Anyone got any tips on booking flights to Canada?

[GatherlyGal]

Planning a trip in the summer to see family in Toronto and flights are eye-watering! Over £1k each without any luggage! Bad news for a family of 5.

We are in the north so London not ideal but we'd travel down if it saved a few £100s.

Anyone booked flights recently and got any ideas? I'm going to Air Canada and can't see any alternative.

It's always expensive unfortunately. Unless you go in February when it's bitterly cold.

I have never understood why it's painfully expensive. I have tried to go via some where but it never seems to make it cheaper.

Skyscanner is best for sussing out the best deals. But if you’re looking at august then yeah it’s extortionate

from the north the better deals are likely to be via a European hub eg CDG or Schipol. You will save by not going direct.

My only tip with flights is to use Skyscanner to compare prices then book direct with the airline (and preferably using a credit card).

Unfortunately for places like Canada there isn't too much else you can do, going non direct will help.

I flew with WestJet in the summer and they were excellent. Supposed to be the cheaper airline to Air Canada but honestly I couldn't fault them with food, comfort and service.

Canadianaffair.com flights from Glasgow? I've been going AC because I need a second internal flight for a while but for you you just want direct to YYZ. So drive up, cheap hotel, Glasgow is a manageable airport.
For AC basic rule is fly Tues, Wed for cheaper seats.

Think Westjet have dropped some routes. Try Air Transat. You get a small case and bag as cabin luggage included.

Air Transat tends to be cheaper than AC and BA.

Midweek travel dates are usually cheaper than Friday/weekends

Maybe hold fire and watch to see what prices do. There's still plenty of time...

I have family in Calgary, always check sky scanner/Kayak first. Flown Westjet, Air Transat, which used to be Canadian Affair.

You used to get some good deals, I've been different times of the year, but not been since Covid, I don't think the deals are there anymore unfortunately.

I did, one Christmas, fly LGW-Vegas (Virgin) Vegas-Calgary..return Calgary-Minneapolis-LHR, stopovers 2hrs/5hrs..the princely sum of £350😮

Might be worth looking non direct..

We chose Air Canada over British Airways last year as they were so much cheaper. We wanted to fly from Heathrow, as we were just going for the weekend so did not want to travel to Gatwick for Transat.

Try sites like Momondo and Skiplagged. You'll have to do a stopover to get it cheaper. Click flexible departure so it gives you +/- 3 days either side of your chosen dates and it'll spit out the cheapest flights within that timeframe. Good luck!

My tip is not to fly in peak season but, if you really must, Air Transat from LGW is clearly cheaper than BA or AC. Midweek (ie Mon-Thurs in both directions) will almost always be cheaper than Fri-Sun.

Canadian Affair

We use sky scanner, air transat and Canadian affair.

You couldlook at flights via other hubs such as Amsterdam or Dublin

@GatherlyGal The truth is that you have left if way too late to book this summer. 11 months in advance will be cheaper. You need to plan in advance.

Air Transat from Manchester will be cheapest.

We booked flights a few months ago to Calgary and paid £1k each. There was no way around it unfortunately.

Try via Dublin. We did it that way a few years ago (Glasgow to Dublin, Dublin to vancouver) and it knocked a fair wedge off the cost. Travelled on the budget Air Canada line, I think it was Air Canada Red.

Make sure you book hold luggage - we did but had our flights changed down to the flight company altering itinerary and our hold luggage booking disappeared! All sorted in the end but it wasn't a pleasant surprise.

All the Canadians we have met don’t like Air Canada or it’s subsidiaries. I really would go with BA but I’d go in 2024.

Thanks all some good ideas to try.

one option is fly to NY or Boston and then drive. Quite a different holiday if we do that!

I'd be wary of this option as border control is not a nice experience.

Fly from Dublin. Always loads cheaper

Canadian border force? Really? I thought it was going into US that was the worst.

At least two sets of friends have gone via Dublin recently. Also depending where you are in the north we've previously flown the city hopper service to Schipol and then KLM, which for us was faster & cheaper than driving to Manchester etc. Try the KLM website. I've just booked similar for the south of France and it was cheaper than the 'cheap' airlines.

Or you may he able to to find cheap flights between New York/Boston and Toronto.
taking a hire car across the border could be complicated

try Hamilton airport... an hour or so from Pearson. Sometimes we get better deals flying out of there?