Tagged Pages Archive | Articles
2025
14
March
French Bee's Prices to Europe - Bee Cautious (Not as low as they appear)
14
March
Lately I've been seeing a lot of seemingly low prices from Montreal to Europe show up in various search engines.
They're being caused by French Bee, who offers flights 4 times a week between Montreal and Paris Orly (ORY).
Now, the flights to Paris are deceptive enough. The base price doesn't come with either carry-on or checked luggage. And carry-on is $177 roundtrip.
So the $450 flights you see in the search engines are really $626 flights, about the same as Air Canada's typical prices to Paris (which do include carry-on).
But it gets worse.
You're now starting to see cheap flights from Montreal to destinations all over Europe appear in search engines. These are 1 stop flights through Paris, where you're flying from Montreal to Paris on French Bee, and then Paris to somewhere else in Europe on a carrier like Vueling.
Here's the problem: At first glance it may seem like you've found a $600 flight from Montreal to say, Barcelona or Venice.
But if you dig a little deeper you'll see that French Bee is charging over $50 per *leg* for carry-on. There are 4 legs on a 1 stop roundtrip flight.
So the $600 roundtrip flight you're seeing is really an $824 flight.
screenshot:
But it gets even worse.
These French Bee flights to Europe are what are known as 'Self Transfer' tickets.
This means that you really have 2 separate tickets: One between Montreal and Paris with French Bee, and another between Paris and somewhere else in Europe (with Vueling for example).
The Self Transfer is unprotected. Meaning that if for some reason you miss your connection, French Bee is under no obligation to get you where you're going. You have to buy another ticket.
But surprise, surprise, French Bee does offer the ability to protect your connection, for an extra $58.
So your $600 flight is really an $874 flight.
screenshot:
Bee Aware
These French Bee flights to Europe are starting to show up everywhere. Google Flights, Skyscanner, Kayak, etc.
A lot of the time these extra charges won't be obvious, or even mentioned.
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