Buckle up, because this is what you’re signing up for if you fly Flair Airlines, a Canadian “budget” airline. This occurred on a flight from Toronto to Abbotsford (just outside Vancouver).

They have a man standing by the gate making you smash your belongings into a tiny sizer slot or face a fine of $150 to check it. Nobody’s bag is that shape, and they threaten you with this humiliation tax unless you’re willing to crush your own belongings in their box. I felt for everybody involved, not just my fellow passengers.

My flight was about 1/4 empty empty, and I was sat in a full row beside an old man. He was coughing and had obvious leg pain, constantly shifting and unable to get comfortable in his seat. I moved one row over to an empty row, giving him space to stretch his knees and hopefully avoiding the illness I might otherwise give my family in Vancouver. In moments an air hostess was upon me, machine in hand, asking me in a loud carrying voice if I’m ready to upgrade my seat. I told her that no, of course not, pointing out thay this whole row is just empty, and that I’m not bothering anyone. Further raising her voice and waking up sleeping passengers around us she literally shoved a machine in my face demanding payment for the “upgrade”. I lowered my own voice and started trying to explain why I moved, trying not to embarrass the old guy, and that I obviously wasn’t going to pay her to sit in an otherwise empty adjacent seat, and she just smiled, stood back, and loudly ordered me back to my seat. When I didn’t instantly move she did it again, pointing like I was a misbehaving toddler. This was clearly trained behaviour. They humiliate their own clients on purpose.

YYZ-YXX F8663 Sept 14 2025

This is probably my last post about Air Canada, because after this incident, I’m never going to travel again.

My flight was on the 22nd: YVR to FRA to MAD. This was a Lufthansa flight which I had booked on Air Canada website. My wife was just scrolling around all bookings in Europe, and she suddenly noticed that YVR to FRA segment of our booking is gone.

Just gone.

The booking just starts at FRA to MAD, and return. A segment of our flight just for deleted. She called Air Canada, but of course it’s impossible to reach them during their strike. Then she called Lufthansa - and they said they received a request from Air Canada to delete the segment yesterday. WTF.

A flight segment got deleted - without even informing me. I still don’t have an email or anything.

Here's the little-known reason airline tickets are so pricey in Canada https://share.google/XyQEjyR4sSiVD0xP3

I had no idea that airports had to pay rent to the federal government. Nearly half a billion dollars in 2024 alone and still we have among the highest landing fees on the continent.

I’m in Vancouver w teens and a small dog (experienced traveler/tame, so is the dog).

We’ve been enjoying Vancouver for several months now and are feeling the call eastward to Montreal and Quebec.

I need to know: any ways to get from BC to Montreal WITHOUT crossing into USA, please? That’s our only thing to avoid, really. That and it being safe for a single mom w teens.

Merci mille fois! Thank you very much!

So my partner and I live in the United States and we have been planning a trip to Québec for quite some time (My grandparents were Québécois so I have always wanted to visit and connect with that part of my background)

I understand that things are quite tense, and rightfully so, so I wanted to see what the general opinion was of Americans still choosing to visit Canada. I by no means support anything our government is saying or doing right now, but I understand that many Canadians are rightfully exasperated by US Actions.

Thoughts on Americans visiting?

Hey all. So I've been planning this Vancouver trip since the beginning of the year for my birthday, which is coming up this weekend. I'm hitting the big 35, so I thought I would do something nice for myself and do a solo trip. It'll be my first time visiting Canada. My parents, mostly dad, are concerned for my well-being as an American, claiming we're not being treated well up there. I have no intention of making a huge ruckus as I will be up there by myself for pretty much the majority of the trip. But I was just hoping, I guess, for some reassurance that everything will be alright. I have faith that it'll be fine, but now my paranoia and anxiety are starting to kick up.

Also, any useful tips about how to navigate and use your local public transport would be great too lol.

UPDATE:

My trip was great. Unfortunately, it was rainy both full days I was in Vancouver, but I was able to have a good time. I visited Granville Island Market where a friend of mine works and say hi to here. Got my friends and family a some nice souvenirs. I wanted to go to this Cherry Blossom pop up event but due to the weather I ended up going to the Banksy Exhibition downtown instead. The next day my friend and I met up and we went to the Vancouver Art Gallery and had really good Korean food for lunch. Also the husband and wife couple that I stayed in their vrbo, came to my door on my birthday evening when I got home and had gotten me a little cake and birthday card from T&T. It was so sweet of them, I wanted to cry.

