How To Take Advantage of Schedule Changes

By

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February 22, 2020

A schedule change is when an airline changes either the flight time, the routing, or the aircraft of your original booking.

If you travel a lot for business or pleasure, you would most like to have run into a schedule change at some point in time. The further out you book your travel, the more likely it is that you will face a change. This is because airlines continually optimize routes and update their schedule to accommodate these optimizations. The more months you have between today and your travel date, the higher the chances you’ll be affected by a schedule change.

The inconvenience from these schedule changes can range from a slight annoyance to “oh my God, there’s no way I can make that connection”.

Airlines know that these changes can be inconvenient so they have policies in place to protect consumers from these unexpected schedule changes.

If you know about these protections, you can sometimes leverage them to improve your travel experience. Typically, schedule changes provide you with the ability to change your flight without any additional costs. Almost all schedule changes allow you to cancel your flight and receive a refund to the original form of payment.

Here’s what you need to know about how Canada’s two major airlines handle these changes.

Air Canada

Air Canada’s policy on schedule changes is virtually impossible to find. It is not clearly laid out in their Contract of Carriage and even the information Air Canada provides to travel agents isn’t clear (see below).

https://www.aircanada.com/content/dam/aircanada/portal/documents/PDF/agents/en/ca/policies/schedule-change-policy-EN.pdf

With the lack of clarity, I called Air Canada to get a definitive answer. Luckily I hold 35K status with Air Canada thanks to the status challenge I wrote about a while back, so there was no wait time to get through to an agent.

When I spoke to the agent, she was able to provide me with the following information and how each situation is handled.

No Changes Allowed

With the following two schedule change situations, you are not entitled to a free change. The schedule change notification that you receive by email is simply a courtesy.

If the schedule change results in an earlier flight and you are not re-routed, you are not entitled to change your flights without a fee.
If the schedule change results in a later departure with the same or earlier arrival, you are not entitled to change your flights without a fee.

Free Changes

If the schedule change results in the following situations, you are entitled to one free change and a waiver of the fare difference between the original flight and the new flight. This means that the change is completely free and all you have to worry about is whether or not there is a seat on the new flight. The current retail cost of the flight you are changing to does not matter.

If you have a connection and the schedule change causes you to misconnect or you are no longer comfortable with the connection time, you are entitled to a free change. The agent clarified and said that “even if your original connection was 3 hours and it’s now 2:45 and this causes you anxiety, you are allowed a change”.
If the schedule change causes you to arrive later than your original flight, you are entitled to a change. This is the most open-ended situation that is up for interpretation by the agent. It is unclear how an agent would treat a schedule change that results in you arriving 5 minutes later than originally scheduled but by the letter of the law, you should be entitled to a change.
If you were originally booked on an Air Canada mainline flight and a schedule change puts you on a Rouge flight, you are entitled to make a change to get back on an Air Canada mainline flight as long as your origin and destination do not change.

Incredible Flexibility

As I mentioned earlier, if you are affected by a schedule change and you fall within the situations covered under the Free Changes section, the change fee is waived and you are NOT obligated to pay a difference in fare.

The other amazing thing is that for Air Canada, on a Domestic or Transborder flight, you are allowed a +/- 3-day booking window, meaning that if your flight was on March 15th, you can change to any flight between March 12th and March 18th.

For international flights, you are allowed a +/- 7-day booking window. If we use the same example as above, you would be allowed to book any flight between March 8th and March 22nd.

For all changes, your origin and destination must remain the same, however, if you need to connect, the connecting city does not need to be the same.

The exception to this rule is that you can choose a final destination that is within 200 miles of the original booking destination, which means that if you were originally booked from YYC-YYZ-JFK, you could instead fly YYC-YYZ-EWR/LGA/PHL/BWI/BOS and still have it a valid routing because each of the airports are within 200 miles of JFK. This only works if Air Canada operates to the airport you are trying to route to. In our above example, Teterboro, NJ (TEB) is an airport that is within a 200 radius of the original airport (JFK) but because Air Canada does not operate to TEB, the change cannot be made to that airport.

