Coming from Man. or Sask.

[Dobby]

What and where is the cheapest way to fly? I have to drive 7 hours to get to Saskatoon or Winnipeg, so those are really my only options. Air Canada right now is showing me about $4000, round trip for my 2 kids and I. West Jet is showing about $2400 round trip. Is that as cheap as I'm going to see?

 

[Muddypaws]

The price of your flights will vary widely depending on when you are planning to fly and how far away you are from that date. Try a flight price tracker site like Kayak and see what it comes up with for you. Just for an example - there are 4 of us flying out of Regina in a couple of weeks. We are flying Delta, connecting in Minneapolis. The flights were booked last fall sometimes (I watched the flight prices for a couple of months waiting for the price to come down) for $550, pre-tax each. We chose the Delta flight because we liked the flight times and connections the best.

While I don't know for sure if it would be cheaper to fly from Saskatoon or Winnipeg, I would strongly suspect that it would be Winnipeg. I believe that there a charter or direct flight going out of Winnipeg, which is much preferable to having connecting flights.

 

[ABCanada]

In addition to the flight tracker sign up with both AC & WJ for the seat sale notices. They periodically announce discount codes which I do not believe are captured by the flight trackers. (You must enter them in the correct spot when booking the flights. I find they do not make it easy with WJ you need two codes and with both airlines you need to ensure it is in each time you try a different combination as it sometimes clears the code out.)

Westjet has a direct flight, it may be seasonal, from Winnipeg so that is likely your best bet.

I was able to get direct flights from Edmonton for spring break for $600 each including all taxes and fees. (Two years ago I would have been shooting for under $400 all in but fares seem to have gone up and I was willing to pay a premium for direct.) This was with a 15% discount code offered just before Christmas. You should be able to get flights from Winnipeg for less. Right now WJ flights from Edmonton cost about 50% more than from Winnipeg so you might be able to get something in the $400 each range.

As the PP said a lot depends on when you are going and how flexible your timing is. Currently fares do seem to drop about 2 months out but it is always uncomfortable waiting that long as they may also go up. At some point you have to decide what you are comfortable with and live with it.

My preference, if I cannot get a direct flight, is to fly through a US hub so I clear customs at my home airport. This reduces the connection time. (Avoid Chicago)

 

[Dobby]

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm a single mom, paying for this trip as I go. The flights are the worst part to take care of!

 

[cab0899]

I believe the only direct flights are with West Jet from Wpg to Orlando, none from Saskatoon. We have had great flights with west jet, leave Wpg at 7am and in Orlando at 11:45 am! That way you still have the rest of the day to have fun! On the way back we left at 8:30 pm and got to Wpg at 11:30 so we stayed at Magic Kingdom till 3:30 so we didn't waste 2 days travelling!

Since Westjet started the direct flights I always book them. I usually book with airmiles so I don't check prices too often but once I bought seats for $1600 for 4 of us but I know that was a really good deal!
I think $4000 is much higher than average I would think you could do much better.
You also could fly out of Grand FOrks North Dakota but that is with Alliegiant Air and actually flies to Sanford, Florida not Orlando so you would have to rent a car.

 

[aljay]

I'm not exactly sure where you live, but if you're at all close to the US border, I'd try flying out of the states. We live in Winnipeg, but will be driving to Fargo, North Dakota for our DW trip. The air fare for our family of four will be around $1600 as opposed to $2800 out of Winnipeg.

 

[BLBCB]

How far north do you live? And how old are your kids? For example when I lived in Gilam and my kids were little I looked at options differently. Sometimes it is better to pay a bit more for a certain option to save on stress & time. Another thing to consider if you don't fly often is whether yours kids have any physical or development challenges. We have to look at all options, not necessarily just the price. We have lived all over in Northern Manitoba and I know what a challenge travel can be. Anything I can help with, send me a PM.

Barb

 

[Dobby]

I live in Snow Lake, about 700km north of Winnipeg. My kids are (or will be when we go) 6 and 10, no developmental challenges at all. Fairly good travellers as well.

