A very interesting problem has arisen. *** bought a ticket for my friend's wedding on May 5th. She planned to fly from Iqaluit to Ottawa on May 2nd. First Air was offering a seat sale at significant discounts. We decided that she should book her flight.

Since paying $950 for a round trip flight, she has been offered and accepted a job in Sudbury, Ontario which will begin on May 1st.

The problem, of course, is that she will no longer need her previously booked flight. She tried to get the money refunded, but according to the long conditions document that no one reads, the tickets are non-refundable and non-transferrable.

We had resigned ourselves to the horrifying reality that we had lost the $1000 tickets. What a load of garbage.

We investigated switching the tickets to another day, and discovered that if she wanted to fly this weekend, leaving on Thursday would cost $886, and leaving on Friday would cost $664. It seems like a lot to spend, but you have to remember that we've already had $1000 gouged from us.

I was supposed to go to Niagara Falls to visit my Uncle Aunt and cousin.

In making this decision I did the following calcualtions:

Thursday Flight
(With me going to Niagara Falls for family dinner)
Cost = $886
Time together = 79 hours
Cost per hour together = $11.22

Friday Flight
(With me going to Niagara Falls for family dinner-- I wouldn't be able to get her until Saturday)
Cost = $664
Time together = 44 hours
Cost per hour together = $15.09

The choice is clear. I considered this also:


Thursday Flight
(With no trip to Niagara Falls)
Cost = $886
Time together = 87 hours
Cost per hour together = $10.18

Friday Flight
(With no trip to Niagara Falls)
Cost = $664
Time together = 67 hours
Cost per hour together = $10.53

Okay, so this changes things a bit. It' best for me not to go to Niagara Falls, but still better for her to come on Thursday.

The work would be finished except that I had to consider one more variable: shipping.

Shipping goods from the north is tremendously expensive. By travelling this weekend, *** will be able to bring 2 bags of goods home as checked baggage. By giving herself tow extra bags, she will be able to bring more things home that she might have otherwise just left (dishes, blankets, clothes, laundry soap, etc.). She would have to rebuy those goods if she was to just give them away or throw them out. By estimating the savings of shipping and the additional two packages of baggage, we need to change our cost for the flight.

We figure that two bags of necessary stuff would be about $400. This considers shipping costs for essential items and the cost of replacing items later on that she might otherwise have left behind.

Thursday Flight
(With me going to Niagara Falls for family dinner)
Cost = $486
Time together = 79 hours
Cost per hour together = $6.15

Friday Flight
(With me going to Niagara Falls for family dinner-- I wouldn't be able to get her until Saturday)
Cost = $264
Time together = 44 hours
Cost per hour together = $6

Thursday Flight
(With no trip to Niagara Falls)
Cost = $486
Time together = 87 hours
Cost per hour together = $5.59

Friday Flight
(With no trip to Niagara Falls)
Cost = $264
Time together = 67 hours
Cost per hour together = $3.94

There we have a very big difference. Clearly, on its own, not going to Niagara Falls is the right thing to do except if you consider the benefits of seeing my family all of whom I have not seen for more than two years. From a cost/trip perspective, though, Niagara Falls is not a good idea.

The flight is much more reasonable when you consider the shipping savings, but it changes the cost per hour together numbers. *** has decided, despite the clear-cut numbers evidence, to come this Thursday and I will more than likely go to Niagara Falls with my Dad. That will give her time to visit with friends and to do some big-city living, and will mean that I can visit with the part of my family that I don't visit very often. Even though that costs us the most, it's worth more in the end.