Airlines and Airfares | travelmoments.ca

Flight options to Estonia from Canada in 2012

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Eva-Maria

Children in Estonian national costumes

Here are some updates on getting to Estonia for the 2012 season!

FINNAIR: Canadians and Canadian Estonians travel to Tallinn usually during the summer – when you can get a convenient flight with Finnair from Toronto via Helsinki. The direct Toronto-Helsinki Finnair flights will run 5 times a week (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu and Sun) from May 24th until September 9th in 2012, before and after that Finnair customers have to travel from Toronto to London or New York and from there on to Helsinki – and then to Tallinn. The flight times ot of Toronto have been pushed into the evening, so connections to Tallinn that caused grief to so many of our passengers a couple of years ago seem to be working better now.

The prices for the shoulder season travel (01 MAY to 25 JUN and 10 AUG to 30 SEP departures) start from CAD $750 + taxes ca 399 = 1149 CAD for the Toronto-Tallinn return trip. During high season (26 JUN to 09 AUG departures) the prices start from CAD $912 + taxes ca 399 = 1311 CAD. For the lowest fares the stay is up to 30 days. Finnair has only a limited number of the lowest-priced seats on each flight, so the prices will go higher as the flights fill up.

LUFTHANSA has a direct flight to Frankfurt also from Ottawa and Montreal. Unfortunately their flights do not connect the same day on the way back from Tallinn. But there is a new option to use Munich as the transfer point on the Westbound trip. Or in case you don’t mind an overnight in Frankfurt – you could try that route and earn some Aeroplan points at the same time.

AIR CANADA is continuing their direct routing Toronto-Copenhagen – with pretty good connections onward to Tallinn with Estonian Air and SAS. However, this combination usually needs to be issued on 2 separate tickets to get a better price.

KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES connections work again from Toronto with the Amsterdam-Tallinn segment operated by Estonian Air, but the waiting times are long on the way back from Tallinn.

LOT POLISH AIRLINES has once again restored the connections to Tallinn via Warsaw couple of times a week.

ICELANDAIR flights can be used via Reykjavik to Helsinki and then you can take a short flight or a boat-ride over to Tallinn – but that of course is extra hassle. But if you want to see the Finnish capital as well, then it might not be a bad combination.

AUSTRIAN AIRLINES and CZECH AIRLINES used to connect to Tallinn – but not any more: Austrian cancelled the Tallinn flights in 2008 and Czech Airlines dropped Toronto from their destination list in 2009.

There are other ways as well to get to Estonia from Canada. If you are adventurous enough, we can find you a charter flight to London, Frankfurt or Hamburg – and continue with Estonian Air to Tallinn. This way it is usually quite hard to make the connections fit with the lowest rates (unless you are very lucky!) but it would be suitable for example to someone intending to stop over in London.

Estonian Air: Flights between Tallinn and Tartu

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Eva-Maria

From 27 February 2011, Estonian Air has started their flights between Tartu and Tallinn. Early morning flights from Tartu to Tallinn will be operated six times a week: on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Late evening flights from Tallinn to Tartu will be operated on the same days, with the exception on weekends, when Saturday flights are operated on Sundays instead.
The flight time is 45 minutes.

“Direct connections from Tallinn airport to Scandinavia and other parts of Europe and Russia have been improved and will be improved in the nearest future even more. We believe that good departure and arriving times and increased flight frequency will help to fasten the development of Tartu as well as Tallinn Airport,” says Rauno Parras, Vice President Commercial of Estonian Air.

“Estonian Air’s plan to increase air traffic from Tartu by developing air traffic between Tartu and Tallinn is good news for whole Southern Estonia. This will ensure fast and convenient flight connections for local people almost to all of Europe’s biggest cities,” says Urmas Kruuse, Mayor of Tartu.

The flight schedule is designed so that passengers starting their flight from Tartu can get through Tallinn comfortably and with minimum waiting time to early morning connection flights to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Moscow, Vilnius, Kuressaare, Oslo, Stockholm etc. The late evening return flight to Tartu offers good connection for those who are returning from Copenhagen, Brussels, London, Stockholm, Oslo, Kuressaare or Vilnius.

Flight schedule on Tartu-Tallinn route

	Departure	Arrival
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday OV610	Tartu 5:30	Tallinn 6:10
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday OV609	Tallinn 23:45	Tartu 0:30

The fares start from 25 EUR, one-way.

Tartu is a picturesque town, second in Estonia by size and population. It is famous for its university, founded in 1632, thus being one of the oldest universities in Northern Europe.