WestJet

WestJet is much more defined about what constitutes a schedule change and the definition resides within their tariff. I have copied the language from the tariff (Rule 90: Schedule Irregularities, Cancellation, and Denied Boarding) below.

“Schedule Change” means the following:

The cancellation of a scheduled flight where no WestJet flight of comparable routing is available within ninety (90) minutes of the original time of departure; or
A change in the scheduled departure time of a WestJet flight which exceeds ninety (90) minutes; or
A change in the routing of a scheduled WestJet flight which adds one (1) or more stops to the original itinerary; or
A change in the routing of a WestJet scheduled flight that results in a scheduled arrival time more than ninety (90) minutes later than the original scheduled arrival time; or
Any change in the arrival time of a WestJet flight that results in a misconnection to any flight shown in the same reservation and Ticket.

If any of these criteria are met, a free change is allowed, which includes a waiver of the fare difference on the new flight. WestJet allows a +/- 2-day booking window, which is not as generous as Air Canada.

While the definitions are more defined with WestJet, they are not as generous as Air Canada.

I called WestJet to better understand the rules and the agent that I reached advised me that there are imminent changes to the schedule change policy. While she could not give me definitive information, she did advise that if a schedule change occurs within 14 days of the date of travel, they will have a lot more of an ability to assist guests with free changes. She also clarified that the 14 days are counted as of the date of notification, not the date in which the guest calls in to resolve the issue.

We will have to wait to see what changes will occur but I would imagine that it is not all that guest friendly.

How You Can Benefit

When a schedule change occurs, it’s almost as good as a blank cheque with the airline. While there are rules that prevent circuitous or non-sensical routings, you can use these schedule changes to improve your itinerary. If you’re on a revenue fare, you pretty much have your choice of flights you can switch your travel to.

As an example, I recently had a Calgary (YYC) to Los Angeles (LAX) direct flight booked but the return was significantly cheaper if I stopped in Edmonton (YEG) so my return was LAX-YEG-YYC on WestJet. While this wasn’t the most preferable routing it was fine.

Yesterday, I received a notification of a minor schedule change that saw a departure out of Calgary and Los Angeles 15-minutes earlier than originally scheduled.

I wasn’t sure if this would work or not but I gave WestJet a call and told the agent that I had received a schedule change email and asked if I could route directly back from Los Angeles to Calgary on the direct flight. I provided the flight number of the direct flight (WS1511) and crossed my fingers. The agent took a look at my itinerary, said that it was no problem, placed me on a quick hold and advised me that the flights had been changed. There were no change fees.

Letter of the Law vs Reality

As you probably noticed, my particular situation did not fall within WestJet’s definition of a schedule change (> 90 minutes), but I was able to get a change to a better flight for now cost. The question is why?

Airlines understand that schedule changes are inevitable and have policies to help with these situations, but with that being said, not all airline employees fully understand these guidelines. If you receive a schedule change notification and you want to make a change, it makes sense to call and try your chances at with receiving a free change.

If you aren’t successful, you always have the option of hanging up and calling again to speak to another agent.

Conclusion

While schedule changes can be an annoyance, you can often make lemonade from the lemons you are dealt. Your best bet is to provide the agent with your preferred flight change and let them try to fulfill your request.

Hotel Review – Ritz Carlton Residences – Waikiki Beach, Oahu

By

Jayce

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February 13, 2020

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Hawaii is never a bad idea. Tropical beaches, laid back people, sun for days … what’s not to like? It’s really paradise on earth and everyone I know that has been there loves going. The only real issue is the cost. It’s often expensive to get there and expensive to stay, both for accommodations and food. To top it all off, many (read: almost every single hotel) charge a “resort” or “destination” fee, even on award redemptions. What’s worse is that many don’t even tell you the charge is buried in your nightly fees.

