How to Find Cheap Airfare to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics

Even though they only come up every couple of years, it seems like the Olympics are always right around the corner. And in this case, they actually are – the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are coming right up. If you’re thinking of making a trip to southwestern Canada for the games but you haven’t already made your travel plans, you’d better get on that soon!

If you think about it for a second, it’s not hard to see why planning well in advance for a trip to the Olympics is absolutely necessary. Even if you think that not many people will be heading to the games as spectators, the number of athletes alone – not to mention their families and trainers – could fill up several airplanes and hotels. And, of course, the fact is that there will be plenty of spectators flooding into Vancouver for the events, too.

So, can you still find a cheap flight to Vancouver for the Olympics? Yes, but you shouldn’t wait too much longer to buy it. Here are our tips for finding cheap airfare to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Look for Flights on Budget Airlines

You may be familiar with the discount airlines that fly in the United States, but did you know there are also budget airlines that serve Canada as well? The Vancouver airport is a big one (second largest in Canada by some statistics) with lots of incoming and outgoing flights every day – including some of the budget airlines that fly to Canada.

There are several discount airlines that fly into Vancouver airport, some serving other cities in North America and some serving destinations overseas. Some of the budget airlines to look at for cheaper flights are:

• WestJet
• CanJet
• Flyglobespan
• Horizon Air
• US Airways

If you’re coming from outside of Canada, and especially from points further east in North America, you might have to look at flights going into Canada’s biggest airport – Toronto’s Pearson International – and then get on a separate flight into Vancouver on one of the smaller (and cheaper) airlines that serves Canada but may not fly directly from where you are.

Learn Which are the Cheapest Times to Fly

It’s true – there are days of the week and times of the day when it’s typically cheaper to fly than other days and times. This can change if you’re flying around a particular holiday or short-term event, but with something like the Olympics – when people are going to be flying in and out over a longer span of time – figuring out the cheapest days and times to fly is still going to help you save money.

The Olympics begin in Vancouver on February 12, 2010 (a Friday), and the last day of the games is February 28, 2010 (a Sunday). The good news is that most of the time, the cheapest day of the week to fly is Wednesday – which gets you into Vancouver a day or two before things get started. After Wednesday, the other cheaper days to look at are Tuesdays and Saturdays.

As for a time of day that’s cheapest to fly, this should make sense to you when you hear it – the cheapest times to fly are when you’d rather be sleeping. So, set your alarm (set two if you need insurance) and book the earliest flights you can find.

Make Your Travel Plans as Flexible as Possible

This is tough to do when you’re traveling around a particular event or a holiday, but the more flexible you can be with your travel plans, the better. This usually means playing with the dates of your flights by adjusting them a few days in either direction to see if there’s a cheaper date close to the one you originally wanted. You can either do this manually, or let a booking website do the hard work for you.

See, many airfare booking websites have gotten smart about this because they know more consumers are educating themselves about what it takes to find cheap flights. So when you’re putting in the dates you’d like to fly, be on the lookout for a check-box that says something like “my dates are flexible” or “check dates nearby” or some such thing. This lets the system know that if it finds a cheaper fare on a date or time that’s close to the date/time you put in, it should tell you that.

If your booking website of choice doesn’t have this feature, you can still do it manually by plugging in several dates around the one you wanted originally. Remember to adjust both the date at the start of your trip and the one at the end.

Look at Nearby Airports in Addition to Vancouver

Certainly the most convenient option for flying to the 2010 Winter Olympics is going to be flying into Vancouver International Airport. But if you’re having trouble finding a great deal on a flight into Vancouver, then the next best option is to look for cheap flights into airports that are close enough to Vancouver as to be reasonable second choices.

>> Read more about alternate airports for Vancouver

For Vancouver, the next best option is probably Seattle’s SeaTac International Airport. Unfortunately, although the city of Seattle doesn’t look that far from Vancouver on a map, the city’s airport is roughly 13 miles south of Seattle. Still, it’s the next airport you should check for cheap flights into the region.

If you can get a cheap flight on a budget airline that serves the U.S. but not Canada, however, you can fly as far as Seattle and then hop on a Horizon flight up to Vancouver.

>> Read more about how to get from Seattle Airport to Vancouver

>> Be sure to check out the official Vancouver Olympics website, including this very-helpful information about traveling to Canada – remember, even if you’re coming from the U.S. you need to have a passport to go to Canada now!

photo by boring_vanner