Crazy difference in flight prices

[MeganChips]

I've just booked next year's holiday, 2 weeks in Florida for 5 of us.

I was looking at the Virgin website, the resort I wanted for our chosen dates was almost 9k.

So I have shopped around and played with chopping up the flights and have managed to get the same holiday (actually upgraded the accommodation) for £3200.

We have to change planes in Montreal and it's 13 hours travel time instead of 9 but for a saving of nearly 6k, I can live with that.

Crazy price difference. I've never bothered doing this before because we've never done long haul as a family but I always will now!

That's interesting - I can see what you mean. An extra 4 hours in the air (plus layover time?) for a huge saving.

I think you'll need a Canadian eTA as well as the US ESTA but again, a small price to pay. The only other thing I would note is that if you're travelling with any children who have a different surname to their parents/all parents are not travelling in the party Canada is very hot on this so do make sure you have the appropriate paperwork.

Have a good holiday!

That includes the layover time. It's a 7 hour flight to Montreal, 3 hours changeover then a 3 hour flight to Orlando, give or take.

Only now I have to endure the terror of 2 take offs instead of just 1!

Thank you, I will make sure everything is in order.

I don't think you need the Canadian eta if you are merely in transit though.

Good work!

In the link I included it says "New entry requirement now in effect: visa-exempt foreign nationals who fly to or transit through Canada need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA)."

3 hour layover is good - I had 5 hours in both directions when I was going to Alaska this summer (that was 3 flights each way!). This got a bit on the tedious side, esp coming home, but did mean I wasn't stressed about missing my connection.

Are you doing this routing both ways?.

You will all need the Canadian ETA's - please only use the official Canadian government website below because like the ESTA's for the US there are many scammers and opportunists out there.

www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/eta.asp

Well done to you, Megan. I hope it all goes smoothly.

You will need the ETA even if just in transit, it is $7.
Don't worry about different surnames it isn't a problem,especially in Quebec, women legally keep their own surnames there.

We did the same this summer. Several agents were quoting in excess of £9k for our flights to NZ. I shopped around, booked direct and got them for less than £5k which included stops in Vancouver, Brisbane and LA.

Good saving. We're done this on our last couple of holidays to the states. We only went through US airports meaning that our time was spent passing through immigration at the first stop resulting in a faster getaway at the final destination.

I would try to fly direct - not to NZ obviously. But £6000 saving is ridiculous! Waiting around, cancelled connecting flights, delayed flights, bored and excessively tired children - no thanks but for £6000 it might be worth it! . Just one flight is normally bad enough with children.

We saved 2k on our flights to the states by being creative with routing.

But I used to work for an airline and enjoy the challenge of trying to find the cheapest route.