Here’s an example of a 10-night stay at the gigantic Sheraton Waikiki – a good hotel if you like walking for 15 minutes to get from your room to the pool … and another 30 minutes roundtrip when you forget your sunglasses in the room (I know from experience).

For those not so good at math, that’s a whopping $36 USD per night which, at the time of writing, equals $47.70 CAD. Pure insanity.

We here at PointsNerd despise resort fees and a previous contributor, Brian Ewanchuk, wrote an article a while back detailing how you can often escape resort fees if you have status (and even if you don’t).

One of the only hotels in the Waikiki area that I know of that doesn’t charge a resort or destination fee is the Ritz Carlton Residences – Waikiki Beach.

The Location

The Ritz is not only gorgeous, but it is centrally located between the two main thoroughfares of Kalakula Ave and Kuhio Ave. Only a 5-minute walk from the beach with a Dean and Deluca downstairs and a very short jaunt to Luxury Row, one of the main shopping areas of Waikiki. For me, there’s little not to like about the Ritz Waikiki.

Admittedly the hotel is not right on the beach, but that’s what I kinda love about it. It’s far enough away from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki but close enough that you can get to it very easily. I have stayed on the beach at Waikiki and it’s always so busy that I wished I stayed further away. That’s what the Ritz Carlton Residences – Waikiki Beach offers.

Another perk that may be interesting to some is that the Ritz is well located to catch the $2.25 bus to Pearl Harbour. We looked at taking an Uber or a Lyft and it was pricing out at $40+ USD, which was a little insane. While the bus certainly takes longer, we didn’t mind the ride and enjoyed seeing normal life on the island of Oahu, away from the tourism of Waikiki. To get to Pearl Harbour, simply jump on the number 20 or 42 bus, just steps away from the hotel on Kuhio.

Additionally, right under the hotel, there’s a grocery store called Island Country Markets which carries everything from ready-made meals to eggs and bread. I made this one of my first stops so that we could cook a nice breakfast every morning at the hotel.

Status Recognition

Like many Ritz Carlton’s in North America, status doesn’t get you much here. While they did welcome me and thank me for my Ambassador status, they could not offer me a suite upgrade and explained that because these rooms are owned by investors, when the Ritz rents out the room, the owners expect a fixed amount of revenue every time it is used. Unfortunately, complimentary upgrades simply aren’t an option according to the lady at the check-in desk. I could have pushed for a suite but as I had stayed here before and had been quite pleased with the room so I decided against starting my vacation with a potential conflict. What can I say? Hawaii relaxes you.

Besides the suite upgrade, breakfast was also not included, which is always a letdown. I for one, wish that Ritz Carltons in North America recognized status like they do in Japan.

The Redemption

For a 10-night stay, we cashed in 430,000 Marriott points, which I know is a lot but I believe that points are to be used, not collected – and what better place to use them than on vacation in Hawaii?

The redemption was originally 450,000 Marriott points but as I mentioned in a previous post, it always pays to check the cost of your booking prior to your stay to see if it’s gone down in price.

The Room

We were given a Deluxe Ocean View room and while it’s always nice to be in a suite, the room was more than adequate. At 426 square feet, the room did not feel crowded with three people and it featured a sliding wall to divide the bedroom and the living room – perfect to watch TV while others sleep. The room had a king-sized bed and a sofa bed that was actually surprisingly comfortable.

In addition to the large room, the Ritz Carlton Residences is set up to be just that, a residence. Each room comes with its own washer/dryer, dishwasher, sink, stove and speed oven – which is an oven and a microwave built into one. All appliances are Miele and very pricey. The washer/dryer comes with complimentary soap as does the dishwasher. What’s nice is that the cleaning staff will take it upon themselves to do the dishes if you leave them in the sink or dishwasher.

You also have a nice Toto bidet with a heated seat to look forward to. I swore to myself that after our trip to Japan that I would never touch my undercarriage again … truth be told, I’ve been lying to myself until this trip.

