It looks like flying from Vancouver BC is considerably less expensive rather than Seattle (for those of us who live in the area), especially with the US dollar now worth $1.25 CDN. As of right now, saving is about $500 per person.
One could take Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver and then jump on the Skytrain to the airport. The Skytrain is a short walk from the Amtrak station and runs every 10 minutes or so.
Has anyone done this? Any issues?
Thanks
I think you're onto something here.
While I have not done exactly what you describe (my starting point was different), last year I flew out of Vancouver to London and the Air Canada airfare was significantly lower, to London, than other airfares that I could find.
However, I would say--based on airfare research I've been doing recently for another trip (which is not a Seattle departure and not to London)--that whether flying out of Vancouver BC will always be less expensive, for every traveler's itinerary, depends on:
1) your starting point (e.g., Portland versus Seattle)
2) your destination in Europe (e.g., Vancouver to London versus some other Europe destination)
3) what other airlines' are offering for the traveler's specific itinerary to Europe.
So I would recommend, as always, checking all the usual airfare sources, before deciding.
It sounds like you've done that and, for your trip, flying out of Vancouver makes sense.
During the NW rainy season...you might have a mudslide over the tracks north of Seattle (this can delay passenger trains for a day)...so it might be safer and more convenient to take one of the Airporter Buses to Vancouver. The buses also run more often.
I can't add any specific information regarding the Skytrain but it has many stops so it should not be difficult to find one or a connection to one. Regarding the price difference however; I live in Victoria on Vancouver Island and it is about as easy for me to fly from YVR as it is to fly from SEA, and getting to either airport costs about the same. All this is to say that it is worthwhile to check prices from both airports as there is often a significant difference in airfare. There seems to be little logic apparent to the traveler, for example, last year I flew YVR-SEA-HKG return for much less than a YVR-HKG return ticket would cost.
I would not trust Amtrak to get me there on time!
Sometimes it is cheaper to fly from Vancouver, sometimes from Seattle. I flew from Vancouver several times. I used several different means how to get to Vancouver and back. The best seems http://www.quickcoach.com .
We've flown that way before and it is a money-saver. We love Vancouver anyway and after a visit to Seattle, it is only natural to go on to Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia. Even if you are from Seattle and don't care to visit Vancouver, this is an excellent idea . We love the Amtrak Cascades which is a relaxing way to start your trip and then the Skytrain can get you the airport from there. Go for it! We've never had any issues before. In fact, we've used Amtrak to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco then San Fran to Portland (Oregon) then to Seattle and onto Vancouver. From Vancouver we've traveled to Europe and never had any problems though it was not to save money.
I was looking on Wikipedia for Vancouver Airport, and I cannot get over the places you can fly into--London (both airports), Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris. And seasonally there are a bunch of other destinations.
My favorite would be on Icelandair where you can make a stopover for up to 3 days and then continue onto Europe for free.
When I did it 3 and half years ago stopover in Iceland was up to 7 days for free.
I live much closer to Portland so if the price is reasonable I prefer to fly from PDX, but on many occasions I've found the price for a flight to be hundreds of dollars less to fly from SeaTac. My husband and youngest daughter just flew to India this week out of SEA for about $300 cheaper each ticket! I can drive to Seattle and back more than a dozen times for that amount of money. Too bad Vancouver BC is so much further away, because I honestly wouldn't mind saving even more money if it is in fact that much cheaper.