Blue1 to fly Helsinki-Tallinn

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Eva-Maria

The maiden voyage for Blue1 over the Gulf of Finland from Tallinn to Helsinki took place yesterday, January 31st.
The event featured a ribbon cutting ceremony, followed by a flight to the Finnish captial with Vice-President of Commercial Affairs Juha Järvinen and Airport Member of the Board of Directors Erik Sakkov. The added flight between the two capitals, has already brought down prices of competitor Finnair, which currently operates the same route.
Blue1 belongs to the SAS Group and is a Star Alliance member.

Estonia: Flight options from Canada in 2011

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Eva-Maria

Estonian winter 2011

Seems like the airlines are coming out of their recession troubles, as we see new routes popping up for European travel…

Here are some updates on getting to Estonia for the 2011 season!

FINNAIR: Canadians and Canadian Estonians travel to Tallinn usually during the summer – when you can get a convenient flight with Finnair from Toronto via Helsinki. The direct Toronto-Helsinki Finnair flights are already in the system and as far as we can see, they will run 5 times a week (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu and Sun) from May 26th until September 11th in 2011, before and after that Finnair customers have to travel from Toronto to London or New York and from there on to Helsinki – and then to Tallinn. The flight times ot of Toronto have been pushed into the evening, so connections to Tallinn that caused grief to so many of our passengers a couple of years ago seem to be working better now.

FINNAIR prices for the shoulder season travel (26 MAY to 25 JUN and 10 AUG to 11 SEP departures) start from CAD $675 + taxes ca 300 for the Toronto-Tallinn return trip. During high season (26 JUN to 09 AUG departures) the prices start from CAD $910 + taxes ca 300. These prices work for stays for up to 30 days. Finnair has only a limited number of the lowest-priced seats on each flight, so the prices will go higher as the flights fill up.

LUFTHANSA has a direct flight to Frankfurt from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Unfortunately their flights do not connect the same day on the way back from Tallinn. But there is a new option to use Munich as the transfer point on the return. Or in case you don’t mind an overnight in Frankfurt – you could try that route and earn some Aeroplan points at the same time.

AIR CANADA has once again opened their direct routing Toronto-Copenhagen – with pretty good connections onward to Tallinn with Estonian Air and SAS. However, this combination usually needs to be issued on 2 separate tickets.

KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES connections work again from Toronto with the Amsterdam-Tallinn segment operated by Estonian Air.

LOT POLISH AIRLINES has once again restored the connections to Tallinn via Warsaw couple of times a week.

ICELANDAIR flights can be used via reykjavik to Helsinki and then you can take a short flight or a boat-ride over to Tallinn – but that of course is extra hassle. But if you want to see the Finnish capital as well, then it might not be a bad combination.

Brazilian biofuel for aviation industry: Test flight by TAM Airlines

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Eva-Maria

TAM Airlines has completed the first successful experimental flight in Latin America using aviation biofuel produced from the oil of the Jatropha curcas, a Brazilian vegetable biomass. The flight took place on the afternoon of 22 November and involved an Airbus A320 from its fleet, having the capacity to transport up to 174 passengers in regular operation. The flight, manned by two TAM pilots, took off from Rio de Janeiro’s international airport, Tom Jobim (Galeão), and flew in Brazilian air space over the Atlantic Ocean for 45 minutes before returning to its point of origin. In addition to the pilots, 18 other passengers, among them technicians and executives from TAM and Airbus, were on the flight.

Libano Barroso, president of TAM Airlines, says: “The involvement of TAM in this experimental flight shows our contribution in a vast project for the development of the production chain for this vegetable biomass biofuel, with the purpose of creating a Brazilian platform for sustainable aviation bio-kerosene.” The next step in this innovative project is to implement and establish a crop of Jatropha curcas, in reduced scale, at TAM’s Technological Centre in São Carlos, located in the countryside in the state of São Paulo.

“The goal of this unit will be to conduct technical and economic feasibility studies to start the implementation of an integrated value chain in Brazil, with the aim of producing biofuel based on Jatropha curcas oil, from the production of raw material to the distribution of bio-kerosene,” explains Barroso. He states that TAM is meeting its social and sustainability commitment, because the production of biofuel with Brazilian raw materials will result in important social and economic benefits, in addition to contributing to a considerable reduction in the emission of gases harmful to the environment.