Here’s a quick walk-through of the room:

As well as a photo album for more details around the features of the room.

A further perk for those in the know – the Ritz is a perfect place to catch the fireworks that go off from the Hilton Hawaiian Village every Friday at 7:45 PM.

But perhaps the best feature of the room is the perfect view of every sunset.

A view from the balcony of Room 1709 at the Ritz Carlton Residences – Waikiki Beach

The Pool and Gym

There are three pool at the Ritz, two meant for families and one quiet pool for adults only. As I was there with my family, we spend all of our time on the family side of the pool. For those with kids, this pool is perfect in that it is warmed to 88 degrees Fahrenheit or 31 degrees Celcius.

The pool is also only 4-feet deep at its deepest point so my daughter was able to swim in the pool on her own without fear of getting into too much trouble.

Did I mention that it’s an infinity pool with stunning views of the ocean?

Another nice thing about the pool is that the pool attendants provide flavoured spritzers every once in a while and free ice cream at 2:00 PM each day with new flavours each day.

The gym for the hotel is located just off the adult pool and has some very new and very nice equipment. I would show you videos of me running on the treadmill every morning but … that didn’t happen.

The Service

One of the best parts of staying at the Ritz Carlton is the service. When I arrived at around 6:00 PM, one of the concierges noticed that I was carrying my bags and asked my name. When I said Jayce Loh, he warmly shook my hand and said “Oh yes, Mr. Loh, I’m Chris, we’ve been expecting you, welcome back!”

This kind of service blows me away. Recognizing that a guest is returning to stay at your hotel and welcoming them back is a sure way to make someone feel important.

Everyone from the check-in staff to the pool attendants to the cleaning staff were incredibly nice to me and my family. Little touches like having umbrellas ready for people to grab when the weather forecast called for showers and complimentary ice-cold water and sunscreen at the pool are just some of the example of what to expect at the Ritz Carlton Residences Waikiki. They seemingly had all the details figured out, which, in my opinion, is what differentiates a standard hotel from an excellent one.

Conclusion

Anytime I go to Oahu and stay in Honolulu, my go-to hotel is most definitely the Ritz Carlton Residences – Waikiki Beach. There’s just so much that this hotel does right that it’s really hard to fault them on anything other than the lack of status recognition. The location is perfect for us, the rooms are comfortable, clean, and consistent and I don’t know that I could honestly come up with anything negative to say about the hotel.

If you ever find yourself in Waikiki, give the Ritz a shot. You won’t be disappointed.

Travel Hacking From Scratch – Part 11 – How to Avoid High Taxes and Charges

By

Jayce

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February 8, 2020

3

This entry is part 9 of 9 in the series Travel Hacking From Scratch

Welcome to the Travel Hacking from Scratch Series – a series dedicated to getting those new into Travel Hacking up the curve as quickly as possible. Below is the layout of the series with links back to already published articles.

Today our topic is How to Avoid High Taxes and Charges – a look into how you can leverage your knowledge of airline policies to ensure you pay as little as possible in taxes and fees.

The Benefits of Travel Hacking

Earning Points

Credit Cards – Which Card and Why

Category Bonuses

Churning Credit Cards

US Credit Cards (ITIN)

Referral Bonuses

Manufactured Spending

Using Your Points

Alternatives to DIY

Understanding the Power of Partners

Weighing Convenience vs Cost

How to Avoid High Taxes and Charges

Sweet Spots

How to Travel Better

Why You Need Status

Leveraging Status

Understanding Your Rights

Beyond Travel – Financial Freedom

When I started out in this hobby, I didn’t have a lot of disposable income but I had a penchant for travel that I needed to satisfy. Loyalty Programs and Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs) allowed me to travel to places I had only dreamed of. I poured over thousands of forum posts and experimented with Aeroplan to see how I could reduce my cost as much as possible. It took a lot of work to figure it out but I was able to somewhat master the skill of finding the most economical routing to save myself as much out of pocket cost as possible.