The last trip we hit up Disney World, this fall we're going to Disneyland. I was debating attempting to drive to save on money, but for me, the cost is worth the extra time in the car, as well as me being unable to drive in cities. I'm a small town girl. lol!

 

[HeatherLassell]

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm a single mom, paying for this trip as I go. The flights are the worst part to take care of!

I totally understand! I'm also a single mom and I'm going to WDW this fall with my 3 kids! West Jet quotes me 2 Adults: 1236.00 + 2 Children: 1236.00 + Taxes and fees: 597.84 = $3069.84 CAD!!! (my 12 days at Port Orleans Riverside and 8 day park hoppers are $4000!!!)

Air Canada is quoting me $3186.60

It makes me sick to my stomach.


Have you tried Expedia.ca to look?

I just tried and it gave me: Total price for this trip: C$2,634.28 That's with Delta so add $200 for roundtrip luggage fees.

 

[SkRiderMom]

You said you're going to Disneyland right, what dates are you looking at? If you are looking at flying weekend to weekend prices generally are higher. At least that is what I have found flying out of Saskatoon. Cheapest times are flying on Tuesday or Wednesday. If you check WestJet vacations you can also find deals for your flights and hotel. I personally recommend staying at one of the hotels across the street on S. Harbour. Especially with the 6 year old you'll appreciate how close the hotel is and the opportunity to go back to the hotel in the afternoon if you want to for swim or rest.

 

[MM_Bound]

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm , it does quick a quick search of airline sites and shows you pricing for a whole month. Handy for keeping up with deals.
Also with westjet check individual pricing first. Sometimes they only have one or two seats left at a discounted rate, if you look for more than the amount left at the discounted rate they will only show the increased price.

 

[SaskDisNut]

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm , it does quick a quick search of airline sites and shows you pricing for a whole month. Handy for keeping up with deals.
Also with westjet check individual pricing first. Sometimes they only have one or two seats left at a discounted rate, if you look for more than the amount left at the discounted rate they will only show the increased price.

I use the Matrix website all of the time to look for airfares. It is really comprehensive in searching the airlines.

For our upcoming Disneyland/Disney Cruise trip, I used matrix to find the cheapest options for the days we are going. Certainly flying mid week is cheaper than flying on the weekends. You can't book anything from their site but then you can go to the airline site to do that.

If you are going to Disneyland consider flying into SNA (Santa Ana/John Wayne airport). It is closer to Disneyland than LAX and smaller too.

 

[bonjoe07]

Maybe you can try Allegiant Air, they fly out of Grand forks (~2 hour ride from Winnipeg), their prices are decent, however I never flew with them

 

[Sammy Cat]

We flew out from Winnipeg last June on a Wednesday and returned back on a Monday for $425 pp after taxes through a West Jet seat sale (total 1700 for a family of 4). My advice is to not worry about your chosen hotel dates, etc, you can secure that after you have your flights first (which tend to be most variable and most $$). Be flexible on your dates and alter your departure date based on the cheapest day to fly - West Jet is good at letting you see the price changes across a week or more. Keep in mind Mid March to Mid April will be expensive no matter what because it is spring break time and they are not likely to have good deals at this time - but they might if you book early!

I found that booking earlier was typically better (4-5 months ahead at least) but it all depends on what time of year you are going because there are some really good deals at certain times of year.

Check out YWG deals - it is a website by a guy named Chris - he keeps people informed on the latest and best deals out of Winnipeg.

I also signed up for West Jet and Air Canada's seat sale notifications, which did seem to help. Good luck!

 

[Shir Kahn]

I'm not exactly sure where you live, but if you're at all close to the US border, I'd try flying out of the states. We live in Winnipeg, but will be driving to Fargo, North Dakota for our DW trip. The air fare for our family of four will be around $1600 as opposed to $2800 out of Winnipeg.

This is exactly what we do. If you're going to drive 7 hours to Winnipeg, drive a couple more and go to Fargo. We save a ton off the airfare by doing this. Usually we drive though and we save even more money at the expense of time. We love the roadtrip though, it's only 2020 miles!