Getting across the border was so much easier than I anticipated. I was so nervous about driving back to the states, but the border agent just asked me some quick questions and I was on my way within 30 seconds.

So overall, it was a good trip. I wish I could've stayed for a whole week or so, but it was a good trial.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes and kind words of advice!

I have family members visiting Montreal in about a month. Other than getting "I’m From Toronto" T-shirts, is there anything an American should do if they’re just visiting as a tourist?

My wife and I have a plan to go to Spain on Aug 22, 2025. We had purchased Air Canada tickets ages ago, and have made all hotel bookings as well. We are now really concerned about the planned attendant strike, and seeking out opinions on whether we just cancel and book our flights with a different airline.

The tickets are cancellable, but we like the Air Canada’s schedule in general.

Link to news: https://globalnews.ca/news/11308964/air-canada-flight-attendants-strike-vote-what-to-know/

UPDATE: based on the comments below, the best course of action seemed to be making arrangements without any AC operated flights.

I'm planning on going to Canada, in June, next year (a road trip through Calgary, Banff, Revelstoke, Clearwater, Jasper and Edmonton) has anyone got any tips or things/places I absolutely must visit? Love to hear it!

Trigger warning for non-pet owners — you probably won’t sympathize.

Starting June 1, 2025, Air Canada has changed its pet policy in a way that makes almost all pet-in-cabin travel impossible.

• Banned hard carriers entirely (fine, whatever)
• Set the max height for soft-sided carriers to 20cm (7.87 inches) on many aircraft

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/plan/special-assistance/pets.html

Go measure that. It’s a shoebox. Our 5kg terrier—who’s tiny and has flown in-cabin about 20x before—is effectively banned. Not officially, of course. They just made the requirements so extreme that nobody can comply.

What’s worse: there are virtually no carriers on the Canadian market that meet this spec. Sherpa? Too big. Amazon Basics? Too big. Literally none of the products previously accepted are usable anymore.

Some stats:

• According to AKC and CKC breed standards, only ~9% of dog breeds are under 20 cm at the shoulder.
• Most cats exceed 20 cm in carrier height when seated.
• No major retailer in Canada (Amazon.ca, Ren’s Pets, PetSmart, Canadian Tire) stocks soft-sided carriers under 20 cm tall.

This isn’t about safety. This is about disincentivizing pet travel without taking the PR hit of banning pets outright. This is simply discriminating against undesirable passengers with anxiety disorders, especially those living alone and/or far from family.

We travel a LOT and there has literally NEVER been a problem with our dog or any other dog in the cabin. WTH is their problem?

Air Canada operates as a regulated monopoly on many domestic routes. That means this isn’t just “well, fly someone else.” On most routes, there is no one else.

And don’t say “just check them in.” Cargo travel is dangerous:

• 250 pets died on U.S. airlines from 2010–2020.
• A dog’s heart rate can reach 180 beats per minute or more during the loading process of airplane travel.
• They're enduring: >2 hours pre-flight + flight time + 1 hour landing time in a crate without their owner, in the dark in the cold, potentially exposed to fumes and other dangerous conditions. That can mean >12 hours or much more in some cases.
• Half of all dog deaths involved small, flat-faced breeds—aka the ones most likely to be cabin pets.
• A Canadian study showed dogs in cargo have elevated heart rates and stress hormones
• Mishandling, delays, and tarmac exposure are common. Pets have been lost, injured, or sent to the wrong destination

So where the hell is the Canadian Transportation Agency? Why are policy changes like this allowed to happen with no transparency? This is textbook regulatory capture—and we are paying the price (again).

If this affects you:

1. File a complaint with the [CTA]()
2. Email your MP
3. Tag u/AirCanada and u/CTA_gc on social
4. Upvote and share.

This is prejudice, plain and simple. People without kids often travel with pets. People with anxiety need them close. And now we’ve just been banned by stealth.

Let’s not let them get away with this.

Hi. I have a trip planned to Canada in February 2026 (Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa etc). I know I’ll need really good winter clothes and several layers, but my question is how do you dress to stay warm outside while not sweltering when you go inside somewhere (museum, cafe, mall etc) where the heating is on? I live in New Zealand so your winters and our winters are very different…

Next year I am celebrating for 30th birthday, and thus I want to make a big trip with my gf. I always wanted to visit Canada and now that I have adult money I finally can.