I have written a lot about these things in the past and have done a TON of research to make it easier for you to understand and recreate for yourself so this post won’t be a very long one, but more so one that points you to the proper resources to consider when you’re trying to save taxes and fees.

The Basics

In general, there are airlines that charge fuel/carrier surcharge (also known as YQ) and those that do not. There is no consistency as to which do and which do not. It does not matter if they belong to an alliance, partnership, or are completely independent. You cannot use those criteria to determine which airlines charge these fees and which do not. Instead, you are forced to learn them on your own.

Luckily, most Canadians are focused on one major program – Air Canada’s Aeroplan program. As Air Canada is part of the Star Alliance, you can use Aeroplan miles to book across 27 member airlines.

Of these 27 member airlines, 8 of charge fuel/carrier surcharge (YQ) all the time and 3 only charge it on certain routings. That means there are 16 member airlines that you can fly without having to pay for anything other than the standard security fees and airport landing fees.

Unfortunately, Air Canada is one of the programs that charge YQ so you have to figure out creative ways to minimize or altogether avoid flying on Air Canada flights when redeeming miles.

What You Need to Know

If you paint airlines with a very broad brush, there is one major rule that they have to follow in terms of routings. They can fly to and from their home country and that’s it. For example, Air Canada is based in Canada so they can fly from Canada to anywhere in the world and back. They cannot travel between two countries when one of those countries is not their own. There are exceptions to this rule but very broadly, that’s how you should understand the rules of how airlines are allowed to operate.

You may be thinking, “well, I live in Canada so how the heck to I fly another airline besides Air Canada for my award redemptions”? Well, we have another Star Alliance partner in the United State, United Airlines, which flies into Canada and can serve as a way to position yourself to an airport that another partner airline flies out of to get you to your destination.

Let’s look at flying to Istanbul (IST) for example.

You have quite a few choices to get to IST. The first one that the Aeroplan site will likely give you is a flight on Air Canada (AC) between Calgary (YYC) and Frankfurt (FRA), then onward with Lufthansa (LH) to Istanbul (IST). If you chose this option, you would be in for a shock when the taxes and fees were revealed to you.

The fees are so high because both Air Canada (AC) and Lufthansa (LH) charge an exorbitant amount of money for YQ so they should be avoided at all costs. When flying internationally with Air Canada, expect to pay a lot in fuel surcharge.

When this is the first option that the Aeroplan booking engine gives you, it’s no wonder why many people believe that Aeroplan is a straight-up ripoff. When you’re paying over $700 in taxes and fees, one is left to wonder why you even collect miles in the first place.

Rather than fall into the trap of selecting high-cost airlines to fly with, choose airlines that don’t charge you these fees. For example, you might want to look at something like Calgary (YYC) to Houston (IAH) on United (UA) or Air Canada (AC) and then onward to Istanbul (IST) with Turkish Airlines (TK). You may be thinking to yourself, “Air Canada? I thought he said to avoid Air Canada”. If you can avoid Air Canada, you should but if you have to fly them, fly them domestically or transborder – the YQ isn’t too bad.

If you can find a United flight, you’ll see that they, along with Turkish do not charge YQ, so your cost will be dramatically lower.

Unfortunately, the Aeroplan booking engine will not show you this routing, even though it exists and can be booked over the phone.

Because Aeroplan won’t show you the specific routing, I can’t give you exact pricing on the taxes and fees but at the very most it would be the taxes and fees of the two routes added together. Note that I was only able to find an Air Canada (AC) flight to Houston (IAH) but the combined taxes are significantly lower than if you flew Air Canada (AC) internationally to Frankfurt (FRA) and then Lufthansa (LH) to Istanbul (IST).

As you can see, if you know which airlines to use and which routes to concentrate on, you can significantly reduce your out of pocket expenses. The flight using Air Canada and Turkish Airlines will at most cost you $135.37, a far cry from the $703.38 the Aeroplan booking engine defaults to. If you can find a United flight from YYC-IAH, the cost would be even cheaper by about $50-70.