To ensure the availability of the necessary biofuel for the experimental flight, TAM purchased seeds from Jatropha curcas producers in the North, Southeast and Central-West regions of Brazil, and arranged for its conversion into semi-refined oil which was then exported to the US where UOP LLC, a Honeywell group company, processed the Jatropha curcas oil into bio-kerosene and mixed it with conventional aviation kerosene, in the proportion of 50-50. Known in Brazil as pinhão manso, it is a plant that does not compete with the food chain because it is not suitable for human or animal consumption, and can be planted alongside pastures and food crops.

Studies conducted by the Michigan Technological University along with UOP / Honeywell have demonstrated that aviation biofuels made from Jatropha curcas enable a reduction of between 65% and 80% in carbon emissions in relation to petroleum-derived aviation kerosene.

The first flight by a commercial airline to be powered partly by biofuel took place in Europe, in 2008 when a Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet flew between London’s Heathrow and Amsterdam using fuel derived from a mixture of Brazilian babassu nuts and coconuts. Environmentalists branded the flight a publicity stunt, claiming that biofuel cultivation is not a sustainable option for aviation industry.

Learn to travel light: Airlines have tightened baggage allowances again!

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Eva-Maria

During the last two years all airlines have substantially tightened their checked luggage policies. A lot of airlines now charge even for one bag – and charge extra for suitcases weighing more than 23 kg, whereas not too long ago they’d carry suitcases weighing up to 32 kg with no surcharge. Most carriers allow one free piece of luggage, whereas before you’d almost always be allowed two.

Not only have the airlines tightened up on what they’ll carry for free, but they’ve now much more likely to charge you for the extras. In the past you were unlikely to be asked to pay, especially if the checkin staff were busy, but now it is believed that some airlines pay their counter staff bonuses based on the amount of extra charges they levy on their passengers.

There are differences in domestic and international checked luggage policies. For example, for tickets purchased after November 11th 2010, Air Canada allows 1 free bag or 23 kg on domestic, transborder (to USA), Caribbean, transatlantic etc. flights – with the exception of flights to and from Brazil, where you are allowed 2 free pieces up to 32 kg each. Who figured that out and why – we will never know! The 2nd bag fee differs by the destination: Within Canada and to the Caribbean, Costa Rica and Mexico it is $20. To the US it is $30 and to Europe and India it is $50 CAD. With this so-called “piece concept” you have to remember that if your free bag is over the allowed weight, you won’t be charged per extra kg, but for a whole extra bag. The free allowances also differ by the class of service (you are generally allowed more baggage in business class) and also by frequent flyer status.

Some airlines have a lot stricter rules. For example on Finnair flights from Toronto to Helsinki – if your first bag is heavier than the allowed 23 kg, you will be charged the excess baggage charge for a bag weighing 24–32 kg – the same as 1 extra bag up to 23 kg – which is a hefty 80 EUR. Most US carriers have charges already for the 1st checked bag.

In addition to the weight restrictions, each airline has the maximum size measurements for baggage as well. They are shown as a total number of inches (e.g. 62″). This is the total of the length, width and height of the piece, and you can usually have any reasonable size/shape of bag as long as the total measurements don’t exceed this number.

All baggage charges are usually per flight, not per roundtrip. If you’re on a ticket that has you flying first one airline to a connecting point and then a second airline from that point to your destination, you might find you have to pay excess charges to both airlines. But if your bag is being checked through from one airline to the other, you generally won’t be charged for the second flight. Excess luggage is usually carried on a ‘space available’ basis which means the airline doesn’t promise that your luggage will arrive at your destination on the same flight you do. Nine times out of ten (or more) it does indeed arrive on the same plane, but the airlines have the fine print of accepting it on a space available only basis to give them an excuse if your bags don’t arrive with you.

As you can see, there is a lot of different rules within one airline. When you get itineraries where another airline is added to the mix, then things can get even more complicated. We as travel agents try to help you in figuring it out, but things do change and for the absolutely most accurate information, you should phone the airline and get exact confirmation of your luggage entitlements and what the penalty costs might be shortly before your flight.

Secure Flight Passenger Data: No flying without it!

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Eva-Maria

The abbreviation SFPD (Secure Flight Passenger Data) has become familiar for the travel agent community already a while ago, since the start of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Secure Flight program in 2009. Under the Secure Flight program, the TSA requires airlines to collect and transmit to TSA the SFPD that is prescreened against government watch lists for domestic and international flights. Therefore, it requires all airlines domestic and international flying to or from a U.S. destination or through U.S. airspace to transmit SFPD regardless of the distribution channel through which the reservation is booked. Additionally, it applies to all U.S. based airlines regardless of where they fly globally. From November 1st things will become tougher for all the flying passengers.

