for a whole family, BUFFALO ALL THE WAY! Especially the $99 roundtrip sales.

 

[Markster]

I'm posting this from a UPX train right now. Was at airport dropping someone off anyways, need to get downtown, thought "oh well when am I going to use this?"

Wait, you were dropping someone off?
Where did you leave your car?

 

[ShonTron]

Buffalo is only worthwhile flying within the US. And unless your destination is either an Eastern/Midwest hub city (Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, New York/Newark, Philadelphia) or you're flying Southwest or JetBlue (where your options expand to Boston, Baltimore-Washington, Las Vegas, Florida, or Phoenix), you're going to have to connect. If you're not in a hurry, it's worthwhile; after all, I flew twice from Buffalo - back in 2007, while at a rather poorly-paying job, I flew to/from LAX via Atlanta, and again in 2009 to Phoenix - one way via Cleveland, the other way via Newark.

But every time I look at international destinations, it always makes much more sense to fly out of Pearson. The fares, if they are cheaper (and they usually aren't) aren't enough of a difference to make it worthwhile.

 

[nfitz]

Wait, you were dropping someone off?
Where did you leave your car?

Normally when I pick up or drop off someone at the airport - unless it's the middle of the night or something - I take transit. I'm there to get them where they need to go, carry bags, etc. Someone else can drive the vehicle ...

Surely I'm not the only one who does this ...