Resources

Unfortunately, there’s no magic bullet that will teach you everything in an easily managed reading, though I have tried to in a few posts:

2019’s MOST Comprehensive Guide to Fuel Surcharge (YQ) Using Aeroplan Miles
Finding Award Availability Series
Aeroplan’s Mini-RTW – Part 3 – Airlines with No Fuel Surcharge – Europe
Aeroplan’s Mini-RTW – Part 4 – Airlines with No Fuel Surcharge – Asia
Travel Hacking From Scratch – Part 10 – Weighing Convenience vs Cost

I also created a 30-minute video on how to find award availability that is a bit dated but still has the correct method. The only thing that is outdated is the method by which to find the routing information you need. Use FlightConnections rather than the Star Alliance Route Map, which no longer exists.

Conclusion

There’s no doubt that there’s a lot to know when it comes to finding the most economical way to book an award but when you master this skill, the world truly becomes your oyster. You are no longer handcuffed by the routing offered by Aeroplan’s booking engine which provides preferential treatment to Air Canada flights, which attract fuel surcharge.

This knowledge has served me very well through the years and I hope that this post helps to awaken the possibilities for you as well.

Why Google Fi Is My Go-To Solution to Stay Connected

By

Jayce

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February 2, 2020

20

As someone who is a professed early-adopter for technology, I’m pretty reliant on my phone for everything from social media to banking. When I’m on one of my trips, life doesn’t tend to slow down much so it’s a given that I need a rock-solid data connection, even on vacation.

In the past, I would spend countless hours on forums, blogs, and mobile carrier websites to determine which carrier had the most reliable data connection in the country that I was visiting. Once I figured out which carrier to go with, I had to decode which plan was right for the time that we were in-country.

Then I had to do it for every country that I was visiting.

Fast forward to the day I land in the country and now I have to take time to find a store or kiosk in the airport that sells the SIM card that I need and then wait to have them insert it and for it to establish a connection which has taken half an hour at times. Also, conveying the plan you wanted in a country that doesn’t speak English was a challenge in and of itself.

It was a GIANT pain in the a$$.

Enter Google Fi

I found out about Google Fi from a fellow attendee of a Frequent Traveler University (FTU) in Seattle (2017). She told me about some very interesting features about Google Fi that seemed quite appealing but there were quite a few hoops to jump through in order to make the solution work for a non-US resident. I did my due diligence and decided that the product would likely work for me and I took the opportunity to order a Google Fi SIM card the next time I was in the US.

I received my Google Fi SIM card in February of 2017 and it’s been my go-to solution ever since.

Recently, it has become easier to get and use a Google Fi SIM card and plan so I thought I would take this opportunity to enlighten those that are in a similar situation that are looking for a good solution.

The Features

There are quite a few things that I enjoy about Google Fi. Much like other Google services, the features are well thought out and feature-rich. While the pricing can be a bit more than if you got a SIM card in each country you visit, the convenience is well worth the nominal price difference in my opinion.

It’s Simple and It Just Works

For me, the best thing about the Google Fi setup is that I don’t have to think about anything. In every country that I have visited, the SIM card just works. The SIM card detects which country you are in and automatically connects you to the proper cellular network. At the time of writing, Google Fi works in 217 countries and regions (even though the UN recognizes 195 countries … don’t ask me how that works) – so virtually everywhere on earth.

I get a strong LTE data connections almost everywhere and at the very least, 3G. Calls work as do SMS messages and for those that aren’t heavy users of WhatsApp, MMS works as well – though I should warn you that if you are calling to anywhere but the country you are in, you’ll pay 20¢ (USD)/minute. If you are in the US, long-distance calls are much more affordable. Calls back to Canada when you are based in the US are free and calls to other countries can be very cheap (like 1 cent per minute to France as an example). Pricing varies per country but you can check out the US-based long distance rates at https://voice.google.com/u/4/rates?pli=1.

