Buying a plane ticket

I'm a travel newb who's never purchased a plane ticket and was wondering if there are do's and dont's. I'm looking to buy a one way ticket from Montreal to Peru.

I can't imagine there being many options as far as carriers. If I go to the airport and see what flights are available and make a purchase there beforehand will I be getting fleeced somehow ?

Paying cash for an airline ticket isn't an issue is it ?

I'm a newb to travel so bear with me if any of these questions are dumb.

Thanks.

ah yea ok ... :nope:

Are you moving? What's in Peru?? Do you have a passport?

Here's what I found...

I apologize if you are serious. It looks awful trollish because everything you named is a red flag for flying.

- one-way tkt
- paying in cash
- buying at gate/airport

My advice: Don't buy a ticket from a company called Oceanic.

sorry, I couldn't resist. The only advice I can think of to give is buy your ticket as far in advanced as possible to save on rates.. which you would do online I'm assuming.

tsst said:

I apologize if you are serious. It looks awful trollish because everything you named is a red flag for flying.

- one-way tkt
- paying in cash
- buying at gate/airport

Click to expand...

When you put it that way- it sounds kind of terrorist-esque!

Jessicat, I loled.

LOL.

I play online poker for a living. Cost of living in Montreal is just too high. I have a contact there who can give me a place to live until I find my own apartment. I can live there for less than half the cost than here.

I can extend my visa there indefinitely by leaving to a nearby country for 2 days every 3-6 months.

Nothing shady about relocating to another country.

I really think there's something wrong with the world when paying cash for a 500$ item should be a "red flag" for anything.

I'm not buying a house in cash here people.

I don't know if it is the same in Canada as here - but I wouldn't be surprised...

I have read horror stories about people at various US airports who bought tickets with cash at the airport, or who were traveling with whatever authorities deemed "too much" cash, or innocently did something else that flagged them as possible drug dealers or terrorists. With the tense airport mood today, I would try to do NOTHING that stands out from the crowd. Maybe Canadian authorities aren't as paranoid, but why take a chance?

And I didn't even mention that you will pay through the nose if they think they have you as a "captive audience" at their ticket counter. Go to several of the Expedia type sites to find the best price. I happen to like AirFareWatchDog.com. You can type in the airport locations you are interested in going to and from, and they will send you alerts several times per week with the best price. When you see a price you like, grab it immediately - good prices don't last long!

Thanks. You've been helpful despite the troll/terrorist suspicions. Some of you definitely need to cut back on your CNN viewing. Your government's done a good job of you making you all paranoid and fearful.

If I was actually a wanted felon or terrorist fleeing Canada for nefarious reasons the last thing I'd be doing would be asking these questions on a corn snake forum on the internet.

I'll check out some of those sites and have a friend book me a flight since my available credit sucks right now.

Hey- I didn't _think_ you were a terrorist- just saying that was an interesting list!

So is it hard to make a living playing poker on-line?

Man, I would _love_ to go to Peru. Anywhere in SA, actually...

mugenjin said:

Thanks. You've been helpful despite the troll/terrorist suspicions. Some of you definitely need to cut back on your CNN viewing. Your government's done a good job of you making you all paranoid and fearful.

If I was actually a wanted felon or terrorist fleeing Canada for nefarious reasons the last thing I'd be doing would be asking these questions on a corn snake forum on the internet.

I'll check out some of those sites and have a friend book me a flight since my available credit sucks right now.

Click to expand...

Jumbo jets flying into skyscrapers, half of the middle east wanting for US destruction and the gov control out of control will do wonders for ease of flying. :shrugs:

I didn't think you were a terrorist. I thought you asked those specific questions, fully knowing they were red flag issues when flying, in an attempt to get a reaction(ie trollish). I can't speak for Canada but if you were in the US flying one-way, buying in cash and making the purchase at the airport the day of flight you would get flagged. One can thank Atta and friends for that.

I agree that drug dealers and terrorists are not likely to post on a corn snake forum. But what WE think doesn't really matter. What matters is what the paranoid airport authorities think. And even if the Canadian authorities aren't as paranoid as the southern neighbors, I bet they still follow similar guidelines of people and behavior to watch out for. That is why I suggested being "normal".

Seems almost silly these days. Any drug dealer or terrorist who can read the paper or watch the news would know better than to display behavior that would raise those red flags. Seems like only innocent people wouldn't pay attention, and would be likely to do those things these days!

Nanci said:

Hey- I didn't _think_ you were a terrorist- just saying that was an interesting list!

So is it hard to make a living playing poker on-line?

Man, I would _love_ to go to Peru. Anywhere in SA, actually...

Click to expand...

It used to be a lot easier. When I first started playing the US-CAN exchange rate gave me a 20% boost to my income which has disapeared.

It actually isn't difficult to be a winning poker player. Most people today still don't understand the difference between poker and casino table games. I wouldn't gamble on any game in a casino unless I expected to lose money on the long term. It's harder to reach a level where you can make a decent living. You need to be motivated since there's no fixed schedule you need to keep.

You also need to learn to play on at least 12-20 tables at the same time in order to maximize your hourly rate. If you play low to medium stakes , and you have a proper bankroll and you are a winning player than playing poker is actually not that risky. The problem is that most people who play poker with friends on weekends think they're good players when they're actually quite bad. If that's the extent of your poker experience , then depositing online and playing tournaments or cash games with the expectation of winning is not going to turn out well.


I didn't mean to imply that you were all accusing me of being a terrorist but I did specifically state in my post that I was pretty clueless about flying.

Thanks for making it clear how clueless I was. I definitely don't want to get hassled at the airport so I'll do my best to avoid those "red flags".

I've actually had family members tell me " Don't get addicted". These are people who don't know the 1st thing about poker while I've been supporting myself with it for over 2 years now.

The funny thing is , if I actually put more hours in playing online , I'd make more money.