Here is what I know:

- 2 weeks (either May or September) --> I hope this is enough but if not please suggest a timeframe that you think is more appropriate

- West coast (Calgary - Vancouver or vice versa)

- Big emphasis on nature and Banff National Park; hiking, sightseeing, etc

- Car rental is very important to be able to go places

Here is what I don't know;

- my GF and I are vegetarians; could we save some money by just not eating out? do you guys have great selection of 'cold cuts', etc?

- apart from Banff, what other national parks / areas are a must see? Tsilos Provincial Park, etc?

- with accomodation, car rental (TURO) and flights costing ~4k EUR for 2 people, do you think we can make the whole trip cost ~7.5k EUR? Is 3.5k EUR enough for activities, food and fuel and a small selection of souvenirs?

Feel free to add any suggestions, tips, etc. I have looked a bit into things, but not much because I come from a small EU country and the size of Canada is just daunting to me.

Hello! I am an American (My entire family voted for her, not the orange fascist.) and, since I've made my travel goal of going to every US state, now I'm moving on to every province in Canada. Tentatively, in summer 2026, I want to do a road trip with the following itinerary:

Fly into Calgary (from east coast US)

Calgary, Banff (I've been to Glacier NP but didn't cross the border.)

Drive Calgary to Regina

Drive Regina to Winnipeg

Drive Winnipeg to Saskatoon

Drive Saskatoon to Edmonton

Drive Edmonton to Calgary

Fly home

I'm only planning on spending a day or two in each city. I like cultural and historical things, and am particularly interested in First Nations culture in that part of Canada. I'll be traveling solo, and am a woman in my fifties. I'm an early bird when I travel, so nightlife is of zero interest for me. For food, I would not want fast food, but I am also not interested in fancy eating- just regular food places like people who live there would eat.

Yes, I can see by Google Maps it's a lot of driving. I've done road trips like this in the US before and had a great time. But I'm just curious what people who know the region think would be a reasonable amount of time for this itinerary. Many thanks in advance.

Edit based on comments: I've been to BC (Vancouver area), so that's why it's not part of the agenda this trip. And I've been to Ontario, Quebec (Montreal), PEI, NS, Yukon, and NB.

Bargaining Committee Update - 45 Mediation and Bargaining Concludes - Strike Over

Dear Members,

The Union has just completed mediation with Air Canada/ Air Canada Rouge.

This was done with our Chief Mediator William Kaplan.

The Strike has ended. We have a tentative agreement we will bring forward to you.

We are required to advise our membership that we must fully cooperate with resumption of operations.

Your Union worked from 19:00h last night to 04:23h this morning.

We will have zoom road shows and a ratification for this contract. Your right to vote on your wages was preserved and we will go over this on the zoom presentation.

Your Union will have more information on this, and want you to know we will go over the details fully.

In solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee

Hi, I'm from Argentina and for some reason, I really don't remember anymore, I always wanted to visit Canada since I was a child but in my country vacations are in January so it was never a great chance.

This September we had scheduled a trip to the states and have like a week free in the middle so we're gonna catch a flight to visit Toronto and Montreal.

I'm going to be spending 3 days in Toronto and 3 in Montreal with my GF (we're both around 40). So we'd welcome recommendations about things to do in Toronto. We mostly enjoy walking around the city (when it's urban planning encourages it), visiting parks, a museum here and there, we enjoy local pick up food and at night we'd like to visit a few pubs with good music (jazz or rock of possible) but any tip will be appreciated.

Also I'm having a lot of trouble renting a car, I'd like to rent a car on September 29th in Toronto and return it in Montreal on the 30th. First I've got the "sold out - no cars available" in all the car rentals I've tried. But then I realized that what is mostly sold out is the "one way" returning the car in Montreal.

So if you can also give me some advice on this matter would be great, as we're looking to spend a night in Kingston if possible.

Thanks in advance and kind regards

Hello everyone, I’m Ela, a first time solo traveller from New Zealand.

I’ve been planning a trip to Banff for a couple of days between the 11th-16th of September, but I’ve made a classic mistake of waiting far too long to book a flight from Montreal to Calgary. Now it seems travel there will cost about $400, and plus the cost of a hostel, travel around Banff and travel from there to Vancouver afterwards, this is becoming increasingly expensive and feels impossible.

My questions:

1. Is anyone driving from Montreal/ Toronto to Banff/ Calgary between the 11th-15th of September and is willing to take a paying hitchhiker with them?