Rates while abroad are much more expensive at 20¢/minute. I tend not to make many calls while abroad but it can be expensive if you need to wait on hold to get a hold of Aeroplan for example.

Google Fi is just so convenient that it has changed how we travel. When we were in Japan last summer, I decided that using Google Fi was a much more viable solution than having a portable hotspot, the standard go-to for many travelers. Not only was it cheaper, but much more convenient without the need to pick up and return a piece of hardware that needed to stay charged throughout our travel.

You Can Pause Your Service

Coming in at a VERY close second is the fact that the plan can be paused. Yes, that’s right, you can pause the service, meaning you don’t have to pay for the plan when you’re not using it! This is a game-changer for Travel Hackers.

If you’re anything like me, you are visiting multiple countries on the same trip but after you’re done your vacation, you go back to work for 2-3 months before you start your next adventure. Now, with Google Fi, you don’t have to pay for your plan during those months that you are back home in Canada.

It’s also dead simple to pause your service – either in the Google Fi app or through your account at http://fi.google.com.

You Can Add Data-Only SIMs and Share the Plan

This feature is HUGE for my family. I’m subscribed to the standard plan but I have two data-only SIMs – one for my wife and one for my daughter. Wherever we go in the world, I will have calls, texts, and data and they will have access to data. We mostly stay in contact through WhatsApp so they don’t need calls and texts so it works beautifully for my family.

The best part of it is that the data is all used and tracked under my account so I know exactly how much data is being consumed as soon as it’s consumed.

This is great because of the next feature I’ll cover.

There’s a Cap!

Google charges a somewhat expensive $10 USD/GB of data but you only pay to a maximum of $60 in any one billing cycle. That means that even if you have 5 people sharing a plan (1 main SIM + 4 data SIMs), you will only pay $60 – for up to one month’s worth of data consumption! That’s bonkers.

Now a word of warning, your billing cycle matters here. For example, if your billing cycle is between the 1st and 30th of each month, if you start your vacation on the 25th and use up the 6 GBs of data by the 30th, you reset back to 0 as soon as the next billing cycle happens. So while you may be expecting not to pay more than $60 for your data, you may end up paying more if your billing cycle doesn’t quite mesh up with your travel dates.

If your travel dates mesh up well with your billing cycle, you’re in for a very inexpensive and convenient way to stay connected on your travels.

There is one small thing to keep in mind. After you reach your billing cap at 6GB of data usage, you won’t pay another cent for data until your next billing cycle. Data speeds remain the same (LTE) until you reach 15GB of data usage. Once you hit that, you will be throttled to 256 kbps until your next billing cycle. If you want to unlock your full LTE speeds after 15GB, you can pay $10/GB. I have personally never gotten close to 15GB and I have taken 1-month trips. I believe the most I have ever used is about 9GBs in a one-month period and that includes my wife and daughter’s usage.

The Cost

The cost is pretty simple to understand. It’s $20 USD per month for the voice and text features of the plan and $10 USD per GB of data used (to a max of $60 per billing cycle). All plans are prorated for the time you use them – meaning that you take the number of days your account is active and they charge you for those days only.

Let’s use an example for clarity. Let’s say I use the plan for a 14-day vacation and use 1.53 GBs of data. Here’s what I would be charged:

Phone Plan: $9.33 ($20 per month / 30 days in the month * 14 days of usage)
Data: $15.30 ($10 per GB of data at 1.53GB)
Total: $24.63 USD

Here’s another example: 18 days of usage with 7.43 GB of data used

Phone Plan: $18.00 ($20 per month / 30 days in the month * 18 days of usage)
Data: $60.00 ($10 per GB of data with a cap of $60 for the month)
Total: $78.00 USD

Before you ask, no, unfortunately, you cannot get a data-only plan. The voice plan is required in order to get access to the data of the plan.

How to Get Google Fi

Here’s where it takes a bit of creativity to get started with Google Fi. First, you should know that Google Fi isn’t intended for those outside the US – Google is trying to get US residents to get on the Google Fi cell plan as a replacement for their Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, etc. plans.

