Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Due to a family emergency we need to send Mrs. C8j to Toronto from Ottawa. Thankfully we have a fair amount of frequent flyer points with Air Canada, so we are sending her with those, and I must say that Aeroplan has changed their system so it is quite easy to use these days (and allows for you to buy your tickets the day before you use them, I remember when you had to book MONTHS in advance). So kudos to the Aeroplan folks for getting that one straight.

What amazes me is that my “free ticket” now costs me $72.00 after all the fees and the taxes. My understanding is that I still have to pay the GST & PST for the ticket even though it is “free”, and Ottawa airport has a “landing fee” (can I not pay that and just choose to stay in the air?), and I’m sure there is a gas surtax in there somewhere. The reason I have these points is that I flew a GREAT DEAL in the mid-90’s for my job, yet I must pay all of this as well? Seems an odd way to show “appreciation” of my good moneys being spent. My guess is Air Canada can’t not charge this, so my beef isn’t with them right now, it is, as usual, with the Government of Canada and their taxation folks.

What is really funny is at the end of this, with gasoline at $1.35 a liter in Ottawa, the $72.00 service charges are still 1/2 of what I would have paid if we had driven down to Toronto (WOW).

–C8j