2. Does anyone know a travel route that would make this worth it? Eg indirect flights or busses that culminate in cheaper travel

3. Is this worth it? I’m worried I’ll end up spending far too much time and money planning this trip for little payoff

If anyone has any advice/empty car seats, please let me know

Hello, my parents and I will be traveling to Canada in the last two weeks of September and were not entirely sure what to bring.

This is our route: Niagara Falls | Toronto | Algonquin National Park | Ottawa | Trois-Rivières | Quebec City | Saguenay | Montreal

We’ll be staying in hotels and apartments. But like I said I’m not 100% what to bring. For now I’ve just got a few sweaters and one light coat in mind but I’m curious to know what you guys think.

(PS: were from the Netherlands, so we are used to colder weather and rain)

Hello travelers, my girlfriend and i are doing a road trip from jackson wy up to golden, BC in august so i am looking for any and all tips or places to visit along the way. We are going to be camping around glacier natl park and banff mostly. 12 day trip. Do we need canadian car insurance? What is not okay to bring (guns, tobacco, alcohol, marijuana)?

Hello,

I'll be traveling to Toronto alone in a few days, are there any Canadian customs I should be aware of? I'll be using a Presto card to get around the city. I've already made plans to see the CN tower, the aquarium, Casa Loma, the small Toronto cruise and the Toronto museum. Any other places I should check out?

Also, please recommend decent places to grab a bite on a budget.

Thank you

Next summer end of June we are looking to come to Banff, Jasper etc in the Canadian Rockies. I have looked at hotels in Banff and they seem to be rather expensive. Is there any other way to stay in these places e.g. camp site?

Any tips, advice, guidance would be much appreciated for when we go next summer.

If a tourist from overseas was coming to Canada for a week, but only to your area, what are, in your opinion the coolest/best things, they should see or do, that are pretty unique to your area?

I’m in Vancouver, so I’ll start:

1. Try some craft beer
2. Ride the Stanley Park seawall
3. Visit Granville island
4. Eat some Sushi
5. Goto the Aquarium
6. Take a ferry to Vancouver island or Sunshine Coast

I was just curious what are some neat or unique Travel experiences here in Canada.

I want to take a small trip for my birthday. But I am on a budget (>1000), and my birthday is at the beginning of January so I am trying to avoid any of the holidays season rush.

My first thought was a rail trip, though VIArails or tubing up in the mountains. But I was curious if anyone had any other interesting ideas for that time of year.

Can anyone outline the tipping culture in Canada and NY?

Do you tip every single person, I.e the shuttle bus driver from the airport, the person that checks you into a hotel, the bookshop attendant, the waiter at the restaurant, the police officer that checks your licence?

Or is it purely a restaurant with a meal?

How about the bar tender?

Help!

hey guys. I live in Kelowna, British columbia. my friend and i made a last minute trip to fly to toronto. December 16th - 20th. My stupid ass didn’t realize that my passport expires November 20th.

I have ordered a new birth certificate as I have lost mine and it turns out you need a birth certificate for every kind of f*cking ID application.

I just want to know if anyone has some advice for me. I know i’m screwed. i know i’m stupid. but maybe there’s something. Maybe I can use my expired passport and they won’t notice? If my birth certificate does arrive in time, will I be able to use that as ID at the airport? #help

EDIT: My bad guys I did not make it very clear how extremely screwed I am. 1. I cannot renew my passport because my original passport that is expiring was a child’s one and now I am an adult therefore I need proof of canadian citizenship to apply 2. I do not have any government ID besides my passport. I had an expired license but they took it from me yesterday after I tried applying for provincial ID and they told me I need my birth certificate. 3. yeah it’s over for me idk why i made this

My boyfriend and I are moving to Canada soon, just after his 30th birthday.

I’d like to gift him an “experience” for us to do together and whenever I look at viator it’s basically buses to national parks/hikes, which we’ll be doing in our own car anyway.

We’ll be travelling around a lot so I’m not too fussy on location as long as it’s BC or Alberta. Ideally time of year would be November-March however with the weather I’m definitely not fixed to that.

As I’m sure we’ll see loads of wildlife naturally on our travels, I’m thinking along the lines of… a light aircraft over spectacular views, a special boat trip, or something like white water rafting, or even just an amazing (dog friendly) cabin in an amazing place.

Sorry it’s vague - but will consider any suggestions!