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Comment by bronco21016 | Hacker News Reader

It would be fascinating to see this trend data matched with statistics on how many Canadians are embarking on their journey from the US. Historically, Canadians will drive across the border in search of cheaper airfare in the US. Cities like Buffalo, NY, Burlington, VT, Detroit, MI, Minot and Grand Forks, ND.

At least that's been my anecdotal experience flying in and out of those cities. In Buffalo for example I distinctly remember literal bus loads of Canadians staying at nearby hotels before boarding US carriers headed for warmer destinations.

I suspect with the current environment, both are down. Still would be interesting though.

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Cross-border trips to the U.S. reach COVID lows with nearly 500,000 fewer travellers in February - https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cross-border-trips-decline-... - March 18th, 2025

US CBP Traveler and Conveyance Statistics - https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/travel

> Historically, Canadians will drive across the border in search of cheaper airfare in the US. Cities like Buffalo, NY, Burlington, VT, Detroit, MI, Minot and Grand Forks, ND.

I don't see that being the case for quite a few years. USD 1 has been ~ CAD 1.30 for a few years, so any US flight would need to be 24% cheaper dollar-to-dollar to even consider it. And that is before taking into account driving costs, traffic jams and wait times at the border crossing.

I'm trying to understand your point but failing. Where does 24% come from? People understand exchange rates.

24% ~ 1/1.3

I’m not certain everyone understands exchange rates.

CAD 1 = USD 0.76

So if my Canada-origin flight price is CAD 100, and the equivalent flight out of a US airport is USD 76 (24% less dollar-to-dollar), I'm not saving any money.

I'd guess warmer destinations in the US.

Flying from Canada to non-US destinations is often MUCH cheaper because there's no TSA fees (which the US puts on the departing airport) for the return leg.

As someone from Buffalo it is (anecdotally) pretty common for Canadians to come here to fly to other parts of the US for cheaper, and for us to go to Toronto for cheaper international flights.

I just spent a few minutes on Google Flights looking at trips to various US holiday destinations like Miami, Las Vegas, Honolulu and Los Angeles. Every single destination was a lot cheaper (in some cases less than half price) when flying out Toronto compared to Buffalo. I wonder is a reflection on the collapse of demand for flights to the US.

It's a real thing, my family would frequently travel to SeaTac from Vancouver to travel to sunny destinations because airfare was substantially cheaper, and there were more direct flight options, especially to the Caribbean. We also travelled frequently to Seattle for MLB, NFL, and NHL games. During the first Trump administration we stopped due to outright hostility from some, individual, border agents, but picked up again over the last few years. That all stopped in December when Trump started "joking" about annexation, and threatening Canada and other allies.

I have also set expectations with my leaders at work that even work travel to the US beyond previously booked trips (the last of which is next week) is off the table, and I would prefer to find a new job than continue to travel to a country that is treating it's allies so poorly.

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