To ensure that they are targeting US residents, they use some simple ways to ensure that Canadians aren’t getting set up for Google Fi. The biggest one is that they check to see if your Gmail account is set up for a US address. When you are setting up your Gmail account, they ask you for your address and then verify that it is a US address through geolocation. Here’s how you get around that check:

Use a VPN like TunnelBear to mask your IP to a US location. TunnelBear is free (up to 500MB of VPN browsing) but if you want a permanent VPN solution, you can pay for the service at $4.99/month. Connect to the VPN and choose a US location to VPN into. This will show the Google servers that you are based in the United States.
Create a new Gmail account – when you fill in your personal information, make sure to use a US address. A simple solution is to create a new email address and use the same name as your regular email with US appended to the end. For example, if your email is [email protected], create a [email protected] account.
Create a new Google Fi account – you’ll be asked to log in with a Google account – choose the Gmail account you created in Step 2.

You don’t have to actually get a SIM card when you create your Google Fi account so you have a lot of flexibility on when you actually activate your service. This allows you a couple of options. You can use a mail forwarding service to get your SIM card or you can just ship your SIM card to a hotel the next time you are in the US. Shipping is free for standard delivery, or you can pay for expedited service to get your SIM card sooner. I recommend that you think a bit ahead and ship your SIM card and your data-SIMs at the same time.

Another thing to keep in mind is that your Canadian registered Google Play and Apple App Store won’t be able to download the Google Fi app so you’ll have to download them from a third party site such as APKMirror for Android. As someone hasn’t used and iPhone for years, I’m afraid I don’t know the best site to download apps that aren’t available through official channels but I do know that you will have to sideload the application.

Remember, having the iOS or Android app is not a requirement as you can actually manage your plan through the website fi.google.com so don’t freak out … you don’t have to be a hacker to get Google Fi to work on your phone. The apps just make things a little more convenient but they aren’t necessary – the website provides the exact same functionality.

Why Are You Recommending Google Fi Now?

Google has made it much more attractive to get Google Fi service now than in the past. In the past, they would only allow Google Fi to work on Google Phones (Nexus, Pixel, etc.) and had a very difficult requirement to activate the SIM. The SIM needed to be placed in a Google-branded phone for it to be initially activated and it could then be used in another phone with some technical workarounds.

This is no longer the case as Google Fi is now supported in any unlocked phone, which makes it much more appealing to the normal user.

You can check your phone’s compatibility at https://fi.google.com/compatibility if you have any lingering doubts as to whether your phone works or not.

I have been a OnePlus convert since the OnePlus 3 because of its many great features, one of which is a dual SIM card tray. This allows me to keep my Canadian SIM and my Google Fi SIM in my phone at all times, making it the perfect travel phone. When I’m in Canada, I use my Canadian SIM, when I’m anywhere else in the world, I deactivate my Canadian SIM and activate my Google Fi SIM. If you’re looking for a new phone, check out OnePlus – I swear by them.

Sweetening the Deal

If you are interested in Google Fi, you can sign up using my referral code to receive a $20 credit after your first month of Google Fi. You can read the full terms and conditions for the referral program at https://fi.google.com/about/referral-tos/.

You can get the referral bonus at https://g.co/fi/r/J7X3FP.

Conclusion

Google Fi is the perfect solution for my family when we travel abroad. The connection is rock solid, pricing is fair and simple, and I don’t have to do any research before my trip to figure out the best option. Best of all, as soon as I land in a strange country, I have data and don’t have to take time out of my day to track down a retailer that carries the SIM card I need.

I don’t know about you, but when I land in a country that doesn’t have English as an official language, it immediately feels like more things can go wrong. With Google Fi at my side, I don’t have to worry about any of that.

I’m a BIG fan of Google Fi and I think it would be a great solution for those that travel in a similar fashion. Take a look and see if it works well for you.