Why You Should Always Be Paying For Flights In US Dollars, Even With A Canadian Airline, And The Porter/Alaska/American Alternative To Star Alliance

Despite conversion fees, the cost savings is ridiculous.

Hello all,

It’s been a wild couple of weeks. From driving to and from Columbus, Ohio, to a chaotic journey from Boston to Winnipeg—where I nearly didn’t make it after a challenging connection in Ottawa—I’m finally home, trying to unwind before hitting the road again.

A recent change to Air Canada’s offerings meant they no longer offer a Toronto to Columbus, Ohio direct flight outside of summertime. Due to the lack of direct flights, I elected to drive to Columbus. It’s a long drive (seven hours, and more for me since I drive an electric car). So immediately after the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 the night before, I got in the car and drove to Monroe, Michigan, where I split up the drive and stayed the night. Following the Leafs’ game in Columbus, I made the entire drive back the following morning. That was tiring enough.

The journey from Toronto to Boston to Winnipeg was a bit more challenging. The journey got off to a terrific start at Toronto’s downtown airport when I was offered the chance to wait 2 hours in exchange for an $800 Porter Airlines voucher. I sprinted to that desk faster than George Costanza rushing out of that kid’s birthday party when he thought there was a fire.

I love visiting Boston every year. It’s such a great walking town, especially in the fall. Between the morning skate and the game, I made my way to the public market where I bought a bag of George Howell Coffee. I’m trying to do a thing this season where I buy a bag of coffee from a local roastery for me to French Press at home. We’ll see how that goes.

It turns, out that was not going to be my only sprint on the journey. With the Maple Leafs originally scheduled to practice on Sunday before heading to Winnipeg, flight options to get there were extremely limited. I ended up booking another Porter flight for that Sunday that connected through Ottawa’s airport. This nearly proved costly.

There was a 90-minute connection and the first leg was nearly an hour late. It made up some time in the air, but it was going to be dicey. Also, because it’s a Canada-to-Canada connection, you have to clear customs as if you are leaving the airport and then re-clear security on the domestic side. Because Ottawa doesn’t do a lot of major international destinations, there is no designated area for these types of transfers.

Once I got off the plane in Ottawa, I had to sprint the circumference of YOW airport. Thankfully, there was no line at either security checkpoint. My gate for my Porter flight was at the very end of the terminal because of course it was. I managed to just make it about 10 minutes before they were closing, but man, did I sprint. Those summer F45 classes paid off! Shout out to F45 Yonge and Eglinton!

Getting home from Winnipeg to Toronto was far less dramatic and smooth. I don’t have much to say about my annual visit to the ‘Peg other than to say I’m thankful it was early in the season this year and not in January like last season.