u/CanuckBacon

I have taken the GO train from Bramalea GO station to Toronto a number of times since it has been redesigned and every single time I can't help but thinking hour poorly it has been designed, despite the millions put into the station (well, mostly the giant parking garage). When taking the GO train you must walk down some stairs or take elevators, go through a tunnel, then go up to the train platforms. There are signs once you go underground's saying that it is a paid fare zone. However it is easy to walk through without even seeing a payment terminal. That's because rather than them having turnstiles like the TTC, or having them be next to the entrance like you would pay when entering onto a bus, the closest payment terminal is about 15 feet away from the staircase, but the majority are 30 feet away. There's only a few of them, meaning if there's a lot of people getting off then you're waiting behind people. There are no signs indicating where the terminals are, so if people are standing nearby it's easy to miss them. Once you go into the tunnels if you forgot to pay or could not find them, etc. you have no option but to go back away from the train to tap on.

For people who have never used the station before, it's just awful to try to figure out how to pay without asking someone. Even for people that use it regularly it is inconvenient to walk an extra 10 metres out of the way to pay, when there is literally nothing stopping Metrolinx from just putting the payment terminals right next to the entrance or next to the staircase. I have had some tight connections when getting onto the train and there have been a couple of times when that extra 30 seconds to go out of the way to tap my card and then back have made the difference between missing my train or not. I know that this is generally a "minor" inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, but this station has been completely redesigned and yet is less convenient than many other stations. Malton GO, for instance, has payment terminals about 2 feet from the entrance. I think beyond the minor inconvenience affecting thousands of people every single day, the main problem is that it essentially encourages fare evasion by people who are running late, unable to find the terminal, who forget because they have a million other things on their mind and there aren't visual reminders, etc. this also means that we spend more public money on fare inspectors to catch these people who generally would pay. Anyway, rant over.

According to the email they just sent out, gas was double the normal price and now it's 50% higher than normal, so they've reduced the surcharge, but have not gotten ride of it quite yet. It's nice to see them proactive about this. For me personally, I'm going to try to hold off on my points redemption until it's gone away entirely. I will say it's nice to see an airline actually consider a temporary fee, temporary. From what I can see, they're the first airline in Canada to make this move.

I've been flying with Porter almost exclusively since they came back after the pandemic and I'm quite a budget conscious traveller, so I have collected some tips and tricks for flying with Porter to maximize every dollar spent. Many of these things will be obvious for people that frequently fly on Porter or are generally budget-conscious, but there may be some things you aren't aware of. These are generally in order from the most to least amount of savings, but it will depend on your exact situation.

1. Make sure you're signed up for their email promotions. They frequently have sales of 10-20% off, even going up to 25% off. These are typically discounts on the base fare and there are conditions so typically if you're flying on a weekend or during a holiday period you won't actually get much of a discount. If you fly midweek, you can usually get the full discount and have some decent savings.

2. VIPorter account. It's pretty obvious, but collecting points can get you a free leg or even free round trip tickets. There's no fee so there's literally no downside. You just need to fly or redeem them once every 2 years so they don't expire. See this post for a full guide on collecting points.

3. BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard. It's a mouthful but it's worth it if you fly Porter round trip more than once a year or with a companion. Beyond the welcome bonus points and the increased point collection (1point per $ on everything, but 3 points per $ on Porter flights which stacks with your 6points as a VIPorter member), the best perk of this card is that you get a free carry-on and free checked bag even if you book the cheapest fare. You also automatically get Venture status which allows for priority boarding. The drawback to the credit card is that you need a minimum income of 80k/year (150k household) and after the first year it costs $200/year. If you think about the savings from the free checked bag it will pay for itself pretty quickly. An important thing to note is that perks extend to your companions if you're booked on the same ticket. I flew round trip with 2 of my friends and since we each received a free checked bags, that trip alone saved me more than the credit card's annual fee. There is also a lower tiers Porter credit card, but it generally doesn't seem worth it, but you're mileage may vary.

4. Costco Porter giftcards. If you or someone you know have a Costco membership you can buy a $500 Porter giftcard for only $450. You save 10% of the cost and you can use multiple at a time. You can buy them online, but make sure you do so at least 1-2 days before you intend to book as it is not process instantly. If you have bought it ahead of time and wait for a sale to book, you can easily save 20-30%. One important thing to note is that it won't be covered with travel insurance/whatever protections you get from a credit card since you aren't booking with a credit card.

5. Porter Passes. These are good if you are flying to the same destination regularly. The price per flight is okay, but one of the benefits if you automatically get the status benefits of that level of spending. So for instance if you fly between two cities 5 times a year, you can buy the pass in January and then you have an entire year at that level of status (oftentimes Venture or above depending on the cost of that specific Porter pass). If you know ahead of time when you're flying, always choose the cheapest fare, and typically book when there's a sale going on, you probably won't benefit from Porter Passes.

6. Porter Reserve can occasionally be cheaper than you think. There's been times where I've booked PorterReserve and it was only $50-100 more expensive than the Basic/Standard fare, but I needed two checked bags, so it worked out to be around the same price, but there were also some other perks. Sometimes there are discounts on PorterReserve which can make the difference. These tend to be edge cases, but it never hurts to compare/check.

Right now there is a temporary fuel surcharge on point redemptions that means that it is probably not worth it to redeem your points right now, but hopefully with recent global news, we may see that removed. Check the guide stickied to the top of the subreddit for the best way to collect and redeem points.

TL;DR The two cheapest ways to fly Porter is if you have the BMO World Elite VIPorter credit card and choose the basic fare, booking with a discount code or if you don't have the credit card then using Costco gift cards combined with discount codes on basic fare.