Beginning November 1, 2010, ticketed passenger reservations without full SFPD will be subject to sanctions by the airlines. All the flight reservation files for international travel have to have the following up-to-date passenger information:

1. Complete passenger name EXACTLY as it appears in the passport or government issued ID used for travel.
2. Date of birth
3. Gender
4. Passport number, issuing country and expiry date
5. Home address contact phone number

If one is travelling to the US, then it is necessary to have the address in the US where the passenger will be staying.

All this information has to EXACTLY and COMPLETELY match the information on the passport and on the ticket and it has to be on the file at the latest 72 hours before departure. Without this information the airline can cancel the file – or for example the name on the ticket does not exactly match the name on the passport, the passenger can be delayed at check-in or even denied boarding.

We will be re-confirming all the information with each and every passenger before making the reservation, the best thing is to send all the info to us beforehand by e-mail.

So please – before planning your travel, dig out your passports and check the names, middle names, initials etc. – as a lot of people go by a certain name in the everyday life – but have a different name in their official documents. By doing this you can avoid yourself all the potential hassle at the airport!

Finnair Super Summer Seatsale Tallinn-Toronto

Posted on February 24, 2010 by Eva-Maria

Finnair has an amazing seatsale from Tallinn to Toronto for the summer flights from 6 JUN – 9 SEP, 2010.

The price is $500 CAD plus tkt fee and taxes approx. $360 CAD – so you will be able to get to Toronto for less than $900 CAD, all taxes and fees included.

For this price you can stay in Toronto for up to 30 days. The routing will be via Helsinki, on the Helsinki-Toronto non-stop flights.

The price is subject to availability at the time of booking. The ticket has to be purchased by February 28th.

Finnair adjusts fares on Toronto-Helsinki summer flights!

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Eva-Maria

This summer the Finnair direct flights operate between Toronto and Helsinki between 6 JUN ja 9 SEP, 2010 – 5 times a week (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sun).
This week Finnair lowered their fares, the best prices (if the seats are available) are:

TORONTO-HELSINKI:
Shoulder season (01MAY – 25JUN & 10AUG-30SEP)
$631+tax approx $175 (max. 1 month stay)
$729+tax approx $175 (max. 3 months stay)

High Season (26JUN-09AUG)
$674+tax approx $175 (max. 1 month stay)
$780+tax approx $175 (max. 3 months stay)

TORONTO-TALLINN, VIA HELSINKI:
Shoulder season (01MAY – 25JUN & 10AUG-30SEP)
$775+tax approx $250 (max. 1 month stay)
$856+tax approx $250 (max. 3 months stay)

High Season (26JUN-09AUG)
$910+tax approx $250 (max. 1 month stay)
$1005+tax approx $250 (max. 3 months stay)

The prices depend on the length of the stay and availability. Each flight has a certain allotment of the cheapest seats. If those are sold out, the price jumps into the higher category.

Please note that prices are subject to change without prior notice!

For the exact pricing please e-mail or call us with the actual travel dates!

Air Canada to US: No bags onboard!

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Eva-Maria

Carry-on baggage banned from flights from Canada to US until further notice.

Air Canada and Jazz remind customers that new security measures imposed by Canadian and U.S. government authorities on flights from Canada to the U.S. remain in effect until further notice. As a result of these rules there are strict limits in effect for carry-on articles allowed in the cabin and longer security screening times at airports.Air Canada advises passengers that the new regulations do not permit carry-on bags on flights to the United States, with only limited personal items allowed in the cabin.

To accommodate customers travelling to the U.S., Air Canada is waiving excess baggage charges for checked baggage on a temporary basis for U.S.-bound customers travelling from Canada. These customers will be permitted to check one additional item of baggage within allowable weight and size limits at no additional charge until further notice. For example, regular economy passengers will be permitted up to three checked bags weighing 23 kg (50 lb) each.

You are allowed to bring onboard 1 or more personal items
- max. 10kg (22lb)
- max. 25cm x 30cm x 20cm (10in x 12in x 8in)

The allowed items include:

small purse

book, magazine

small electronic device such as cell phone or MP3 player

diaper bag

laptop computer

camera

musical instrument

cane, crutches, walker, special needs item

medical device

medication

When travelling from the U.S., normal allowance applies both for carry-on and checked baggage. Please arrive to the airport WELL AHEAD OF TIME to allow for the possible extra time for heightened security checks and searches.

From December 2009 Air Canada implemented a new policy for checked baggage that applies to transatlantic flights to Europe etc. They allow 1 free bag with a max. weight of 23kg (50lb)
per bag and max. linear dimensions of 158cm (62in). Passengers can check in a 2nd bag for $50 CAD.